Graveyard | EXPLICIT STUDIO

Xerox Alto

1973

First GUI computer

"Apple saw it. Xerox didn't tell the story."

General Magic

1994

Smartphone before smartphones

"A decade too early. A story too quiet."

NeXT Computer

1988

Foundation of macOS

"Steve Jobs couldn't sell it. Apple bought it."

Xanadu

1960s

The web before the web

"30 years building. Tim Berners-Lee shipped faster."

VisiCalc

1979

First spreadsheet

"Invented the killer app. Lotus took the credit."

Sony Betamax

1975

Superior to VHS

"Better quality. Worse marketing."

LaserDisc

1978

Better than VHS

"Couldn't explain why consumers should care."

Sony MiniDisc

1992

Better than CDs

"Japan loved it. The West never heard of it."

Sega Dreamcast

1999

First online console

"PlayStation 2's hype machine won."

Microsoft Zune

2006

iPod competitor

"Good product. 'Squirting' songs."

Apple Newton

1993

First mainstream PDA

"Ahead of its time. Became a punchline."

Palm Pre

2009

Better than early iPhone

"'Like a deck of cards' wasn't a story."

Windows Phone

2010

Innovative interface

"No apps, no story, no chance."

Essential Phone

2017

By Android's creator

"Beautiful. No marketing. Dead."

Iridium

1998

Global satellite phone

"77 satellites. Couldn't explain who needed it."

Friendster

2002

First social network

"Had 3 million users. MySpace told a better story."

Google Wave

2009

Real-time collaboration

"Google couldn't explain it in one sentence."

Vine

2013

TikTok before TikTok

"Twitter killed it. TikTok made billions."

AltaVista

1995

First real search engine

"Google said 'just search.' AltaVista said nothing."

Napster

1999

Spotify before Spotify

"Sued to death. Couldn't reframe the story."

Sinclair C5

1985

Early electric vehicle

"Electric transport 35 years early. Looked like a toy."

DeLorean

1981

Iconic design

"Only famous because of a movie."

Fisker Karma

2011

Tesla before Tesla won

"Beautiful. No counter-narrative to the noise."

Segway

2001

Personal transport

"'Bigger than the internet.' Became a mall cop joke."

Kodak Digital Camera