Brief Summary:
Invention/Product: K-202 Minicomputer
Inventor: Jacek Karpiński
Country: Poland (People's Republic of Poland)
Period: Early 1970s
Essence: An advanced 16-bit minicomputer of its time with high performance and modular architecture.
A technologically groundbreaking project that was ahead of its time but was stifled due to bureaucratic, political, and organizational issues within a planned economy and Comecon. Produced in minimal quantities.
Summary:
Invention/Project: OGAS (National Automated System for Accounting and Information Processing).
Visionary/Leader: Academician Viktor Mikhailovich Glushkov.
Country: USSR.
Development period: 1960s - 1970s.
Essence: A project to create a unified nationwide computer network for collecting and processing economic data and managing the economy.
A visionary yet unrealized megaproject. Failed due to bureaucracy, high costs, technological challenges, and lack of political will. An important lesson about systemic barriers to technological progress.
Brief Summary:
Product: YotaPhone Smartphone (1 & 2)
Company: Yota Devices
Country: Russia
Period: 2013-2019
Essence: Smartphone with two screens: a color LCD/AMOLED and a black-and-white E Ink.
An innovative product with a unique concept that received initial recognition but failed commercially due to high price, competition, and difficulties in market penetration. The developer company went bankrupt.
Product: Google Glass (Explorer Edition)
Company: Google
Country: USA
Period: ~2012-2015 (consumer version)
Essence: Wearable computer in the form of glasses with a HUD, camera, and voice control.
An innovative gadget that failed in the consumer market due to privacy concerns, social acceptance issues, price, functionality, and design. Refocused on the corporate segment.
Summary:
Invention/Project: VVA-14 (Vertical Takeoff Amphibious Aircraft / Ground Effect Vehicle)
Designer: Robert Ludvigovich Bartini
Country: USSR
Development period: 1960s - 1970s (test flights from 1972)
Concept: Experimental aircraft combining functions of conventional airplane, amphibious vehicle, VTOL aircraft, and ground effect vehicle.
An exceptionally ambitious and futuristic project that was never fully realized due to technical challenges (missing critical engines), integration difficulties between flight modes, and termination after the designer's death. A prime example of technological "overreach".