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CNET 100: The forgettables

These products built up a ton of prerelease hype--but, honestly, we forgot about them almost as soon as they launched.

Dan Ackerman
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Dan Ackerman
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1 of 13 CBS Interactive

Acer Iconia dual-screen laptop

Forgettable OnesCNET 100: The forgettables
These products just never could live up to their prerelease hype.

We loved the idea of the Acer Iconia dual-screen laptop, a unique proof-of-concept 14-inch laptop with a second screen taking the place of a traditional keyboard. But once it hit in early 2011, no one else rushed to the dual-screen party, and we hardly heard a word about it again.

Read our Acer Iconia dual-screen laptop review | Return to the CNET 100.
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2 of 13 Screenshot by CNET

Blockbuster Movie Pass

Forgettable OnesNetflix may have shot itself in the foot with Qwikster, but at least we're still talking about it. The Blockbuster Movie Pass, available only to Dish Network subscribers, generated little more than a collective yawn.

Return to the CNET 100.
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3 of 13 Josh Miller/CNET

Dell Streak 7

Forgettable Ones Look it up on Dell's Web site and you'll find it says, "Streak 7 is no longer available online." Dell's latest attempt at a tablet went out not with a bang, but a whimper. Dell's previous big touch-screen push, the Windows Duo Netbook/tablet hybrid, was similarly overhyped and undercooked.

Read our Dell Streak 7 review | Return to the CNET 100.
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4 of 13 Josh Miller/CNET

Dual-screen phones

Forgettable OnesIf people like big screens on phones, then they'll definitely love having two of them, or so the thinking went. Now that products such as the Samsung Continuum and Kyocera Echo have launched to middling reviews and consumer indifference, it seems obvious that dual-screen phones work better in snazzy press shots than real life.

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5 of 13 CBS Interactive

Lenovo ThinkPad X1

Forgettable OnesThinkPad-maker Lenovo generated a lot of buzz with this product, a 13-inch laptop pitched as the thinnest ThinkPad ever. It ended up being perfectly fine, but it wasn't as thin as a MacBook Air, and its battery life wasn't as good.

Read our Lenovo ThinkPad X1 review | Return to the CNET 100.
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6 of 13 Roger Cheng/CNET

Motorola Xoom

Forgettable OnesFrom seeming to be the golden child of CES 2011 to being steeply discounted for holiday sales, the Motorola Xoom's hype peaked before the product was even released, demonstrating the difficulty some Android tablets are having in distinguishing themselves from the pack.

Read our Motorola Xoom review | Return to the CNET 100.
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Nintendo 3DS

Forgettable OnesTo be fair, the Nintendo 3DS is a good product with some impressive technology and a handful of interesting games and features. But the lack of killer apps and the public's cooling interest in 3D in general led to a quick price cut.

Read our Nintendo 3DS review | Return to the CNET 100.
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8 of 13 iD Software

Rage, Brink, Duke Nukem Forever

Forgettable OnesVideo game hype was out of control in 2011, with more bus shelter ads and TV spots than we've ever spotted before. These games had huge marketing budgets, and while they ranged from simply awful (Duke Nukem) to highly polished but uninspiring (Rage), they all quickly fell off the radar, replaced by Skyrim, Modern Warfare 3, and others.

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9 of 13 Josh P. Miller/CNET

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

Forgettable OnesGamers wanting to combine their phones and PSPs were looking forward to the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, a unique dual-analog control handset that was pitched as the "PlayStation phone." But a limited games library and twitchy controls cooled their interest quickly.

Read our Sony Ericsson Xperia Play review | Return to the CNET 100.
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10 of 13 CBS Interactive

Toshiba glasses-free 3D laptop

Forgettable OnesWe were all very jazzed about this autostereoscopic (that means glasses-free 3D) 15-inch laptop when it was announced in January and released in August, but the long-promised software update to enable 3D gaming never materialized, making the Toshiba Qosmio F755-3D290 a one-trick pony.

Return to the CNET 100.
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11 of 13

Bonus: Qwikster

Forgettable OnesGone and forgotten before it even had a chance to launch, the abandoned Netflix spinoff will be lucky to end up as a Jeopardy answer some day.

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12 of 13 CBS Interactive

Bonus: Dell XPS 14z

Forgettable OnesThis is a perfectly fine machine, even impressive if you look at the specs. But for Dell to tout the hefty XPS 14z as "thin" right on the heels of the first wave of truly thin ultrabook laptops was a mistake, and this big-holiday-push product hasn't built much buzz.

Read our Dell XPS 14z review | Return to the CNET 100.
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13 of 13 James Martin/CNET

Bonus: Chromebooks

Forgettable OnesGoogle made a big deal about its long-awaited laptop operating system earlier this year--essentially the Chrome Web browser and some cloud-based apps. Only Samsung and Acer made commercially available systems, and both were overpriced and underwhelming.

Return to the CNET 100.

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