I'd like to see your list of eleven perfectly needless inventions.

I don't mean oddball designs and prototypes gathering dust on the
shelves of the patent office and destined never to see production.  I
mean inventions that have actually reached the marketplace--and that
somebody probably even bought (most likely as a gift for someone
else!)--but that don't fill a real need of any kind.  This is
*inventions,* now, and not just pointless products such as
cheese-flavored toothpaste or a special holder for twist-ties, both of
which I just made up (I hope!).  What are your nominations for eleven
inventions that have no earthly reason for existence and the world
would never miss?

Note that I did not ask for the eleven *most* needless.  This is not
about superlatives.  It's about uselessness.

Thank you,
Apteryx

How about 'The Smellies'?

At one time, these were plugged as the next big thing in the cinema.

Apteryx -- 

I'd written this for another question yesterday:

Probably one of the easiest and well-known cases involves a product
for which there was not even a "need" -- the Pet Rock.  It's
well-documented, even though the Pet Rock preceded the Internet by two
decades.  Gary Dahl knew that he had a fad item; knew that it'd take
clever promotion to make it go.  This is just one account; but there
are several very detailed analyses of what he did on the Web:
http://www.super70s.com/Super70s/Culture/Fads/Pet_Rocks.asp

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

Virtually anything with the Ronco name on it. Ron Popeil could fill
the category himself.

hlabadie-ga

Hi apteryx...

I'd have to vote for the Octodog - a device which turns a hot dog
into something resembling an octopus:
http://www.stupid.com/stat/OCDG.html

These haven't actually made it to the marketplace,
but I thought you'd enjoy them by contrast... : )

1. Lobster helper

2. A pocket wasp and hornet teaser

3. Can opener in a can

4. Salted bandages

5. An inflatable dart board

6. A fire alarm with snooze bar

7. Jarvix 7 artificial appendix

8. Super glue Post-It notes

9. Mobius strip toilet paper

10. Nuclear hand grenades

For Stupidest Invention of All Time, I nominate Tassaway.

If you don't know what it is, a Google search will provide more info
than you are likely to want. ;-)

That d---d salad shooter thingy.

Kriswrite

Salad shooter--yeah.  That is exactly the kind of thing I was thinking of.

Tassaway cups...yuck, Pink, I never even knew there was such a museum
(virtual, I hope)--and if I had ever heard of these things, I had
mercifully forgotten them.

Octodog *has* to be a hoax--doesn't it?  Oh, dear, maybe not.

Great gags, sublime1!  Unfortunately there is some real stuff out
there that seems even more bizarre just because it is
real--like--hlabadie, you're right.  I didn't know about Ronco and Ron
Popeil, but, my gosh, Inside-The-Shell Electric Egg Scrambler??
someone would actually pay money to put this plug-in piece of
bamboozlery on the kitchen counter?  Astonishing.  Yes.  That's what
I'm after, a list of things like that.  Eleven of them.

The Pet Rock has a place all its own in marketing history, Omnivorous,
and there'll never be another one--but I am not ready to think of a
rock as an invention.

Alas, Bryan, I never heard of the "Smellies," but that sounds like it
sure might qualify.

Good work, gang!  Need more.

Thanks,
Apteryx

Hi, Apteryx

Here's a reference for 'The Smellies':

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:G796R5kTeGoJ:courses.washington.edu/cmuwi01/Lectures/Week%25202%2520Lecture%25202%2520film.doc+%22the+smellies%22+movies&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Apparently also known as Aromarama and Smellovision.

I wonder why it never caught on?

The Link doesn't seem to work.

I searched for:

"the smellies" movies

(Do you think I'll make it as a G****e Researcher one of these days?)