The 2010s: what did we get wrong?

They say that hindsight is 20/20. Well, in 2020, we’ve all got the hindsight to look back on the past decade at the gadgets and trends that we thought would shape where we are today. In doing so, we can either acknowledge our missteps, shake our heads and laugh quietly to ourselves, or we can lock eyes on the future and pretend the past never happened. Whichever way you choose to cope, there’s likely something on this list you’re guilty of getting caught up in.

Let’s reminisce.

Gadgets nintendo Wii u

Believe it or not, Nintendo’s follow-up to the Wii actually gave gamers a good idea of the shape of their world to come. The Japanese games giant guessed correctly that wireless, portable game-play. That said, the Wii U was but a half-measure; the device provided a decent-enough screen and workable controls, but made functionality too dependent on proximity to the system’s base station. All of which meant that “gaming anywhere” only meant “gaming anywhere inside the house”. Granted, the Wii U was released in 2012, years before 5G was a practical idea, which meant that it was being developed before 4G had reached full prominence. The omnipresence of fast connectivity that defined the latter half of the decade made Nintendo’s Switch possible as it freed itself from the traditional idea of the console.

Microsoft PixelSense (formerly surface)

No, not the tablet you’re probably reading this on at this very moment (in which case, hi!). Before the Surface redux ushered in a new era of mobile computing, the tablet was a coffee table, aimed at public spaces rather than the friendly confines of home -- the $10,000 price tag all but made sure of that.