BrainBank: Clap On! Clap Off! Edition

It lets you turn things off from anywhere in the room! Witchcraft, I know. Nevermind that we now have motion-sensing lights and electronics that have a soft switch to turn on and off-- such as modern televisions-- and are thus completely incompatible with the Clapper. That jingle is just so catchy!

Seriously though, it's an excellent example of the importance of marketing your technology. The Clapper didn't work especially well, but Joseph Pedott marketed it with a catchy jingle and the rest was history. He didn't even invent the device, just marketed it-- kind of like the modest sensation that was the Chia Pet, another project of his the decade prior.

Compare this to something like Google Wave, which is actually shutting down now because people still don't know what the heck it does or why they should want it, and we see that proper marketing is very important indeed.

Though, to be fair, it's a lot easier to understand the Clapper.