vannevar /van'*-var/ n.
A bogus technological prediction or a foredoomed engineering
concept, esp. one that fails by implicitly assuming that
technologies develop linearly, incrementally, and in isolation
from one another when in fact the learning curve tends to be
highly nonlinear, revolutions are common, and competition is the
rule. The prototype was Vannevar Bush's prediction of `electronic
brains' the size of the Empire State Building with a
Niagara-Falls-equivalent cooling system for their tubes and
relays, a prediction made at a time when the semiconductor effect
had already been demonstrated. Other famous vannevars have
included magnetic-bubble memory, LISP machines, videotex, and a paper from the late 1970s
that computed a purported ultimate limit on areal density for ICs
that was in fact less than the routine densities of 5 years
later.
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vaporware /vay'pr-weir/ n.
Products announced far in advance of any release (which may or
may not actually take place). See also brochureware.