… was a rice-cooker that failed, because it either over- or under-cooked rice. Interestingly, the reason Sony founder Masaru Ibuka decided to focus on electronics was that electricity, in the wake of the second World War, had become incredibly cheap. According to Sony’s historical site:

As the war plants had closed down, there was more electricity than was needed at the time. This surplus fed Ibuka’s desire to produce items which were needed for everyday life. The electric rice cooker, made by merely interlocking aluminum electrodes which were connected to the bottom of a wooden tub, was a primitive product. The result depended heavily on the kind of rice used and the weight of the water. Tasty rice was a rarity, as the rice cooker produced mostly undercooked or overcooked rice. It was a memorable first failure for Ibuka and his staff.

(Thanks to Howard Sherman’s Nuggets for this one!)