The world never changes quite the way you expect. But at The Verge, we've had a front-row seat while technology has permeated every aspect of our lives over the past decade. Some of the resulting moments -- and gadgets -- arguably defined the decade and the world we live in now. But others we ate up with popcorn in hand, marveling at just how incredibly hard they flopped. This is the decade we learned that crowdfunded gadgets can be utter disasters, even if they don't outright steal your hard-earned cash. It's the decade of wearables, tablets, drones and burning batteries, and of ridiculous valuations for companies that were really good at hiding how little they actually had to offer. Here are 84 things that died hard, often hilariously, to bring us where we are today. Everyone was confused by Google's Nexus Q when it debuted in 2012, including The Verge -- which is probably why the bowling ball of a media streamer crashed and burned before it even came to market.

LG's upcoming G8 ThinQ smartphone will have an advanced 3D sensor near its front camera to support features such as facial recognition, the South Korean electronics maker announced. The 3D sensor, made by German firm Infineon Technologies, uses a Time of Flight (ToF) method to detect objects. It measures the time it takes for infrared light to reflect back from its subject, and when this information is combined with a camera, it improves the way objects are expressed in 3D. As the sensor can detect objects without being uninterrupted by other lights, it has a high recognition rate and is optimal for augmented reality and virtual reality applications as well, LG said. It will also be used for biometric authentication such as facial recognition, and can create more natural selfies among other things, LG added.

The holidays may be over, but it's still the most wonderful time of the year for tech enthusiasts. CES, the world's largest consumer technology event, brings together thousands of people from around the world to showcase the newest gadgets and technological developments. If something big is coming to technology, it starts at CES. I always say customer experience should make customers' lives easier and better. Technology isn't everything, but it proves to be the secret sauce of some of today's most beloved customer experiences.

So what does it look like? There's been a lot of talk about 5G. Compared to 4G LTE, 5G is 20 times faster. And until 5G hits your home, you can dramatically speed up your current connection with a little-known secret setting. You don't need to be a techno wizard to do it, either.

The maverick of personal computing is looking for its next big thing in spaces like healthcare, AR, and autonomous cars, all while keeping its lead in consumer hardware. With an uphill battle in AI, slowing growth in smartphones, and its fingers in so many pies, can Apple reinvent itself for a third time? Get the detailed analysis on Apple's trove of patents, acquisitions, earnings calls, recent product releases, and organizational structure. In many ways, Apple remains a company made in the image of Steve Jobs: iconoclastic and fiercely product focused. But today, Apple is at a crossroads. Under CEO Tim Cook, Apple's ability to seize on emerging technology raises many new questions. Looking for the next wave, Apple is clearly expanding into augmented reality and wearables with the Apple Watch and AirPods wireless headphones. Apple's HomePod speaker system is poised to expand Siri's footprint into the home and serve as a competitor to Amazon's blockbuster Echo device and accompanying virtual assistant Alexa. But the next "big one" -- a success and growth driver on the scale of the iPhone -- has not yet been determined. Will it be augmented reality, auto, wearables? Apple is famously secretive, and a cloud of hearsay and gossip surrounds the company's every move. Apple is believed to be working on augmented reality headsets, connected car software, transformative healthcare devices and apps, as well as smart home tech, and new machine learning applications. We dug through Apple's trove of patents, acquisitions, earnings calls, recent product releases, and organizational structure for concrete hints at how the company will approach its next self-reinvention. Given Apple's size and prominence, we won't be covering every aspect of its business or rehashing old news. There's strong evidence Apple is once again actively "cannibalizing itself," putting massive resources behind consumer tech that will render its own iPhone obsolete.