In 2001, for example, it canceled a naval program and ended up delaying by several years a technology that was proved effective in tests two years ago.

FORBES: The Fed Fiddles...

In north-east Brazil, too, a sewerage system combining cheaper technology and community involvement has proved a runaway success.

ECONOMIST: Clean up��or risk many deaths

Battery technology has proved a major constraint on the ability to turn electricity (including electricity generated from renewable sources) into an efficient transportation fuel.

WSJ: The Experts: What Renewable Energy Source Has the Most Promise?

Scaling the technology proved to be a lot more difficult than envisioned.

FORBES: Solar Founder Responds To Current Chief,

Two of his affiliates garnered 20%-plus of NuWay shares in exchange for some medical technology and a marketing database that proved worthless.

FORBES: You Can't Keep A Bad Man Down

No, that would be almost impossible--and rumors that Apple would introduce everything from a scheme to couple its products to cutting-edge WiMax or ultra-wideband technology proved completely unfounded.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The latter proved a somewhat astonishing reminder of forgotten lessons about nuclear power risks, unique to that technology: A failure of one power plant in an isolated location can create a contagion in countries far away, and even where somewhat different variants of that technology are in use.

FORBES: New Centralized Nuclear Plants: Still an Investment Worth Making?

Crazy rumors like Samsung shipping a phone with a bendable screen (which never had a chance of being true because the technology is barely out of the prototype stage), of course, proved false.

FORBES: Galaxy S4: Will Samsung Continue to Rule the Universe?