This past week saw the demise of a very promising new gadget. The CrunchPad project has dissolved into a puff of greed and miscommunication.

The CrunchPad was a project to create a high powered Internet tablet device that would allow anyone to surf the net, check email, and watch online videos with ease where ever they were. Similar to netbooks, but in the form of a large, bright multitouch screen.

The project was the brainchild of bloggers from TechCrunch and other websites, and was the first example of how the consumers can influence and create a product for the masses, exactly how they wanted it.

Yet it all fell apart this past week due to disputes over manufacturing, intellectual property rights, and straight-forward greed.

Click here to read the full story of the demise.

I find this news to be very sad. The tech behind the CrunchPad was not extremely complex, but the idea was something entirely new and innovative. Somewhere between a netbook and an eReader, the CrunchPad had many people eagerly awaiting its arrival. In my opinion, this would have been an amazing gadget to have. Those who used prototypes at trade shows and conventions said that it was a joy to use, intuitive, and stable. But the sad fact remains, there is little hope of seeing this dream come to reality in the near future.

RIP CrunchPad.