Tag: Hype

(Reuters) - Electric cars are riding high, as incentives and new models make them a realistic option, but the fresh attention may highlight flaws compared with gasoline and alternatives such as biofuels.

The attention rankles with some in the biofuel industry, whose own hype was abruptly halted by a glut of production in 2007, subsequent bankruptcies and a fall from grace after a link was drawn -- which they dispute -- between biofuels and spiraling food prices and rising hunger.

When the over-the-top hype met the reality of Apple's iPad, a majority of consumers decided they didn't need, and wouldn't buy, the new device, a survey published today said.

"There was too much hoopla," said Manish Rathi, co-founder of Sunnyvale, California-based online retailer Retrevo, which conducted two polls of more than 1000 American consumers each, one survey done before the iPad's January 27 unveiling, the other after. "There was so much [hype] that afterward, people were underwhelmed because they expected it would slice bread."