The rise and fall of the hoverboard

About a month after U.S. officials declared hoverboards unsafe, Martha Stewart — long the undisputed queen of American domestic excellence — is delighting as she rides one barefoot through a posh hallway on her way to a celebrity dinner. 

The sight is so familiar now that it's almost cliché: a celebrity on a hoverboard, gushing childlike exuberance, as her entourage looks on and waits for the inevitable social media post. 

But no matter what you think of Stewart or her (lack of) skill in piloting a "self-balancing electric scooter" (the semi-official name for hoverboards), the scene sends a clear message: Hoverboards are officially over. 

Like Stewart’s sudden fall from grace following her 2004 conviction and federal prison stint, the end of the hoverboard was swift and framed by controversy. Hoverboards have been so entangled with celebrity culture that Stewart’s late-to-the-party hoverboard flourish may be the perfect representative tableau. But like all great metaphorical images, far more interesting is the story of how the image came to be.  

The hoverboard appears to be in the final throes of a death spiral, slipping down the drain of tech history these past few months -- following in the footsteps of the Tamagotchi, MiniDisc players and netbooks. 

But if you were paying attention, all the signs of a fad were there: rapid and blind adoption by the celebrity class, scores of out-of-nowhere brands you've never heard of all offering the same product, and, of course, zero safety certifications. 

That last point turned out to be the crucial detail that ultimately led to the hoverboard's ignominious fall.