The technology we lost in 2025

From a very narrow perspective of technology and associated services being abandoned, obsolete and disconnected, 2025 has been pretty quiet. But don’t stay silent: 10 events stand out to me as a long-time industry observer and participant from the perspective of having a notable impact or representing the end of an era.

For comparison, in 2022 we lost some big names, like iPod, Google Stadia and Internet Explorer. This year, there seem to have been fewer high-profile goodbyes and a lot more nostalgia and shifts symptomatic of broader trends.

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AOL disconnects its dial-up Internet service

If you are of a certain age, like me, shrill tones of a modem handshake Connecting to the Internet provides an audio memory of the web’s slow, formative years. In those days, you connected to a particular service, so the bigger fish – AOL – became synonymous with dial-up. Thirty-four years laterin September, it stopped blaring and may have left large numbers of rural customers without home Internet access. (A few 2 million people still used it from 2015.)

Human AI Pin

I was taken aback by the excitement surrounding the Human AI Pina wearable AI voice chat device: Maybe it’s because I’ve seen so many of these one-trick ponies come and go, most replaced by multifunctional gadgets. In the case of the pin, which only lasted about a year, the fact that it wasn’t very good, which made the problem worse. While HP bought Humane AI lock, stock and chatbot in February, the driving force was technical talent, operating system and patent portfolio; a resurgence of the material is unlikely.

The last iPhone home button leaves town

You can’t get home anymore, at least more easily with the iPhone. THE latest model with a dedicated home button was the iPhone SE, which was replaced by the home button-less iPhone 16e in February. In some cases, you can map another control to get you home, but that means giving up direct access to another feature, and I curse its absence every time my iPhone gets finicky about detecting swipes up from the bottom of the screen.

Micron forgets the crucial consumer memory

Memory makers are rushing into high-demand, high-margin, AI-friendly, high-bandwidth memory, thanks to the seemingly deep pockets of popular AI companies that need data centers yesterday. Since there are really only three major manufacturers: SK Hynix, Micron and Samsung, Micron announced it was moving away from consumer markets in November, the end of these days of memory impossible to find and unaffordable for PCs seems further away than ever.

Black is the new blue screen of death

The Windows Blue Screen of Death has been a technological staple since the early days of the graphical user interface, one of the most dreaded and least useful jump scares ever caused by a system crash. As Microsoft has improved recovery speed and back-end data collection in the event of an operating system crash in October 2024, the company replaced the BSoD itself in the October 2025 version of the operating system, with a “simpler user interface” on a (less anxiety-inducing?) black background. We will miss you, giant frown emoticon. Although I still expect it to appear in the usual unusual places, like digital billboards and entertainment systems in taxis, which invariably run on older versions of Windows.

Amazon launches its Android App Store

Amazon has always been focused on results, and that includes getting shoppers to switch to its own-brand products. This reached a new level in August, close its store for general Android apps and switching to apps intended to run only on its own Fire devices, which run a customized version of Android. The store however lasted relatively long, 14 years later its launch in 2011.

Microsoft Skype becomes a Teams player

Long before FaceTime and ubiquitous VOIP communications, early in this century, Skype entered the mainstream consciousness as a cheap alternative to expensive long-distance and international phone (voice) calls, picking up speed when it was acquired by Microsoft in 2011 and adding video calls to its skill set. In February, Microsoft announced that we would say goodbye to it to the veteran standalone application and that it would be integrated into the free version of its least liked Teams app.

Google Nest Learning Thermostat is dumber

Google lobotomy of the first two generations of the OG smart thermostat in October provided us with another object lesson about the 21st century planned obsolescence. The hardware is good, just old by technological standards: Nest Labs launched it in 2011, And Google bought the company in 2014. But by disconnecting it from the app (euphemistically called “end of support”), it loses much of the functionality you bought it for, like remote operation and notifications, as well as stopping security updates, essentially encouraging people to upgrade.

Google makes the latest Stadia controllers

Google’s custom-designed controller, with its exclusive connection to the company’s ephemeral Stadia cloud gaming servicewas interrupted when the service has closed late 2022. The company refunded hardware purchases, but also provided firmware upgrades to convert it to Bluetooth; It’s a well-designed controller, so throwing it away seems like a waste. But starting at the end of 2025, the company stops offering the upgrade: if you haven’t converted by then, you can add the controller to your shelf of non-functional collectibles.

US allows imports of DJI drones

One of the leading drone manufacturers – and probably the best known – is now one of the products you’ll have a hard time buying here in the United States, thanks to a ban on importing all products manufactured abroad drones which came into force in December. You can still fly them and buy them, you’ll just have a hard time finding them.