RIP to All the Tech We’ve Lost in 2025

From the narrow perspective of technology and associated services that have been abandoned, obsolete and disconnected, 2025 has been relatively quiet. But it wasn’t silent. At least 10 events stand out to me as a long-time industry observer and participant, in terms of their notable impact or the end of an era.

For comparison, in 2022 we lost some notable names, including the 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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Watch this: RIP to technology dying in 2025

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AOL disconnects its dial-up Internet service

If you’re of a certain age, like me, the shrill tones of a modem handshake connecting to the Internet evoke a vivid audio memory of the web’s slow, formative years. At that time, you connected to a particular service. The biggest fish, AOL, has become synonymous with dial-up.

In September, 34 years after its launchAOL stopped screaming and left large numbers of rural customers without home Internet access. (A few 2 million people were still using service from 2015.)

Human AI Pin

I’ve been baffled by the excitement around the Humane AI pin, a wearable device that uses AI for voice chat. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen so many of these one-trick ponies come and go, most of which have been replaced by multifunctional gadgets.

In the case of the pin, which only lasted about a year, it wasn’t very good, but only made the problem worse. Our fully capable phones are already in our pockets. While HP acquired Humane AI lock, stock and chatbot in February, the main driver was technical talent, operating system and patent portfolio. A hardware revival 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. I curse its absence every time my iPhone insists on detecting swipes up from the bottom of the screen.

Micron forgets the crucial consumer memory

Memory makers are rushing toward high-demand, high-margin, AI-enabled, high-bandwidth memory, thanks to the seemingly deep pockets of popular AI companies that need data centers yesterday.

Given that there were really only three major manufacturers – SK Hynix, Micron and Samsung – when Micron announced it was moving away from consumer markets in November, we’re far from the end of the days of impossible-to-find, impossible-to-afford memory for PCs.

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 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 frowning emoticon. Although I still expect it to appear in the usual unusual places, such as digital billboards and taxi entertainment systems, which invariably run on outdated 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. It reached a new level in August, when it closed its store for general Android apps and moved to apps intended to run only on its own Fire devices, which run a customized version of Android.

The store, however, lasted a relatively long time, 14 years after 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 added video calls to its skill set.

In February, Microsoft announced that we would say goodbye to it to the veteran standalone app and that it would be integrated into the company’s free version of its less popular Teams app.

Google Nest Learning Thermostat is dumber

Google’s lobotomy of the first two generations of the OG smart thermostat in October provided us with a new object lesson in 21st century planned obsolescence. The hardware is good, just old by tech 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 bricks 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. However, starting at the end of 2025, the company will no longer offer this upgrade. If you haven’t converted by then, you can add the controller to your non-working collectibles shelf.

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 import of all drones manufactured abroad which came into force in December.

You can still fly them and buy them, you’ll just have a hard time finding them.