Technolandy

Day 80 (of 2025/26) #tEChursdAI look at the tech we lost in 2025… and what 2026 might bring… 

This year we said goodby to some tech that was once used or appreciated for various reasons… 

Apple once again took a step – removing the home button and the last of the physical click that many once loved…

The expensive Humane AI Pin – failed due to its cost, but had the potential as it felt very much like the Star Trek communicator many of us wanted… but it didn’t last.

Amazon shuttered its App Store… yep – had one for the kindle/fire…

After 22 years, Microsoft hung up on Skype – shifting fully into Teams…  kinda the way dedicated GPS units and MP3 Players and ‘simple’ E-Readers have …. merged… everything is more of a portal than a tool… 

Microsoft’s blue screen of death became a block screen.

Speaking of ‘loss of communal moments’ (more on this later as well), there are fewer ‘everyone knows this app’ moments and fragmented ecosystems (primarily Apple, Google, Microsoft, and paywalled AIs) mean that there is even less of a common baseline for teaching, troubleshooting and even collaboration – this hits schools hard.

AOL ended dialup service – yep, there were regions that still relied on phone line service

Denmark cancelled mail… is post considered ’tech’? It sure had been a key measurement of how effective governments were… but geography matters and Denmark does not have the same rural setup that Canada has (who is planning to finally introduce weekend mail delivery) https://vt.tiktok.com/ZS5kCdeQ2/

Ford decided the eF150 truck was not going to remain electric only, and instead is shifting to an “EREV” system – a hybrid – which makes sense when/where trucks are often used are the weak spots of electric vehicles (towing and in cold weather). I’ll admit to loving my plug in hybrid ford escape – so that might not be a bad decision to enable better towing capacity and a greater range (700 miles) that may not be impacted as much in the cold weather (I see a drop of about 1/4 of the pure-electric range in our car).

In General…

Fewer tools are working meaningfully without accounts, sync or connectivity… more need to login your identity, use a cloud, and provide consent… “local”  is becoming more relative and less relatable…

Human customer support has also quietly been offloaded, not to another country (as many bigots like to point out) but to escalation loops with fewer accountable humans… you can try to argue with an algorithm, but…

But some things to look forward to…

Better AI upgrades to Siri (and Gemini and Alexa)… imagine what it will be like when AI preps, drafts and filters even BEFORE an interaction… 

Foldable phones to help blend the phone with the tablet for different uses? The Galaxy Z Trifold looks intriguing, and Apple is rumoured to be about to release one… thought they ain’t cheap…

AI ‘world models’ rather than large language – this will help create more of a collaboration with AI gaining memories and able to do explorations even when not directly engaged by the person at the keyboard/microphone. Schools policies et al won’t be able to keep up – much as blockbuster wasn’t able to keep up with Netflix…(more in a bit)

With the rise of malicious AI agents, proving who you are is going to kick in more of a push towards digital IDs… which is gratifying, except when it isn’t (what if the digital world decides for the good of your health it will decline your ability to buy a pizza for lunch?)  Sure there are privacy concerns, but many will remember that we used to publicly display everyone’s phone number and address in a book… so is scanning your retina that much of a change?  Yes… yes it is… and with borders being challenged to explore peoples social media history before entry… things could get interesting…

Forget WebMD, AI health checks – both physical and mental might be very helpful…

I’m wondering if some of the wearable smart glasses might work with my ‘hybrid lenses’ (bifocals)

I do wonder if schools will start to see ways to ‘catch up’ or remain solid in the business model of being totally different from the world around it … much as Blockbuster Video thought it could withstand the crazy move to streaming media… 

Other predictions inspired by: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2026/01/02/black-swan-events-2026-00708074

1. The collapse of a shared reality altogether… no longer are tv shows guaranteed ‘water cooler topics’, beyond sporting events, how much of media is actually watched in ‘live’ formats? My father in law in particular loves to delay watching the game to skip commercials, even if it means I can’t talk to him about the result of the game for about half an hour after it ends…  glad my mom still likes to watch live so that we can facetime at halftime of Seahawks games… 
2. Will people be able to critically analyze what is being presented to them? Both in terms of news and entertainment – what is real, and how do you fact check in real time? Especially when some news checks on sources link back to the original story that sounds a tad sketchy to begin with…. And why would that person say those things to the media (they didn’t, but it sure looks real…)
3. Water and temperatures are going to be more influential on life status… climate change remains the single most disruptive impact on our planet, yet stays at the periphery of our schools teachings. Deniers are hoping they are right despite what the environment itself is showing them, but things are definitely different than when I was a kid… and the reality is stark: look up how challenging it is to get flood insurance in Florida… the actuaries know stuff for reasons… 
4. The illusion of device ownership

• Cars, tractors, phones, and software increasingly operate on licenses
• Repairs blocked by software locks
• Features removed post-purchase

5. Schools may become the only place still pretending the world hasn’t changed. But this isn’t a flex..

• Policies lag practice
• Assessments assume scarcity of information
• “Cheating” becomes indistinguishable from collaboration
• My Blockbuster/Netflix problem I have been referencing in 2025 becomes structural, not philosophical

The risk isn’t that schools fail — it’s that they become irrelevant to sense-making, just when sense-making matters most.

The tech we lost in 2025 wasn’t just hardware or platforms — it was friction, ownership, and shared experience. What 2026 brings won’t ask whether we’re ready; it will simply assume we’ve agreed to the terms and services conditions (that we acknowledge nobody actually reads). The real question may be whether our institutions — especially schools — can relearn how to teach in a world where information no longer arrives with context, credibility, or consensus

6. Some quiet patterns:

• Offline → online-only
• Human → automated
• Owned → licensed
• Shared → personalized
• Chosen → ambient

These deletions and additions have me pondering how this impacts my vocation… after all: Schools won’t just lag technology; they’ll increasingly be asked to defend their separation from it, and I’m not really able to defend the system that ‘was’. 

Other things going away in 2026

Canada’s Cherry Blossom by Hershey Canada – I love cherry cordials, but this one looked a lot better on the package than it tasted the times I gave it a try…

Hudsons Bay Company – one of North America’s longest running companies (with a complex history connected with colonial expansion) Nostalgia remains for the blankets, but not so much for the physical stores…

Kraft Dinner – well, 25 grams at least as shrinkflation makes the size of the dinner shift from 225g to 200g

The future is here – and in 2026 it’s time to shift more away from 20th century mindsets and ideologies…