From Google’s Chromecast to the Apple Car, the year 2024 has been one of several disappearances and major disconnections, sometimes arousing emotion, sometimes nostalgia. Here are the new entries in the digital cemetery.
The Chromecast media player
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The Chromecast has been produced in several generations.
Photo : Google
After 11 years of service, Google ended production of the Chromecast in 2024, this small, low-cost media player that makes televisions smart.
The newest model of the device, the Chromecast with Google TV (HD), launching in 2022, is expected to receive updates through 2027, according to Google.
The device, which has sold 100 million units since 2013, is replaced by the Google TV Streamer, which is placed on the television cabinet. Its processor is 22% faster than Chromecast with Google TV, and integration with connected home devices is more efficient, according to the manufacturer.
ICQ messaging
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The ICQ site has undergone several redesigns over the years. Here it is in 2005.
Photo : ICQ
Nearly 30 years after its launch, ICQ messaging, adopted by teenagers in the 1990s and 2000s, bowed out in June.
Launched in 1996, ICQ messaging (for I seek youor “I’m looking for you”, in French) had been the property of the Russian company VK for several years. This estimated the monthly attendance of ICQ at 11 million people in 2022. At its peak, in 2001, this number reached 100 million.
The platform was in turmoil with the dismantling, in March 2024, of a network of pedophiles who exchanged images and videos of child pornography there.
The video game Concord
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The video game “Concord” was launched on August 23 on PC and the PlayStation 5 console.
Photo : Firewalk Studios
As soon as launched, immediately removed from the shelves. The first person shooter Concord did not last long, disconnected two weeks after its release, due to failure to attract players.
If at the beginning of September the developer Firewalk was sure of finding new life there, at the end of October, the studio was dismantled, and the game buried. The players were able to obtain a refund.
The team had invested some $100 million and eight years of work into Concord.
Dematerialized game distribution services
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Dematerialized games do not require a CD or cartridge to run on console.
Photo : afp via getty images / FREDERIC J. BROWN
Wii U and Nintendo 3DS in April, then Xbox 360 in July: the closures of distribution services for dematerialized video games on consoles continued in 2024.
These disconnects resulted in the loss of hundreds of video games without a physical version. Lots of additional downloadable content (DLC) were also withdrawn from the market.
The Canadian subsidiary of TikTok
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The TikTok application remains usable in the country, despite the order to dissolve TikTok Canada.
Photo : Reuters / Danish Siddiqui
Ottawa ordered the liquidation of the Canadian branch of TikTok in November, citing concerns specific national security risks
following an examination.
The news came as a surprise to content creators, who are worried about losing their landmark
local with the company in the country.
TikTok Canada, which employs hundreds of people in the country, challenged the order to cease its activities in court in Vancouver on December 11, arguing in particular that hundreds of thousands of contracts with advertisers were in jeopardy.
The Apple Car project
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The Apple Car was a project kept secret since 2014 by the technology giant.
Photo : Getty Images / Justin Sullivan
The mysterious Apple Car project, rumors of which have caused a lot of ink to flow over the last 10 years, will ultimately never see the light of day.
Progress at Apple’s automotive unit has been uneven since 2014, including changes to vehicle concept and design. If, initially, the giant planned an autonomous car without a steering wheel, over the years, it was rather a more conventional electric car with driving assistance features that was chosen.
According to several specialist sites, more than a thousand people worked on the Titan project, the code name given internally for the Apple Car.
WordPad word processing software
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Microsoft WordPad has been preinstalled on PCs since 1995.
Photo : Microsoft
The death of WordPad, the basic word processing software offered free for almost 30 years on PC, was announced in 2023.
But it was not until October 2024 that it really disappeared from the Microsoft interface, due to the deployment of an update to the Windows 11 operating system.
The software was introduced on Windows 95.
Former YouTube boss Susan Wojcicki
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Susan Wojcicki led the YouTube platform until 2023.
Photo : The Associated Press / Reed Saxon
The year 2024 is also one of great human disappearances. These include Susan Wojcicki, who was instrumental in the rise of Google. She died of lung cancer in August. She was 56 years old.
This woman, one of the most prominent in Silicon Valley, was at the forefront of the creation of the Google search engine, having rented her garage to Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the company’s co-founders.
She was put in charge of YouTube, a position she held for nearly a decade, before stepping down in 2023.
