TBPN's Dead Product Memorial Wall
In the technology industry, products die. Sometimes they die because they were ahead of their time. Sometimes they die because they were behind it. Sometimes they die because a VP at a major corporation decided to "streamline the portfolio," which is corporate speak for "we are killing the thing you love."
The Technology Brothers Podcast Network has covered countless product deaths over the years, and John Coogan and Jordi Hays have developed a reputation for delivering the most honest, most entertaining, and occasionally most devastating eulogies in tech media.
This is the TBPN Dead Product Memorial Wall. Light a candle. Pour one out. And maybe grab a commemorative t-shirt while you are here.
The Products That Died Too Soon
These were the good ones. The products that had real fans, solved real problems, and got killed anyway because the business math did not work or the parent company lost interest.
Every tech enthusiast has a product in this category that still stings. The one they keep bringing up at dinner parties. The one they compare every new product to, usually unfavorably. "It was like [dead product] but worse" is a sentence that gets uttered in tech circles more often than anyone wants to admit.
TBPN covered these deaths with genuine sadness. When a product the hosts actually used and loved gets killed, the commentary carries a weight that performative outrage never can. These episodes are some of the most-clipped and most-shared in the show's history.
For the products that died too soon, we salute you. Your memory lives on in the memorial sticker collection — a tribute to the fallen that fits on any laptop lid.
The Products That Died Too Late
These are the zombie products. The ones that should have been put out of their misery years before the official shutdown notice. They lingered, unloved, unmaintained, a drain on server resources and a source of false hope for the three remaining users who refused to migrate.
TBPN was often the first show to call the time of death long before the official announcement. "This is a dead product walking" became a recurring declaration, and the accuracy rate was uncomfortably high. When a product eventually did shut down — sometimes years after the initial call — the show would do a quick retrospective, and the live chat would light up with timestamps of the original prediction.
These products teach an important lesson: sometimes the kindest thing a company can do is kill a product quickly and cleanly instead of letting it linger in purgatory. A swift death preserves dignity. A slow one just makes everyone sad.
The "Dead Product Walking" tee is for the fans who called it before anyone else. Wear it with the confidence of someone who sees the future clearly — even when the future is bleak.
The Products That Died at Exactly the Right Time
Rare but real. These are the products that had a good run, served their purpose, and exited gracefully. No drama, no petition, no angry blog posts. Just a quiet sunset notice and a clean migration path.
TBPN treats these deaths with respect. Not every product needs to live forever, and the show has always pushed back against the tech industry's obsession with infinite growth. Sometimes a product is done, and that is okay.
These products do not get memorial merch. They get a respectful nod and a place in the archive.
The Graveyard Hall of Fame
Without naming specific products (our lawyers appreciate the caution), here are the categories that have seen the most casualties:
Messaging Apps
The messaging app graveyard is the largest section of the memorial wall. For every messaging platform that survives, approximately forty-seven have been born, gained a passionate user base of twelve million people, and then been shut down because the parent company could not figure out monetization.
TBPN has covered this cycle so many times that John and Jordi can practically predict the shutdown timeline from the moment the app launches. Step one: launch with enthusiasm. Step two: gain users. Step three: struggle to monetize. Step four: get acquired or die. The whole process takes 18 to 36 months, almost without exception.
Hardware Projects
Hardware is hard. That is not just a cliche — it is a fundamental truth that claims a new victim every quarter. Ambitious devices get announced with cinematic trailers, raise fortunes on crowdfunding platforms, and then ship two years late with half the promised features. Or they do not ship at all.
The show's hardware coverage has always been grounded in an understanding of supply chains, manufacturing constraints, and the brutal economics of physical products. When the hosts express skepticism about a hardware announcement, it is not cynicism — it is experience.
Social Networks
Every year brings a new "Twitter killer" or "Facebook alternative" or "the social network for people who hate social networks." And every year, most of them join the memorial wall. The network effects that protect incumbents are staggering, and very few challengers have the patience and funding to survive the years it takes to reach critical mass.
How to Pay Your Respects
If you have lost a beloved product, here are some ways to honor its memory:
- Wear the memorial merch: Our Dead Product Memorial t-shirts are a conversation starter at every tech event. Nothing bonds two strangers faster than shared grief over a killed product.
- Display the stickers: Memorial stickers on your laptop are the tech equivalent of a bumper sticker that says "I remember." Except cooler.
- Hang the poster: A Dead Product Memorial poster on your office wall is both decoration and education. It reminds you — and anyone who visits your workspace — that nothing in tech is permanent.
- Raise a glass: Pour your beverage of choice into a TBPN mug and toast to the products that tried. They may have failed, but they dared to ship.
The Living Products That Should Be Worried
We will not name names. But if you listen to the show regularly — 11 AM to 2 PM PT daily on YouTube and X, or on Spotify and Apple Podcasts — you know which current products John and Jordi have flagged as potential future residents of the memorial wall.
The signs are always the same: declining user engagement, executive departures, "strategic pivots" that look a lot like panic, and increasingly desperate redesigns. When you see these patterns, start your countdown.
And when the shutdown notice drops, we will be here. Live. In real time. With the community. And probably with new merch to mark the occasion.
Visit the TBPN store to browse the full memorial collection and honor the tech products that gave their all.