Was 2025’s (Liquid) Glass Half Empty Or Half Full?
Looking back on one crazy year
Here we are at the end of 2025… finally! It feels like for many of us, the year lasted forever and yet sped by in the blink of an eye. It’s common to reflect on the year that has passed, and since my focus is on technology—especially Apple products, software, and services—I thought I’d share my two cents. However, I’m doing this in the context of losing our Altadena home and everything in it on January 7th, due to the Eaton Fire.
So, before I dive into the year’s most important tech trends and stories, I want to give my award to the one tech-oriented thing that mattered most to me because of those events: cloud storage! More specifically, Dropbox.
After losing all my external drives in the fire, it was an enormous relief to turn on my new 14-inch M4 Pro MacBook Pro a week after the disaster and watch Dropbox restore 91,729 items. Although I lost my priceless archive drives, I was able to recover everything I’ve worked on and created since I started using Dropbox in 2013. That’s one reason I briefly mentioned the cloud service in a previous post back in May. That’s also why my next post will go into more detail about Dropbox.
But it wasn’t just Dropbox; I had some files and folders stored in iCloud Drive that reappeared, too. The same goes for all my cloud-based email, iCloud settings, Photos library, Music library, and more. These services have been around long enough for me to take them for granted, but seeing my digital life come back to me that January day was truly miraculous.
While not technically considered backups, since Dropbox and iCloud Drive are not mirrors of everything on my previous internal drive (for example, the apps folder), they had all the files I needed to get back up and running quickly and for that I am forever grateful.
Now, let’s review the tech that rocked our world, along with some big missteps in 2025.
#1 With A Bullet: AI
While the “bullet” reference comes from the Billboard music charts, a lot of people either felt AI was gunning for them or wanted to put a bullet in it. AI stories were everywhere in 2025, whether it was about data centers requiring ever-increasing amounts of energy—Google’s “Project Suncatcher” aims to power them from space!—or about web browsers like ChatGPT Atlas and apps racing to incorporate AI. For me, I knew the AI Hype had gone into overload when Zoom added an AI assistant. Was that really necessary? Does anyone even use it? (The answers: no, and no.) For more on 2025’s Top 10 Tech Stories, check out this TechRepublic rundown.
Taking A Pass On Liquid Glass
In the world of All Things Apple, September’s announcement of Liquid Glass across all its devices garnered the most media attention and column inches, even before the launch. It has also been one of Apple’s most controversial decisions. Since its debut in Apple’s newest “26” operating systems, Apple has gradually been dialing back Liquid Glass, allowing users to soften its overly flashy interface. The recent news that Allan Dye, the person responsible for this semi-debacle, had left Apple also brought many of us a sense of relief and hope for the future. Steve Jobs once famously said that design isn’t about how things look; it’s about how they work. Dye believed the opposite. For him, it was all about the look, with Liquid Glass the epitome of that belief. Let’s hope his replacement, solid Apple veteran Stephen Lemay, can steer the Apple ship back into calmer waters.
As the Norwegians say, Liquid Glass is “not so bad” on iPhones and iPads, but on the Apple Watch and the Mac, it’s an abomination. As usual, The Eclectic Light’s Howard Oakley methodically outlined everything wrong with macOS 26 “Tahoe” in his trademark precise and understandable way. You can read his assessment, “Look Back In Disbelief,” here.
If You’re Still Using iOS 18, Read This!
Because of the Liquid Glass issue, many iPhone users are sticking with iOS 18. If you are one of them, pay attention. There are “active exploits” that can affect millions of iPhone users running iOS 18; the latest version was 18.7.2. Still, Apple decided to fix these exploits only in the newer iOS 26, specifically the latest version, iOS 26.2. Apple did release iOS 18.7.3, which also addresses these vulnerabilities, but that update is only for iPhone X, XR, and XS models. Why? Because those models can’t run iOS 26! All newer models, however, can. So if you’ve been hesitant about upgrading to iOS 26, my advice is to do it… NOW. For more info, check out this Forbes article.
The Best (And Worst) Of The Rest
For Apple, 2025 was also marked by a wave of executive shakeups amid ever-changing tariffs from the bonkers band of idiots inhabiting the White House. On the upside, there were the wildly popular iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max models and the return (kind of) of Blood Oxygen Monitoring on the Apple Watch. An unusual misstep for Apple was the iPhone Air and iPhone 16e, both of which tanked big-time. As in, people stayed away in droves. And, in the “I never saw that one coming” category, in November, Apple started selling a pricey, Japanese-made iPhone Pocket (or sock, as most people are calling it), which promptly sold out worldwide. Go figure! You can read more about these roller-coaster developments at the following websites:
2025 Was Huge For Apple — Here’s Why (Cult of Mac)
5 Most Important Software Features Apple Introduced in 2025 (MacRumors)
Apple’s 3 Biggest Wins and Losses (Fast Company)
That’s A Wrap
No matter whose technology you use, the purpose of it is to improve our lives in ways we sometimes can’t even imagine. However, this year showed me, more than ever, the importance of stepping away from the screen and re-evaluating what truly matters. In my case, that is the people in my life, not the technology they use. It’s the All Saints Church, Pasadena music community I’m part of that helped me maintain my sanity in the face of the unthinkable. And it’s you, my loyal readers, who keep me grounded and remind me of why I write these columns in the first place. To everyone who has supported my wife, Ellen, and me through these difficult times, I thank you for what you have given us and continue to provide. I sincerely pray that 2026 will be more joyful, hopeful, and fulfilling for all of us than this year has been.
Your friendly neighborhood Tech Daddy
Many of you have asked if there is a GoFundMe campaign to help us recover from the devastating loss of our home and possessions. The answer is yes! Our dear friend Jenn Melyan has created a GoFundMe for us, which you can access here.
Tech Daddy Substack Founding Members
Leigh Adams Edgar Johnson Harvey Rosenfield