Things from the year you were born that don't exist anymore
Things from the year you were born that don't exist anymore
The last century saw the birth of iconic inventions and innovations like radios, televisions, computers, iPhones, and the Slinky. Other products were lost over the last 100 years, like the Monopoly thimble and celery-flavored Jell-O.
To take a trip down memory lane, 麻豆原创 curated a list of products that came out the year you were born that no longer exist, scouring timelines, news articles, and trusted websites. The iconic (and at times silly) toys, technologies, and electronics have been usurped since their grand entrance, either by advances in technology or breakthroughs in common sense. See how many thing on this list trigger childhood memories鈥攁nd which ones were here and gone so fast you missed them entirely.
1918: RadiThor
William J. A. Bailey dissolved radium in water to create an energy drink he named RadiThor, which was just one piece of over the newly discovered element. Industrialist Eben McBurney Byers was rumored to have consumed 1,400 bottles to ease back and joint pain; eventually, his teeth began falling out and his bone tissue started to disintegrate. It took another full decade for RadiThor to fizzle out; that's when, in 1931, the Federal Trade Commission filed a cease-and-desist order against Bailey Radium Laboratories.
1919: Rotary phone
When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, he probably didn鈥檛 imagine how far it would come over the next century and a half. In 1919, the American Bell Telephone Company for rotary dial phones, the first mass-produced phone controlled by the user. When push-button phones were installed in 1963, to their rotary phones. Even those are becoming obsolete, to communicating solely by cellphone.
1920: Life Savers Malt-O-Milk
Life Savers to little fanfare. The flavor neither freshened your breath nor gave you a "pick-me-up鈥 like its fruity cousins, and was discontinued within a couple of years.
1921: Peace dollar
Just . After silver was depleted in 1928, Peace Dollar production ceased until late 1933 when President Roosevelt issued a proclamation to mint a small number of silver dollars in 1934 and 1935.
1922: Yamaha hand-wound gramophone
Who knew when Yamaha that the device would be the award? As sound technology continued to improve through the 20th century (especially with the invention of the radio), the we know today.
1923: A.C. Gilbert Company chemistry sets
When A.C. Gilbert Company , it came complete with . Fast forward to the 1960s when the helped make the kits safer. By 1967, A.C. Gilbert Company had ceased operations.
1924: The Moviola
The Moviola鈥攁n editing system for film鈥 and was used by film editors until the 1960s. Inventor Iwan Serrurier originally designed the Moviola as but adapted it to be used by film editors at the recommendation of an editor at Douglas Fairbanks Studios.
1925: Burma Shave
A brand of brushless shaving cream called Burma-Shave was the first of its kind to hit it big with the public. That popularity was more than likely due to a brilliant advertising campaign along American roadways. In 1963, the company was , which began removing Burma Shave's famous road signs. By 1966, production was moved to New Jersey and then discontinued altogether.
1926: Cathode ray tube televisions
Scottish inventor John Lodgie Baird that used cathode ray tubes to mechanically scan pictures displayed on the screen. Called CRTs, they remained wildly popular until the 21st century, when LCD and other electronic displays outpaced them. Sony . Some gamers and retro enthusiasts , but they're increasingly difficult to find outside of thrift shops or eBay.
1927: Iron lung
Harvard medical researchers Philip Drinker and Louis Agassiz Shaw to help patients with polio at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. The respirator contraption was widely used in polio outbreaks during the '40s and '50s, but the eventually made iron lungs all but obsolete in medical treatment. A only three people in the United States still using iron lungs.
1928: Raleigh cigarette
Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company in 1928 , Raleigh. The company was best-known for on the backs of cigarette packs, which smokers collected and redeemed for gifts.
1929: Wonder Stories magazine
Hugo Gernsback, 鈥,鈥 founded this magazine after bankruptcy forced him to sell his first science fiction publication, "Amazing Stories." "Wonder Stories," popular throughout the 1930s, helped to establish science fiction as an independent genre. The publication went through a number of before eventually becoming a casualty of the post-WWII move away from pulp magazines. Publication ceased in 1955.
1930: Mickey Mouse comic strip
Mickey Mouse may have made his debut in 1928, but it wasn't until two years later that he starred in his own comic strip. The Mickey Mouse comic strip ran in and ran continuously for .
1931: Sleepy鈥檚
Sleepy's , and by 2014 had 1,000 stores across the country. The company was bought out in 2015 by Mattress Firm, which now operates exclusively online.
1932: Cake breaker
When Cale J. Schneider , he had no notion of its destiny as a comb for Afro鈥怉merican hair. While bakers today use pie cutters to cut their angel food cakes, in its day, this tool took the cake.
1933: Parker Vacumatic pen
The Parker Vacumatic fountain pen was the best-selling writing implement of its time, and more than $125,000 to develop. All-metal filler units, jewel and tassle rings at the ends of the barrels, a remarkably advanced filling system, and two-tone nibs delighted consumers and gave the pen an air of royalty. The Parker Vacumatic was in production until 1948.
1934: Betsy Wetsy doll
The Betsy Wetsy doll鈥攚hich could 鈥攚as popular with little girls for decades. The doll was also among the first to be made with different skin tones to appeal to a broader audience.
1935: Monopoly thimble
If you've ever played with an older version of Monopoly, chances are you are familiar with the thimble token. In 2017, from its selection of player pieces in favor of several newer options like the Tyrannosaurus rex, rubber ducky, and penguin.
1936: Life magazine
Life published its first issue on Nov. 23, 1936. Founded by , the magazine was a pioneer of photojournalism and famous for its vivid war coverage鈥攑articularly of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. It ceased and in 2000, Time announced that it would be discontinued entirely and instead use the name for special features and books.
1937: Pedal cars
Children in 1937 to enjoy with the invention of the pedal car. The cost of the extravagant toy car was $15, equivalent to about $250 today, and prominently featured in Sears catalogs every year during the Great Depression. Pedal cars were briefly discontinued after the attack on Pearl Harbor, as the metal used to make them was needed for the war effort. By the 鈥60s and 鈥70s, 鈥攆ollowed by the proliferation of cheap, plastic pedal toys鈥攍ed to the permanent death of pedal cars.
1938: Drunkometer
Indiana University chemistry professor Rolla Harger鈥檚 Drunkometer was a predecessor of today鈥檚 breathalyzer. Ironically, this second version was created by another Indiana University professor. The earlier Drunkometer model used a rubber balloon and purple liquid to measure a person鈥檚 alcohol consumption.
1939: DDT pesticide
Though , DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) until 1939, when Paul Hermann M眉ller discovered its effectiveness at killing pests. He was for his discovery, and DDT was widely used through the 1960s. It wasn鈥檛 until Rachel Carson published her famous book "Silent Spring" in 1962 that the toxic properties of DDT were widely acknowledged, which .
1940: Daring Mystery comics
Long before Marvel Comics dominated the superhero comic world, The series was published during the time dubbed the "Golden Age of Comic Books.鈥欌
1941: Gourmet magazine
Something special was cooking Elite readers were treated to its glossy pages, gorgeous photography, and elevated recipes until 2009 when the publication
1942: Hawaii overprint note
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government began to worry that the Japanese army might invade Hawaii and use it as a base to launch an attack on the mainland. To in the case of an invasion, the federal government recalled all U.S. money on the islands and printed bills with the word "Hawaii" stamped across them. By October 1944, the U.S. government deemed the threat to have passed and or used them in other islands in the Pacific.
1943: Steel pennies
Copper was critical to the American war effort during World War II. In order to ensure as much copper as possible could be used for equipment wiring, to create pennies until 1944. Several silver 1944 pennies and copper 1943 pennies were made in error; some are still in circulation today, and may be worth thousands of dollars.
1944: Lead pipe from Clue
When Anthony Pratt invented Clue in 1944, the board game included six weapon tokens: the candlestick, knife, lead pipe, revolver, rope, and wrench. The game has been reimagined over the years with weapons being added and replaced. .
1945: $500 bill
The last . The bill featured President William McKinley and was
1946: Ayds diet pills
When , hope for dieters came in three flavors: chocolate, butterscotch, and caramel鈥攑lus a big dose of phenylpropanolamine. Not until the 1970s and 1980s did Ayd鈥檚 became top-selling diet food. The diet pills were outlawed in Canada and when the AIDS crisis gained media attention.
1947: Polaroid cameras
The first Polaroid camera . The invention revolutionized the field of photography, making it more accessible to everyday people鈥攗ntil the advent of digital cameras. In 2008 and 2009, it would stop manufacturing its instant cameras and the film they used. However, the millennial fascination with retro technology has led some to attempt to bring back instant cameras in 2017, but professional photographers say these latest attempts .
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1948: Tiny-mite radio
Kids had a new toy on their Christmas lists when the Crystal radios gave little tykes a way to tune into a new form of fun.
1949: Man-from-Mars Radio Hat
Hats off to inventor Victor T. Hoeflich for . Hoeflich鈥攆ounder of novelty manufacturing corporation American Merri-Lei鈥攚as tuned in to a growing interest in having portable access to news and entertainment. The hats sold for $7.95 and came in seven stunning hues. In spite of its initial popularity, the radio hats were discontinued in 1955 to make way for a : the transistor radio.
1950: Early remote control
Zenith was a pioneer in the creation of the TV remote. It , which was a motorized knob that connected to television sets with a cable. People liked the ability to control their TVs from a distance, but many complained that people tripped over the cable. Lazy Bones was , the first wireless remote, and the Space Command.
1951: Videotape recorder
Invented by the videotape recorder revolutionized how Americans watched television and movies, using magnetic tape to capture the images on their screens. From there, Sony was , and Ginsberg鈥檚 invention enjoyed wild success up through the turn of the century. DVD and streaming have since taken over, and the last known VCR maker .
1952: 'Abbott and Costello Show'
The comedy duo famed for their rapid-fire comedy and 鈥?鈥 routine had long reigned supreme on radio and the big screen. But in the early 鈥50s, . They found a new life on television with their own show, which ran for two seasons. After the show ended, the two appeared together in a final film before going their separate ways.
1953: Rabbit ears
In 1953, television became a lot clearer when which could be placed on or near televisions to improve the reception. The industry has seen an uptick in the purchase of modern offering inexpensive options for channel access.
1954: Transistor radio
Teenagers were jubilant when the , offering a new way to enjoy music. When the Regency TR-1 hit stores, the radio received AM stations and , equal to more than $400 in today's market. The technology also inspired manufacturers to create smaller devices such as cameras, alarm clocks, and calculators.
1955: Cissy doll
the first modern fashion doll. The fashionista boasted a lovely figure which could be outfitted with any number of gowns and dresses. High heeled shoes capped her signature style.
1956: The Ladder
was America's first national lesbian magazine, created by the first national lesbian organization the Daughters of Bilitis. as a 12-page newsletter but grew to feature news stories, book reviews, poetry, short fiction, and letters from readers. The Ladder also provided positive messages for a marginalized community. The magazine folded in 1972 due to a lack of funds and a difference in opinion over the magazine鈥檚 direction.
1957: Ford Edsel
Henry Ford had high hopes for the car he named after his son Edsel. He , only for its legacy to be the Ford that flopped. Although the car came in 18 models, it survived just two years on the market.
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1958: RCA Victor tape cartridge
The RCA Victor tape cartridge was created to offer recording quality in a convenient format for the consumer market. After four years of development, the reversible cassette was launched in sync with the introduction of the stereophonic phonograph record. The cartridge didn鈥檛 take off as planned, however: Production .
1959: Chatty Cathy
If you were born this year and enjoyed the gift of gab, you may have earned the nickname Chatty Cathy i She was discontinued in 1964, for collectors who may have missed out the first time.
1960: The Chevrolet Corvair
The The model received a coveted annual design award from the Industrial Designers Institute, yet consumer advocate and politician Ralph Nader called the Corvair "one of the nastiest-handling cars ever built.鈥
1961: Somewhere perfume
At the start of the 鈥60s, Avon . The green-floral scent, apparently, went nowhere.
1962: Fizzies
Fizzies were tablets that could be dropped into a cup of water to add instant (and very temporary) carbonation and fruit flavor. The Emerson Drug Company sold the sugar-free, flavored tablets to wide public appeal, and by 1968, the product was selling twice as much as Kool-Aid. Unfortunately, the sugar substitute in Fizzies included 鈥攖he latter of which was eventually banned. That, along with the short-lived fizz and diluted flavoring, helped along Fizzies' eventual demise. The brand has been brought back a number of times since, only to flounder again.
1963: Mister Rogers
A beloved classic, "Mister Rogers鈥 Neighborhood" on CBC as "Misterogers," The broadcast moved to its home on PBS in 1968. An , Fred Rogers invited a generation of America鈥檚 youth to be kind and compassionate to themselves and one another. The show aired continuously until 2001, but its legacy lives on in the full episodes and the memories of the children who loved it.
1964: Celery-flavored Jell-O
Jell-O tried to fulfill fruit and veggie nutrition requirements with this garden variety. Who could resist a ? Maybe everyone; they were pulled off shelves a few years later.
1965: Goody Two Shoes doll
Little girls loved the Goody Two Shoes doll from Ideal Toy Company. The battery-operated plastic doll .
1966: Computer Weekly
When it launched in 1966, . The publication is no longer in print, but lives on as a multi-platform digital publication, reaching millions of IT enthusiasts.
1967: Floppy disk drive
Alan Shugart at IBM in 1967. Anyone who used these drives remembers that they initially used an 8-inch disk, which was called a diskette as it got smaller. Sony was the last to manufacture floppy disks, .
1968: Flower-flavored PEZ
Who can forget the sheer delight of dispensing a PEZ candy and letting it fizz in your mouth? When PEZ , it did not garner the same delight as other PEZ favorites. It went out a fashion soon after the Summer of Love that inspired it and .
1969: Flatsy doll
Little girls adored Ideal Toy Company's , which entered the toy scene in 1963. In spite of being a favorite among young girls, .
1970: National Lampoon magazine
When National Lampoon magazine launched, the publication sold fewer than The magazine had people rollicking for almost three decades and became a major media influence on films like "Caddyshack" and "Animal House."
1971: Buc Wheats cereal
Buc Wheats was a cereal released by General Mills described as 鈥溾 and glazed with maple. However, controversy erupted when General Mills replaced that maple glaze with honey instead. The product in 1982.
1972: Toaster Eggs
Downyflake imagined its Toaster Eggs would The concept of an egg cooking in a toaster was toast by 1975.
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1973: Playgirl
While you were certainly too young to read if you were born the year it launched, 6,000 other people bought the magazine's first copy. Circulation soared in its but the proliferation of free online erotica led to the end of print issues by 2015.
1974: Gerber Singles
Something very different was cooking up at Gerber in 1974 when the company 鈥攎ini portions of food packaged like it was for a baby and marketed to adults. The product, considered Gerber鈥檚 single worst idea, was quickly pulled from the shelves.
1975: Betamax
Sony tapes a year before VHS in an effort to control the industry. In spite of the company's efforts, VHS it was less expensive and the tapes lasted three hours instead of one.
1976: Telstar gaming console
Gaming company Coleco hit it big in the mid-1970s with its Telstar console, which offered a cheap way for families across America to . The company of these dedicated consoles over the next two years, but Coleco was forced to get rid of more than a million of their now-obsolete Telstar machines as the gaming market moved on to programmable, cartridge-based systems.
1977: Town Dump
Did you ever play ? The object was to bulldoze trash onto your opponent鈥檚 property. Unlike the many other quality games from Milton Bradley, this one appears to be rubbish.
1978: Farah Fawcett shampoo
Anyone who watched TV in the 1970s remembers the commercial featuring Women across America dreamed they would and wind up looking like one of Charlie鈥檚 Angels.
1979: Sony Walkman
Long before CDs, MP3s, and streaming music, the paved the way for portable personal music. Over 200 million Sony Walkman cassette players were sold before Sony retired the classic cassette tape Walkman line in 2010.
1980: The Face
The Face, a launched by Nick Logan in May 1980 was a style bible for the 25 and under age market. By the end of the decade, it was selling 88,000 copies a month. The magazine shuttered in 2004 due to sagging numbers and print media's changing landscape.
1981: DeLorean DMC-12
The DeLorean became a household name thanks to the "Back to the Future" movies, but fans looking to get their own version of the famous time machine might have had a hard time. Founded in 1976 by former General Motors executive John DeLorean, just a year after the DMC-12 was released鈥攁 full three years before it became famous. In 2016, it would produce a small number of new replica models thanks to a manufacturing bill passed by Congress.
1982: Knight Rider Knight 2000 Voice Car
If you were one of the cool kids of the 鈥80s, you probably watched "Knight Rider" religiously on Friday nights and more than likely owned the . The car was outfitted with a vintage blue California license plate and came with a Michael Knight action figure.
1983: Kids 鈥淩鈥 Us
Kids "R" Us, a subsidiary of Toys "R" Us, opened in New Jersey and Brooklyn in 1983 and sold children's and teen clothing. In 2003, Kids "R" Us
1984: Seiko UC-2000 wrist computer
The Seiko UC-2000 wrist computer Only capable of storing 2K of data, telling the time, and performing calculator functions, the device was extravagantly priced at $300鈥攁bout $690 in today鈥檚 dollars.
1985: No Respect
Fans of Rodney Dangerfield , which included a stack of some of his the comedian's most famous jokes. Playing for self-respect was the object of the game.
1985: Entertech water guns
Entertech released a line of battery-powered, realistic squirt guns that could shoot streams of water up to 30 feet. The fact that they were so realistic, however, was ultimately their downfall. After a series of in which officers killed teenagers they believed were armed with real weapons, cities began banning them. Entertech tried to manufacture less realistic water guns, but the company and began phasing out toy manufacturing entirely.
1987: Chiquita frozen juice bars
Chiquita monkeyed around with . The company went so far as to invest $30 million in the project, which was quickly shelved.
1988: Nintendo Entertainment System
Imagine the excitement when the The 8-bit home video console gave Mario and Zelda lovers a way to play at home. Despite being the best-selling console of all time, it was . Nostalgia has managed in recent years
1989: Trump: The Game
As a real estate developer in 1989, former President Donald Trump released a Monopoly-inspired . He re-released the game in 2004 when he became a reality TV star. The original game sold less than a million copies, but today, the game is a collector鈥檚 item.
1990: Crayola鈥檚 dandelion crayon
Crayola's in the company's classic 24-pack in 1990. Although this particular shade , the iconic yellow hue will live on in children鈥檚 artwork.
1991: McDonald鈥檚 McLean Deluxe Burger
McDonald鈥檚 added the 鈥攖o its menu to appease health critics and appeal to the health-conscious consumer. The sandwich earned little in terms of sales, but did earn the ."
1992: Butterfingers BBs
What kid did not ? The little chocolate balls of heaven tasted just like their namesake but in a spherical, fun-sized form. While they were discontinued in 2006, Butterfinger channeled its creative spirit into Butterfinger Bites in 2009.
1993: Apple Newton
The predecessor of the smartphone was a handheld device called the Apple Newton. The device鈥攚hich earned the first use of the term "personal digital assistant," or PDA鈥攈ad a . CEO Steve Jobs pulled the line in 1997.
1994: Pogs
Kids could not collect enough Pogs in the '90s. The little featured different designs and characters. The milk caps variant stayed popular until 1997, when the manufacturer of Pogs, Canada Games, went under.
1995: Josta
Pepsi gets credit as the first American soft drink company to before the market for them took off in the U.S. Josta's fruity flavor, derived from guarana, didn鈥檛 click with consumers and the drink was pulled from the shelves in 1999. It still lives on in the hearts and minds of the 鈥90s kids who loved it鈥攁nd who've to get it back on the shelves.
1996: PalmPilot
U.S. Robotics rolled out the . Priced at $299, the PalmPilot 1000 had 128Kb of memory and a monochrome, touch-screen display. The device went through many iterations over a decade and a half, until it was forced out of the market with the arrival of the .
1997: Orbitz drink
Orbitz with a non-carbonated, fruit-flavored drink that looked more like a lava lamp than a bottled beverage. The balls of gelatin and the medicinal taste did not appeal to many taste buds; Orbitz was off the shelves in the same year it arrived.
1998: Teen People
"Real people, real teens鈥 was the tagline for . Teens across America enjoyed reading stories about fashion, beauty, and celebrities until the .
1999: MSN Messenger
to rival AOL鈥檚 AIM service. If you were one of the cool kids using MSN Messenger, you carefully selected your font style and color and used emoticons in your name and status. Despite the decade and a half of memories, it was shut down in 2013. Its rival didn鈥檛 last much longer, either: AIM discontinued service four years later.
2000: Heinz EZ Squirt colored ketchup
Heinz execs thought its iconic condiment鈥攌etchup鈥攃ould use a makeover, and went ahead to launch and a kid-friendly bottle. First on the shelves was the spinach-colored "Blastin鈥 Green,鈥 followed by orange, purple, teal, blue, and pink. Around 25 million bottles were sold before Heinz pulled the gimmicky product in 2006.
2001: Sony Ericsson phone
The was one of the most forward-thinking cell phones of its era. The gadget was one of the first phones with a color display and had an add-on camera accessory option. Constant upgrades and advances in phone technology phased this particular model out almost immediately. While the T68 was released in time for holiday shopping, its revamped version鈥攖he t68i鈥攚as released in 2002.
2002: Funky Fries
In 2002, Ore-Ida Funky Fries including cocoa, cinnamon, and kool blue. Ore-Ida thought this spin on their spuds would be a perfect companion for kids to pair with Heinz鈥檚 "kiddie鈥 colored condiments.
2003: Coca-Cola Swerve
Coca-Cola tried to get to the head of the class with its in 2003. The milk-based drink product from the American Heart Association was really not that smart for your heart but was available in school cafeterias.
2004: Microsoft SPOT watch
Before the Apple Watch took the world by storm, Microsoft tried its hand at creating wearable smart technology with the SPOT (). Gadget-lovers thought the technology鈥 to receive messages, news headlines, and weather forecasts鈥攚as revolutionary. The development of cellular broadband quickly left the SPOT Watch in the dust and in 2008, . All that was left was a digital, battery-powered watch.
2005: Bald Guyz Head Wipes
Bald guys were given a chance to not shine with the introduction of . The individually wrapped towelettes cleaned the scalp and kept it from reflecting the light.
2006: Hallmark magazine
Big-hearted fans of Hallmark cards and movies were elated when Hallmark launched its bimonthly magazine. Although circulation , Hallmark elected to shelf the magazine due to the spiraling trend in magazine publishing.
2007: Original iPhone
When the iPhone was launched in 2007, it was priced at $499 for 4 GB and $599 for 8 GB, and In its first year, the iPhone sold more than 1.9 million phones.
2008: Blackberry Storm
The attempt by software developer company RIM (Research In Motion) to launch an iPhone rival did not take the market by storm鈥攊n fact, the Blackberry Storm is remembered a . The failure was written about in a book entitled "Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry.鈥
2009: Fruitless Tropicana packaging
When brand guru to lose its signature packaging featuring a ripe orange, the company lost more than just the fruit on its cartons. It lost $30 million dollars in sales.
2010: KFC Double Down
KFC's Double Down as a sandwich featuring two pieces of fried chicken as burger buns with bacon, cheese, and sauce in the middle. It disappeared from the menu, but made in 2021.
2011: Dubble Bubble Painterz Mouth Coloring Bubble Gum
Halloween 2011 had a special treat with of Dubble Bubble Painterz Mouth Coloring Bubble Gum. The gum came in five different flavors and colors and painted your mouth the color of the gum you were chewing.
2012: Original Google Glass
Google was hoping the world would want to see the world in a new way when it . However, not many people were ready to shell out $1,500 for a pair. While the technology lives on with the launch of 鈥擜rtificial Intelligence.
2013: Facebook Home
Facebook had high hopes of Not even a month after its release, the company dropped the cost of a two-year subscription for such a privilege from $99 to 99 cents.
2014: Amazon鈥檚 Fire Phone
Amazon's Fire Phone was . But all its technological bells and whistles weren't enough to keep the Fire Phone afloat into 2016.
2015: Keurig Kold
Although sales for Keurig鈥檚 coffee machines continue to percolate, its attempt to cross over into the soda market fizzled out. The Keurig Kold machine, and capable of making Coke-branded products from signature Keurig pods, was discontinued in 2016.
2016: Samsung's Galaxy Note 7
If you were born in 2016, your parents might have been texting or phoning relatives and friends with the news on a The phone had just a few small issues, like catching fire and exploding, which led to it being banned by several airlines.
2017: Mercedes home battery pack
The thinking behind was to store the energy solar panels produced with what was, essentially, a Mercedes-Benz car battery. The car company's attempt to compete with Tesla's Powerwall flopped; by April of 2018, the company announced no more home battery packs would be produced.