Instead of politics and AI, here are a few feel-good tech moments from 2025
November 25, 2025
There is a point every December when people start looking back at the year and trying to make sense of it. You know the feeling. Work becomes a little more social. Calendars fill with holiday events. You meet colleagues you have only seen on video calls. You run into old clients. You talk with partners, vendors, friends, and family. You hear what they are planning for next year, what surprised them, and what they are trying to leave behind.
Some years feel heavier than others, and 2025 was definitely one of those years. Politics dominated the news cycle. AI showed up in nearly every headline. Debates about safety, ownership, and trust followed you everywhere. Most people I talked to felt like they were trying to keep their footing in a landscape that never stopped shifting.
I don’t know about you, but I do not want to talk about any of these things over the holidays. But I have to talk. I want something simple. I am still going to talk about tech, of course, but it would be nice to share a sentiment of why I got into technology in the first place. Something that made me smile instead of setting up the next complicated conversation.
The good news is that 2025 had its positive stories as well. Not all of them were loud. They were not tied to hype cycles. They did not define the markets or dominate your inbox. They were just small stories about real people, clever engineering, and technology that did exactly what it was supposed to do.
Here are a few of my favorites. Each one brought a little optimism into a year that needed it.
1. The rise of phone-free experiences at Kanso
This one surprised me. All year long, groups like Kanso saw enormous interest in phone-free events. If you have not looked into their digital wellness gatherings, it is worth taking a moment:
https://www.kansodigitalwellness.com/experiences
What stood out was not the novelty. It was the willingness of people to pay for an evening where their phones are locked away. They read, write, talk, and listen without distractions. They share a room without anyone checking notifications. Can you imagine? It is a simple idea, but it resonated across age groups and cities.
The bigger story is what it says about the environment you operate in. People are not tired of technology. They are tired of the relentless pull of it. They want moments where they can think clearly and be fully present. If you can create digital experiences that feel like the opposite of noise, you are giving people what they are already seeking. Or maybe you can just acknowledge humanity for a bit.
That is a powerful signal for the coming year.
2. A mobility robot that feels like the future arriving early
Every year there is a story that sparks pure excitement. Toyota’s four-legged mobility prototype called Walk Me took that spot for me. The first time I saw it, the reaction was immediate. You get to sit in a crab and be carried around!? Awesome! Wheel chairs have a stigma, they just do. This flips the script and it is about time.
The design is supposed to be inspired by a mountain goat, but I just see a futuristic crab. It can traverse uneven ground. It can climb stairs. You have got to see the way it goes from sleep to walking mode. For someone who depends on a wheelchair, this is not a novelty. It is a chance to experience places that were previously inaccessible. It really has some sci-fi chops.
What makes it special is the intent behind it. You can see a team that cared about the people who would use it. You can see the thought put into stability, comfort, and independence. Technology is at its best when it’s cool, changes viewpoints and widens someone’s world.
3. NASA reminded everyone that we still reach for the stars
NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications update was a bit mind-blowing. The team proved that high-bandwidth laser communications can work across deep space. It feels almost unreal. A spacecraft millions of miles away sending data at speeds that rival what you get from your home wifi. The fact that this is now possible tells you something about what patient, focused work can achieve.
If you want to read the official news, you will find it here:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-deep-space-communications-demo-exceeds-project-expectations/
Looking at the stars is fun. I like thinking about how cultures have found stories in them, and about the physics that govern how they form, burn, and move. Humans have only reached our moon so far, but news like this makes you feel like a kid again. It is nice knowing there are people working on communication capabilities that will take us farther.
4. A lost iPhone spent two months in a river and still found its way home
A man lost his iPhone while tubing on the Delaware River in July. More than two months later, someone found it, turned it on, and used the emergency contact info on the lock screen to return it. The phone still worked.
If you ever need a light story for a holiday gathering or big mixer, this is a good one to carry with you. People love it because it has just enough unexpected detail to make it memorable.
I like it for a different reason. The tech held up. It spent weeks waterlogged at the bottom of a river, and it still powered on. A complete stranger used the tools built into the phone to get it back to its owner. Getting technology right is hard under perfect conditions. It is even harder when everything should have gone wrong. In this case, the whole chain worked exactly the way it was designed to. I am happy for the guy who got his phone back, but I am even more impressed by the engineers behind the scenes who made this outcome possible.
5. FidoAlert reunited tens of thousands of pets with their families
If you have pets, or you end up talking to someone who just adopted one, keep this story in your back pocket. FidoAlert is a free service that uses QR tags and a volunteer network to reunite lost pets with their owners. It has already reunited more than 40,000 animals, and local stations continue to spotlight the impact.
There is nothing complicated about the system. A QR code. A scan. A notification. A quick connection between two people who want the same outcome.
What I like most is how well it demonstrates a simple truth. Innovation does not always come from the biggest platforms or the most advanced tools. Sometimes it comes from removing friction and helping people help each other.
A closing thought for the year ahead
You spent a lot of time this year navigating complexity. So did your teams. So did your partners. The environment will always be full of challenges, but stories like these make something clear. Technology still creates moments of connection, joy, and relief when we design it thoughtfully.
As you move into a new year, I hope you keep an eye out for the small things. The simple wins. The invisible decisions that make someone’s day easier. Those are the moments people remember, and they are often the foundation of your strongest digital work.
Happy planning. Happy Holidays. And have a great new year.
