When Did Electronics Stop Lasting Like They Used To?

My family had the same 27" Sony TV for most of my life. I don't mean that as an exaggeration: we had the TV when I was born, and it was still the family television when I moved out of my dad's place at 22 years old. He ended up keeping it another eight years before upgrading to a flat screen TV... when he tossed it, the Sony still worked and even had the original remote. Flash forward to modern times. My wife and I 'splurged' and bought a 70" television. We researched the models, waited until we saw a good price and took the plunge. About 14 months later, conveniently out of warranty, it just... stopped working. The screen went black and the TV would no longer power on. It had been immediately mounted on the wall and never touched or bothered. We don't watch a ton of TV, so it's not as if we Real Housewives-binged it to death, either.  It just simply stopped working one day. Wal-Mart shrugged and sent us on our way, as did the TV manufacturer. As an added insult, we had to PAY a company to recycle it for us. We replaced the TV, but the replacement only lasted about six months before we had the exact same problem, but with a different brand. Luckily for us, this television was still under warranty and we got a refund. Luckier, we found someone on Facebook that wanted to try to fix it, so we didn't have to pay to get rid of it. Still, I can't help but think that an item that costs $500+ should last for more than a year or two (or ten, for that matter).

ET, TU IPAD? 

We got iPads a few years ago before going on a trip. We bought cases for them, kept them updated and in good working condition. Oops!  Apple has decided they can no longer support my product. This one is even more insane: the iPad is in pristine condition, not a scratch on it. It powers on and holds a charge very well. However, it is no longer able to download the latest iOS, which makes it a $400 paperweight. I could understand if it could no longer play certain games that were too powerful for an older iPad, but I can't even update Kindle on this thing? Come on. As a society we participate in a lot of hand-wringing about the environment and waste, so why isn't anything being done about these 'temporary' products that are all presumably ending up in landfills?