The lowdown: 7 things in tech that’ll interest you this week
- Good riddance: Apple is saying goodbye to Intel
In 1994, Apple switched from IBM’s PowerPC chips to Intel x86 chips. Steve Jobs, who was then Apple CEO, had said the Cupertino-based company could not envision a future for Apple products with the future PowerPC roadmap. In June 2020, Tim Cook, Jobs’ successor, announced the beginning of another era by revealing that Apple devices would be transitioning from Intel processors to its own custom-designed Apple Silicon. And now in November 2020, Apple has released the Mac Mini 2020, the first device featuring the Apple silicon.
Read more about that move here
2. Hidden figures: The black woman who helped to invent GPS
Seen the movie Hidden Figures and use Google Maps? This is a good profile of Gladys West, the Virginia woman whose work in military research laid the groundwork for GPS, the technology behind digital navigation. Fun fact: She is not related to the rapper Kanye West and she obtained her PhD at 70 despite suffering a stroke.
Read more about Gladys West here
3. Blockchain in Nigeria
Techpoint Africa’s Emmanuel Paul examines NITDA’s recently announced plans to develop a national Blockchain adoption strategy and use it to generate $10billion by 2030.
Read more here
4. The future is here, $3.7 trillion of it.
Mechanization, mass production, automation and now the internet of things. The 4th industrial revolution is here and, according to this MIT Technology Review report, has the potential to create some $3.7 trillion in value by 2025. The companies that are best able to exploit data and integrate new hardware with established IT systems may be best placed to lead in this brave new world.
Read the full MIT Technology Review report here [PDF]
5. A hitchhiker’s guide to the last 13 years in tech innovation
To celebrate our 13th anniversary, we scoured the recent history of tech to bring you a bite-sized timeline of the most important events in tech in the last 13 years.
Read timeline here
6. Fleeting moments
Twitter has joined the copycat bandwagon at long last. This week, it launched Fleets, which is essentially the “Stories” feature everyone is familiar with on WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook. The Facebook conglomerate itself “borrowed” the idea from Snapchat. Is social media tech innovation dead?
Learn how to make Fleets here
7. Hiding in plain sight: Move over oil, tech is here.
A lot can change in a few months. One minute you’re getting laughed out of the room while pitching digitization at top functionaries in the judiciary, the next court sessions are being performed over the internet. Business Day caught up with Danjuma Atta, our country manager, for some insights into the new normal for tech in Nigeria.
Read here
Till next week!
