2018 Tech Highlights
2019 is just around the corner. Here are the highs and lows of a rollercoaster year in technology.
APPLE WENT INTERSTELLAR
In August, Apple became the first TRILLION dollar company — making them worth more than all but the 15 richest countries in the world. Not bad for a business nearly bankrupted in the 90's.
(Image: Apple CEO Tim Cook)
ROBOTICS FOR GOOD
In November, Dawn, an avatar cafe in Tokyo, opened its doors to the public for the first time. It’s not just another hip gimmick: the servers are robot avatars, controlled remotely by seriously disabled people suffering from spinal cord injuries and conditions such as ALS. The scheme gives paralysed people a physical role in society — and the good news is it could be scaled up to child and nursing care.
CAMBRIDGE WHO?
It was the biggest tech scandal in decades: so big, it threatened to sink the titanic Facebook. In March, the data-analytics-firm-no-one-had-heard-of, Cambridge Analytica, were exposed for harvesting over 50 million Facebook user’s data without permission, for political purposes. The company’s potential political involvement in the US election and Brexit; and their boasts of manufacturing sex scandals and fake news to swing elections around the world; has left a lasting smear on Zuckerberg’s empire.
DOCTOR AI
In October, an AI programme trained to spot the first signs of depression showed us how technology can positively impact mental health. A machine learning algorithm has had positive results in preliminary tests, diagnosing depression three months earlier than health services, by analysing social media posts. Comforting news for parents worried about the damaging impact of social media on their children, and another example of how we can harness tech for good.
IBM wade in to ocean clean-up
Our oceans are suffering, can technology help save them? In March, IBM Research announced they are testing tiny AI-powered microscopes that could help explore and monitor our threatened waters.
MUSK’S INAPPROPRIATE TWEET
In yet another scandal to rock the tech world, September saw Elon Musk’s now notorious tweet, that he had secured funding to take Tesla private, lead to his forced resignation as its chairman. A mis-calculated slip-up, or the comic-book making of a super-villain?
(Picture: JOSHUA LOTT / STRINGER / GETTY IMAGES)
Where we’re going, we don’t need roads
Two big things happened for transport in 2018: Zoox created the first ever ‘Level 5’ driverless vehicle; coming out of stealth with an impressive $800 million investment, to reimagine the future of transport. In December, Elon Musk’s Boring Company launched their prototype futuristic high-speed tunnel in LA. Designed to transport cars at up to 150mph around the city, it could help ease ‘crippling’ congestion and life threatening pollution.
DID GOOGLE BREACH OUR TRUST?
When Google announced it was absorbing its AI initiative DeepMind in to its new health subsidiary, GoogleHealth, it made an about-turn on its commitment to the protection of NHS patients. Constellation AI founder Tom Strange featured in City AM to call out the breach of trust.