This Week in Tech by Digital Africa
Merry Christmas to all our Christain readers and followers! One interesting tech related Christmas fact for you – did you know that the first widely disruptive computer worm was the Christmas Tree EXEC, which paralyzed several international computer networks in 1987: the worm drew a crude Christmas tree as text graphics and then sent itself to each entry in the target’s email contacts file
One big thank you
This edition of This week in Tech will be the last one of 2020. We are glad to all who have read, shared and given us feedback this year. We are particularly proud that you all managed to keep reading and growing in a time of crisis such as 2020 has presented.
Two lessons we will take away from 2020
Resilience is practice, not words. 2020 is a year that none of us will forget in our lives. It has tested and challenged us more than anything short of actual war or natural disaster. And while a huge number of people have been adversely affected, we must also not forget the magnificent resilience that has come from all corners of the globe.
Companies found new business models, hundreds of thousands of workers quickly pivoted to remote work and new businesses emerged to service the new economy.
That is resilience in practice. Mr Nassim Taleb wrote two books – Black swan and Antifragile. This year proved the thesis in both books. We salute everyone!
Never Quit. This year, Joe Biden won the US elections, 37 years after he first ran for office. We do not concern ourselves with politics, but as Tech advocates operating at the edge of progress, we often run into brick walls when trying new things. There is always a temptation to give up. We embrace every opportunity to remind ourselves that quitting is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
Three tweets we are bookmarking from this year
Four articles worth reading while you relax this holiday
- How State influence helps Chinese Tech companies
- How Godaddy’s security research project got them in trouble
- Boris has done it! How the Brexit deal was dragged over the line
- Can technology track all carbon emissions?
Five technologies, frameworks and ideas to learn as you prepare for 2021
- No code platforms will take more center stage in the coming years. This will dilute the powers of the technical cofounder even further. Business development and project management executives should explore the platforms that are enabling this. One recommendation is bubble.io
- Automation will not take all our jobs. But it will be like steroids for entrepreneurs who learn how to use them. We recommend Robotic Process Automation and Serverless cloud Functions
- API as a service is the next big thing. APIs have been around forever, but in recent years, the availability of more data means that even more niche APIs can be built. Learn how to build and market your own API today
- Explore the concept of valence as it relates to product building
- Explore Decentralised Finance Apps. And while you are at it, invest some time in learning how to build smart contracts
