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Politics & Current Affairs —

A 2011 Technology Review

Assessing a momentous year for new technology, John Naughton says Twitter rules and BlackBerry crumbles, and warns politicians that silicone start-ups generate few local jobs.
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What’s the Latest Development?

Reflecting on another big year for new technology, John Naughton says 2011 was the year Governments all over the world had to deal with the power of social networking, “and their reactions were not exactly an endorsement.” “The prominence of social networking and SMS in political upheaval is simply a measure of the extent to which these technologies have become mundane.”

What’s the Big Idea?

Naughton cautions optimistic U.K. politicians that start-ups and “creative industries” are wonderful things but that start-ups, especially in the tech field, create very few jobs in their home countries. “Most of the manufacturing jobs go to China or Taiwan.” the most exciting product of 2011? An iPad app, Touch Press’s magical evocation of TS Eliot’s great poem, The Waste Land.


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