Skip to content
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.
Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

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.


Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Related
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Curabitur in sem nisi. Donec at convallis felis. Curabitur id mattis libero. Nunc maximus dolor eget iaculis lobortis. Mauris eros mi, mattis […]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aenean volutpat ultricies nibh, ac placerat urna. Vivamus augue arcu, consectetur vitae est mollis, laoreet congue ante. Quisque a aliquet eros, ac […]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla finibus bibendum ligula, malesuada placerat libero vehicula vestibulum. Nulla ut tincidunt arcu, quis scelerisque dolor. Nunc pretium justo tristique nunc eleifend, […]

Up Next