Top Ten Technology Stories of 2016
As 2016 passes, and we look forward to the year ahead, here is my fourth annual list of the ten best long-form stories about technology from last year.
Click here for my list of the best technology books of 2016.
What’s Next In Computing, by Chris Dixon, Medium, February 21, 2016
Andreessen Horowitz general partner, Chris Dixon, has written a number of compelling pieces on Medium this year, but my favorite is a great overview of “What’s Next in Computing”, in which he highlights how each product era has two phases, the gestation phase and the growth phase. He highlights how fast the growth is happening and why. As hardware becomes small, cheap, and ubiquitous, we all have access to sophisticated technology. He then offers predictions in a range of rising technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, wearables, virtual reality, augmented reality. The article has great charts, examples, and links throughout.
What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team, By Charles Duhigg, New York Times Magazine, February 25, 2016
In 2012, Google — a company that spent millions of dollars analyzing worker productivity — launched a study of why some teams succeeded while others faltered. This New York Times Magazine article explains what they learned, and why certain group dynamics trumped others.
Reid Hoffman, interviewed in two parts by Charlie Rose, September 29 and 30, 2016
Charlie Rose had a number of great interviews with technology leaders in 2016, including Eric Schmidt, Andrew McAffee, Jony Ive (in three parts), Tim Cook, Travis Kalanick, and Brian Chesky, among others. My favorite interview, though, was the two part interview he did with Reid Hoffman. Hoffman has been at the center of a number of big ideas, as an executive at PayPal and then as founder of LinkedIn, and now as an investor, and he offers perspectives on what he believes is next in technology
The inside story of how Amazon created Echo, the next billion-dollar business no one saw coming, by Eugene Kim, Business Insider, April 2, 2016
With all the stories of Amazon Echo selling out this holiday season, and the overwhelmingly positive reviews the device have garnered, Kim’s piece on the creation of Echo is enlightening. It takes us into the innovation process at Amazon, and highlights how Amazon succeeds through pursuing more ideas more rapidly than most other companies (no matter the industry) can.
GE, the 124-Year-Old Software Start-Up, by Steve Lohr, New York Times Magazine, August 27, 2016
GE has gained appropriate coverage for its bet of software and digital business. CEO Jeff Immelt has declared that there is no plan B. This is the future. In this New York Times piece, Lohr describes the transformation that is afoot and the rationale behind it. It offers lessons for other big companies that must re-invent themselves.
Our Automated Future, by Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, December 19 and 26, 2016
In a book review of Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future, Kolbert offers a detailed reflection on the rise of robotics and AI, and the consequences for employment. It begins with the genesis of IBM Watson, and highlights the great gains we will obtain from artificial intelligence, but that many of them will not be accompanies by employment gains, as robots take over many tasks from humans.
How technology disrupted the truth, by Katharine Viner, The Guardian, July 12, 2016
Since the American election, many false stories have made headlines, and some of the fake news have even led to strange instances of vigilante justice. Viner laments that traditional public interest reporting will wane in the wake of people assembling their own facts, aligned with their worldview. The consequences will be profound for media, but to a greater extent, it may limit our understanding of the world
Who Will Build the Next Great Car Company?, by Erin Griffiths, Fortune, June 23, 2016
The success of a company like Tesla, which has succeeded by rethinking most aspects of the design and building of the automobile, has led to a re-think from many traditional automotive companies in Detroit. Ford and General Motors have made their own splashes with advances in electric vehicles, and increasingly providing more self-driving capabilities. Add to the mix the likes of Apple and Google, together with a variety of other automotive start-ups, and it appears rethinking the way in which we commute is on the GPS of many companies these days. No one can be declared a winner as yet, but the story offers interesting insights into how traditional companies can fight back against innovative technology companies who might encroach on their space.
The Competitive Landscape for Machine Intelligence, by Shivon Zilis and James Cham, Harvard Business Review, November 2, 2016
As fast as things develop in the world of machine learning and artificial intelligence, and the need for technology executives to get a firm grounding in the various topic areas (audio, internal data, market, sensor, visual), it is useful to get the view from Bloomberg Beta’s Zilis and Cham. They provide ways in which machine learning will make talent more productive, introduce new sources of data, and rethink how software is built. This is a useful overview.
Special thanks to Brian Watson and Brandon Metzger for their help in finding several of the stories highlighted here.
Peter High is President of Metis Strategy, a business and IT advisory firm. His latest book is Implementing World Class IT Strategy. He is also the author of World Class IT: Why Businesses Succeed When IT Triumphs. Peter moderates the Forum on World Class IT podcast series. He speaks at conferences around the world. Follow him on Twitter @PeterAHigh.
Originally published at www.forbes.com on January 4, 2017.
