The most electrifying Recurrent Patterns of 2021

Dear Reader, thank you for your time, feedback and conversations through the year. Looking back at all the posts it was an interesting year and we saw some exciting innovation coming to our lives. Some stories were just old, tired recurrent patterns which everyone could have guessed, some started new patterns.

I tried to separate the noise and highlight the stories which were relevant, interesting and worth paying attention.

What lies ahead in 2022? Using the quote by Mark Twain, we see “History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes.” There will certainly be new stories and updates about themes I’ve covered in machine learning, quantum computing, digital transformation, digital assets boom and more. We will see the success and failure of business strategies where keen observers had good reasons to bet either way.

Let’s see what’s coming up next by taking a quick glance back at some of the more interesting Recurrent Patterns of 2021.

January

Governments at all levels love the idea of smart cities. Cisco used the buzzword of ‘Smart City’ and was aiming to make a lot of money from helping cities use data to manage cities better - and then, Cisco pulled the plug. Why do that, when it seemed like billions of dollars were up for grabs?

This was the thought at the time: Because cities never really had any money to spend on these projects (or even to fix all the potholes). Soon, when all the federal, provincial and state stimulus money ends, cities will have to really rethink their priorities.

The economy was already reeling from a supply chain shortage of microchips in early 2021. You’d think all microchip manufacturers would be having a great time keeping up with such demand. While big companies started introducing their own chips (Apple, Tesla, Microsoft), Intel became a victim of its own wrong strategy. For the rest of the year, it has been trying to change course. We will see next year how successful it will be.

February

Meta (formerly Facebook) gets a lot of criticism, and rightly deserved. What else went wrong for Facebook? One pixel. As other big tech companies like Apple focused on privacy and security, Facebook’s pixel became a point of vulnerability.

What I wrote then may still come to pass: And to make his point, Apple is introducing a new feature in the upcoming iOS 14, where the customer will be able to control how any application will be able to track any activity. Apple, aligning with EU's GDPR (privacy protections) laws will have a government ally who is all about protecting the privacy of its citizens. Facebook will become a casualty.

Meanwhile…on Feb. 18, NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover landed in its new forever home. If you ever think maybe there’s just too much bad news out there, maybe look up (into space) for some inspiration.

March

Top CEOs from Silicon Valley spoke before Congress… again. This time, they spoke on whether their companies were partly to blame for the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6. These companies need to attract users and keep them there for as long as possible. Negativity and misinformation properly channeled does the job. But it brings the wrath of the government. Where is the right balance and can technology help?

At the heart of the issue was whether Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields online platforms from liability over user content, should be reworked, amended or scrapped.

But as I also wrote: To the lawmakers - don't blame Twitter and Facebook for societally ills. It is your job to create laws on behalf of people you represent.

In other not-so-hot big tech news, Microsoft took a major hit from Chinese hackers on March 2. Over 30,000 of its Exchange email servers were compromised after being left vulnerable for 10 years, apparently. The attack included information from U.S. defense contractors, schools and other entities.

It’s another reminder that it doesn't matter how big your company is, as long as you’re connected to the web – you’re vulnerable to predators.

April

NFT became the latest buzzword to hit the internet. But the question is: Are non-fungible tokens the blockchain-backed digital assets that will store long-term value for creators and collectors? Or are they just a passing fad like the Beanie Babies? Either way, there’s money to be made right now.

As I noted in April: Tokenization is one part of the overall picture of what's called Digital Transformation. We are in a stage when underlying infrastructure is being defined and built. The ToT (Tokenization of Things) is a natural progression of the IoT (Internet of Things). However… Sooner than you might think, the hype over ToT will die down a bit, but the usefulness of the technology will remain, making our life easier and more enjoyable.

In Amazon news, the tech and e-commerce goliath continued its empire expansion escapade by rolling out two new technologies. First, it introduced palm-scanning payment technology at its Whole Foods in Seattle. This new innovation could soon replace corporate office security badges, house keys and even start your car.

Second, Amazon launched a hair salon in London. Say what? My take is that it’s using the venue to test its VR/AR technology with reported augmented reality hair consultations and point-and-learn displays. The perfect modern mullet anyone?

May

Another month, and another major hacker attack. This time it was the Colonial Pipeline ransomware hack, which caused a 6-day shutdown to America’s biggest pipeline.

If you’ve never had to deal with a ransomware attack, consider yourself lucky. Typically, a predator will encrypt your personal or business computer data and hold you ransom until you pay them in Bitcoin. You have three choices: pay the hacker, cut your losses or plan ahead with what I call the Cybersecurity Response Plan.

I highlighted this pragmatic approach: There is this myth that buying the latest and greatest and the most expensive technology will save you from situations like this. Simply put it - it’s not true. As with anything, doing basic things like system patching, having antivirus protection up to date, network & system monitoring (not from Solar Wind, that is) and proper backup will cover 80% of your problems.

This problem will be with us for as long as we use computers. So, do me a favor. After reading this, run a backup of your machine. Make this a habit - or if you like, a recurrent pattern.

Switching gears, Uber branched out by giving users the ability to book vaccination appointments through its app. What’s the big deal? It’s a great example of how a company is executing its long-term vision and relentless focus on delivering customer value. This is how Uber will succeed beyond almost anyone’s expectations.

June

Speaking of diversifying. Amazon continued to strut its stuff with another new project: Amazon Sidewalk (AS). It’s the latest example of innovation in the area of Smart Cities, though probably not in the way you think. How does it work? AS is a shared network which connects any Amazon device like Echo and Ring to the Internet.

As I wrote, because AS is powered by citizens volunteering to use the shared network, it won’t require a heavy tax funding from city hall: Amazon Sidewalk turns the unworkable top-down smart cities approach on its head. Instead, they want to encourage new capabilities in communities, from the ground (or sidewalk) up.

In other headlines, Google was slapped with a lawsuit that claimed the tech giant is hiding security risks for its products. That’s despite Google’s endless promises of transparency and security when you sign up for Chrome or buy a new Android phone. When you are growing and building your company, I’ve stressed to make sure that you have well defined your brand promise and align all activities with it.

July

Early in July, the internet was still abuzz with the news that Elon Musk’s Starlink business is on pace to hit 500,000 users by next summer. Starlink is designed to connect places that until now had little-to-no access to the Internet. But the catch is you’ll need a satellite phone that averages $1,300 and $50/month for 15 minutes of talking. With 95% of people in the world already connected to either 4G or 5G networks – including rich people – the question is: who is Starlink for?

But worse for humanity, the Starlink project could ultimately make space travel impossible - and even put an end to astronomy! With Starlink planning to launch 42,000 satellites into space, it could trigger a chain reaction of collisions by adding to an already massive space junk problem. Not to mention end modern life on Earth as we know it.

On the Smart City front, I looked at how we should be using electric cars not only as a mode of transportation, but as part of a distributed network. With 145 million EVs set to be on the road by 2030, the opportunity for building better cities is something worth exploring.

August

The Wall Street Journal touted that in their exclusive video they found out what make’s Tik Tok’s secret algorithms hook their mainly 25 and younger user base. So what’s the secret sauce? According to the WSJ, it is “the amount of time you linger over a piece of content.” Well, that was disappointing. Not only is it sensational journalism, but the WSJ failed to look at what Tik Tok engineers are doing better than their rivals while portraying personalization as something bad.

So here is the dilemma. Do we want personalized content or not?

In my words: The marketplace has spoken. Most people are more than willing to trade privacy for convenience. Does an algorithm your company built help provide a positive, personalized experience for every user and customer of your app or service? If so, you are probably providing great value - and that will be rewarded.

And now for something completely different. Where are all the flying cars?

As 2021 wraps up, we are no closer to seeing cars fly by in the sky. But what about self-driving cars?

In August, I predicted that all companies – even the richest – will realize how difficult it is to build the technology (The news for the rest of the year confirmed that over and over). The solution? They will have to come together and design a communication protocol, which will allow cars to talk with each other and build far more robust, safe and useful systems. Think about it as the Internet of Cars (IoC).

September

Can AI be listed as an inventor on a U.S. patent application? Virginia judge Leonie Brinkena said ‘no’ in September in a motion presented by Dr. Stephen Thaler of the Artificial Inventor Project.

The ruling contrasts South Africa and Australia which granted patents for AI inventions (for a new type of juice box and flashing light).

What is the recurrent pattern here? We have a new design for a juice box based on fractals and that makes me happy... and that AI is not going to replace us anytime soon.

In other news, El Salvador became the first national government in the world to recognize Bitcoin. Immediately, everyone quickly pointed out why this is not going to work. But El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele, is on a mission to prove his detractors wrong. The stakes are high, but so is the reward - better prosperity for El Salvador. I wish him luck!

Meanwhile, Amazon launched Amazon TV. Does the tech giant make the TVs? Nope. The value-add is that Alexa is built directly into the TV.

October

Facebook outdid itself by drawing two separate batches of negative headlines in a single week.

First, there was the Facebook whistleblower that came forward with a trove of damning internal documents. The key takeaway was how the tech giant’s well aware that its platforms are riddled with flaws that cause harm. Particularly to teenage girls who are getting depressed while addictively scrolling through celebrity posts on Instagram.

A noted then: No matter how hard they tried, U.S. senators just could not make a dent in this Silicon Valley titan’s steely exterior, though (ie. Facebook shrugged). Facebook products are not good for you, but they are awesome for Facebook and its marketing customers. How awesome? $29.15 billion-of-profit awesome.

This was followed up a week later with some poor soul pressing the wrong button and making Facebook disappear for 6 hours. And then it happened again. What went wrong? Due to a configuration error during regular maintenance, Facebook's routers withdrew information from the rest of the Internet on how to find its own servers.

Facebook is just the unlucky example that demonstrates how fragile the Internet still is.

In other news, ongoing supply chain issues presented a learning opportunity for my readers. I wrote how this conundrum should teach senior leadership of companies to prepare for such eventualities in order for revenue and profit to keep coming.

November

One of the trending topics on the internet: Is Web 3.0 coming? The idea is Web3 is when the internet gets decentralized. The next evolution after Web 2.0 where consumer-created content is centralized by major platforms like Facebook and Google. Power back to the people!

It’s a big idea. Until it collides with reality.

Why is this not going to work as hoped? Security, stability, reliability, scalability and trust. It’s going to fall short on most of those counts… (And even if it works as planned) Web 3.0 will be dominated by big companies which don't exist today - though we cannot yet know the wonderful things they will create. You might not like how Web 3.0 turns out in the end. You might be against that. That's why the next generation will create Web 4.0, which will fix the broken Web 3.0.

In another post, I attempt to answer the question on whether you can protect your encrypted secrets against quantum computers… Short answer, yes.

December

Do you need to get your own 5G connectivity because you are frustrated with a dearth of 5G networks available in your area? You’re in luck. I explain here how Amazon is setting up a solution. They’re allowing people to build their own private 5G cell network in a private setting where others outside the system can’t connect.

Let’s imagine: you want to build a fully automated warehouse with robots roaming around, communicating with each other. You need low latency and a secure 5G network where only allowed devices can connect. This is another great example where technological advancement can help us to do things cheaper, faster and better.

In other headlines that highlight why machines will never replace humans: 'San Francisco agency opposes Cruise robotaxi application, citing safety.'

This last story touches nicely on my final thought for the year: technology works best when it helps humans be better humans. Maybe that’s more important than ever in the year to come. Spend more time on what you like to do and with those you love. Make it your own recurrent pattern.

Happy New Year to my readers. See you in 2022.