It is finally 2021, but even though 2020 is behind us, the same old problems seem to persist. In this first africast of the year let’s look at the world of tech at the start of the year.
In the news this week we have our first look at the brand new range of Galaxy flagship phones from Samsung, which announced them rather early this year. Next up is Lucasfilm Games which has been brought back from the dead to use in Star Wars gaming titles new and old, as well as a surprise Indiana Jones title. Finally there’s CES 2021 which has seen a lot of new announcements in the world of notebook processing.
On to our main topic this week and it’s big tech, its control over our lives and its involvement in politics, especially in the US. We’ve recently seen Donald Trump booted off of most major platforms, but is this too little too late? Whatsapp has also come under fire for its policy changes, but as we discuss, this is just about a nonissue, especially if you’re using Facebook, Instagram and others.
Mentioned in this africast:
- Galaxy S21 first of many phones that Samsung will ship sans charger and earphones
- Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G announced
- Samsung Galaxy S21 & S21+ debut as its first flagship phones of 2021
- Galaxy S21 lineup pricing for South Africa confirmed
- Lucasfilm Games has returned in name alone
- The first new Lucasfilm Games title will be Indiana Jones
- The Division devs are working on a new open-world Star Wars game
- Intel reveals four new CPU families at CES 2021
- AMD announces full stack of Ryzen 5000 CPUs for notebooks
- LG Smart TVs to get Google Stadia support later this year
- Jack Dorsey addresses Trump ban in exhaustive Twitter thread
- Twitter removed 70k-plus QAnon accounts this past weekend
- Latest WhatsApp policy update highlights the Hobson’s choice that is big tech
- As more users flood to Telegram, it is purging hate groups
- 2030: Privacy’s Dead. What Happens next? Talk by Tom Scott