Looking forward

Follow Us Get the newsletter Good riddance to 2020, and happy new year. We wanted to open things up with a little optimism. We pondered what technology we're most looking forward to in the year ahead. Here, a selection of the Bloomberg Technology team offers their picks: I'm looking forward to using my new iPhone outside of the house. I bought an iPhone 12, which is supposed to have a long battery for traveling, great camera for sightseeing and water resistance for beach excursions, none of which I've actually experienced. I hope to put it to the test somewhere warm and far away in 2021. —Mark Milian When in-person meetings disappeared last year, they were replaced with a weird, new kind of Zoom briefing. In some ways it was more efficient: Each moment of a video meeting is dominated by a single presenter, who—once they figure out how to unmute—feels additional pressure to quickly make a point. But side comments and crosstalk were completely obliterated. I'm looking forward to the impromptu interactions that happen when more than one person is able to speak at a time. —Anne VanderMey 5G is everywhere and will bring an unquantifiable amount of benefits to human existence, according to its boosters. Unfortunately, I live in the one sliver of the Marina in San Francisco that doesn't get 5G coverage. Looking forward to the completion of the tree pruning work currently going on just across the road by the Parks Service or the chance to freely walk a few blocks so I can enter the modern world. —Ian King I, for one, would celebrate a throwback to the pretentious over-Instagramming of fancy restaurant food because it would mean that restaurants were up and running again. (And hopefully able to live on as businesses!) —Ellen Huet Last year did prove that our scientific community can develop things really quickly when there's a serious need. I'd love to see some of that get-it-done-fastness applied to the climate crisis and better, more efficient, more scalable carbon removal technology meant to save us from the apocalypse anticipated if we can't keep warming below 1.5 Celsius. —Dina Bass I am looking forward to schools reopening and in-person teaching resuming. The tech industry has ballyhooed the potential of online learning for years. Twenty-twenty was the first real test, and it failed badly. Poorer students with fewer tech resources (good laptops and strong internet) and kids with busy parents have suffered most. Many of the under-appreciated parts of in-school instruction have become clear. My kids' school principal summed it up best with a simple example. When you teach in a classroom, and you see a student lose focus, all you have to do is stand over them with your arms crossed for 20 seconds. They notice and usually get back to work. This just isn't possible on a Zoom conference call. —Alistair Barr In a year filled with so much grief and isolation, the pandemic has hopefully taught us that life comes first, then work. It's life-work balance, from here on out. And with many people proving that they can work from home—for more than nine months—I am optimistic that employers will show greater flexibility going forward. I'm looking forward to tech embracing flexible working arrangements, as well as leading the charge on enhanced benefits for child care, caring for aging parents, etc. —Dana Hull Tell us what you're looking forward to in the year ahead. Tweet @technology and use the hashtag #yearahead. If you read one thing Farmville is now foreclosed. Zynga shut down the game on Facebook at the end of the year, about a decade after it became a global phenomenon. The New York Times offers a heartfelt obituary to the memorable time-waster.   Paid Post While AI continues to advance the construction industry, these strides remain fairly unnoticed. In 2021, AI for construction will pick up momentum as it tackles the industry's most fundamental problems such as worker safety, project tracking, and the labor shortage.  Learn More>> PROCORE And here's what you need to know in global technology news Amazon is buying the podcast producer Wondery. The acquisition will give the tech giant several popular true-crime shows and set up a podcasting showdown with Apple and Spotify. Microsoft said its source code had been accessed by Russian hackers suspected of carrying out the sweeping espionage campaign. Although the company said no customer data or services were compromised, the source code could provide valuable insights into how some of the world's most-used software works. Two of China's biggest tech companies engaged in a New Year's Eve tit-for-tat. Huawei said it removed Tencent games from its app store, citing a "big change" to how the companies cooperate while offering few details. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Fully Charged newsletter. Unsubscribe | Bloomberg.com | Contact Us Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022