Severe weather, fires at production facilities, a trade war with China and the impact of COVID-19 on chipmaker staffing and consumer demand all contributed to a dearth of computer chips that affected the supply and price of numerous tech-heavy products, including automobiles. The shortage is even having an impact on the upcoming annual CES tech tradeshow set to open Jan. 5 in Las Vegas.
Probably the biggest tech story of 2021 was one the tech industry would have preferred to avoid. Facebook was on the hot seat after a whistleblower along with the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and other media organizations,including company sponsored research showing that Meta-owned Instagram can have a negative impact on the mental health of some teen users. But Facebook wasn’t the only company to get bad press.
Services like Slack enable workers to interact in real time with colleagues and virtual private networks and other technologies enable workers to be logged into company networks from anywhere. As someone who’s worked from home for decades, it came as no surprise to me that people can be productive — perhaps even more productive — while working from home. Just this week, I had to do a TV segment which — in the past — would have required me to travel to a studio or host a crew at my home office.
Rivian revealed its R1T electric pickup truck, and Ford announced its F-150 Lightning electric truck. I’m hoping someday to get an electric RV or turn one of these trucks into an RV, but it will be a while before that’s practical. In the meantime, here’s hoping electric pickups are picked up by people in the heartland who might otherwise eschew Teslas and other electric cars that — right now — seem to be popular only in blue states.