The year 2021 is ending, and with it we have seen several facts that will mark the technological world, and where some will probably only have an impact in the coming years.
It definitely wasn't a year that will be remembered for product launches, but for the creation of concepts and services that have a lot to do with how we will behave in the future.
For the editorial staff of MenosFios, we believe that in the future when you are searching for the facts that marked the year and find this article, maybe you are already living, researching and working within a new reality, and come back here to remember, for example, when first heard the word metaverse.
Or maybe you come back here to remember when INACOM assigned the first frequency licenses for 5G technologies in Angola.
But the year 2021 was not just about the metaverse or the fifth generation of mobile internet, as we had a new operating system for computers and notebooks, as well as the scandal that Facebook was involved in. Tall of this in the midst of the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic and the start of vaccination in Angola.
Therefore, below 2021 In Review from the MenosFios team.
Facebook Faces Document Leak Scandal for The Wall Street Journal
Internal reports from Mark Zuckerberg's company pointed out the company's negligence in relation to its responsibility in important matters, such as mental health, advertising directed at minors, algorithm problems and manipulation of hateful content with the aim of generating controversy.
The huge set of controversies is currently putting pressure on the company's credibility. It should be noted that the leaks came from former employee Frances Haugen, who left Meta due to disagreements with the company's ethical and moral aspects and leaked a series of internal documents.
Startup Paga 3 is the big winner of the 2nd edition of the Unitel Go Challenge digital contest
To startup pay 3 was the big winner of the 2nd edition of the digital contest Unitel Go Challenge, one of the main national digital entrepreneurship competitions. THE pay 3 is a Startup Fintech provider of payment services, which offers its customers the payment model for products and services in installments with immediate delivery.
To join the service, you must first download the application, then create an account on it by entering your phone number, email, username and password. After this phase, the user has to enter the remaining complementary profile data and wait for their validation by the platform, which lasts up to 48 hours. Once the information is validated, the customer is entitled to purchase the products and services present on the platform.
Company Facebook is now called “Meta”
Facebook's new name was unveiled at Facebook Connect, the company's annual event that showcases its innovations with regard to virtual reality equipment and services.
In the video introducing the new name of Facebook, Zuckerberg started the event with a message about a bright future, a future we want and that the owner of Facebook will put all his effort into making it a reality.
According to the founder's idea, Facebook wants to give users the tools and ability to express themselves in the world, giving the example of video as a current medium. Zuckerberg says that the next platform will be more immersive, with more experiences, which is what the company calls Metaverse, to interact, study and do activities in a world apart. Mark Zuckerberg believes that Metaverse is the next step of the mobile internet, that is, it is not enough to look at a small window of a device, but to have visual contact and interaction. Instead of simply looking at the screen, the idea is also to live the experiences, in a more natural way.
About 70% of national non-oil revenue is collected through the Internet
In 2021, it was also revealed that around 70% of national non-oil revenue is collected through electronic channels, as the General Tax Administration (AGT) has centralized the collection of three of the most significant taxes.
According to the Secretary of State for the Budget and Public Investment, Aia-Eza da Silva, who provided this information, the AGT centralized the management and collection, as well as digitized the collection of taxes on Value Added (VAT), Special Consumption (IEC) and on Motor Vehicles (IVM), which are also the ones with the highest volume of interaction with taxpayers.
Also inform that a collection of this magnitude operated through electronic channels is significant for the digitalization of the national economy, as well as observing the programmatic goals of the National Development Plan 2018-2022, in the field of the Public Administration Reform Programme.
Facebook, Whastapp and Instagram fall again
The three main services of Mark Zuckerberg's company had already faced previous failures and instabilities, but none of these falls exceeds that of October 4, when WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook were off the air for about six hours.
The platforms are among the most used in Angola, both for communication, leisure and business. Its downfall led to countless losses for several users and companies, even more so if we consider the limitation of sales in physical stores due to the pandemic.
In a note, the company attributed a failure to backbone routers: “Our engineering teams learned that configuration changes to the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between our data centers caused issues that disrupted communication. This disruption in network traffic had a ripple effect on the way our data centers communicate, disrupting our services.".
Africell makes the first call of its new network in Angola
On the 16th of December, Africell made the first call of its new network in Angola, where this feat marked the start of network operations and paved the way for a phased deployment of services.
After the call, the phone company said its engineers would monitor and optimize network performance. As the services are offered in phases to business and retail customers, coverage will initially focus on Luanda, Angola's main social and commercial hub with a population of 8 million inhabitants. Coverage and services will later be extended to other regions, including Lubango, Benguela and Lobito.
Windows 11 has officially been released
Seven years after the launch of the last version, Microsoft updated its operating system to Windows 11.
Since it became official last October, the Redmond giant has been gradually promoting access to the platform. The goal, according to Microsoft itself, is to place the user at the center of the operation.
Technology is the highlight theme of FILDA 2021
After not being held in 2020, due to the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the 36th edition of the Luanda International Fair (FILDA) took place from December 1 to 4, in the Special Economic Zone (ZEE) Luanda – Bengo, where in five days it brought together more than 558 national and foreign companies, with the theme “Technology as a support for the development of agribusiness and industry".
The information was a great national success, where it promoted trade in the order of 60 million dollars, and where in the technological aspect the exhibitors presented innovative devices and software that add more quality and quantity to products and systems related to agribusiness.
Chip shortage hits 90% of the smartphone industry
In contrast to the arrival and expansion of 5G, one factor negatively affected the technology industry in the world: the so-called semiconductor crisis, which directly influenced the supply chain of the smartphone industry, and also impacted the sectors of home appliances, automobiles and even even consoles.
There are several factors that may have generated this shortage of chips, ranging from the trade war between the United States and China, possible miscalculations by manufacturers that stocked their production at the beginning of the pandemic and the efforts of the industry to manufacture more elaborate components, needed for 5G equipment.
This has led to a lack of simpler chips that serve a wider range of products.
The fact is that the pandemic changed consumption patterns for some consumers with the greater advent of remote work, which led them to look for other equipment, increasing the imbalance in the industry.
And with trade relations between the US and China constrained, there has been an increase in chip stockpiling.
In the smartphone market, the crisis led the main brands to adopt more conservative policies in their launches, and what we saw were cell phones with little innovation and specific improvements when compared to previous years.
INACOM allocates frequency licenses for 5G technologies to three operators
On the 20th of December, the Angolan Institute of Communications (INACOM) assigned titles for the use of frequencies for the implementation of 5G technology to electronic communications operators Africell, Movicel and Unitel.
Held at INACOM's premises, this action is supported by Presidential Decree nº 200/21 of 23 November, which enshrines the allocation of the 3.3-3.7 GHz frequency band to the land mobile telephony service, especially for the development of 5G technology which in 2021 it is driven by the need to ensure continuous improvement in the provision of telecommunications services.
