COVID-19 and Technology

How has the recent COVID-19 crisis affected the tech industry?

The tech world has been shifted into high gear to deal with COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis has thrown the world into disaray. Some industries are suffering, and others are flourishing. A huge amount of pressure has been placed on the tech industry to help us solve some of the problems we are facing in in this crisis. E-commerce and online solutions have advanced rapidly, demand on data centers, video streaming, and team management software has pushed them to their breaking point. Technology is a crucial part of COVID-19 tracing, remove jobs are the new norm, and the internet has been hit with a 30-50% increase in traffic. All this to say, tech is carrying more than its weight in helping deal with these issues, but how exactly is it being used, and what does the future look like?

Video: Chinese surveillance during COVID-19

China's vast surveillance system is being used in an attempt to monitor and control the spread of thge coronavirus.

Video: How your phone will track coronavirus

Apple and Google are working together for once in the face of a global pandemic.

Video: Hackers are capitalizing on the coronavirus

Coronavirus spam email and hacking has risen alongside the pandemic's spread.

Audio: For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Alphabet are each worth more than a trillion dollars.

While COVID-19 continues to ravage the US economy, why has the tech sector remained a bright spot? Listen here.

Reading: COVID-19's impact on data center staffing

Less on-site staff due to COVID-19 is ringing alarm bells for data center facility managers. Read more here.

Reading: Can the Internet handle COVID?

With millions of people working and learning from home during the pandemic, internet networks are being strained to the hilt. Read more here.

Reading: Why the intenet (probably) won't break during the coronavirus pandemic

America's internet can handle this huge surge in traffic. Your favorite website might not be so though... Read more here.

Vocabulary: Important terms to know

Listen to vocabulary pronunciation here.

  • Bottlenecks
  • Surge
  • Traffic
  • Froze
  • Bandwidth
  • Infrastructure
  • Scalable
  • Maxing out
  • Unlimited
  • Latency
  • Pandemic
  • Quarantine
  • Layoff
  • Proxomity
  • Isolation

Reflection: Questions and opinions

Here are some important questions to reflect upon in having to do with this session's subject:

  • Have you noticed a rise in the use of surveillance and tracking of people during the COVID crisis?
  • Do these technologies offer real solutions to help stop the spread of COVID?
  • Are the benefits of these technologies in the fight against COVID worth the loss of personal privacy?
  • Are people more susceptible to hackers and online scams as we are living more online?
  • Can the internet infrastructure handle the surge in traffic by people working, learning, and spending more time online?
  • Can data centers handle maintenance requirements with lower numbers of on-site technicians available?

Optional Work: The new XBox and the future of gaming

A very interesting interview with Microsoft's Phil Spencer, head of XBox on the launch of the new console during a pandemic and the future of gaming. Apple Podcasts or Spotify.