🦾 The Future of Human-Machine Interaction…

Plus: AI-friendly chips, deeper diamonds & building a, SA tech company in 2024.

Newsletter

January 12, 2024

Hi there,

Remember when…? If you’re in tech, it’s always cool to look back at how far we’ve come. Now you can check the main tech advances in the year of your birth. (For everyone born after 1970, though.)

In this Open Letter:

On trend: The future of human-machine interfaces.
AI-friendly chips, deeper diamonds & SA’s e-commerce battle.
Kickstart: Building a tech company in 2024.
The tech presidents need: The results are in.
Tell someone: Share this & get free business tools.

The Future of Human-Machine Interfaces

Steve Jobs made a historic trip to Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in December 1979. It’s famous because here he would be introduced to several revolutionary technologies, including the computer mouse and the graphical user interface (GUI).

Steve knew immediately what he saw would change computing forever – an intuitive way for humans to communicate with computers.

Because, before GUI, the way we talked with computers was a bit of a mess…

First came tree-killing punch cards, then mind-numbing DOS, but it wasn’t until the Graphical User Interface that the global personal computer revolution got underway.

And Apple ended up shaping much of the world as we know it today by releasing GUI (with keyboard and mouse) in 1984, along with its operating system, Macintosh.

Microsoft followed suit, releasing Windows and finally gaining success with Windows 3.0 in May 1990. A move that would set up Microsoft as a global leader in software.

Over the next 30 years, user experience design and user interface development have become massive industries. There are millions of designers and developers working daily to create interfaces for humans and machines to engage.

Talking tech

However, at its core, user interfaces are simply the communication layer between humans and computers. It’s a mechanical way for us to translate our human instructions into code, so the computer can display data in a way that’s helpful to us – a simple concept that spawned entire UI-based industries.

But when computers innately start getting better at understanding what we want from them, we might not need all of these interfaces anymore.

Now, you might be familiar with Large Language Models (LLM) that’re used in innovative AI tools such as ChatGPT. Enter LAM, a Large Action Model that enables a computer to execute tasks humans normally do.

Introducing Rabbit

The rabbit r1 is a pocket-size AI companion built on the world's first LAM operating system. It was announced a few days ago at CES and, on its first day, it already sold 10‘000 devices at a retail price of $199.

The LAM operating system connects to an online vault where you can give it access to your online accounts such as Uber, Airbnb, etc and it can then execute complex tasks on your behalf by simply following your voice prompts.

It does your online tasks faster than we imagine an actual rabbit could.

Not quite replacing the phone, and likely more playing in the personal assistant space. But what it's doing is challenging the status quo in how we interact with computers.

In fact, it probably won’t threaten all the user interfaces we know and love just yet. But we do think that, just as Steve Jobs got excited about the mouse and what it could do, LAM is going to play a big role in human-machine interaction in the future.

This might just be the start of an exciting new tech journey… and we’re definitely watching this space.

IN SHORT

🖋️ Kenya Startup Bill. Kenya’s president will sign Kenya’s Startup Bill 2022 into law by April 2024. The bill will set out to provide employment opportunities for Kenyan youth, provide tax breaks and access to platforms to access information and support, as well as a credit guarantee scheme.

🔨 Battening the Hatches. Things are hotting up in the local e-commerce battleground as Naspers boosts investment into Takealot in anticipation of global e-comm giant Amazon’s arrival on SA shores this year.

👨‍💻 Consumer Electronics Show. CES 2024 kicked off in Vegas this week and showcased all of the upcoming incredible tech set to hit the streets including the next generation of laptops, tablets & handhelds powered by AI-friendly chips, transparent TVs from Samsung & LG, and Honda’s global EV series Honda Zero.

💎 Diamonds are Forever. Diamond behemoth De Beers and the government of Botswana have approved the $1 billion deal to dig under the world’s richest diamond mine Jwaneng, to extend the life of the mine by 20 years and haul out up to 9 million carats per annum.

🤑 Taken for Granted. South Africa has 28 million grant recipients, nearly 12x as many as in 1994 and 4 times as many as the 7.1 million taxpayers.

🌝 To the moon? The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved 11 exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that hold bitcoin (BTC).

HOW WOULD YOU BUILD IT?

Building a Tech Company in 2024

If you’re amped to build something innovative in South Africa this year, then this week’s How Would You Build It podcast is for you. We spoke to the ever-vibrant Zanele Matome, founder of Welo Health, and she has some remarkable insights into building a MedTech, as well as some awesome general startup advice.

Some of the highlights…

1. Taking the leap & being bold

Zanele says she was in a mining job when the entrepreneur bug bit her. Then, engaging with some people in tech inspired her to want to head to Silicon Valley, to immerse herself in what tech was all about.

However, as she explains here, Zanele had nothing but the clothes on her back when a “happy accident” with the old car she was driving gave her an insurance payment just big enough to cover a plane ticket to San Fransisco. So She risked everything and went – a move she credits as enabling her to come back to SA and build Welo Health.

2. Build up your core tech team internally

Zanele explains that she’d made the strategic decision early on the outsource most of their development but regrets not building an internal tech team when they had successful funding rounds.

Having an internal dev and CTO, made up of people who are inside the company and share your vision is key, she says.

3. Be smart about managing your cash flow

Zanele also has some great insights on managing startup money. She advises, as a startup getting corporate or government contracts, to negotiate faster payment options – even if you have to lose up to 50% of the contract value just to get them to agree, getting paid faster is more important in the early days, she feels.

Then, she recommends saving and building up a windfall of 6 to 12 months of operational expenses in the bank as soon as possible and advises every founder to think twice before making any hires.

You can also grab the Spotify and Apple Podcast links on our website here.