The world of technology is abuzz with events and developments that are ever-evolving, akin to a high-speed train that accelerates across the globe. Its stops are at the major companies such as Apple, Google, Meta, and many others, with us, the users, as its passengers.
The year 2023 has been replete with tech events that have made a significant impact, and here we highlight the 24 most important tech events, arranged chronologically:
Alphabet Company Lays Off Over 12,000 Employees
On Friday, January 20, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, announced it would be cutting about 12,000 jobs, or 6% of its workforce, at a time when the technology sector is experiencing layoffs and companies are staking their futures amidst the rise of artificial intelligence.
Meta Decides to Restore Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram Accounts After Ban
On January 25, Meta decided it would end the suspension of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram in the coming weeks, stating that the public ought to be able to hear what politicians have to say to make informed choices.
The decision to suspend Trump’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram, as well as Twitter, was made two years ago following his praise of individuals involved in violence at Capitol Hill.
Meta now appeals to all Facebook and Instagram users to comply with its community standards, which are published and readily accessible to everyone.
Launch of “ChatGPT Plus” App
On the first day of February, OpenAI announced “ChatGPT Plus,” available for $20 per month, marking the company’s first paid release. It features public access even during peak website traffic, faster response times, and priority access to new features and improvements.
Samsung Announces New Galaxy S23 Phone Series
On February 1, Samsung unveiled its new S23 series devices, boasting standout designs and competitive specifications. The devices come in three models: S23, S23+, and S23 Ultra.
OpenAI Unveils Its New Robot “ChatGPT 4”
OpenAI announced the creation of its new chatbot “ChatGPT 4,” the latest milestone in the company’s efforts to expand deep learning capabilities. Although less capable than humans in many real-world scenarios, it demonstrates human-level performance in various professional and academic benchmarks, as claimed by the company.
OpenAI Connects “ChatGPT” to the Internet
On March 23, OpenAI stated that it implemented initial support for plugins in “ChatGPT.” These plugins are tools explicitly designed for language models that prioritize safety, help access up-to-date information, perform computations, or use third-party services.
WhatsApp Announces Support for One Account on Multiple Phones
On April 25, WhatsApp announced long-awaited support for using one account across multiple phones, allowing a single phone to be linked to up to four additional devices. This feature is also available when linking to the WhatsApp Web app and on tablets and desktops. Each connected phone operates independently, ensuring end-to-end encryption for personal messages, media, and calls. If the primary device remains inactive for an extended period, it will automatically log out from all linked devices.
Apple Officially Reveals New “iOS 17” System for iPhone
On June 5, Apple unveiled its new “iOS 17” operating system, introducing major updates to communication apps, easier sharing with “AirDrop,” smarter text entry, and new experiences with “Journal” and “Standby.”
Apple Unveils Its First Smart Glasses “Apple Vision Pro”
On June 5, Apple presented a headset that immerses users in both virtual and real worlds while also testing the tech leader’s ability to promote new devices after failed attempts by others to captivate public imagination. Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the sleek Apple Vision Pro at the company’s developers conference, capable of transitioning between virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), the latter of which overlays digital images while users see real-world objects.
Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg Agree to Cage Fight
On June 22, two of the world’s leading tech billionaires, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, agreed to battle each other in a cage fight. Musk tweeted that he was “prepared to fight in a cage” with Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, then shared a screenshot of Musk’s tweet with a caption stating, “Send me the location.” However, the duel did not materialize.
Apple Valuation Surpasses $3 Trillion
On June 30, Apple’s market value exceeded $3 trillion, a historic milestone as the world’s largest company continues to grow due to solid profits and product sales. Apple’s shares climbed over 1% to an all-time high during morning trading, with a nearly 55% increase this year, valuing the company at $3.02 trillion. Apple remains the only company to have reached a $3 trillion valuation in history.
Meta Officially Announces “Threads” App as a Twitter Competitor
On July 5, Meta officially announced its new app “Threads,” expected to be Twitter’s official competitor. The “Threads” app, created by the Instagram team, facilitates sharing text updates and joining public conversations.
Users can log in using their Instagram account, posts can be up to 500 characters long, and may include links, images, and videos up to five minutes in length.
Elon Musk Launches AI Company “XAI”
On July 12, Elon Musk launched his AI startup named “XAI,” unveiling a team composed of engineers from major U.S. tech companies, aiming to build an alternative to “ChatGPT.”
Musk has repeatedly expressed concerns about AI’s capacity to “destroy civilization” and called for temporary halts in AI development and the need for regulation in the sector.
Elon Musk Announces Change of Twitter’s Logo to “X”
On July 24, Elon Musk and Twitter’s CEO Linda Yaccarino unveiled a new logo for the social media platform featuring a white “X” on a black background, replacing the familiar bluebird symbol.
Musk stated his intention to change Twitter’s logo and polled his millions of followers on whether they would prefer the site’s color scheme to switch from blue to black.
Facebook Exceeds 3 Billion Monthly Active Users
On July 26, Facebook reached over 3 billion monthly active users, according to Meta’s latest quarterly report. Despite Facebook’s waning popularity among younger audiences, the platform is far from obsolete.
Across Meta’s full suite of apps, including WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and the newly added Threads, there were 3.88 billion monthly active users, approaching half the world’s population.
Apple Reveals iPhone 15 Series
On September 12, Apple introduced the iPhone 15 series: iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max, along with its new “Apple Watch Series 9,” the most advanced yet. A new feature in this series is the inclusion of a Type-C port, unlike previous versions that featured Lightning connectors.
Google Announces “Android 14” System
On October 4, Google revealed its new “Android 14” system, featuring updates that allow users to customize their perfect experience, with more control over health, safety, accessibility, and many other features disclosed.
Cyberattacks on Israel After “Flood of Al-Aqsa”
On October 7, Hamas’s terrestrial operation “Flood of Al-Aqsa” against Israel was launched, leading to the automatic detection and mitigation of DDoS attacks targeting Israeli civilian information and alert websites by Cloudflare’s systems just 12 minutes after the ground attack commenced.
The initial assault peaked at 100,000 requests per second, lasting ten minutes, followed by a much larger attack reaching a million requests per second, which lasted six minutes. Small additional DDoS attacks continued to hit online sites over the following hours.
According to CyberNews, one group known as “AnonGhost” exploited a vulnerability in the mobile app “Red Alert: Israel,” which alerts Israeli civilians to incoming rockets, allowing them to intercept requests, reveal servers and APIs, and send false alerts to some app users, including a message claiming “a nuclear bomb is coming.” “AnonGhost” also claimed it targeted numerous other rocket alert apps and conducted several cyberattacks on Israel during this period from various countries.
Google Disables Map Traffic Data in Palestine
On October 24, Google decided to disable live traffic movement in Palestine on its Maps and “Waze” applications following Israel’s decision to invade Gaza by land.
Google’s spokesperson commented that in response to the evolving situation in the region, they temporarily disabled the ability to view live traffic conditions and congestion information, considering the safety of local communities and working with authorities as part of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Apple Announces Advanced New Chips
On October 31, Apple announced its new and advanced chips “M3,” “M3 Pro,” and “M3 Max,” aiming to raise performance levels for both CPU and GPU while setting a new record for the number of transistors used in a single laptop.
OpenAI Launches “ChatGPT 4 Turbo”
On November 6, OpenAI introduced its new and advanced AI model, “ChatGPT 4 Turbo,” with a new API interface and enhanced capabilities such as text-to-image conversion, text-to-speech, and other new features.
Samsung Unveils Its “Gauss” AI Model
On November 8, Samsung publicly revealed its AI model, “Samsung Gauss,” named after the renowned mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss.
During the Samsung AI Forum, the company stated that the name reflects Samsung’s ultimate vision for the models, which is to harness all phenomena and knowledge in the world to leverage the power of AI to improve consumers’ lives everywhere.
OpenAI Dismisses CEO Sam Altman; He Joins Microsoft
On November 17, OpenAI’s board made a surprising move by dismissing CEO Sam Altman, citing his consistent lack of transparency in communications. Co-founder and president Greg Brockman also resigned.
The company stated that the departure followed an exhaustive board review, concluding that there was a lack of consistent transparency, impairing his ability to fulfill his duties.
On November 20, Microsoft announced that Sam Altman would lead its new internal AI team, supporting the software developer’s AI plans and reassuring investors.
Google Launches “Gemini” AI System
On December 6, Google launched its “Gemini” model, touted as its most advanced AI system yet, claiming to compete with “ChatGPT.”
Unlike existing AI models typically handling only one type of user requirement, such as images or text, “Gemini” is designed to be multimodal, meaning it can process inputs comprising multiple media types, including text, images, audio, video, and programming code.
