The Irish Tech News Podcast

In this podcast Melanie Boylan speaks to Aisha Raheem of Farmz2U.  Aisha is the founder of Farmz2U which is a agtech enterprise based in Nigeria and serving Sub-Saharan African markets.  In this podcast we discuss what steps it takes to make the largar advances in AgTech. Farmz2U uses its software solution to enable precision agriculture thus empowering the modern African farmer  Farmz2U was recognized as a leading startup by the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2020 and was Nigeria’s National Nominee for the World Summit Awards in 2019. Farmz2U is currently working with the United Nations Development Program on the Cultiv@te program, exploring innovation in agriculture using data. They build data-centric products that automate the farming process to increase yield and profit. Increasing smallholder farmers’ (SSPs) access to market services including finance, input suppliers and produce buyers is also essential in improving SSPs’ livelihoods.

In this episode we interview the authors of Farming on the Wild Side, The Evolution of a Regenerative Organic Farm and Nursery. Available to buy here. More about the book -> One farm’s decades-long journey into regenerative agriculture—and how these methods enhance biodiversity, pollinators, and soil health Northern Vermont’s Nancy and John Hayden have spent the last 25 years transforming their draft horse–powered, organic vegetable and livestock operation into an agroecological, regenerative, biodiverse, organic fruit farm, fruit nursery, and pollinator sanctuary. In Farming on the Wild Side they explain the philosophical and scientific principles that influenced them as they phased out sheep and potatoes and embraced apples, pears, stone fruits, and a wide variety of uncommon berry crops; turned much of their property into a semi-wild state; and adapted their marketing and sales strategies to the new century. As the Haydens pursued their goals of enhancing biodiversity and regenerating their land, they incorporated agroforestry and permaculture principles into perennial fruit polycultures, a pollinator sanctuary, repurposed greenhouses for growing fruit, hügelkultur, and ecological “pest” management. Beyond the practical techniques and tips, this book also inspires readers to develop greater ecological literacy and respect for the mysteries of the global ecosystem. Farming on the Wild Side tells a story about new ways to manage small farms and homesteads, about nurturing land, about ecology, about economics, and about things that we can all do to heal both the land and ourselves. You can learn more about their latest venture here -> Northwind Gardens on Facebook.

CryptoLeach is a private individual who describes himself as a crypto newbie. He invested some money into crypto two years ago and he is hoping it might earn him some extra money. He is not a gamer but he does play some online games so when he saw that he could earn crypto by playing Gods Unchained, an online collectable card game, he decided to give it a go. He connected his Metamask wallet and began playing hoping to earn Ethereum. All was going well until he spotted some free cards in the game. He was going to download them but the gas fee was too high and so he cancelled his transaction. It was only a few days later he discovered his Metamask wallet was empty – he had the guts of two thousand pounds in there. He put out some tweets. The lovely ThatMartiniguy replied and even subbed him his original amount of eth. The help desk at Unchained did their best, so too at Metamask – but no one is the wiser… What happened? Where was the hole? In the wallet, in the game? CryptoLeach managed to track down his Ethereum to another wallet which was very active for about five days until it went quiet – and empty. He tracked down another wallet which appears to be connected and that has millions of dollars in it. What is going on? How did the money leave his wallet? Had it happened while he was playing GodsUnchained – is there a connection? A hack that has yet to be uncovered? Was it anything to do with the ‘free’ cards? Where did they come from? Are there known holes in Metamask? How safe are wallets? Where else might he have been - are there known hacks to avoid - any ideas? Can you help? Check out@cryptoleach  or @MartiniGuyYT and let us know if you can help. Tell me on @jilliangodsil

2021 sees the 10th anniversary of Sober St. Patrick’s Day and a decade of changing the perception and experience of St. Patrick's Day around the world. First proposed by Irish-American theatre and television producer, Bill Reilly, in 2011 in New York City, sober celebrations of Ireland’s patron saint have been held on parade day in NYC every year since then. Ronan talks to Bill Reilly the founder of Sober St. Patrick’s Day, Tami Ellen McLaughlin the Executive Director of Sober St. Patrick's Day Foundation, and Mark Osman the I.T. Director of Sober St Patrick's Day. Bill, Tami, and Mark talk about the genesis of Sober St. Patrick’s Day, how it’s progressed over the past ten years, Malachi McCourts support, and how the pandemic changed has changed this year's Sober St. Patrick’s Day. Bill, Tami, and Mark also talk about the challenges of moving online and what we can expect at this year's Sober St. Patrick's Day The COVID-19 pandemic has meant that Sober St Patrick's Day is now going virtual. More about Sober St Patrick's Day: Since it started in 2011 it continues to grow around the world with official gatherings organised across the U.S.A., in Virginia, Long Island, Rhode Island, and in Connecticut, as well as in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Social media strategist and Irish Tech News contributor Samantha Kelly has been announced as brand ambassador in Ireland for Sober St. Patrick's Day 2021. The global online celebration on Wednesday, March 17th begins at 4.00 pm New York time, coinciding with an 8.00 pm timeline in Ireland, and can be accessed at www.SoberStPatricksDay.org. Admission is free this year, but reservations are required.

Jamil tackles Matthew Le Merle, who is co-founder and Managing Partner of Fifth Era which manages Blockchain Coinvestors - the world's leading blockchain venture fund of funds. Matthew is also Managing Partner of Keiretsu - the most active early stage venture investors backing almost 200 companies a year. He is Chairman of CAH, Securitize (Europe), Universal Protocol Alliance and Vice Chairman of SFOX. Matthew grew up in England before living most of his life in Silicon Valley where he raised his five children with his wife Alison Davis. Today he splits his time between the US and UK. By day he is an investor in technology companies and a bestselling author and speaker on innovation, investing and the future having worked at McKinsey, A.T. Kearney, Monitor, Booz and Gap. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, writing and photography. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford and Stanford and is an adjunct professor at Singularity U. To learn more go to www.fifthera.com Here are some of the things they discussed 1. What is your own background? It is a logical background to what you do now? 2.Give us with a brief overview of Blockchain Coinvestors and Fifth Era along with an overview of your investment mandate principles. 3. You are a best selling author and researcher. You recently conducted an in-depth focus study of 10,000 institutional investors and high net worth individuals about some common myths and fears concerning Bitcoin. Could you please provide us a snapshot of some of your key findings? What were they? 4. The #1 fear was Bitcoin isn’t safe to own. How do you feel about that result and what measures do you feel would support your investors in changing their minds? 5. Of the remaining concerns, what one most surprised you and why? 6. What result did you most expect to see but maybe expected a larger percentage of concern? Why? 7. Bitcoin has only been adopted by a small number of Fortune 1000 companies publicly, including Microstrategy and Tesla. The actual number is in contrast to your focus group findings about Wall Street greed, though both your HNW audience and my blue collar friends feel the same way. How do you see, in actuality, Bitcoin and Wall Street playing out in the short, medium and long term? 8. What do you think it will take to really achieve mass adoption? 9. In addition to Bitcoin, I noticed your firm recently took on coin investments in both Aave and Uniswap, which are open sourced decentralized protocols on the Ethereum network. As an Aave investor, that captivated my interest. I would expect a Silicon Valley VC to be more interested in a VC backed crypto such as Maker or Compound. What prompted your interest in Aave and Uniswap? About Jamil Hasan Jamil Hasan is a Generation X Author and experienced data intelligence technology builder with two decades of experience leading data-based teams at Fortune 100 companies, including AIG, Prudential Financial, and Ingersoll Rand. Jamil believes that skill and experience, not just age, is the most important factor required to build and lead corporate organizations. His unique story, as someone on the ground floor of the 2008 financial crisis and his role to help repay the $180 billion AIG bailout, enabled him to come face-to-face with many of the societal ills facing Generation X today and their causes. As the result of his experience, Jamil has developed a path forward for his fellow Gen Xers to restore his generation’s financial standing in society today and to rebuild the American Dream for Generation X. For Questions: Email Jamil at jamil@jamilhasan.com or info@jamilhasan.net See more on his website here.

Interesting conversation with Javier Blas, coauthor of The World For Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources Most of us rarely stop to consider where the crude resources that power our cars and iphones come from. Here, leading Bloomberg journalists, Blas and Farchy lift the lid on one of the least scrutinised but most powerful corners of the economy: the workings of the billionaire commodity traders who buy, hoard and sell the earth's resources, and how some traders have acquired untold political power, right under the noses of Western regulators and politicians - helping Saddam Hussein to sell his oil, fuelling the Libyan rebel army during the Arab Spring, or funnelling cash to Vladimir Putin's Kremlin in spite of strict sanctions. Available from Penguin books here https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1118404/the-world-for-sale/9781847942654.html More about Javier Blas Print and online journalist with more than 15 years experience in international economics, oil and commodities. I have built and managed teams across different continents, and built a track-record of best-in-class reporting and news editing. I have worked in Spanish and English publications, and reported from more than 50 countries in Latin America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. I have appeared as a news commentator on CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera among others.

IgniteNI, the leading accelerator in Northern Ireland, based in Belfast has announced the 10 seed-stage companies on to its upcoming IgniteNI Accelerator. Starting this month and supported by Invest Northern Ireland, the IgniteNI Accelerator will run for three months. Ronan talks to Chris McClelland, Managing Director of IgniteNI. Chris talks about Zoom, conferences, customer focused companies, their partnership with NDRC and Dogpatch Labs, and talent generation. More about Chris: Chris is one of Northern Ireland’s best known tech entrepreneurs. He co-founded and led Brewbot a beer making technology company, and prior to this, he was the chief executive of mobile software company Ecliptic Labs which was based in Belfast.

Asia is home to more than half of the world’s population. It is also a hotbed for fintech innovation. From super apps and social ecommerce in China, cryptocurrency in Hong Kong, to digital identity and payments in India, there is never a dull moment. Despite the dizzying pace of development, the party is just getting started. In this episode of One Vision, Theo and Arun dive into the eclectic mix of markets in Asia with Syed Musheer Ahmed, Founding Board Member of FinTech Association of Hong Kong and the Founder of FinStep Asia.

Entertaining conversation with Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert, hosts of Orange Pill, A Bitcoin podcast on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/orangepill Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert produce the twice weekly ORANGE PILL PODCAST which focuses on bitcoin and the Renaissance 2.0 culture developing around it. They are the first international news broadcasters to cover bitcoin extensively since 2011 when it was under $1. Upon graduating from New York University, Max Keiser started working as a stockbroker on Wall Street from 1982 through 1990 at firms; Paine Webber, Oppenheimer and Co., Shearson Lehman Hutton, and Alex. Brown & Sons. He went into semi-retirment in 1990 moving to Paris, France. In 1995, he was asked by Alec Baldwin to move to Los Angeles and co-produce a film he had written and was bought by Miramax. While in LA he and Michael Burns started the Hollywood Stock Exchange where Max invented the Virtual Specialist Technology pat. no 5950176 (later sold to Cantor Fitzgerald). He again went into semi-retirement in France, where he met his future wife Stacy Herbert and they started colloborating on film and TV projects for various international outlets such at the BBC Word, Al Jazeera English and RT. After leaving UCLA, Stacy Herbert worked in script development for Oscar winning producer, Michael Phillips, who made Taxi Driver, Close Encounters and The Sting. She then worked in film sales at Capitol Films in London and then in comedy script work in the UK working with many top names in British comedy.

In this podcast Melanie Boylan spoke to John Durning, who is the Deputy Project Manager for the James Webb Space Telescope Project, based out of Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Md. We hear the who, what, why, where and when this incredible technological feat is launched into space.   John has over 35 years of technical and project management experience in the defense and aerospace sectors, over 30 of those with NASA. He has worked extensively on programs with international partnerships with Asia and Europe. His experiences include management of instrument developments for planetary, space science and earth science missions, spacecraft/observatory development for both earth and space science missions and overall project management. John’s experience also covers all phases of development from early concept and architecture development, hardware design, fabrication and testing and launch phase. These experiences included direct management of technical and resource teams and management of contractor lead developments. For the last 14+ years John has held a senior management position on the James Webb Space Telescope Project– most recently as the Deputy Project Manager. James Webb Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope (sometimes called JWST or Webb) is an orbiting infrared observatory that will complement and extend the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope, with longer wavelength coverage and greatly improved sensitivity. The longer wavelengths enable Webb to look much closer to the beginning of time and to hunt for the unobserved formation of the first galaxies, as well as to look inside dust clouds where stars and planetary systems are forming today.