The Irish Tech News Podcast

Mark Pesce returns to The Futurists with a report about weird and wonderful discoveries at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show. Every year, 200,000 people converge at CES in Las Vegas to get a glimpse of the near future. Mark pushes far beyond mainstream press coverage to tell us about bleeding-edge progress in memristor chips, brain-computer interfaces, long-range drones, olfactory sensors, and the emerging category of “age-tech”. If you are interested in knowing where the puck is going next, this episode is for you! Books by Mark Mark Pesce: Augmented Reality: Unboxing Tech's next big thing. Polity Press, 2021. Mark Pesce. The Next Billion Seconds. Blurb, 2012 Mark Pesce, Programming DirectShow and Digital Video. Seattle, Washington, Microsoft Press, May 2003. Mark Pesce, The Playful World: How Technology Transforms our Imagination. New York, Ballantine Books (Random House), October 2000. Mark Pesce, Learning VRML: Design for Cyberspace. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Ziff-Davis Publishing, 1997. Mark Pesce, VRML: Flying through the Web. Indianapolis, Indiana: New Riders Publishing, 1996. Mark Pesce, VRML: Browsing and Building Cyberspace. Indianapolis, Indiana: New Riders Publishing, 1995. Introduction to Celia Pearce, The Interactive Book. Indianapolis, Indiana: Macmillan Technical Publishing, 1997. Brett King Co-Host, Founder, Speaker Brett King is a futurist, an Amazon bestselling author, an award-winning speaker, hosts a globally recognized radio show, is the Founder of the first mobile, neo-bank globally Moven, and in his spare time enjoys flying as an IFR pilot, scuba diving, motor racing, gaming and Sci-Fi. He advised the Obama administration on the Future of Banking, President Xi had his book on his bookshelf, and he has spoken on the future in 50 countries in just the last few years. See more podcasts here.

Feels like India owns a collection of success stories in Digitalization. From the Indian Digital identity - Aadhaar, a unique 12-digit number that associates each individual with their bank account, to UPI - a public digital payments infrastructure from which the Indian Fintech ecosystem has benefited and offered fintech services, to Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) which enables small businesses and retailers access to digitalization tools to launch marketplaces and platforms businesses processes. With Sharat we discuss all this and the pilots of the Indian CBDC - Digital ruppee - the why and the how, it is being promoted and supported. Nobody can ignore India`s economic power, anymore. Sharat Chandra   / sharatchandratechevangelist   is a Blockchain and Emerging Tech Evangelist, educator, and startup enabler. He is passionate about driving innovation and fostering collaboration in the digital landscape. With a deep understanding of blockchain's transformative potential, Sharat empowers organizations to leverage this disruptive technology for growth. Additionally, he actively support startups, providing mentorship and guidance to help them thrive in the competitive market.

2023 was the hottest year on record in terms of temperature. ESG, sustainability, clean tech / green tech and corporate responsibility have been hot topics. Are we at war with climate? This week we feature Brett King’s recent sit down in Bangkok, Thailand with former banker, fintech investor and now venture capitalist, Paul Ark, with The Radical Fund, an early-stage VC fund investing in founders who are delivering climate resilience for Southeast Asia. Where are investment dollars going? Climate mitigation (how to prevent the world from getting warmer) and climate adaptation (dealing with a warmer world) and what it means for infrastructure resilience and food insecurity, to name some areas of concern, are top of mind. Climate is a complex systemic issue and requires a buffet of technologies to address, improve and help us reclaim our environment. It’s an enlightening conversation with The Futurists! The Radical Fund We are an early-stage VC fund investing in founders who are delivering climate resilience for Southeast Asia.Our portfolio of adaptation and mitigation ventures enables an inclusive climate transition to a sustainable future. Paul Ark / Polapat Arkkrapridi Finance, strategy, technology, and business development professional with over 25 years of on-the-ground management and deal experience across Asia, with tenures in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street. Active venture capitalist and angel investor with a strong focus on ESG, climate, gender diversity, impact and sustainability. Passionate advocate for girls education and female empowerment. Conducting doctoral research on the root causes of gender funding gaps in startup and venture capital ecosystems in Southeast Asia, with a focus on human cognitive biases and systemic barriers from within the VC industry.

Bank of Ireland has reported a 50 percent rise in ‘smishing’ fraud cases where fraudsters send fake text messages appearing to be from delivery services including An Post or Government agencies including the HSE and Revenue. With the rise of SMS and phone scams, Donal McGuinness CEO at Prommt, believes consumers are becoming more savvy when it comes to identifying fraudulent texts, however, many still fall for scams from time to time, especially older generations. Donal thinks knowing how to identify fraud attempts now may be helpful going forward, as the scams evolve and become even more sophisticated.   Ronan talks to Donal about his background, SMS scams, two factor authentication and more. More about Donal McGuinness: Serial entrepreneur Donal McGuinness is CEO of Prommt. He studied Computer Science at DCU and Telecommunications Engineering at DIT and spent the early years of his career in the telecommunications industry. His experience in mobile payments dates to 1999 when he founded his first mobile payments company, ItsMobile. Donal was also a Non-Executive Director of the Irish Internet Association from 2009 to 2011 and a movie distribution business from 2002 to 2020. In 2016 Donal joined a silicon valley startup in the identity verification space called Danal inc, where he set up and grew the global business outside of the USA as General Manager of EMEA until 2019 when the business was acquired by Boku Inc for $112 million USD. Donal joined Prommt as CEO in 2019. He is an innovator and is passionate about payment innovation.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been rapidly evolving in the past decade. Interests in AI, along with adoption and investment in AI, have witnessed a substantial increase. While tech stories are fun and exciting, our collective future is not just about bits and bytes. Rather, it’s about our shared prosperity: What will you do with the immense power available at your fingertips? As providers, how do we earn and maintain trust with customers, and how do we ensure transparency, fairness, and explainability — the cornerstone for responsible innovation? In this new episode of One Vision — Fintech Fuse! Theo welcomed Dr. Nashlie Sephus, Principal AI/ML Tech Evangelist from AWS. Curious about life as a tech evangelist? Passionate about responsible AI and using technology to create a better world? This episode is a must-listen for you.

Carl Bogan Are you certain that every attendee in your Zoom meeting is the person they claim to be? Deep fakes have improved. VFX expert Carl Bogan demonstrates to The Futurists how easy it is to fabricate a persuasive fake persona. Politics and remote work will never be the same again. I am Carl Bogan, Visual Effects Supervisor & Innovation Consultant With over two decades of experience leading in visual effects, with the last several focused on AI, my mission is all about going beyond traditional storytelling. I weave creativity, technology, and leadership seamlessly to reshape experiences. ABOUT SHOW Subscribe and listen to TheFuturists.com Podcast where hosts Brett King and Robert TerceK interview the worlds foremost super-forecasters, thought leaders, technologists, entrepreneurs and futurists building the world of tomorrow. Together we will explore how our world will radically change as AI, bioscience, energy, food and agriculture, computing, the metaverse, the space industry, crypto, resource management, supply chain and climate will reshape our world over the next 100 years. Join us on The Futurists and we will see you in the future!

Just before Christmas I met up with fellow tech journalist Emmet Ryan to talk about the tech trends of 2024. A lot has happened in the past 12 months in the tech world and a lot more will happen this year.  Emmet talks about AI, improved connectivity, ESG, social media, hybrid working, the Metaverse and more. More about Emmet Ryan: Emmet is a freelance tech journalist and is currently working with the team behind The Elio Business Podcast. He has been the editor of Connected magazine, a beer columnist, a betting columnist, and podcast host with the Sunday Business Post. He is the editor of BallinEurope.com, Europe's largest English language basketball site. Author of I Like it Loud: A basketball tour through Europe, and the Gaelic football books Tactics not Passion and Victory loves Preparation It should be noted that since I recorded the podcast with Emmet, Threads has launched in the EU 

We are kicking off 2024 with a big BANG! In this episode of One Vision — Fintech Fuse! Theo and Barb welcome our first futurist on the show: Katie Schultz, aka Miss Metaverse, a well-known professional futurist and content creator. While fear and uncertainty dominate much of our newscycle, Katie reminds us that we do have a chance and the power to turn things around — that we can still find hope through challenging times and go after our dreams. Our ability to empathize and connect with each other is our superpower and what makes us uniquely humans. As we embark on another new year, let’s acknowledge and celebrate how far we have come.  Here’s to new beginnings, fresh starts, and the courage to live our lives with purpose — and passion. 

Boaz Ashkenazy is the CEO and founder of Simply Augmented. He’s on a mission to equip small and medium sized companies with AI superpowers. Boaz talks to the Futurists about the prospect of fully automated corporations, digitally augmented workforce, and how every company can get started on the process of AI reinvention. Boaz Ashkenazy is an emerging voice on on the future of work and how to leverage AI into businesses operations and product offerings. His expertise includes product development, design thinking and building enterprise productivity tools from his time at Meta. He is also the host of the Shift AI Podcast which explores how AI and ML is changing the way that we work in the digital age through interviews with thought leaders who are redefining how businesses and employees will be impacted by emerging technology.As CEO of Simply Augmented, Boaz is building an AI-first company with the mission of helping businesses leverage the power of generative AI to supercharge employees and accelerate productivity. Want to connect? Shoot me an email at hello@simplyaugmented.com

While the question of whether SuperApp models will make it in the US or not remains unanswered, South East Asia, South Asia, India, Africa are embracing Super App models. Some countries have more than one SuperApp. The discussion with Neha Mehta is on SuperApps. She has authored the newly released book `ONE STOP`, by Penguin Random House. Pre-order US https://buff.ly/3v1Jckf ; UK https://buff.ly/482JyWeNeha Mehta is a Lawyer and Sustainability expert focused on ‘People’, ‘Planet’ and ‘Prosperity’. As a former international civil servant, Neha has been involved in international affairs, multilateral diplomacy, policymaking, and development efforts towards SDGs on a global scale. As the Founder of FemTech Partners, Neha's work is at the helm of technology and innovation to amplify women's voices and perspectives. Neha has worked with financial regulators to develop policies that address gender equality, financial inclusion, and climate change to build a more equitable and sustainable financial landscape. These policies contribute to positive social and environmental outcomes and create a more responsible and inclusive financial sector. Neha's portfolio of work includes FinTech, climateTech, inclusive finance, and sustainability. Neha is passionate about diversity, inclusion, and equity (DEI), and women in tech. She holds a Double degree in Law and Commerce and attended King’s College, London on Chevening Fellowship. Neha has over 18 years’ experience across Asia, Oceania and Europe. Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica.A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter.  Join her on the social platforms https://linktr.ee/Efiglobal