The Irish Tech News Podcast

Right now during the Covid-19 pandemic our physical and mental health is so important. So how do we manage these safely? Well, Jim McWilliams might have come up with the answer with sports social media app Zporty. Jim talks about his background, how Zporty started, what Zporty does, what makes Zporty unique, and the sports bodies and teams that have come on board. Jim also talks about what sports are using Zporty ,how Invest Northern Ireland and IBM come on board, and the future plans for Zporty. More about Zporty: As Covid-19 continues to restrict our society, mental health problems are rising dramatically. Sport and physical activity has been proven to improve both physical and mental health. Using Zporty can enable safer participation in sports and physical activity. This is the only free Covid solution of its kind available for all sports.

When was the last time you actually spoke with a customer and asked how you could help them? No — we don't mean a survey or through a video chat, but actually meeting and talking to one of your customers. Even in the days of digital banking, there is always going to be a need for physical space and human interaction. We might still need a branch or two. Or even physical money.  In this episode of One Vision, Theo and Bradley chat with Jim Perry, Senior Strategist at Market Insights Inc., on why bankers need to get outside their bubble a bit more. Road trip anyone?

Stephen Meade – the Bulls Eye Guy “I’ve technically never had a job, but I am addicted to work.” So says Stephen Meade at the top of our conversation. The penny regarding the work addiction only dropped when he learnt about his real but separated dad. He only discovered a few years ago that this unknown parent had died of alcoholism – and he twigged to his own inherited addictive nature. This drive meant Stephen has a long list of successful business hits beginning at a young age. In college he sold watches, wrote three books, and presented the fourth ever infomercial on TV. At 22 he went to work for an insurance company but at night was selling mortgages. “In fact, I read 357 books in six and a half years and set up this training system called the BullsEyeGuy system. It’s a ten-step programme that really focuses on what you want – hence the name.” He has often been ahead of the pose – creating the world’s first ecommerce platform on the internet, even before websites had been invented. He created digital shopping carts before they became a thing. And he took his first company public at the tender age of 31. Find out more about the Bulls Eye Guy in this interview. Your host is Jillian Godsil

Data privacy has become a hot topic recently after Apple released their iOS 14.5 update. This update allowed you to opt out of data tracking by various apps and gave you more control of your data. However besides what Apple os doing, do you think you own your own data? In 2020 alone, the data on our behaviour and purchases was worth more than $382 billion in advertising revenue. Tiki a consumer data privacy app that allows people to see, control and monetise the data they share with companies online is determined to change how our data is accessed and used. Ronan talks to Mike Audi the Co-Founder and CEO of Tiki about this and more. Mike talks about what Tiki does, Apples privacy awareness campaign, location contexts in your apps, email filters, audio cues on tv shows, passwords, what the internet was built for, poor IT setups, and demanding privacy. Mile also talks about multi tiered distribution channels, more choice for the user is better, app stores, too many different Android phones, privacy and security is an afterthought, and why data is an asset and liability. More about Mike Audi: Mike graduated from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute with degrees in both Robotics Engineering and Electrical & Computer Engineering. Before starting TIKI, he was part of a research team developing the application of a modular BVO navigation system for NASA. He is also the Co-Founder & CTO of Bluestream Corporation, a platform offering unprecedented product visibility and connection with customers in the post-sale environment, for seven years. He has a long-term interest in data and coupled with the general public becoming hyper-aware of their (lack) of data privacy and control, creating the perfect market for TIKI. He wants TIKI to give consumers a seat at the table when it comes to how their data is being used. He believes through creating an open and transparent data market will lead to more “good” data practices.

When I was given the opportunity to chat with Chris, I wasn't going to pass up on it!  However, what to chat about was the tough part?  When you read his bio below - you'll understand this is one truly busy man, I had so many things to cover with him!  Listen in to hear about the programmes they are managing, how the teams work and a whole lot more.  I'll be talking more tech with Chris in a follow up podcast in the next couple of months. Chris Mattman Chris Mattmann is an experienced IT Executive, CTO and Division Manager of the AI, Analytics and Innovative Development Organization in the Information Technology and Solutions Directorate at NASA JPL. At JPL Mattmann is the Chief Technology and Innovation Officer and reports to the CIO and Director for IT, and manages advanced IT research and open source and technology evaluation and user infusion capabilities. Mattmann is JPL's first Principal Scientist in the area of Data Science. The designation of Principal is awarded to recognize sustained outstanding individual contributions in advancing scientific or technical knowledge, or advancing the implementation of technical and engineering practices on projects, programs, or the Institution. He has over 20 years of experience at JPL and has conceived, realized and delivered the architecture for the next generation of reusable science data processing systems for NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory, NPP Sounder PEATE, and the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Earth science missions. Mattmann's work has been funded by NASA, DARPA, DHS, NSF, NIH, NLM and by private industry and commercial partnerships. He was the first Vice President (VP) of Apache OODT (Object Oriented Data Technology), the first NASA project at the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) and he led the project's transition from JPL to the ASF. He contributes to open source and was a member of the Board of Directors at the Apache Software Foundation (2013-18) where he was one of the initial contributors to Apache Nutch as a member of its project management committee, the predecessor to Apache Hadoop. Mattmann is the progenitor of the Apache Tika framework, the digital "babel fish" and de-facto content analysis and detection framework that exists. Today Mattmann contributes to TensorFlow, Google’s technology platform for all things machine learning and has recently finished a book on Machine Learning for TensorFlow, 2nd edition published by Manning Publications. Mattmann is the Director of the Information Retrieval & Data Science (IRDS) group at USC and Adjunct Research Professor. He teaches graduate courses in Content Detection & Analysis & in Search Engines & Information Retrieval. Mattmann has materially contributed to understanding of the Deep Web and Dark Web through the DARPA MEMEX project. Mattmann's work helped uncover the Panama Papers scandal which won the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism in 2017. Twitter

The recent consultation published by the Commission for Regulation Utilities (CRU) is another warning of the major impact data centres are having on the Irish electricity system. With mounting concerns that the nation could face rolling blackouts, the CRU says it’s clear that “measures must be implemented in order to encourage data centres to address some of these risks." . Ronan talks to Russ Barker Product and Service Sales Director, Vertiv Ireland. Russ talks about what Vertiv Ireland does, how data centres can pass energy back to the grid, moving to a renewable grid, the huge concentration of data centres in Dublin, data centres clusters, the CRU report, data migration into data centres, the data centres trend, and video streaming usage. More about the CRU report: The report recognises that the increasing drive to renewables is resulting in a less resilient and fault-tolerant grid, and that data centres consume vast amounts of electricity. The CRU is essentially looking to drive legislation to make sure demand side services – where you can load shed when necessary and provide frequency response – are in place. But while the current narrative is that data centres are placing a huge load on the existing electricity supply at a time when Ireland is trying to decarbonise, there are also data centres with advanced Uninterruptible Power Supply technologies can that actually support grid services and be part of helping Ireland meet its target of 70% renewables by 2030.

From payments and embedded finance to wealthtech and crypto, there is never a dull moment in the land of fintech. And there is no sign that the activity is waning.  According to CB Insights, Q2 FinTech startups picked up $30.8B, growing 30% quarter-to-quarter. Year-to-date funding exceeded 2020’s total by 24%. Southeast Asia and Latin America, in particular, have seen great momentum in recent months. In this episode of One Vision, Theo and Bradley chat with Jason Mikula on the wild wild west of fintech, what it feels like to live in the Netherlands, and the latest with his brilliant Fintech Business Weekly substack newsletter.

Favien Darrius Pommier is a wine maker from France. A young enterpreneur he has achieved much already including having his wines sampled by President Macron, going into business with billionaire real estate mogul Mohamed Hadid, and more recently creating NFTs for his Chateau Darius wines. Your host is Jillian Godsil, award winning journalist, broadcaster and author. Her latest book can be found at https://persons-of-interest.io/

Some of the best entrepreneurs are self made entrepreneurs who made it through hard work and persistence, entrepreneurs such as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford and Steve Jobs.. One such Irish entrepreneur is Joseph Costello who is also one of Irelands top business mentors. Ronan talks to Joseph about entrepreneurship and more. Joseph talks about his background, how he grew his limousine business, how he expanded himself as an individual, the paradigm, the importance of happiness, the law of gestation, and why life is a journey. Joseph also talks about how he handles his mentoring, Napoleon Hill, decision making, tweaking your mind and brain, going into panic mode, asking the right questions, how he was recently named as best innovative business mentor, and the best advice he would give. More about Joseph Costello: Joseph Costello grew up in Bohernabreena, West Dublin and left school at the age of 15. He went straight into work in a local coal yard until the age of 18 when he began working with his father in the local council. He stayed in that role for several years but at the age of 23 he began what he refers to as a “a path of self-destruct” when he suffered from a mental breakdown and began to question where he was going in life. It was during this time the opportunity came about for Joe to purchase a limousine which a friend was selling, he saw an opportunity and went for it. In 2008, he expanded his fleet and had 5 limousines, this grew to 31 in 2013. In 2013, he also purchased his first commercial property which subsequently led to another substantial purchase of a couple of thousand square feet in 2016 and led to over 50 tenants. He currently has a planning application in review for over 1,100 properties in West Dublin. In terms of personal self-development, he notes a key defining moment on his journey which occurred when he saw a TV documentary on Bob Proctor and the power of the mind. This sparked his interest in self-development and he began partaking in various courses associated with psychology and hypnosis. He was at an event when an opportunity presented itself to meet Bob Proctor - having studied his material, Joe was lucky enough to have made a good connection with Bob who advised him in all aspects of his life and Joe then went from studying with Bob to now being a consultant - one of his top global consultant worldwide with clients based all around the world. He was recently awarded “Best Innovative Business Mentor” (Irish Enterprise Awards) and listed in the Top 10 Business Mentors in Dublin (Influence + Digest). Whilst his business has grown substantially in the last 20 years, his path of self-development and performance mentor has led him to guide other business owners and people looking for guidance on a path of personal growth and success - he is committing to helping others reach their true potential through the same principles which he has applied to his life which has led to his self-made millionaire status with what he refers to as “little or no education”.

In this podcast I spoke with Vladimer Botsvadze.  His work ethic and drive is impressive and where he is today after 15 years in his field has been only made possible by the true dedication and commitment he has put in every day.  Before and after the recording I learned so much about this dynamo and he offered guidance and support to me as well.  Credit where it's due, Vladimer is a "giver". Vladimer is a globally renowned digital transformation and social media  influencer, thought leader, Fortune 500 consultant, professor, keynote  speaker, startup advisor, and media personality. With over 15 years of  international experience in marketing and innovation, with a proven  track record providing guidance to executives and top brands worldwide.  He is currently ranked the No. 1 Global Marketing Thought Leader and  Influencer by Thinkers360 and has been recognized as an influencer by  Onalytica, The Awards Magazine, Rise.Global, Kred, GlobalData, Analytics  Insight, and Whizlabs. Vladimer has gained popularity and has risen to  global prominence single-handedly building his Twitter, Linkedin, and  Instagram. He has earned more than 130,000 followers across his social  media platforms. His Twitter reaches 40 million people in 1,145 cities  and 185 countries. He advises companies, start-ups, trade associations,  and think tanks. He is represented as a speaker by Champions Speakers  UK, A-Speakers, Motivational Speakers UK, All American Speakers,  Speakers Academy International, and Pro-Motivate. He is among the  world's most recognized social media experts being recognized in the top  1% of global social media influencers by Kred. Vladimer is among the sharpest and most consistent business visionaries who has been described as ''the world's best digital  marketing consultant and speaker,'' ''a visionary and an early adopter  in the digital realm'' and '' a wizard at social media.'' With  persistence and patience, Vladimer has initiated and continued a process  of self-education, which has distinguished him as an influencer. His  work focuses on the intersection of storytelling, practicality, consumer  behavior, and social media marketing. He has been interviewed by  Thinkers360, Emerging Europe, Authority Magazine, CX Buzz, Onalytica,  Billion Success, Natfluence, Kred, and Engati. Through his consulting,  speaking, teaching, startup advising, and mentoring services, companies  have grown from a groundbreaking idea to the fastest growing companies.  He has been recommended by the professionals from London Business  School, Google, KPMG, MasterCard, AC Milan, Forrester Research, PepsiCo,  Dell, and other leading global brands. Vladimer is a member of the CMO  Council, IoT Council, IoT Premier League, XR4ALL, Sydney Startup Hub,  and Amsterdam Economic Board-Amsterdam Smart City. He is a global  marketing and retail expert advisor at Wiseup Networks and OnFrontiers.  He sits on the boards of companies in Europe and provides his knowledge  on marketing, digital transformation, branding, AI, and retail. He  empowers brands to scale, expand, and accelerate their growth, and  drives change to their advantage. He has worked on billion-dollar  marketing projects with Fortune 500 brands and his practical marketing  strategies have inspired the top executives to quadruple their results. Website LinkedIn Twitter