The Big Tech Show

How does your bank rate when it comes to keeping your everyday transactions safe and reliable? What are the larger cybersecurity challenges we’re now facing? Our guest on the show today is Paul Swift, Bank of Ireland’s Head of Technology, Media and Telecoms Sector.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

According to authorities here, ‘romance scams’ cost victims an average of €18,000 each. How do they happen? Who are the perpetrators and the victims? If you’re on a dating app, what should you avoid?Adrian is joined by the cyber-psychology researcher and lecturer, Dr Nicola Fox Hamilton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last month, Stripe co-founder John Collison told me something I hadn’t paid a lot of attention to.“A starting salary in some software engineering jobs is more than €100,000,” he said.“I don't think this has leaked its way out into the popular consciousness here… There’s a career conservatism in Ireland.”Indeed. This week, the Big Tech Show decided to tease this out. Are software and tech graduates the new mega rich class? If so, what wider effects on society are we starting to see from this? Will conservative, middle-class parents now say things like ‘help! My daughter, the software engineer, is drowning?’And what are the effects on things like rents and house prices? If the premium rental residential areas in Dublin start filling up mostly with engineers and other tech graduates, do we risk creating the type of bland, homogenised cultural atmosphere that has made cities such as San Francisco into the boring, vanilla-flavored metropolitan areas?Joining me, Adrian Weckler, to discuss all of this is Stephen Kinsella, the newly-tenured professor of economics at the University of Limerick and that institution’s director of Immersive Software Engineering.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re all going to die.The question is: what happens to our social media accounts when we do?Who gets the photos in them? The documents? The DMs?Is it different for Facebook and, say, iCloud?Can your Whatsapp account be claimed by someone as an inheritance?And what about other important online accounts you have, like Microsoft’s OneDrive or Google Drive?Is there anything you can do in advance to prepare?Or if you’re a family member of someone recently deceased, how do you go about trying to get access to a social media account that might have an important piece of information or document needed to settle an ongoing probate or legal issue?Joining Adrian to talk about the answers to these questions are Susan Murphy, a solicitor with makemywill.ie and Damien Mulley of Mulley Communications.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adrian Weckler recently learned how hard it can be to quit a gambling app. He signed up to one, LivescoreBet, just to watch a football game. But it wouldn’t let him delete his account. Six times he asked, six times he was refused. He then signed up to other betting apps to see whether they were any better. Most allowed him to bet using his credit card through apps such as Apple Pay or Revolut, even though betting apps aren’t supposed to allow credit card betting. What, he asks, must it be like for those with gambling addiction? Adrian discusses the scant regulation in Ireland and other elements of the issue with former gambling addict (now a counsellor) Tony O’Reilly and Prof John O’Brennan.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A few years ago, an ambitious young entrepreneur made a big claim: she was developing technology that could diagnose illnesses from a drop of blood.Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos dazzled investors with her pitch, dressing up like Steve Jobs and talking a perfect game.As we now know, there was no ground-breaking technology. Holmes, who was faking it rather than making it, has now been convicted on several counts of fraud.The episode, which captured the imagination of the world, has shone the spotlight on a darker side of startup ethics – how far can you stretch your startup’s claims of potential when looking for money? Is it still okay to fake it until you make it?Joining Adrian to compare stories and discuss the issue is seasoned startup advisor Donal Cahalane.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Will 2022 be all about NFTs and Apple's AR glasses?Joining Adrian to go through his predictions for what will and won't happen this year is tech journalist Andy O'Donoghue.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

2021 saw a number of winners and losers in the world of technology. From NFTs, a venture capital boom and 5G expansion to cybersecurity woes and folding phones, it was an eventful year both here in Ireland and internationally. But what soared and what stank? Adrian and Vizlegal CEO Gavin Sheridan pick the winners and losers in the tech year that was.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You walk up to a shop counter and put your milk, bread and paper on the counter. How do you pay? With cash? A card? Your phone? Or even your watch?Is it easy to do these things? Should it be easier? What’s coming down the line? And how can Ireland establish itself as somewhere that leads in this area rather than follows years after everyone else?To find out more, Adrian is joined by Elaine Deehan, Ireland Country Manager at Starling Bank and Paul Sweetman, director of Financial Services Ireland, which is part of Ibec.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How hard is it to make a living out of becoming a YouTuber or an Instagram influencer?Is there a minimum number of followers you need? Do you have to pick a good niche? How many people actually make it?Last week, YouTube revealed that there are now over 70 Irish YouTubers with more than 1m subscribers and over 450 Irish people with more than 100,000 subscribers.In this week's podcast, Adrian is joined by two full time Irish professional social media personalities to talk about the nuts and bolts of how to make a living out of it.Brian MacManus is the creator of the Real Engineering and Real Science YouTube channels, with almost 4m subscribers.Clare Cullen is a former YouTube Ambassador to Ireland and host of the video podcast 'Storytime With Clisare'. She has 120,000 YouTube subscribers and over 30,000 Instagram followers.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.