The Big Tech Show

This week, we dive into the topic of Twitter bots. Specifically, we ask the question: are pro-government bot accounts being operated in Ireland?We also explain what a Twitter bot is, how they typically operator and how to check whether a suspected account is a bot or not.Adrian Weckler is joined by digital marketing consultant Damien Mulley to explore the figures.Then Adrian is joined by Paul Campbell, founder of the Irish ticketing reservation platform Tito, who has just launched an online video conferencing platform called Vito. Along the way, Adrian and Paul talk about their insecurities, phone voices and the Irish tech ecosystem.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Adrian talks to Docusign CEO Dan Springer about what it’s like to announce 100 new jobs in Dublin and then have to hire them all over video links.But that’s exactly what Docusign is doing. The e-signature company is flying at present with over €1bn in revenue likely in 2020, even with the current pandemic.And like plenty of other multinational tech firms, it has chosen Dublin as its biggest base outside the US west coast.Dan also tells Adrian why he took a few years out of his career to raise his two teenage sons as a single father, and why attitudes towards working men who do that remain a little antiquated.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Week 2 of Ireland’s Covid-19 virtual lockdown continues with many trying to get used to working from home.Videoconferencing is an especially steep learning curve.“Tom? Hello, Tom? Tom we can see you, but we can’t hear you. Try hitting unmute. Actually, hold on - it might be star six. Try star six. Tom? Tom! TRY STAR SIX.”Aside from our diet going to hell and our backs and shoulders wrecked from slouching in inappropriate chairs, Adrian looks at some of the tools to use and talks to tech and privacy expert Fintan Swanton about some of the associated issues that may arise.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everyone is being told to work from home — including Irish and Sunday Independent journalists.So Adrian rang some of them up to see how they are getting on.He found them coping in a brave new world of Microsoft Teams, virtual private networks and remote working amongst kids, dogs and builders.Adrian spoke to Sunday Independent business editor Samantha McCaughren, Irish Independent business editor Donal O’Donovan and Sunday Independent deputy business editor, Fearghal O’Connor.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After a row over whether authorities should or should not have revealed the name of an Irish school where a student tested positive for Covid-19, this week’s panel digs deeper in other potential privacy conflicts that may arise.Should health authorities be asking infected people for their Google tracked location? If things got really desperate, would they even look for dystopian tools, such as Clearview’s facial identification database?The panel, which sees Sunday Independent deputy business editor Fearghal O’Connor and Castlebridge chief executive Daragh O’Brien join host Adrian Weckler, also debates whether remote working is actually a viable option for people in the longer term. Given that remote working tools have been around for a decade, why would people suddenly start to become interested in the practice now?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Adrian is joined by Pocket-lint.com editor Chris Hall and Buzz.ie digital editor Mark Kavanagh to go through the wave of top smartphones just launched.Is Samsung’s folding Flip Z a good deal? What are the flaws, if any, in the S20 Ultra’s incredible camera zoom? And how are soon-to-be announced OnePlus 8 Pro and Google Pixel 4a models shaping up?The panel goes in depth on the pros and cons of each model to give you a better idea of what’s worth getting.The Big Tech Show is in association with Vodafone Business.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Adrian Weckler is discussing 5G and taking a critical look at its strengths and weaknesses.To help him make sense of whether it is all it’s hyped up to be, Adrian is joined by Bobby Healy, founder of Manna Aero, Con Kennedy, Chief Technical Officer with Ericsson Ireland and Niall Campion, co-founder of VRAI.The panel discusses everything from drone usage to 4K movies to the pros and cons of ‘millimetre wave’ 5G.The Big Tech Show is in association with Vodafone Business.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Adrian Weckler’s panel looks at what’s coming next with TV. Is traditional ‘linear’ television mortally wounded, as Eir CEO Carolan Lennon recent told Adrian? Or can Sky, Virgin Media and broadcasters like RTÉ and the BBC hold their own against the tens of billions being invested by Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video and all the rest?Adrian is joined by Sunday Independent business editor Samantha McCaughren and the cofounder of Dublin-based startup LogoGrab, Alessandro Prest.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The former Ireland international rugby player, Jamie Heaslip, is becoming a textbook example of how to transition from sport into modern business.Eschewing the role of a corporate mascot, Heaslip has chosen the role of tech investor and promoter, meeting young startups to see whether they’re worth a punt.Some are. One of his earliest bets has just paid off spectacularly. Pointy, the retail listing startup cofounder by Charles Bibby and Mark Cummins, recently announced its acquisition by Google in a nine figure deal. Heaslip is understood to have made a six-figure sum from his initial investment.Other bets, such as the analytics firm Kitman Labs, look promising for a significantly augmented return in the near future, too.And if tech hits another bubble, he has a few Dublin pubs to fall back on, such as The Bridge 1859 and Lemon & Duke, as well as a job in Google he could probably return to.But Heaslip doesn’t think that startup tech is going south anytime soon. He has just taken a deeper role in a fintech firm, Flender, that has created a new online platform to match lenders with small businesses who want to borrow sums up to €300,000.Adrian Weckler sat down with Heaslip to ask him about tech, trends, culture and the transition from sport to investing.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Adrian sits down with Eir CEO Carolan Lennon, who says:- the Huawei controversy isn't about security but is a "US-China trade issue"- Minister Michael Ring’s claims about Eir are "factually untrue"- Traditional ‘linear’ TV is toast: we will all move to apps-based television in time- Eir hasn’t decided yet on a new price for GoMo after the current €12.99 “for life” offer runs outLennon also says that Eir’s 5G launch wasn’t kept private because of the presence at the event of Huawei chairman Guo Ping. And she rejects criticism that using Huawei telecoms equipment in Eir’s 5G network makes it any less secure than other networks.“It's very hard to take the smoke away from everything that's going on around this,” she says. “But obviously security is really important to us. We've just recently won the Garda mobile business tender. So it's not stopping us winning business. Do American multinationals mention it? Yes. But has it stopped us winning business? No It hasn't. So we're going to push on, we’re committed to them, they've been a good supplier and we're very happy with the kit and the quality of the network.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.