Electric cars are hot. But it’s really hard to get one. And there are still lots of basic questions that many people have, which often aren’t answered by dealers or pundits. Does the promised range fall drastically on a motorway? What’s the actual availability of public chargers? And what’s the likely resale value compared to petrol or diesel cars in a few years? For some plain-speaking questions and answers on the topic, Adrian is joined by motoring journalist Geraldine Herbert. See omnystudio....
Apr 08, 2022•30 min
Should Apple and Facebook be forced to allow you to send texts from Whatsapp to iMessage? That’s one of the possible ramifications from a new EU law that big tech firms are up in arms about. Will it break encryption? Could it cause spam? Or is it consumer progress? And what’s going on with the new data transatlantic treaty? To discuss these issues, Adrian is joined by Mark Scott, Chief Technology Correspondent at Politico. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Apr 01, 2022•22 min
Fuel and electricity prices are going through the roof. There is one thing you can do, and help the planet while you’re at it — put in solar panels.But how easy or hard is that to do? How expensive is it? And how much of a dent might it really make in a country known for cloudy, rainy days and dark winters?Joining Adrian on this week’s episode is someone’s who done it – Castlebridge founder (and Wexford householder) Daragh O’Brien. A longstanding expert in domestic solar installation, Tim Cooper...
Mar 25, 2022•38 min
Electricity bills. Fuel costs. Diesel hikes. Streaming prices rises. Most of us are currently drowning under inflationary pressure that is ramping up our cost of living. Can tech help? Sort of. Adrian Weckler and consumer journalist Siobhan Maguire discuss ways that tech can help to cut your bills. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mar 18, 2022•23 min
Some mock them, others worship them. But non fungible tokens – NFTs – look here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. If you’ve a passing interest, how might you get started? How might you separate the real thing from the scams? And why are so many damn celebrities trying to sell you one? To explain all of this, Adrian is joined by Lory Kehoe, the newly-appointed director of NFT Success at Coinbase, and who is also the founder of Blockchain Ireland as well as being an Adjunct Assistant P...
Mar 11, 2022•24 min
Ireland has had relatively thin layers of protection against cyber attacks and IT threats. But after a catastrophic attack on the HSE, the state beefed up Ireland’s National Cyber Security Centre, doubling its staff and increasing its remit. Will it be enough? Or does Ireland remain dangerously exposed? What are the threats now from a Ukraine-centred cyber war? Joining Adrian Weckler to discuss this is the newly-appointed director of the National Cyber Security Centre, Richard Browne. See omnyst...
Mar 04, 2022•28 min
Who watches over the biggest tech firms in the world? Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner. This week, we talk to Helen Dixon about the challenges her office faces, criticism she has received and some of the biggest issues on how big tech intersects with our lives. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Feb 24, 2022•45 min
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.
Feb 18, 2022•26 min
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.
Feb 11, 2022•22 min
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? ...
Feb 04, 2022•26 min
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 ...
Jan 28, 2022•26 min
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 f...
Jan 21, 2022•28 min
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 spo...
Jan 14, 2022•28 min
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.
Jan 07, 2022•26 min
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.
Dec 31, 2021•34 min
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 Irelan...
Dec 24, 2021•23 min
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 bo...
Dec 17, 2021•27 min
Stuck for a Christmas tech gift idea? Thinking about something fitness-related? Or headphones? Or just a stocking filler? We’ve got you covered. From gifts for high rollers to penny-pinchers, Adrian is joined by Mark Kavanagh, tech writer for Irish Daily Star and IrishMirror.ie See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dec 10, 2021•20 min
Last week, Star Trek fans were given the bad news that its Star Trek Discovery series is being removed from Netflix, with all past and future episodes only available on yet another streaming platform -- Paramount Plus. Will we just accept this and subscribe to yet another platform? Or are we reaching overload? This week, Adrian calculates that his monthly TV streaming outlay is now €62, rising to €142 when Sky and Sky Go are included. But are Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV Pl...
Dec 03, 2021•31 min
How old do you need to be to start a tech company that investors will take seriously? 25? 23? 20? Today we talk to a couple of young Irish tech founders who are making waves at a very young age. Greg Tarr is 18 and the CEO and founder of an artificial intelligence firm called Inferex. Having won this year’s BT Young Scientist competition, Tarr received six-figure job offers and dropped out of secondary school. He is now skipping college (because it’s “a waste of time”) to focus on his firm, whic...
Nov 26, 2021•22 min
It’s 20 years into the future. Robots are cleaning our beaches and rivers.Advanced technology lets us mine asteroids and collect materials on the moon. And while tech trillionaires enjoy the greatest concentration of wealth in human history, advanced countries now give a universal basic income to all citizens, eliminating poverty and allowing people to focus more on jobs they’d much prefer to do. Sound like a fantasy? Not to our guest this week, the futurist Brett King. Together with Dr Richard ...
Nov 19, 2021•26 min
Are you struggling to find a Playstation 5? Or dismayed at month-long waiting lists for an iPhone 13 Pro? Or may your car dealer says you can’t change to a new model until next year because they can’t get any? All of these shortages have one thing in common: a supply chain crisis in computer chips. But in this high-tech world, how can this be happening? What’s behind it? And will it get better any time soon? To discuss answers to these questions, Adrian is joined by consumer journalist Siobhan M...
Nov 12, 2021•17 min
Imagine you’re peckish. There’s nothing in the fridge but it’s lashing outside — you don’t want to go the supermarket, and ordering your regular takeout will take ages. Now imagine a different scenario: you order a takeout and it arrives in 10 minutes. Why? Because it skipped the roads and came instead by drone. That’s an option that the residents of Oranmore in Galway, Moneygall in Offaly and, from next week, Balbriggan in County, will have had. Because Irish company Manna Aero has been deliver...
Nov 05, 2021•25 min
As warnings of energy blackouts this winter emerge, there are questions being asked about the value of data centres to Ireland. Are they energy hogs? Do they hold their own as worthwhile businesses? And what should our policy be going forward? With over 70 major data centres located in Ireland, some political parties are calling for a moratorium on new data centres. But is this a weak admission that we can’t set up our own modern electricity grid correctly? Joining Adrian to discuss this issue t...
Oct 29, 2021•28 min
Will we all switch over to a new, more integrated virtual reality to socialise, play, work and shop? That's what Mark Zuckerberg thinks is going to happen. He and Facebook are now about to start building this 'metaverse', partly in Ireland. How will it benefit our lives? How might it hurt our lives? To dig deeper into what the metaverse will and won't be, Adrian is joined by Bloomberg's technology editor Nate Lanxton and TCD professor Eoin O'Dell. The panel take a look at how the metaverse will ...
Oct 22, 2021•27 min
This week, Adrian looks at whether China's ban on cryptocurrency will scupper the prospects of Bitcoin, which has been soaring in value in recent years. He is joined by James Nagle, CEO of the Irish cryptocurrency-trading firm, Bitcove. James doesn't think a reciprocal ban is likely in the US or the EU, but says that there are some concerns over the energy consumption that Bitcoin-mining takes. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Oct 15, 2021•27 min
This week, Adrian is joined by technology journalist Andy O'Donoghue to discuss Facebook's new smart glasses, called Ray-ban Stories. Adrian realtyes his experience using the glasses, which can record 30-second video clips and take photos without people clearly being aware that they are doing so. Andy likes the idea of smart glasses in general and thinks they're here to stay. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Oct 08, 2021•24 min
This week, Adrian is joined by Senator Gerard Craughwell and IT security expert Paul C Dwyer to look at whether Ireland's cyber security is up to scratch. Both men say that it is not. Senator Craughwell goes further, describing it as "an absolute joke". Both are also criticial of government ministers who dismissed as 'overblown' the Irish Independent's recent revelation that the HSE is still using almost 30,000 computers with Windows 7, an obsolete operating system. See omnystudio.com/listener f...
Oct 01, 2021•28 min
This week, Adrian has a plain English review of the iPhone 13, 13 mini, 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max.Adrian ranks them in order of which is best and what type of person should or shouldn’t upgrade. He’s joined by tech journalist Mark Kavanagh to talk about the iPhones and the iPad mini, which also also launched this week. Both journalists discuss why the mini is a better choice that Samsung’s Frankensteinish Galaxy Z Fold3. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Sep 24, 2021•31 min
This week, Adrian talks to Fidelma McGuirk, founder and CEO of Payslip. Ms McGuirk decided to move to Westport from Dublin in 2015, after which she founded her payroll tech company. Despite attracting over €8m in funding earlier this year, attracting talented engineers and staff to a tech company outside a city has its own challenges. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sep 17, 2021•22 min
