The Big Tech Show

What, when, where, how: 5G in Ireland

02 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Three switched on its 5G network in Ireland. Adrian has been out testing the network, finding some great speeds but also some gaps in the m...

Let’s be honest for a second about Facebook and the EU

25 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It’s finally coming to a head. After years of hedging and fudging and hiding behind controversial ‘standard contractual clauses’, reality is sta...

Why Apple rules the world

18 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

After launching two new iPads, two new Watches and a Fitness+ subscription service this week, Apple is the main subject of today’s podcast.Adrian an...

What to expect from the iPhone 12

11 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The bad news is that the iPhone 12 is delayed. The good news is that we have a good idea of its strong and weak points. So if you were considering an ...

The latest tech toys: the good, bad and ugly

04 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Is Samsung’s Galaxy Note 20 Ultra the best Android smartphone right now? What about earphones? And tablets? And laptops?And what doesn’t quite mak...

From Nua age visionary to waste warrior

28 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Ever wonder what Gerry McGovern did next?Those who’ve been around the Irish technology scene for a couple of decades will remember a time when Nua w...

Are we all just ignoring our data privacy rights?

21 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian talks to one of the thorns in the side of big tech companies. Dr Johnny Ryan recently joined the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, ...

Why email fraudsters deliberately use bad grammar and dodgy spellings

14 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

After Bank Of Ireland’s volte-face on refunding customers who were conned in an SMS phishing campaign, this week’s podcast looks at the ‘smishin...

Go big or go home, how to raise millions abroad

07 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian talks to Alan Holland, founder and CEO of Cork-based Keelvar, a procurement AI technology firm that recently raised €16m in a fund...

The great media paywall debate

31 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian and Sunday Independent business editor, Samantha McCaughren, discuss the rise of paywalls across major newspaper brands. Adrian argu...

How I raised €10m in 3 months of lockdown

24 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

“March 12, 2020 was the day that the Dow Jones Industrial Average had its largest drop since 1987, the year I was born. That was the day I decided t...

Vestager vanquished, Schrems scores

17 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian tackles the two giant breaking news stories of the week: Apple’s €13bn tax win against the European Commission and what the Schr...

The Cork lads who went straight to the source for €15m

10 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian talks to John Goulding and Joe Lennon, co-founders of the workplace communications software firm Workvivo. The two just raised almos...

“I came within hours of selling it for $1bn”

03 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian has a lively chat with one of Ireland’s most interesting serial entrepreneurs, Norman Crowley.Crowley built and sold three compani...

How to run, and maybe save, a media business

26 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian is joined by the CEO of the country’s biggest online-only media publisher, Journal Media, and the CEO and co-founder of Silicon Re...

Steorn: a cautionary tale of delusion, Irish tech and the search for a perpetual motion machine

19 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian dives into the amazing story of Ireland’s most fantastically controversial startup of the last 20 years: Steorn. The company raise...

A rocky road to success in digital media

12 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian is joined by a vastly experienced Irish media panel in the area of digital media and technology: co-founder of Kinzen and Storyful M...

Celeb-bait, scams and the encryption debate

05 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian dives into the murky, colourful world of online fraud, scams and cyber security.He and security expert Brian Honan look at the lates...

From Rathfarnham to the tech world’s summit — an interview with Zoom CIO, Dubliner Harry Moseley

29 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Zoom is the single biggest breakthrough service of the 2020 global lockdown, in or out of tech. Before February, it was a niche business tech tool. 90...

Do Irish startups deserve help during the lockdown? The view from MIT

22 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian talks to Jonathan Ruane, lecturer in global economics and management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), adjunct pro...

Startup survival and thermal cameras

15 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In a packed episode this week, Adrian asks whether the gold rush for back-to-work thermal cameras in Ireland is warranted and looks at how startups ar...

Mike Feerick interview: why the pandemic’s shift to online learning should kill colleges

08 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian talks to Alison.com founder Mike Feerick, who runs one of Europe’s biggest online learning platforms with 15m registered users. Te...

Should Google be allowed near contact-tracing apps?

01 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As the world watches governments’ introduction of contact-tracing apps, new research from Trinity College Dublin suggests that the involvement of Go...

Why politicians sometimes can’t resist supporting anti-5G groups

24 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian brings on veteran tech reporter John Kennedy and former TD Noel Rock to run through some of the stories of the week. Noel gives an i...

Tell everybody to Go Fund Themselves

17 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It’s been described as ‘the safety net’ of the pandemic. But how much do we, or should we, rely on GoFundMe?This week, Adrian hosts a Zoom call ...

Are tech giants now suddenly the good guys?

10 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We're become used to hearing giant web companies described as leeches, health risks and agents of discord.But has the tone changed, now that we're all...

Are pro-government Twitter bots really happening in Ireland?

03 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 als...

Sign on, sign on, with hope in your heart

27 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 vid...

“Unmute... Tom, please unmute!”

20 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 l...

I’m in lockdown, you’re in lockdown

13 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 get...

Is stopping the spread of Coronavirus worth giving up our Google passwords to see where we’ve been?

06 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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...

An honest look at the top smartphones: Samsung’s Flip Z, Huawei’s Xs & models from Google, OnePlus

28 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 ju...

Why 5G? A critical look at its strengths and weaknesses

21 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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’...

TV or not TV: Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video and the great switchover

14 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian Weckler’s panel looks at what’s coming next with TV. Is traditional ‘linear’ television mortally wounded, as Eir CEO Carolan...

From sport to tech: the Jamie Heaslip interview

07 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The former Ireland international rugby player, Jamie Heaslip, is becoming a textbook example of how to transition from sport into modern business.Esch...

Eir CEO talks GoMo, Huawei and other stuff

31 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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"- Minis...

Don’t tweet angry

24 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Twitter is an angry place. It can drain your natural sense of goodwill and manners.This week, we look at how to behave on the world’s narkiest socia...

Skulduggery, social media and Election 2020

17 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Politicians like to say that elections are won on doorsteps. But most of them now spend almost as much time on their Facebook pages and Whatsapp group...

Dublin’s new €1bn TCD tech hub – beacon or elitist island?

10 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Trinity College Dublin has a €1.1bn plan to build a new high-end innovation district’ plan that would see the cream of academic and industrial tal...

Predictions for 2020: part 2

03 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this podcast, Adrian and Donal O’Donovan (Irish Independent business editor) continue to look ahead at some of the big tech trends, services and ...

What’s what for 2020

27 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

It’s the last week of 2019 (and, depending on your view, the decade). Instead of looking back, we’re going to make some predictions about what you...

The best tech of 2019

20 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian and Buzz.ie editor Mark Kavanagh list the best tech gadgets of the year.These include phones, headphones, smart speakers, cameras, s...

Trying to fulfill your potential as a tech firm

13 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Some Irish tech firms prosper, some go bust and a great many simply run as a going concern.But there is a small number of Irish companies that still g...

Why we don't change our passwords

06 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Almost two in five Irish people are leaving themselves open to a likely data breach by not updating their passwords.This week, Adrian sits down with B...

Post-founder depression

29 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How do you cope when your startup fails?The issue of mental health among founders isn’t widely discussed.This week, Adrian talks to Eamon Leonard, t...

Bit by bit, a little more Facebook privacy

22 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

While the world tries to decide whether political advertising should be allowed on Facebook, the company has quietly chosen Ireland to try out a new p...

Edelman on the mic

15 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian sits down with the world’s most famous PR man and CEO of Edelman Public Relations, Richard Edelman.The Chicago-born executive, who...

Come fly (and eat)with me

08 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Thought food delivery by drone was a distant tech promise?Think again.Irish entrepreneur Bobby Healy says his first Manna Aero drone flights with burg...

Paddy takes an Irish media break - but not before letting off a little more steam

31 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In what he says will be his last wide-ranging Irish interview “for two years”, Paddy Cosgrave speaks at length and in-depth about his business, hi...

I wanted to love the Pixel 4 but I can’t

25 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian and Buzz.ie digital editor Mark Kavanagh look in depth at the pros and cons of Google’s latest flagship smartphone, the Pixel 4 XL...

Oh, you’re a Smart one

18 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian invites a couple of guests on to ask about whether we’re anywhere close to realising aspirations of making Dublin into a ‘smart ...

The Voice

11 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Clothes manufacturers are starting to build voice technology into their garments, while Amazon’s new doorbell tech allows it to have autonomous conv...

How to start-up effectively

04 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Creating start-ups is hard. -- few of them succeed. This week, Adrian talks to two Irish co-founders, people at very different stages. Des Treanor i...

Why battery life is the real reason to upgrade to the iPhone 11 Pro

27 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian reviews the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro Max. Although smitten by the new cameras on the updated handsets, he thinks that the unsung ...

Start up (and then what?)

20 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian looks at some of the nuts and bolts of starting a company with a couple of entrepreneurs who have succeeded and failed several times...

The 5G health scare is it real?

13 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week on the Big Tech Show, Adrian Weckler looks at 5G not from the point of view of speed or connectivity but health. It’s been an issue bubbli...

Is gaming addiction becoming a real problem?

06 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian sits down with a specialist from St John Of Gods, Professor Colin O’Gara, who says he is seeing more and more people brought in fo...

When is 'unlimited' really limited?

30 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian tackles the thorny issue of mobile and broadband operators which advertise "unlimited" services that actually have hidden limits.He ...

Find your way as a boss in a post-PC era

23 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian sits down to find out what, if any, big ideas Dell Ireland's new country manager has.Mark Hopkins starts off defending some industry...

The National ID Card project is stopped in its tracks

16 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian sits down for a long, in-depth discussion with Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon on why she stopped the government from makin...

With a no-deal Brexit, get ready for privacy chaos

09 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

After October 31st, will pensioners still be able to travel on a free pass around Ireland? Will online shops based in the UK be able to process custom...

Privacy, please

02 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian sits down with Cillian Kieran, who recently scooped €3.8m in seed funding for his privacy-focused software startup called Ethyca.T...

The Eir debate

26 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The Eir debateEir's audacious €1bn proposal for an alternative National Broadband Plan stirred up a nest of debate and dissent in recent weeks.One o...

FaceApp - are we mugs to upload our mugs?

19 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The fad of the week is FaceApp, which makes even the most cherubic youngster look like Gandalf.But we really helping ‘The Russians’ compile a gian...

Women in Tech: Jennifer Cox

18 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Women in Tech is a new podcast series presented by Samantha McCaughren, Business Editor of the Sunday Independent.Samantha speaks to Irish women invol...

Robot love

12 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week Adrian talks to Justin McLeod, the founder and chief executive of the dating app Hinge, which claims to be the fastest-growing such app in I...

Women in Tech: Iseult Ward

11 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Women in Tech is a four-part series presented by Samantha McCaughren, Business Editor of the Sunday Independent.Samantha speaks to Irish women involve...

O taxi, MyTaxi: where art thou?

05 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Hailo was a roaring success. Then, two years ago, it became MyTaxi. Since that happened, the company has had its struggles. Now, it’s rebranding yet...

Women in Tech: Ingrid Devin

03 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Women in Tech is a four-part series presented by Samantha McCaughren, Business Editor of the Sunday Independent.Samantha speaks to Irish women involve...

Women in Tech: Vanessa Tierney

03 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Women in Tech is a four-part series presented by Samantha McCaughren, Business Editor of the Sunday Independent.Samantha speaks to Irish women involve...

Take it to the bank: AIB’s CIO comes clean

28 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Is AIB considering facial recognition for when you walk into a branch?Adrian sits down for a wide-ranging chat with the CIO of Ireland’s biggest ban...

Are politicians helping or hurting tech in Ireland?

21 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian’s guest is Fianna Fail’s spokesman for science, technology and research, Kildare North TD James Lawless.In a wide-ranging discus...

Women in Tech: Regina Moran

21 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Women in Tech is a new four-part series presented by Samantha McCaughren, Business Editor of the Sunday Independent.In the series, Samantha speaks to ...

Don’t push too far, Mr Trump: China’s in your hand

14 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Adrian spent a week in China getting a look under the hood of Huawei, the world’s most controversial tech company.He discusses his experience here w...

Why we, the media, are not screwed

07 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week Adrian is joined by Independent News & Media (INM) head of product (and business columnist) Steve Dempsey and INM chief commercial developme...

Is Helen Dixon doing a good job?

31 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian is joined by data privacy expert Daragh O’Brien and child protection campaigner Alex Cooney of CyberSafeIreland.The three discuss ...

Top of the polls: an interview with SurveyMonkey CEO Zander Lurie

24 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Zander Lurie is the boss of the world’s biggest online survey company.The Nasdaq-listed firm has over 17m users and is expanding all over the world....

Wires crossed – Richard Bruton and The National Broadband Plan

16 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Adrian sits down with Richard Bruton, the government Communications minister at the centre of the state’s €5bn plan to run subsidised f...

A frank chat with eir’s CEO

10 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

While attention rests on the National Broadband Plan, eir still holds the keys to many of Ireland’s biggest telecoms problems.This week, Adrian sits...

Eye of the broadband storm

08 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Is the National Broadband Plan a visionary thing for Ireland? Or is it a grand folly?This week, Adrian talks exclusively to Peter Hendrick, the chief ...

The email scam that keeps working

03 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, we look at war stories from one of the fastest-growing online scams around – email fraud.Whether it’s invoice redirection fraud or CEO ...

The truth about rural broadband

26 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

There’s a lot of nonsense spoken about how rural broadband can be delivered.This week, Adrian Weckler and Irish Independent business editor Donal O’...

Are we wrong to care about Facebook privacy screwups?

19 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Do people really care if Facebook does unwarranted things with our personal data? Are we, in the press, simply overestimating how much it bothers peop...

Yes, Amazon is listening in on us

12 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

So now we know: Amazon is listening to our conversations. Some of its staff are told to listen in to what we tell the Amazon Echo to do.The company ha...

Zuck comes to Dublin

05 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, we split the podcast into two segments: an interview with GoFundMe chief executive Rob Solomon and an audience with Facebook founder Mark Z...

Apple’s big screen adventure (on a little screen)

29 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Apple’s big screen adventure (on a little screen)Why is Apple launching a TV and movie service? And will it be any good?This week, Adrian and Daragh...

Should we break Google and Facebook up?

22 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week’s €1.5bn EU fine against Google for shutting rivals out of its online ad system begs the question: is Google too big? Should it be broke...

Connect cars: from 4G to 5G

15 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

One of the roles for 5G is to connect self-driving cars. But before that happens, this generation of cars is currently being linked up to 4G networks ...

Private Zuckerberg

08 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

So Mark Zuckerberg wants Facebook to be a ‘privacy first’ company. Totally expected, right?This week, Adrian and Castlebridge founder Daragh O’B...

Facebook and me

01 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What's it like being Facebook's policeman?This week, Adrian sits down for an in-depth chat with Helen Dixon, Europe's most powerful data protection co...

The trouble with AI and Europe

22 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Adrian sits down with a German artificial intelligence expert to talk about why Europe isn’t doing AI right.In particular, Dr Stefan Heumann argues ...

To 5G or not to 5G

15 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

After a very big week of broadband announcements in Ireland, Adrian sits down with the person promising the most radical plan.Imagine boss Sean Bolger...

Alan Coleman: doing it all again after €60m

08 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

You started a company. You sold it for over €60m. Now you’re going back to start something new from scratch.The question is: why? Why get back int...

Startups and starting up

01 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, a double-header: one of Ireland’s best known venture capitalists talks money, while a tutor for beginners discusses what we need to know....

Won’t somebody think of the kids?

25 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How relevant are colleges? This week, Adrian sits down with the president of Dublin City University, Prof Brian MacCraith, to talk what universities d...

Harvey says: “you’ve got it wrong, Weckler.”

18 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Podcast host Adrian Weckler has been writing columns saying that web shopping — and Amazon in particular — is seriously altering the fortunes of o...

Declan Ganley and China

11 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In the wake of a Huawei executive arrested for spying in the EU, do western countries face a threat to their national security from Chinese telecom an...

Reasons why Facebook (probably) isn’t listening through your phone

04 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

It’s arguably the most talked-about tech question of our time – is Facebook listening to your physical conversations to serve you ads? An increasi...

Destruction and rebirth: what to expect in 2019

28 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

From the demise of Facebook among younger people to the death of DSLR cameras and Amazon’s destruction of high street retail, Adrian looks at what t...

All the news that’s fit to hear

21 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Is audio a missed opportunity for newspapers? A bold young Irish startup, NOA, has struck deals with publishers such as Bloomberg, the New York Times ...