The Big Tech Show

What streaming platform is most popular? Which streamer is focussing on quality? And does subscription cost make a difference? ­ Dave Hanratty of the Irish Independent and the No Encore podcast, joins Adrian on this week’s episode of The Big Tech Show.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kurt Wagner, Senior Reporter at Bloomberg leading and author of Battle for the Bird: Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, and the $44 Billion Fight for Twitter's Soul, joins Adrian for this week’s episode of The Big Tech Show.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We want to earn your trust and are members of the Trust Project. See our ethics policies at independent.ie/ourjournalismSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Would you use a stablecoin? If so, how might you go about that? And what are the pros and cons? ­ Stani Kulechov, Finnish entrepreneur and founder of Aave, joins Adrian on this week’s episode of The Big Tech Show.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What is a smart city? Is Dublin one? And what’s different about them?  Ruth Freeman, director of Research for Society at Research Ireland, joins Adrian on this week’s episode of The Big Tech Show. A smart city is an urban area that uses technology and data to improve the quality of life for its citizens, increase the efficiency of city services, and promote sustainable development. It integrates digital systems like the internet of things to collect and analyse real-time data, which helps optimize everything from transportation and energy use to public safety and waste management. You can listen to the full episode here, on the Irish Independent website or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Who is Jensen Huang? Why does he always wear a leather jacket? And what's he like to work for? Stephen Witt, Los Angeles based journalist and author of The Thinking Machine: Jensen Huang, Nvidia And The World’s Most Coveted Microchip, joins Adrian on this week’s episode of The Big Tech Show. Last week, Nvidia became the first company to surpass a $5 trillion (€4.4 trillion) valuation. That’s worth more than every country’s GDP, except for the US and China. It’s worth more than the entire crypto market, the entire gold market and, according to one colourful estimate, every pizza ever sold in history. Nvidia is making vast amounts of real, hard cash from the AI boom. It’s not potential or future revenue, like OpenAI, Google, Microsoft or Anthropic. It’s billions in sales of its AI chips, which almost every tech company now craves. Sitting atop this new empire is Jensen Huang, the 62-year-old leather-jacket wearing Singaporean-American, who has gone from being a nerdy graphics card boss to the most powerful tech CEO in the world. For the moment, at least, he tops peers such as Elon Musk, Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg in influence and relevance. In the award-shortlisted biography The Thinking Machine: Jensen Huang, Nvidia And The World’s Most Coveted Microchip, which is the best account of Huang published so far, author Stephen Witt documents Huang’s life from a newly-arrived immigrant in the US to being a frequent visitor at Donald Trump’s Mar A Lago compound in Florida. You can listen to the full episode here, on the Irish Independent website or wherever you get your podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does Amazon’s new sub-sea cable mean for Ireland? Is Apple planning a new budget laptop? And why is Trump reserving Nvidia’s most advanced chips? Saoirse Hanley, money journalist with the Irish Independent joins JJ Clarke on this episode of The Big Tech Show. Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a new high-speed transatlantic cable from Cork to Maryland in the US to power global internet traffic and its data centres. The new ‘Fastnet’ cable can deliver over 320 terabits per second, enough to stream over 12 million HD movies simultaneously. It will be one of the highest capacity data cables yet built across the Atlantic. The cable, which won’t be operational until 2028, will make landfall in Castlefreke, near Rosscarbery in west Cork. Cork was chosen, the company said, because most other major transatlantic cables land in either Mayo or Dublin, giving the tech giant an “alternative pathway” for critical internet traffic compared to existing infrastructure in the event of any problems or outages. You can listen to the full episode here, on the Irish Independent website or wherever you get your podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is ChatGPT the main player in the AI game? What does the research tell us about AI chat bot results? And are people increasingly using chatbots as therapists? Maeve McTaggart, news and political reporter with the Irish Independent, joins JJ Clarke on The Big Tech Show this week. ChatGPT has become a near-monopoly for everyday AI use in Ireland, new figures collated by the Irish Independent suggest. Almost five out of six online AI queries from Ireland happen using OpenAI’s service, with rivals nowhere close, according to a study by the Irish Independent and the Dublin-based online web statistics firm, Statcounter. The figures show that more than 84pc of Irish generative AI requests are from ChatGPT, followed distantly by Microsoft’s Copilot and Perplexity, both on 6pc. You can listen to the full episode here, on the Irish Independent website or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Could the dodgy box users finally face fines? Why is Ireland looking to copy Italy? And will it curb illegal streaming in Ireland? Darragh Nolan, Multi-Media reporter, with the Irish Independent joins Adrian on this week’s episode of The Big Tech Show. Irish dodgy-box users would face direct fines for the first time under new plans being considered by broadcasters and copyright authorities. It is understood the move is being planned by large TV rights holders such as Sky, after a similar crackdown was introduced in Italy. That move led to thousands of dodgy-box users getting fined earlier this year. According to a recent Sunday Independent poll, up to one in five Irish households use dodgy boxes. That represents up to 400,000 people illegally streaming content like sport and movies. You can listen to the full episode here, on the Irish Independent website or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do you spot a deepfake? What are telltale signs of AI-videos? And who is responsible for synthetic fake videos posted on social media? JJ Clarke, producer, joins Adrian on this week’s episode of The Big Tech Show. Adrian began the conversation by discussing the recent deepfake videos on Catherine Connolly on Facebook. A series of Al deepfake videos of RTÉ news bulletins criticising presidential candidate Catherine Connolly amassed over 160,000 views and hundreds of genuine comments on Facebook over several days before being removed. You can listen to the full episode here on the Irish Independent website or wherever you get your podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What have we learned from the huge tech outage this week? How did it happen? And are the warnings of an AI bubble accurate? JJ Clarke, producer, joins Adrian on this week’s episode of The Big Tech Show. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What are the best tips for beginners using AI chat bots? Have AI videos featuring dead celebrities gone too far? And is the EU losing the tech race because of stringent regulations? Darragh Nolan, Multimedia reporter with the Irish Independent, joins JJ Clarke for this episode of The Big Tech Show. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Are AI videos threatening content creators? Have we entered an AI bubble? And what are the best broadband options? Saoirse Hanley, journalist at the Irish Independent, joins Adrian on this week’s episode of The Big Tech Show. Adrian began by asking Saoirse whether she would be less likely to watch a AI generated video than a human generated one. The journalist responded that she would immediately lose interest in videos that are seen to be made by a machine. This topic was on the back of YouTube content creator Mr Beast announcing recently that AI video is so good now that it is legitimately threatening the livelihood of content creators. You can listen to the full episode here on the Irish Independent website or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How will Microsoft navigate pressure from the Trump administration? Will its decision impact the growing trend in Europe towards “digital sovereignty”? Indeed believes AI will transform rather than replace human jobs. And what’s Nigel Farage’s issue with “Britcoin”? On The Big Tech Show this week, Adrian is joined by producer Dee Reddy to discuss.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week’s episode, we delve into 'Scratchgate' amid accusations that iPhone 17 Pro models are too easily marked compared to previous iPhones. We also explain how to switch to an eSim account and which Irish operators are offering one. And we look at Apple's explanation, as revealed in person to the Irish Independent by one of the company's top executives, around why the tech giant feels it can't launch key new features such as iPhone Mirroring and Live Translation in Ireland and the EU. This week's show is presented by Adrian Weckler.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Which new Apple product delights? How good are the AirPods Pro at noise cancellation? And what are Adrian’s top picks? JJ Clarke, producer, joins Adrian on this week’s episode of The Big Tech Show. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How advanced are today’s robots? What can they do now? And what’s likely in the coming years?  ­ Conor McGinn, CEO at Akara Robotics and professor of Robotics at Trinity College Dublin, joins Adrian on this week’s episode of the Big Tech Show.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What is the new iPhone Air like? Why is ‘thin in’ with the new phone design? And how good is the new AirPods Pro language translation?  CCS Insight analysts, Ben Wood, joins Adrian to discuss the new suite of Apple updates. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What are the pros and cons of large, foldout phones? What are the advantages of smaller, flip-fold phones? And do they still cost way more than ordinary phones?  Maeve McTaggart, Multimedia Reporter with the Irish Independent, joins Adrian on this week’s episode of The Big Tech Show. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What are the allegations facing Roblox? Why are a group of law firms looking to file lawsuits against the company? And how is the gaming platform making the online space safer for its users? This episode contains sensitive content including descriptions of graphic violence and sexual assault and may be disturbing to some listeners. If you are affected by any of the content of this podcast, please go to https://oneinfour.ie/ If you are in crisis, call the OneinFour helpline at 01 662 4070 or call DRCC’s 24-hour National Helpline on 1800 77 88 88. Reporter for WIRED magazine, David Gilbert, joins Adrian on The Big Tech Show today. The reporter began the conversation by stressing the point that most parents whose children use the platform Roblox aren’t aware of its features. The platform is in fact a massive open platform where people can interact and chat with each other. You can listen to the full episode here, on the Irish Independent website or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.