Next in Tech

Mobile World Congress, the annual gathering of telecom industry players, has expanded to embrace a broad range of technology and this year's event will bring together a broad range of vendors, telecom operators and industry leaders. The theme of convergence has seen real world impacts and Raul Castañon, Mohammed Hamza and Lynnette Luna return to discuss what they're expecting to see with host Eric Hanselman. The rise of network API's for security and location services looks to open the door to greater application integration. It's something operators have been hoping for, but there are questions about how they'll monetize it.

Many of the technologies that previewed in previous years are gaining traction. Open RAN technologies have matured and the ecosystem supporting them has expanded. There are still questions lingering about deployment timelines, but that seems to be shifting to a matter of when, rather than if. And, of course, AI is playing a role in much of what's taking place in the exhibition halls.

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Credits:

• Host/Author: Eric Hanselman
• Guests: Raul Castañon-Martinez, Mohammed Hamza, Lynnette Luna
• Producer/Editor: Amaan Zafar and Odesha Chan
• Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith

Of the many companies that are part of the AI wave, NVIDIA has been at the core of AI infrastructure and a darling of the markets. Their performance in the market is driven in part by consistency in their performance and Melissa Otto, head of TMT Research for Visible Alpha, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence, joins host Eric Hanselman to look at the sentiment around the upcoming earnings. The enthusiasm for AI has driven expectations higher and higher and the company has delivered.

The rampant enthusiasm for AI's future hasn't been without some cautious moments. In January, the announcement of the DeepSeek model roiled markets with the prospect of lower compute consumption for model training. The concern was that demand for all things AI, GPU's included, might wane. It might also have been a reason for a jumpy market to take a step back. If you dust off your economics textbooks, Jevon's Paradox has been cited by many as an indication that consumption could accelerate. Time will tell!

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Credits:

• Host/Author: Eric Hanselman
• Guests: Melissa Otto
• Producer/Editor: Amaan Zafar and Odesha Chan
• Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith

The next phase of the AI wave is the arrival of agentic AI – where agents can take action on a user's behalf. That's enough of a big deal, but when the head of a tech giant says agentic is going to replace most SaaS applications, something different might be afoot. Analysts Sheryl Kingstone and Chris Marsh return to the podcast to look at the realities of this suggestion with host Eric Hanselman. Agents could become the new user interface for enterprise data, but there are a set of challenges in making this work. On the one hand, one of the largest issues with autonomous action, accountability for actions taken, is far from settled in both regulatory and legal frameworks. On the other, much of enterprise information is still held in systems where it may be difficult for an agent to reach.

Agentic AI could provide a gateway to the myriad of systems that run the modern business. Opening access to data and the ability to aggregate across an organization could be tremendously powerful. Capturing the business logic that is often embedded in SaaS systems is difficult, but the shift to decoupling through API's and the expansion of systems of delivery could open the door to agentic progress.

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• Big Picture for Generative AI in 2025: From Hype to Value
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For S&P Subscribers:

• 2025 Trends in Data, AI & Analytics

Credits:

• Host/Author: Eric Hanselman
• Guests: Chris Marsh, Sheryl Kingstone
• Producer/Editor: Kyle Cangialosi and Odesha Chan
• Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith

Ethical concerns about the use of AI have to start with training data. Too often, the primary concern is simply generating sufficient data, rather than understanding its nature. Emily Jasper and Abby Simmons are back to continue the conversation started in episode 198 with host Eric Hanselman. With generative AI, the data is the application in its most formative sense. Unlike traditional application development, where the expectation is that functionality will be expanded in later releases, GenAI applications require careful design of training data before training takes place. The perspectives contained in data age rapidly and model training doesn't differentiate between outdated and current indications. Old data can effectively poison model outputs. Businesses risk alienating customers with models that are trained with data that don't properly represent them. This is particularly true with marginalized communities, where language and context can change over shorter time frames.

While there is research work on model retraining, work in AI today has to focus on effective data quality management. DeepSeek is causing a significant rethinking. Human data cleansing can be effective, but can't scale to AI demands. Data workbench tools and synthetic data approaches can help, but better automation is needed to ensure that data sets are truly representative. Data collection and data sourcing need much greater attention to ensure that model results can engage the target audience and not be a liability. It's a fundamental question of accountability that requires thinking in ways that are different than legacy development processes.

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://transtechtent.com
• https://kevinguyan.com/queer-data/

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Credits:

• Host/Author: Eric Hanselman
• Guests: Emily Jasper, Abby Simmons
• Producer/Editor: Kyle Cangialosi and Odesha Chan
• Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith

The National Retail Federation conference (NRF) launches just as retailers are cleaning up from the holiday shopping season. This year there was a focus on how technology can empower employees while reducing customer friction. Sheryl Kingstone, Rich Karpinski and Jordan McKee return to the podcast to share their insights on the conference with host Eric Hanselman. Traditional in-store retail concerns are a big part of NRF and innovation in Point of Sale (PoS) technologies, like softPoS and the integration of biometrics were on display. For the latter, there's still the issue of consumer trust, as well as onboarding requirements. The show also saw an issuing bank debut its own PoS offering.

The promise and the challenges of AI were a large part of the conference. Delivering on AI will take infrastructure upgrades and retailers are looking at building ecosystems across technology vendors to share cost and risk. Digitization is going forward as logistics look to move from picking products to smart warehouses that can sense products. AI mastery can create a competitive advantage, but it requires the integration of a lot of moving parts.

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Credits:

• Host/Author: Eric Hanselman
• Guests: Sheryl Kingstone, Rich Karpinski, Jordan McKee
• Producer/Editor: Kyle Cangialosi and Odesha Chan
• Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith

The annual technology fest that kicks off of the year, the CES conference (formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show), showcased the latest consumer technology, from smart glasses to smart homes. Neil Barbour and Stefan Modrich join host Eric Hanselman to explore what made an impact and what's happened to technology debuts from previous years. The metaverse headlines of a couple of years ago have transformed into augmented reality. ChatGPT hasn't been integrated into any cars, yet, but agentic AI is being rolled out.

Much of what's on display at CES is a vision of the future. The transparent TV's last year were early prototypes and this year they're on the market, albeit with a hefty price tag. There is more that's taking place behind the scenes in consumer interactions. Advertising is becoming more digital and smart devices are the new frontier in engagement. Media purveyors are looking to link consumer experiences across devices. The omnichannel strategies of the past have been realized in multi-screen engagement today. They are becoming the next retail channel in new and different ways that create opportunities, as long as businesses can master the technologies required to capitalize on them.

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Credits:

• Host/Author: Eric Hanselman
• Guests: Neil Barbour, Stefan Modrich
• Producer/Editor: Kyle Cangialosi and Odesha Chan
• Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith

Sports media are in the middle of a significant transition, as streaming media companies compete with traditional linear broadcasters. The Netflix deal for the U.S. rights to the Women's World Cup is only the latest and Richard Berndes returns to look at how the shift is shaking out with host Eric Hanselman. Women's sports have seen a dramatic rise in viewership and represent a new and unique audience for media providers. They're also a fanbase that's particularly dedicated and committed. That's translated into increasing rights valuations, with Netflix being only the latest to strike a notable deal. This comes as advertising dollars are shifting to more digital spending and streaming providers are expanding their monetization of sport to more documentary-style programming.

As the value of sports rights increases, there is more pressure on pay TV providers, as they look to hang on to subscribers. Sporting events have the unique characteristic of a viewing imperative. Most audiences won't watch, if the know the outcome. Early attempts by streamers were marked by some missteps, but they've upped their game and are taking a strong position in sports media. Consumer cord-cutting is continuing in a trend that favors streaming outlets and sport is a big part of where they see growth. How much sporting activity can linear channels afford to lose?

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Credits:

• Host/Author: Eric Hanselman
• Guests: Richard Berndes
• Producer/Editor: Darren Rose and Odesha Chan
• Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith

As the old Danish proverb goes, it is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future, but we're going to kick off the New Year with an exploration of where technology is headed a little further out in the future. While there have been headline-grabbing projections about AI and other buzzy topics, there are underlying connections across the technology landscape that are weaving the progress of the disparate branches of technology together. Research leaders Sheryl Kingstone, Justin Nielson, and Rich Karpinski join host Eric Hanselman to explore these changes and take on the difficult task of sorting out future possibilities. The opportunities to create additional revenue are large – many billions are lost to problems in customer transactions that better technology implementations could address. Macroeconomic pressures have a significant impact and will affect the speed of technology deployments and refresh cycles.

Improvements in technology infrastructure are a critical part of being able to generate better outcomes. The world of sensors and IoT has made it into sports in increasing player performance and enhancing viewer experience with more detailed statistics, but stadiums have to be equipped with the technology and connectivity to make it possible. Advertising spending is becoming increasingly digital, but advertisers want greater breadth that connected devices like smart TV's can provide. Those digital pathways can become new retail channels, but, once again, the infrastructure has to be in place to make it happen.

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Credits:

• Host/Author: Eric Hanselman
• Guests: Sheryl Kingstone, Justin Nielson, Rich Karpinski
• Producer/Editor: Donovan Menard and Odesha Chan
• Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith

Mysterious lights are seen in the sky above New Jersey, throwing many into a panic. Is this the current concern about drones or the War of the Worlds radio broadcast 86 years ago? There are interesting similarities and analyst Johan Vermij returns to the podcast to kick off the New Year discussing aliens, drones and the more recent furor in the Garden State. Various forms of drones, in the air, in the seas and on land are becoming a ubiquitous resource. Costs have come down and they've become much more capable. But they're still not well understood by society at large. The New Jersey sightings are still being investigated, but many seem attributable to more conventional aviation activities. That's not to say that these sightings can be disregarded. There are many documented cases of geopolitically driven military surveillance, with arrests of drone pilots with apparently nefarious intent around the globe. This is one more factor in play in the very complex world of drones today.

It's all too easy to deflect the conversation around drones from the many practical uses in which they're put to work today. Drones are being used to aid first responders, with drone-in-a-box (DiaB) technologies available to be first on the scene to enhance situational awareness in critical situations. They're surveying crops to increase yields while reducing pesticide use, finding methane leaks to reduce gas emissions and improving maintenance of cell towers and power transmission lines. And they've revolutionized the battlefield, creating an asymmetric advantage and driving a rapid evolution of technologies in a conflict-driven proving ground. We won't see the replacement of jets and howitzers, but drone's impacts have already been far reaching.

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Credits:

• Host/Author: Eric Hanselman
• Guest: Johan Vermij
• Producer/Editor: Kyle Cangialosi and Odesha Chan
• Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith

In the rush to deliver data to AI projects, it's all to easy for teams to pull data that's most easily accessible, without given consideration to its nature and scope. Emily Jasper and Abby Simmons return to discuss ethical concerns about the data that feeds AI projects with host Eric Hanselman. AI implementations place a much greater burden on data quality than traditional IT projects. When data becomes the product, development practices, such as minimum viable product (MVP) releases, require that data be held to a much higher quality standard to address ethical concerns about its suitability. If a dataset contains bias or lacks representation for the community it serves, it will not only fall short in function, but can reinforce the bias and errors in the data. In effect, it becomes its own data poisoning attack, one of the key security concerns in AI applications.

Ethical approaches to AI applications have to focus on ensuring that outputs reflect the diverse nature of society and move beyond a narrow, middle of the road, average. They have to integrate perspectives and feedback from the full spectrum of the society they claim to represent. It involves additional work to achieve this and it can pay off in the expanded market it gives access to. At the same time, organizations need to put their capabilities to work to serve those parts of their community that don't have access to AI's benefits. This can help to keep marginalized segments of society from being left behind, in what is becoming the next chasm in the digital divide.

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Credits:

• Host/Author: Eric Hanselman
• Guests: Emily Jasper, Abby Simmons
• Producer/Editor: Donovan Menard and Odesha Chan
• Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith

Other Resources:

• Trans Tech Tent
• Kevin Guyan - Queer Data