Tech Talk

2026. Will it be the year that a robot butler finally delivers crisps to Matt on a silver platter? That nuclear fusion goes mainstream and everyone owns their own star generating tokamak? Maybe a way to send actual viruses to digital scammers.

Or will it be more rent to own subscriptions, low earth orbit collisions, private space travel and incomprehensible fridges. In the first part of a series on technologies in ‘26, Rich and Matt take a look at consumer tech, imagine what IRL AI looks like, advances in energy production. And those all-important billionaire bolt holes in space.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Tech Talk, we explore how 5G, AI, and mixed reality are reshaping the future of healthcare delivery. Following among the world’s first multi-country live surgery conducted by Universiti Malaya Medical Centre and CelcomDigi, we look at how holomedicine is enabling real time surgical mentoring, immersive medical training, and cross border collaboration.

T. Kugan, Chief Innovation Officer at CelcomDigi, and Professor Dr Adina Abdullah, Head of Digital Health Unit at Universiti Malaya Medical Centre, share how ultra low latency 5G and holographic visualisation are moving from pilot projects into real clinical environments. We discuss what this means for access to specialist care, surgical education, and Malaysia’s ambitions as a regional healthcare and medical training hub.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“If you’re enjoying it, you aren’t really listening.” That’s Matt’s upbeat introduction to 2026. He’s probably not wrong.

In a world of constant iteration cycles and incremental upgrades, we take time to salute some of the big names and services that the tech world lost in 2026.

Skype, AOL and the Blue Screen Of Death; we salute you for the familiarity you brought to our lives in a world of confusion, change and AI creep.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AI doesn’t always arrive with headlines or hype. Often, it slips quietly into the tools we use every day. In this episode of Tech Talk, we’re joined by Matt Armitage from Mattsplained to explore how artificial intelligence is already shaping ordinary workplaces, from hiring and customer service to finance and logistics. We look at why much of this change goes unnoticed, what it means for jobs versus tasks, and how workers and businesses can better recognise the shifts already happening around them.

Image provided by Nano Banana.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Injectable pacemakers, PAC-MANN munching protease tests for pancreatic cancer, de-extinction events and bottling the power of the sun. And, because Matt insisted, synthetic worms made of active matter.

As we move into the era of multi gene editing, non-invasive targeted treatments for diseases, and storing power in air, we celebrate some of the weirder milestones in a fantastic year for science.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are more connected than any generation before us. Our messages, photos, searches, location data, subscriptions, and even our voices now live online, often long after we stop thinking about them.

But here’s a question most of us avoid. When we die, what actually happens to that digital version of us? Who owns it? Who controls it? And who decides whether it should stay alive, be deleted, or be reused in ways we never agreed to?

Today on Tech Talk, we are talking about the idea of the digital afterlife. The data trails we leave behind, the risks they pose, and the ethical, legal, and emotional questions that come with them.

Joining us is Suresh Sankaran Srinivasan, Group Head of Cyber Security at Axiata Group Berhad, and someone who has spent over two decades thinking about how our digital lives are created, protected, and sometimes misused.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From the war on science, to vaccines for cancer to contact lenses that allow you to see in the spectrum of light invisible to our eyes, we’re looking back at some of the incredible and amazing breakthroughs in science we’ve seen in 2025.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As AI agents begin making decisions and transactions across borders, the line between human intent and machine action is blurring fast. In this episode, Jumio’s Chief Product and Technology Officer, Bala Kumar, explores what happens when “It wasn’t me, my AI did it” becomes a real defence. From the rise of “Know Your Agent” and reusable digital identities to the new arms race in AI-driven fraud, we look at how accountability, trust, and identity are being redefined across APAC’s digital economy.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The robots are running amok again. This week Amazon announced Frontier Agents, bots that hopefully will not hallucinate their way through tasks lasting days at a time. Waymo’s auto taxis appear to be rebelling against their human overlords, speeding away from traffic lights and randomly performing U-turns. 

But don’t worry, a volunteer army is assembling in Amsterdam, ready to keep things running when MattNet takes over and the world goes dark.

Finally, we look at the benefits of pressure washing your brain, Matt’s morbid curiosity and Richard’s misconceptions about horror fans

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Artificial intelligence has made its way into nearly every corner of our online lives, from search results to social media feeds. But what happens when AI starts rewriting the news itself? Google is now testing AI-generated headlines in its Discover feed, replacing original titles with automated rewrites. Some of these headlines have been inaccurate, misleading, or even completely wrong. It raises big questions about how much control algorithms should have over the stories we see and trust. Today, we discuss how AI is shaping information, engagement, and credibility in the digital age with Kiron Kesav, Chief Strategy Officer, PHD APAC at OMG Malaysia.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.