Tech Talks Central

Raphael Labaca Castro, Security Research at ESET & Chief Editor at WeLiveSecurity.com talked about some well known security threats, malware that could harm your devices, no matter your operating system, platform or technologies. Back in 2004 there was only malware that used bluetooth protocol; this has changed into new threats that encrypt the information of the android user to ask for ransom, to give back access to the data. Of course he mentions how a lot of people don’t really care about their data as they “don’t have nothing to hide or be afraid of” but they are all exposed to threats. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central.

Michael and Craig of AnchorFree tell us about their company and its more than 300 million customers that increase by 200.000 per day! They also talk about their vision, that is to sell everybody the ability to be private and secure in WiFi environments, by utilizing encryption, regardless of the device and the network being used. They’re interested in selling their WiFi security application to big carriers, who will then distribute it to their subscriber base to making them happier - and this is one of the cases where what is good for the people, is also good for the carrier… Finally, they strongly believe that privacy enables innovation - you can only innovate when you have some privacy. So, in order to elongate innovation, privacy is a necessary component, a necessary element which, as they say, their products allow the users to have.

A different approach to location-based services is being presented by Stevie Ooi, who is chief locationist at W-locate. While most other services are based on GPS signals (with all the relative problems of this solution, in the absence of signal, for eg. within buildings) their product is based on the SIM card itself, which pinpoints the position of the mobile phone and its owner. He tells us about the first rollout of their special network and device agnostic SIM card in Singapore and Thailand, their plans to pass from a B2B to a B2C selling model and their vision of the oncoming IoT era, where their SIM card will provide a valuable element -location- as an extra dimension in the analytical process of big data. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central.

Professor Ramon Reig Bolaño describes the new Master’s degree on Mobile Apps & Games that runs for the second year at Vic University, in Barcelona, and gives us useful information about the courses themselves, the goals of this innovative program and the different ways someone can enrol. He also talks about the latest trends in the gaming industry, including the recent turn to serious, health and education games, and, finally, he explains why the capital of Catalunya is an ideal place to nurture your innovative ideas and get your start-up going. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central.

Joe Killen of Tunstall Group talks about the technology and services his 60-year-old company is offering to elders or people with chronic diseases, still living in their homes. He tells us a lot about the quite new (about 5-years-old) and innovative tele-health monitoring schemes, which are gaining ground, all over the world. Joe points out the need for standards, now that we have an abundance of biometric data concerning millions of people, as European population is getting older, and proposes the creation of a common international framework for that purpose. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central.

RefME is a free tool to generate citations, reference lists and bibliographies in just a click. It allows students to scan book and journal barcodes very quickly. It saves and syncs in the cloud meaning they can manage work across multiple devices from anywhere at any time. With over 7000 formats from university specific styles to choose from, RefME is a one-click free and super easy referencing tool that has been taking campuses by storm, attracting over 500,000. Tom Hatton and Ian Forshew the Co-Founders of RefME share insights of the research and education market. RefME is one of ten TOP UK tech startups, adding 5-30k new users every day and they are about to close one of the largest pre-revenue seed round funding in Europe. They also believe that the UK tech scene is a really cool place to be as the state has given incentives and encouraged people to place money in the startup scene. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central.

Privacy and security are important in the digital and data world and especially after Snowdens’ revelations. Phil Zimmermann, the creator of PGP and Zfone and currently the Co-Founder of Silent Circle is the most suitable person to talk about the privacy and security issues we face. How enterprises and their employees can protect their data including an average user. Social media and various devices make it really easy for people to reveal important information about their lives, without them realising it. As we are now entering the IoT era, security and privacy will be even more important as more devices will generate even more sensitive data. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central.

Connectivity and Internet of things will be changing our lives. Rami Avidan the M2M Director of Tele2 Group mentions some really interesting case studies that Tele2 has been involved in. We will see new business models implemented as companies will try to offer better and personalised services. How can customers protect their data, is another topic Rami Avidan talks about, focusing on how important it is for the buyer to know where his data is shared and for what reasons. He also foresees new technologies in connectivity, moving from products to services and that the largest vertical with the most connected devices and data will be Healthcare. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central.

Jennifer Ernst, Chief Strategy Officer for Thinfilm explains how Near Field Communication(NFC) labels and new technologies can revolutionize personalisation and create dynamic marketing content. Thinfilm has partnered with Diageo to produce Smart Bottles and offer their customers a unique, premium brand, experience. These type of technologies like OpenSense have already been applied to cosmetics, medicine distribution and industries where counterfeiting is a serious issue. The label also permits the addition of temperature thresholds making it very suitable for the supply chain industry. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central.

Internet of Things, wearables, new devices and NFV are some of the new technologies that David Chalmers Chief Technologist, VP EMEA at Hewlett-Packard talks about. How technology will impact society from driverless cars, to sensors in everything we will own. He also talks about the opportunity for enterprises to personalise their services improving customer experience based on preferences and location. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central.