Tech Talks Central

As a Lord of the Rings fan... Netbeast fits the“One platform to control them all” description, meaning that Netbeast will be able to control all your smart and connected devices through one app. Co-founders Jon Senra Dearle, CEO & Jesus Dario Rivera, CTO at Netbeast share their story and the startup’s journey up to now. You will listen to what IoT challenges they are tackling and a brief concern about privacy and security. One of the highlights of the interview is when they explain how one can actually create an ideal wake up morning call thanks to Netbeast and smart devices. They discuss the similarities, the differences and the progress of the startup ecosystems in Spain and Germany. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central.

Ronni Solomon, Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the ECRI Institute, a non profit organisation, dedicated to improving healthcare through discovering and educating on best medical procedures, devices, drugs etc. explains how the institute works and why they are considered highly credible, when it comes to their findings. The ECRI Institute and Ronni Solomon are very concerned with HealthIT and its associated safety issues. She gives us examples of hazards they have discovered in medical devices and software, numbering them to over 3.5 million in their 50 years of working on the subject. We couldn’t avoid asking her about the ‘ransomware’ cyber attacks happening right now on US hospitals and how the issue must be handled. She gives an interesting possible solution. Ronni Solomon will be speaking at the eHealth Week organised by HIMSS Europe, coming June in Amsterdam. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks Central.

PhotOral is the first intra-oral blue light wellness device, suitable for controlling your mouth’s microbiome. Stamatis Astra, CEO at PhotOral, life science startup based in Boston, explains how the product stemmed from biomedical research conducted within the Forsyth Institute; and how they plan to have it in the market by the end of 2016. He also talks about product development costs, investor backup, dental studies and what led them in the development of a new product, this time for pet hygiene. Pantelis Angelidis, founder and president of Vidavo, an mHealth company based in Greece, explains their incentives behind their investment in PhotOral and how they’re contributing to the company’s growth with expertise knowledge derived from their own specialisation in the eHealth domain. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks Central.

Christopher J. James, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at University of Warwick and Senior member of IEEE explains how patient care is now changing from treating incidents at hospitals -where the patient was just a participant and the clinician was the ‘king’- to maintaining wellness through technology and monitoring at home. He emphasizes on the need for a common platform that will monitor and record continuous data in the home, which will change how we cure illness, by acting on activity patterns. Dr. James explains why bringing wearable technology into the system can add longer periods of activity monitoring, really attached to the end user, which would produce enormously valuable datasets. Activity data that can refer to patient behaviour. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central

If you’re into digital marketing and Google Adwords, then this is an interview you should be listening to. RocketROI is a marketing automation tool, for small or medium enterprises, that need an efficient way to plan their advertising with Google Adwords while raising their ROI. Ignacio Rodes, CEO & founder of RocketROI, decided to make his own tool when he couldn’t find one to do the job for him. He gained expertise by actually preaching what he believed in; that using robots, for marketing analysis of ads, was more efficient than using humans. In the online travel agency, where he used to work, he managed to triple sales and cut advertising expenditure to half. The startup has already raised 500K euros from one of the largest buyers of advertising channels, on Facebook and Instagram, for Southern Europe and Latin America. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central

Slock.it was the winner of the IoT competition at 4YFN, for 2016. Their system allows anyone to rent, sell or share anything without the use of a middleman. They have set up an ethereum-based locking system -based on blockchain technology- that can be opened with money. Stephan Tual, Founder & COO at Slock.it, gives an example of its use, explaining how someone could rent their house, without having to put it on a platform like AirBnb; which might not be available in every country and in the end takes a commission. What they would be renting out is the actual door of the apartment -an autonomous object connected to the Internet- using a decentralised database of sort, allowing the users both types of access; to rent and use. Everything can be done through a phone and obviously the prospects are enormous and, may we dare say, quite democratic. Took a lot of imagination to realise the potential of considering every object autonomous, thus transferable, but the guys seem to be onto something. A startup worth keeping an eye on. Start by listening to the interview Sakis Triantafyllakis conducted for Tech Talks Central.

Jordi Boza, CEO at Remote Eye, explains how his 3rd startup focuses on remote technical assistance to enterprises, saving them money and time. By using their B2B software solution a company can use a smartphone, tablet or smart glasses to provide technical service or any type of assistance, remotely, without having to bare the cost of shipping someone physically. With the introduction of augmented reality they’re even able to physically show, the person on the ground, where he has to put his own hand or tool in order to solve the problem. Remote Eye participated at 4YFN during MWC16 and they’ve already accumulated several awards, including one from Google for developing for Google Glasses. Jordi explains the difference between augmented and virtual reality and how they’re looking into developing telepresence solutions for health applications. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central

Our 3rd TTCvoice podcast was recorded and broadcast live from Mobile World Congress 2016, in Barcelona. The biggest mobile technology event along with an amazing city, became the suitable backdrop for us to meet the people behind Barcinno, the online collaborative platform that shares news, knowledge & events of Barcelona’s startup, tech and innovation communities. It will be an understatement to say we weren’t thrilled meeting them; these guys excited us with all their knowledge and inside information. Join us and listen to the Barcinno team, Scott Mackin, Hector Manzano Diaz, Lina Maria Ruiz and Sindre Hopland talk startups, local ecosystem and why Barcelona is the Mobile World Capital. Playing hosts for Tech Talks Central: Vicki Kolovou, Sakis Triantafyllakis and Yannis Rizopoulos.

"Are we thereeeee yet?" Grownups no longer will you suffer the ear piercing drama of children on long, or short, car trips. Igor Ponikarchik, CMO-Head of Mobile Unit Bamboo Group, talks to us about how ŠKODA LITTLE DRIVER will keep your kids happy and engaged while actually introducing them to the concept of driver safety.

Igor lets us play with their new connected car app, designed as an interactive game, to teach kids driving basics and main traffic rules. The app simulates every component in real time, by using the data generated by the vehicle while on route. So when mom or dad uses the blinkers, so can the child driving through the app. Kids get points for simulating the correct/safe action and also can teach a thing or two to grownups who may or may not be choosing the safest action.

Igor shows us how their development team integrated the ŠKODA API, creating an app fully compatible with the infotainment system of the car. Using the SmartGate system, ŠKODA Little Driver can analyse the vehicle parameters and all the driver’s actions. The vehicle data is displayed on the screen of user's device in real-time. The player can monitor driving variables (e.g. speed, fuel level, brake status or the throttle position) and repeat driver’s actions. The best part is kids earn points which they can redeem by "trickin" up their car, changing color, rims, etc. When not actually in the car, kids can play at home and learn safety facts about driving. Igor also talked to us about e-School, the company's educational application that redefines the e-learning process for schools, parents and students through mobile technology. Interviewed by Venetia Kyritsi for Tech Talks Central.

Talkitt was designed to help people who have been speech impaired after a stroke, Parkinson's, Cerebral Palsy or other diseases and afflictions that may cause speech impairment. Stephanie Anais Cohen, Strategic Advisor for Voiceitt, explains how Talkitt adapts to intelligible speech by considering it a form of language accent, evolving with the user to essentially almost think and interpret the context of what they are trying to say with voice. The vocabulary -dictionary of terms- they have created for the application and the system, learns as it goes and adapts to the user achieving higher recognition in a shorter calibration time. The technology is working to understand what you want to say and "the person does not need to practice and practice," says Stephanie. The company is working on collaborations with Apple and IBM with the goal to have the application available around the world. Voiceitt encourages anyone who is experiencing speech impairment to go to their website and join up, record their voice and contribute to the expansion of the vocabulary database they are creating. Recording is free and anyone who can, and wants to, is welcome to try and record their voice. The system requires a minimal ability to speak even in intelligible sounds.

The program is in beta testing and is expected to be launched for public use soon. Stephanie also told us Voiceitt is thinking of working on a medical device to expand on the usefulness of Talkitt. Interviewed by Venetia Kyritsi for Tech Talks Central.