The Big Tech Show

With weeks to go before the first rural homes are connected under the NBP, here’s an in-depth discussion with Peter Hendrick (CEO of National Broadband Ireland).

It covers the basics, the finer details, the controversies and the future.
What exactly is the criteria for inclusion in the NBP? Does it cover all rural future-builds?

Why was so much of the contract redacted? What happens if the project is flipped by its owners?

Is Elon Musk’s Starlink any kind of credible alternative?

And lots, lots more. It’s a frank, expansive discussion with a lot of detail and some blunt questions.

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Is it now unpatriotic or selfish to buy from Amazon? Are you aiding a billionaire cartoon villain rather than helping a struggling Irish trader during the pandemic?

In recent weeks, this has gained traction as a popular theme in Ireland. Zeal for supporting Irish is transmogrifying into judgementalism for not spending your money with local traders.
If you buy online from abroad, you’re selfish and feckless. You’re not doing your bit.

But this side-steps a problem that many of its comfortably-off advocates don’t acknowledge: lots of people can’t afford to ignore cheaper goods or delivery and more convenient services, from megacorp entities.
€5 on a small item -- or the 90 minutes it takes to go and get it -- can make a big difference. €50 on a large item can be a deal-breaker.

Joining Adrian to talk about this is Duncan Graham, head of Retail Excellence Ireland and Samantha McCaughren, business editor of the Sunday Independent.

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This week, Adrian talks to Senator Marie Sherlock, whose Labour Party is introducing a bill that would give people the legal right to disconnect from work mails, DMs, Slack, Teams, Zoom and other platforms at certain times.

But is this actually possible in a 2020 workplace?

What is ‘work’ these days, anyway? Haven’t our lockdown lives become a blur of screens, one way or another?

Joining Adrian and Marie to tease out the issues is Fearghal O’Connor, the Sunday Independent’s deputy business editor.

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On this week’s Zoom podcast, Adrian welcomes Amarach Research’s Gerard O’Neill and the Irish Independent’s deputy business editor, Jon Ihle, on to talk about two topics — whether 5G is needed and not returning to offices.

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This week, Adrian talks to David Cawley, an acoustic designers who has created the audio brand OneSonic.

The company’s first products are a pair of noise-cancelling headphones (€75) and wireless Bluetooth earbuds (€60).

Adrian asks him about the aspiration to take on the giants of hifi audio and how he thinks he might succeed.

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This week, Adrian delves into the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro models, comparing the two phones against each other and against other leading smartphones. One big question emerges: has Apple made the iPhone 12 too powerful? Is there enough in the iPhone 12 Pro to justify the extra stretch?
If you’re thinking about upgrading your phone soon, you won’t want to miss this episode.
Adrian is joined by Mark Kavanagh, digital editor of Buzz.ie and assistant editor of the Star.

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This week, Adrian tackles the potential deaths of cinemas. He’s joined by the RTÉ arts broadcaster Rick O’Shea and Andrew Lowe, the part-owner of the Lighthouse and Palas (Galway) cinemas and a co-founder of the film production company Element Pictures.
Adrian puts it to them that Disney’s decision to prioritise streaming from now on could be a signal of what’s to come, with more and more movie budgets going into platforms like Disney+, Netflix, Amazon and Apple TV+. This, in turn, could lead to long term cinema closures as people start cutting back on the number of times they want to go into multiplexes compared to the 65-inch 4K telly in their own front room.

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The CTO of the world’s most fought-over company is this week’s guest.
Paul Scanlan talks to Adrian about geopolitics, telecoms and the possibility of a split in the internet as the US and China engage in low-level industrial warfare.
Adrian asks whether Huawei is facing retreat in Europe and what Scanlan expects to see in five to ten years’ time.

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This week, Three switched on its 5G network in Ireland. Adrian has been out testing the network, finding some great speeds but also some gaps in the map.Here, he interviews Three’s chief technology officer, David Hennessy.

He asks about what 5G might be useful for, what (if any) danger still exists from anti-5G conspiracy theorists and about Three’s general future plans.

For an accompanying explainer on the general rollout of 5G mobile services in Ireland, as well as a snapshot of Adrian’s testing of Three’s network, see Independent.ie.

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It’s finally coming to a head. After years of hedging and fudging and hiding behind controversial ‘standard contractual clauses’, reality is staring us in the face. Facebook, Google and the rest may soon be run out of Europe as the internet splits into three core silos: the US, Europe and China.

There are now a few big questions.

First, is there a way for big tech companies to carry on with existing services without breaking EU privacy law? Facebook says it can’t see how. But one of today’s guests, Castlebridge founder Daragh O’Brien, says there is a way.

But even if they can do it, is all of this really the opening salvo in a wider trend to see big US tech companies, as they currently operate, watered down in Europe? Moreover, would we miss them if they left? INM’s Steve Dempsey looks at that issue, alongside Adrian.

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