Tech Treehouse of Horror

There’s been some Wikipedia drama this week as Jimmy Wales has been doing the rounds on a press tour promoting a book that bills him as ‘the good guy of tech’ – but Elaine and Kelly have a different man in mind for that moniker. Also in this episode, Ekaterina Uetova from the MOvD research project joins us to explain how a group chat might be more motivational than a gamified fitness app.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this very special Halloween episode, Elaine and Kelly are communing with the digital after life and sharing (barely) spooky stories about data from beyond the grave. It’s a bumper episode with a special appearance from researcher Danny Snow, who has been giving digital data a post-mortem examination and proposes how we could donate our data like we donate our organs.Visit DataDonorCard.org for more information and be sure to check out BetaFestival.ie for our ‘something good’ recommendation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Well, our maxim has finally caught up with us. We’re always saying the only certainties in life are that tech will fail and you will die and – while Elaine and Kelly are both still very much alive and well – the tech did fail and we lost an entire episode recording. So now you just have Elaine monologuing about the widespread impact of the 15-hour Amazon Web Services outage this week, and the problem with building an internet that’s just three Big Tech kids in one trench coat. She also has an extra dig at Microsoft for its decision to end free security updates for Windows 10, and shares some rainy day activity suggestions from herself and Kelly.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s no coincidence that the launch of endless feeds of AI-generated video from Meta’s Vibes and OpenAI’s Sora have coincided with a marked increase in video slop online, but what kind of social media are these platforms creating? One that’s littered with dead celebrities, deepfakes and juvenile humour, normalising the manipulation of a real person’s image just for fun. In this episode, Elaine and Kelly wonder if Denmark’s proposed new copyright law could be a death knell for “synthetic resurrection” and rampant deepfakes. They also explain why it’s good for electric vehicles to have a digital passport for their battery, bring you an update on the Chat Control debate, and have a great recommendation for book lovers.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tech and democracy expert Liz Carolan joins Kelly and Elaine to explain some new regulations on political advertising hitting the EU this week, right in the midst of an Irish presidential election. These rules have been introduced to minimise political interference and ensure transparency, but the response from platforms is likely to make this situation even murkier.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Zuckerberg’s live demo of gesture controls for his Meta glasses may have failed, but the underlying technology in the wrist-worn Neural Band, known as surface electromyography (sEMG), made us curious about potential applications in medtech. To find out more we spoke to EMG expert Prof Madeleine Lowery, who explained the differences between using these sensors in the lab or clinic versus commercial products. Sticking with medtech marvels, we also spoke to Prof Garry Duffy about soft robotics that can squeeze things inside your body – and why that’s a good thing. Also in this jam-packed episode, Kelly shares her thoughts on what the EA buyout could mean for The Sims and why her current gaming pursuits are taking her offline.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Platforms are really stretching the bounds of privacy rights with their terms of use these days. With recent changes to terms at Spotify, LinkedIn and Academia.edu in the spotlight, we called on data protection expert Daragh O Brien to give us a steer on how we should navigate impenetrable, and sneaky, user agreements.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of For Tech’s Sake, Elaine and Kelly discuss TikTok’s potential takeover by a consortium of Donald Trump allies, and the uptick of fake online content inflaming the discourse about real events.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joining Elaine this week are two special guests on two very different topics. Cybersecurity expert Brian Honan fills us in on what’s going on with the EU’s Chat Control proposal and explains how it could do more harm than good. Then, author Sylvia Leatham discusses her book Chaos Theory, which takes the familiarity of the workplace and mixes it up with a socially awkward robot.If you want to reach out to your MEP about concerns regarding Chat Control, go to FightChatControl.eu. And head to linktr.ee/SylviaLeatham to find out where you can pick up a copy of Chaos Theory.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have things to say about another survey, this time all about AI in the workplace. We look at what some other research is telling us about AI adoption and consider the ethics of pushing gen-AI technologies on workers in light of some recent revelations.We also learn all about peer-to-peer energy sharing from Sweta Malik, a senior power systems researcher at the UCD Energy Institute. And, as usual, we end with our picks of what’s good in the tech world right now, shining the spotlight on some great work from Irish artists. Content warning: This episode touches on the topics of self-harm and suicide. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.