The TechTalk Show

One recording room in London

We’ve been busy bees at TechTalk this past week. We were up at London’s Excel for a couple of days seeing UK tech at its most innovative at the Tech XLR8 show (listen back next week to find out how we got on) but we made sure we had another superb show for you.

First up, we had some of the team from Room One London come and chat to us. Elena Corchero and Melissa Dore are part of a design and technology lab that is bridging the gap between virtual realities and the physical world – you need to hear what they both had to say.

From new technologies to a blast from the past, for this week’s Unboxing product we had a retro classic that’s had a bit of a makeover. Is this product going to snake its way past Apple? Probably not. Can you tell what we’re talking about? 

Any mention of VR gets us excited, so we decided to listen back to one of our interviews from the Wearable Technology Show recently. Mark Reed is from My Life Digital and their company is making sure that they are a trusted name when it comes to personal data.

 

Now Loading an efficient day

There was no talk of Politics on this week’s TechTalk show while the ballot boxes start filling-up across the UK, but it’s a good thought – who would get your vote to be the TechTalk Prime Minister? Dan Hawkes or Steve Griffiths – who would be the lesser of the two evils?

First up, we caught up with Fissara and their Director Jon Holttum. They are experts at efficiency when it comes to processes in the workplace – maybe we should get them involved more in the TechTalk studio to keep Dan and Steve in-line.

As everybody else was voting in the UK, there was only two choices of response for Unboxing. It was a bad decision for this week’s product – their campaigning might have been helped if the batteries were still running.

Some voters pick their party out of loyalty. It’s a concept that consumers often buy into too. Our next guests, Scrummy, are revolutionizing the way that we build up rewards through our favourite retailers and businesses.

To bring the show to a close, we had a bit of a gaming chat – we weren’t slacking towards the end though. Tim Horton is from NowLoading, they are specialists in the video game media industry and they work closely with the digital magazine, Movie Pilot.

 

Virtual building sites and cyber safety

We had so much Tech on this week’s show that our London studio was close to bursting point – maybe it was just a case of Steve Griffiths and Dan Hawkes putting on a few too many pounds over the long weekend…

Nah, we’ll let them off – we had loads of fantastic guests on TechTalk this week and laying the foundations for the show was Connor Handley-Collins from Truvision. Did you ever imagine that VR would be used in the construction industry? Nope? Well you’d better think again – it’s happening.

We moved on, but it felt like we were still floating in a virtual world after hearing this week’s Unboxing consensus – unanimous adoration? Surely not.

Our next guest is doing something very topical at the moment. A couple of weeks have passed since the NHS Cyber Attack, but the issue of cyber security is now at the forefront of everybody’s minds – Ryan Rubin from Protiviti are offering advice and solutions for scary ransomware attacks.

Finally, we had some further advice but it focused on quite the different topic. Rupert Honywood is from the Integrated Marketing Bureau – he’s a bit of a whizz when it comes to marketing and social selling, so make sure you ingest his tablets of terrific advice.

Video killed the radio star

London calling to the faraway towns – TechTalk is on the road and hitting the big city. Steve Griffiths and Dan Hawkes don’t have any groupies yet, but they remain ever hopeful…

We christened our new studio with a fantastic show full of brilliant guests. Although, to kick us off, we had The Buggles going through our heads – we’re hoping video doesn’t kill the radio stars because we spoke to Sophie High from Plotto – the online video research solution. We escaped unharmed.

Our new location didn’t breed any new success in Unboxing this week, unfortunately. Could this have been the most ridiculed product ever?

We needed some tunes to get us back in the mood after our Unboxing flop. It was lucky that we had Jukedeck to pick up the mood. Businesses use music more than what you might think – there’s a lot of science in it. Patrick Stobbs explains how his company are exploiting the highest tech in AI to create compositions that will go a long way.

Now, with our last guest, Steve & Dan might be running scared. They should hope that people aren’t searching for ‘Tech Radio Presenters’ on ProFinda or otherwise they may be out of the job! Seb Haire explains how the firm are connecting the right people in the right places, but also how they are so much better than LinkedIn. 

Expressing love for gaming

We had a bit of a gamer theme on the TechTalk show this week, perfect for Steve Griffiths and Dan Hawkes who are big kids at heart. They kicked off by discussing the best VR games for the pub – the boxing is all too real for Steve though!

Somebody who is more likely to be able to make these VR dreams a reality is Mark Cundle, through his company Austella. They love all things VR and they even have a tour of their office on their website. We heard all about their story about the Wearable Tech show 

Sticking with games, we also heard from Sri & Shariff from Game Bench. Dan loves these guys because he loves Android and hates Apple, while iPhone 7 fanboy Steve is won over too. The company are ascending Android apps to be the best.

Even Unboxing had us twiddling our thumbs. A blast from the past had us all rocking, apart from the ever-cynical Dan.

To buy all these types of game products, of course, you need a good platform online to find them. As such, it was lucky that we spoke to Michal Schwartz from Expressly. They are revolutionising the online shopping world with their technology that just makes sense to the consumer.

 

Tomorrow's world today

Tomorrow is only a day away…incorrect. Tomorrow was yesterday for the TechTalk Show as Dan Hawkes and Steve Griffiths caught up with some more fantastic companies at the TMRW tech hub, Croydon.

We like to make a bit of noise on this show, so it was apt that BeLoudest were first up. Stuart Spencer’s company is flying high, thanks to their VR flight experience game ‘A bad day to fly’.

Having experienced the very best of VR, we then nosedived with another VR product in this week’s Unboxing. Unanimous Back in the box! Watch the whole sorry debacle back via the live video.

Maybe, when it comes to Unboxing, we should speak to Mick Robbins a bit more? Mick’s company, Connected Space, can do pretty much anything when it comes to technology they’re light years ahead.  

Next up, we were thrusted into the world of geo-targeting. This cutting edge technique saves loads of headaches for marketing teams enabling them to really pinpoint and focus on their exact target market. Edge 360 are the experts and they have plenty of happy clients – Vijay and Rahul tell us why.

It was a jam-packed hour and luckily we had our rota ready thanks to Carl Holloway. His company, Rotaready, are leading the way when it comes to organising your staff and their workflow. If only it was so easy to control Steve & Dan.

 

Croydon TMRW special

#MayThe4thBeWithYou – I’m sure it was meant to be that Star Wars Day was celebrated alongside another fantastic TechTalk Show. Listen to Steve Griffiths and Dan Hawkes talking about the latest tech you should, it is your destiny. 

The Sith Lords were joined by a Padawan presenter in the form of Francois Mazoudier, he’s actually more like a Jedi Master when it comes to tech though. He runs Croydon’s TMRW, south London’s no.1 tech hub. 

We actually popped along to one of the TMRW events last week and caught up with some fantastic companies. First of all, we heard from Scrummy. They are taking brand loyalty to a new level. Then we had Hulah; these guys are revolutionising the way we search for a holiday. 

Taking a short break from the guys at TMRW, we moved on to Unboxing. It was an Apple product – it promised so much, but it was a waste of time.

Heading back to TMRW, we had a chat with AlliApp – it’s an allergy tracker with some professional backing. Finally, don’t worry about the expenses receipt any more, AIO are changing the name of petty cash in business.

 

 

Birds of a feather flock together

Seriously Siri! Steve Griffiths and Dan Hawkes are joined in the studio by their virtual fruity friend for the start of the show, like a little PA he/she/it is reading out their personal WhatsApp messages – that’s dangerous.    

We all know that Siri cannot hold our interest for too long though, we’ve tried it. Thankfully we are joined in the studio by Latif Baluch and his new social calendar, ‘I’m In Diary’. This app is brilliant, you can vote, chat and generally arrange your way to a fantastic event.

We had to try and keep calm in the studio for Unboxing, but there was a horrific whirring noise going around – surely it wouldn’t be from a device specifically designed to soothe the mind. Verdict: Back in the box!

To help us overcome our headache, we were lucky to have ? from eConsult whom we had spoken to at the Wearable Technology Show. It’s kit for GPs that keep the queues down at the surgery, and hopefully your symptoms too. Dan and James got the scoop.

Lastly, far be it from our presenters to dance a ballet, we had a Black Swan of a different kind. Steve King’s company aren’t wearing tutus, they are busy utilising a wealth of data to create digital solutions and solve marketing problems for some big-name clients.

 

A breath of fresh air

They may have overdone the chocolate over the Easter weekend, but Steve Griffiths and Dan Hawkes managed to find their way down to the TechTalk studio.

 

We had a packed schedule, so made sure that we had no time to talk about some sort of important election that’ll be happening soon – Claire Jenkins was ready and waiting on the phone for us and we like her. Why? She’s making networking tasty through her company Table Crowd, they’ve survived even though Dan and Steve managed to elude the door security to attend once upon a time.

 

The Unboxing continued it’s ‘It Rocks’ resurgence thanks to a little device that some of you may have seen before. It was a close call though…

 

Now, for our next guest, we had Raspberries in the studio but we were joined by a company who are all-over Raspberry-pi. Not sure what it is? You’d better listen to the pi-top team.

 

We ended the show on a medical wearable note. First, we heard from one of the great companies that we spoke to at the Wearable Technology Show – Vybra Solutions discussed how to cleanse the air around you. Then, before the curtain came down on another week, we welcomed Jane Ollis from Quvium. If you’re an asthma sufferer, this is the product for you – it’s a personalised cough monitor – listen to the show for more details, it’s well worth it.

How to date Harry Styles

With Dan Hawkes away (probably hunting for Easter Eggs somewhere), James Sloan had to fill his big shoes as he joined Steve Griffiths into a packed studio for another fantastic TechTalk Show.

First into the studio, we welcomed the Space Between duo of Marcus Cooke and John Parkinson. They are coders, developers and creatives all wrapped up in one company – they reckon that they can bring to life any vision that you have for an app or website. You’ll have to look them up and give them a try.

There was a buzz in the room for the Unboxing product and not just because we had a coffee-theme – it was a very close call and, to my knowledge, it was our first-ever tie…

We kept you all Tech Savvy this week and it was all live too. Andrew Mackenzie came to us from Cleveland Scott York, they are specialists when it comes to Intellectual Property and the process behind patents.

Now, this week, we closed the show in One Direction. We were talking all about the best way to date Harry Styles thanks to Grace Yusuf’s company KyuBid. They’re also app developers and working on some very interesting projects. You’d better listen back to the podcast for more info.