Techstrong Gang

In today's Techstrong Gang, Alan Shimel, Mitch Ashley, Bonnie Schneider, Stephen Foskett, Jon Swartz and Sulagna Saha discuss how tech has been deployed to help fight the catastrophic fires in the Los Angeles area. Next, the gang turns their attention to a recent report by Bonnie Schneider on EcoTech Insights about how well tech companies have delivered on their promise to use less plastic in packaging. Finally, the gang talks about a potential chip war with China as the Biden administration prepares an executive order to further limit AI chip technology from reaching China and why NVIDIA opposes this move.

Alan, Mike, Mitch and special guests Tracy Ragan and Guy Currier, CTO for the Visible Impact arm of The Futurum Group, debate the degree to which artificial intelligence (AI) agents will transform the software-as-a-service (SaaS) application landscape in the wake of a recent prediction made by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Then, the gang turns its attention to a pair of surveys from IBM and Harness that suggest AI coding tools are not yet living up to DevOps expectations before delving into how cybercriminals are abusing GitHub stars to distribute malware.

Alan, Mike, Jon and special guests Chris Blask and Lisa Martin, the CMO Advisor for The Futurum Group, delve deeper into the latest advanced technologies debuting this week at CES.
Then, the gang turns its attention to a breach of the online store run by the Green Bay Packers that involved an attack on the NFL team’s software supply chain. Lastly, they discuss the likelihood that the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) could enable autonomous cyberattackers capable of exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities.

Alan, Mike, Mitch, Jon and special guest Anne Ahola Ward, CEO of CircleClick Media, dive into why billions of dollars are being invested in generative artificial intelligence (AI) platforms. Then, they discuss an effort led by president-elect Trump that promises to pour $20 billion into the construction of data centers.
Lastly, the gang turns its attention to the role AI is playing in driving a $3.7 billion merger between Getty Images and Shutterstock.

Alan, Mike, Mitch, Amanda, Sulagna and special guest Lisa Martin, the CMO Advisor for The Futurum Group, dive into how robots that need to interact with physical environments will be built more cost effectively following a CES keynote from NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang.
Then, the gang turns its attention to some of the latest gadgets unveiled at CES before taking a look at just how smart the reasoning engines being embedded into the next wave of large language models (LLMs) are.

Alan, Mike, Mitch, Bonnie and special guest Stephen Foskett, president of the Tech Field Day arm of The Futurum Group, dive into how copyright might be protected in the age of generative artificial intelligence (AI) following the signing of an agreement between Anthropic and the music publishing industry.
Then, the gang turns its attention to the impact of mandatory sustainability reporting requirements before sharing an appreciation for Tenable CEO Amit Yoran in the wake of his untimely passing.

At the start of 2025, Alan, Mike, Mitch and special guest Tracy Ragan dive into why technology issues -- such as H1-B visa, relations with China, the impact artificial intelligence (AI) and electronic vehicles are having on the grid and mergers involving Big Tech companies -- are all becoming political talking points.
Then, the gang debates the degree to which platform engineering might drive organizational change in IT organizations.

Alan, Mike, Mitch and special guests Tracy Ragan and Guy Currier, CTO for Visible Impact, an arm of The Futurum Group, revisit the major issues, starting with artificial intelligence (AI) that impacted the technology industry most in 2024.

Alan, Mike, Mitch, Jon and special guest Lisa Martin debate the degree to which agentic artificial intelligence (AI) might one day soon make application developers obsolete. Then, they discuss whether society may become too dependent on AI for emotional support, even to the point of being a surrogate for Santa Claus and loved ones that have passed on.
Lastly, the gang turns its attention to how airtags might significantly reduce the amount of lost luggage during a holiday travel season.

Alan, Mike, Mitch, Jon and Camberley Bates, a chief technology advisor for The Futurum Group, dive into the implications of a digital labor workforce enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) agents. Then, they debate how popular NVIDIA's $249 developer kit for building AI applications might be this holiday season.
Finally, the gang delves into how DevSecOps is evolving in the wake of a spate of mergers and alliances.