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PODCAST

For Tech’s Sake

Elaine Burke & Kelly Earley

Join Elaine Burke and Kelly Earley as they look at tech through a critical lens – not evangelising or demonising it, but definitely throwing a bit of shade when it’s deserved. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

technology tech news

All Episodes

47:12

Instagram’s end to encryption

For Tech’s Sake ·

2026/04/23

Pretty soon your private messages on Instagram will no longer be end-to-end encrypted. But you may not have even known they could be encrypted to begin with, as Instagram kind of buried that feature. Kelly and Elaine discuss what this means for messaging apps more broadly, while also lifting the veil on how private these apps really are (as well as having a rant about all the things they don’t like about Instagram).*** Good things YOU recommend ***>> Amy recommends the film Desk Set>>

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55:24

AI for good? (LIVE! with Dr Abeba Birhane)

For Tech’s Sake ·

2026/04/16

To celebrate our 100th episode, we invited our listeners to watch us in action live, with the return of special guest Dr Abeba Birhane, founder of the pioneering AI Accountability Lab. We had fun with a game of Good Tech, Bad Tech (trademark pending) followed by a meaty discussion with Abeba about the morality of AI, the challenge of being a critic of AI, and how she met the Pope and Shaggy (no, really).We are so grateful to everyone who came out for this live recording, and also to The Digital Hub,

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30:56

The internet is coiled spaghetti (with Jane Ruffino)

For Tech’s Sake ·

2026/04/09

In this episode, Elaine tries to turn Kelly into a subsea cables stan with the help of Jane Ruffino, a PhD candidate who recently visited a ship in the midst of (literally) winding up TAT-8, the world’s first transatlantic fibre-optic cable. Jane enthusiastically shares what we can learn from the subsea cable industry’s ‘minimum necessary technology’ mindset, and why it’s important that the infrastructure and labour that keeps us connected is made visible.Find Jane on LinkedIn and at

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44:18

Access to AT (with Patrick Fitzgerald and Sarah Boland)

For Tech’s Sake ·

2026/04/02

This week, Kelly and Elaine are talking about AT, assistive technology, and how we can all have nicer digital experiences because of it. Our expert guides to AT in this episode are Patrick Fitzgerald, an AT user and DigiCoach for others, and Sarah Boland, an AT facilitator and mentor. We find out some fundamentals for designers and developers to make the web more accessible, as well as some tips for ourselves to be more inclusive with what we post online. Will you take on our anti-Lent alt text

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39:23

Pokémon Go to train an AI

For Tech’s Sake ·

2026/03/26

Pokémon Go collected 30 billion street-level image scans from its players, and now its creators are using that data to help train delivery robots. This prompted Kelly and Elaine to discuss the many ways human labour contributes to AI training, whether we are aware of it or not.*** Good things we recommend ***>> Humanitix ticketing >> Gravity Climbing Centre >> For Tech’s Sake Live! >> Svenska Dagbladet’s investigation into Meta’s AI training *** More from us ***Kelly’s

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46:20

We need to talk about how we talk about AI (with Prof...

For Tech’s Sake ·

2026/03/19

Today’s episode is a lesson in AI literacy, busting some myths and revealing the strings behind the magic trick (with a smattering of Irish for Seachtain na Gaeilge). Kelly quizzes Elaine on how we can adapt our language to be clearer in communicating what AI is, and we also speak to Prof Aphra Kerr about the award-winning AlgoWatch project and its efforts to boost literacy among young people.*** Good things we recommend ***>> AlgoWatch.eu>> Elaine’s keynote at CESIcon 2026>>

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36:22

Dubai influencers

For Tech’s Sake ·

2026/03/12

We’re back with an all-new season of For Tech’s Sake, just in time for a digital media literacy lesson on the Dubai influencer economy and how this shapes the content you see in your feed. We also have some news about our upcoming 100th episode – but you’ll have to listen to find out about that.*** Good things we recommend ***>> Check out Ned Leddy’s e-waste sculpture in St Patrick’s Park from March 14th to 16th.>> Spot a fish, ring a doorbell at visdeurbel.nl*** More from us ***Kelly’s

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44:54

Prophecy girls

For Tech’s Sake ·

2025/12/04

In this final episode of 2025, Elaine and Kelly wonder if being on the naughty list could be a way for tech billionaires to hoard coal resources, and also offer up some predictions for a new year in tech. We’re forecasting legal issues and major market shifts, the spread of age-gating and deregulation, and a reckoning to come for generative AI. We also have a gift guide for the tech lover in your life, and other recommendations that can help you connect with your community IRL. Hosted on Acast. See

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36:58

Slop ’til you drop

For Tech’s Sake ·

2025/11/27

’Tis the season of shopping and scams, so arm yourself with knowledge from the For Tech’s Sake buyer’s guide to what you need to know about online shopping in the slop era. Come for the explanations of TikTok Shop, drop-shipping and scam tactics to watch out for, and stay for the references to ancient memes and Kelly’s tell-all review of a popular Game Boy emulator. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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41:54

Say sorry, be nice, stand up for workers’ rights

For Tech’s Sake ·

2025/11/20

This week, Kelly and Elaine discuss why a delay in the release of Grand Theft Auto VI to late 2026 might be the least of Rockstar Games’ problems as protests have kicked off outside their offices following the firing of more than 30 employees. Could gamers now boycott a release they’ve been waiting more than 12 years for?Meanwhile, as yet another tech outage caused widespread ripples across the web, the EU is taking a look at the concentration of power in digital infrastructure.Also in this episode,

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41:08

Ryanair’s app trap

For Tech’s Sake ·

2025/11/13

This episode may contain a rude word or two when Elaine and Kelly start going off on Ryanair’s decision to force app downloads under the guise of ‘paperless’ boarding (that’s not actually paperless). And rude words are apparently being shadow-banned on Bluesky, while Elon Musk is getting roasted by Joyce Carol Oates on X.We also make an attempt to rouse EU citizens into a fight for the sanctity of GDPR, muse on whether All’s Fair signals a microdrama trend for TV, and get through some listener

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40:28

The good guy of tech

For Tech’s Sake ·

2025/11/06

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.

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1:05:30

Tech Treehouse of Horror

For Tech’s Sake ·

2025/10/30

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

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28:55

Tech will fail and you will die

For Tech’s Sake ·

2025/10/23

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

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36:01

Return of the dead

For Tech’s Sake ·

2025/10/16

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”

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39:41

On the campaign ad trail

For Tech’s Sake ·

2025/10/09

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.

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43:18

Sims, sEMG and soft robotics

For Tech’s Sake ·

2025/10/02

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

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39:04

Terms of abuse

For Tech’s Sake ·

2025/09/25

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.

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34:41

TrumpTok

For Tech’s Sake ·

2025/09/18

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.

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35:32

Chat control chaos

For Tech’s Sake ·

2025/09/11

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

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