In this episode of TechConnect, Chris Ekman, SVP of Operations and OTT Services at The Africa Channel, shares how his team is using AI to modernize the content pipeline behind streaming and broadcast media. From metadata validation and thumbnail selection to ad break placement, dubbing, and localization, Chris explains where automation can reduce repetitive work while keeping humans in the loop for quality control. He also discusses TAC Labs, agentic workflows, and the future of AI-driven media operations for bringing African stories to global audiences.

In this TechConnect episode, Andy Oliva, Founder of Lucky Day Labs, breaks down what product design looks like when AI becomes a core interface. The conversation covers why businesses need to design for agents as well as humans, how prompt-driven workflows are changing software expectations, and why voice and text experiences may become central to customer engagement. Andy also discusses the pressure on SaaS companies, the importance of rapid experimentation, and how leaders can create a culture that embraces AI without losing sight of user value.

In this episode of the TechConnect Podcast, Chris Daden speaks with Ben Schreiner, Head of AI and Modern Data BD at AWS, about what it takes to compete in the AI era. The discussion covers AI adoption, data readiness, intelligent organizations, evolving workforce skills, leadership, and why the companies that think bigger while enabling safe experimentation will be best positioned to scale.

In this episode, Andy Gryc from QNX joins the SoCal Tech Forum to explore the future of embedded systems and real-time computing. Andy breaks down what embedded systems really are, why determinism and reliability matter in mission-critical environments, and how QNX’s microkernel architecture helps power everything from vehicles and robotics to medical and industrial systems.

The conversation also dives into the growing demand for embedded developers, the rise of AI at the edge, and how the QNX Everywhere initiative is opening the door for students, hobbyists, and professional developers to get hands-on with the same platform used in production environments.

In this episode of TechConnect, Alex Esterly from iT1 shares how modern infrastructure is changing in a world shaped by cloud, AI, and rising cybersecurity risk. Drawing on more than 30 years in IT leadership, Alex explains why infrastructure can no longer be treated as a cost center, and why technology leaders need to think of it as a business strategy that drives resilience, efficiency, and growth.

The conversation also explores how organizations can modernize incrementally, design for failure, strengthen cyber resilience, and prepare for the real-world pressures of AI, from smarter security operations to the growing demands on data center power and cooling.

Footwear has always been personal, but mass production forces everyone into averages. In this episode, Eugene Wang, Co-founder and CEO of Fitasy, explains why he believes shoes are the next big “precision engineering” category for spatial, 3D-first AI, and how a digital workflow can replace rigid, slow-moving manufacturing cycles. He shares his path from mechanical engineering and computation to building an AI-driven system that turns individual foot morphology into manufacturable designs, not just a better size chart.

You’ll also hear how additive manufacturing enables comfort tuning at the structure level, why single-material 3D-printed shoes can simplify recyclability, and what “printing locally” could mean for inventory, waste, and CO2. The conversation closes with a look at how shopping might change as production becomes distributed, plus the emerging questions around IP and design files in a world where products start as shareable digital assets.

In this episode of the Tech Connect podcast, host Chris Daden sits down with healthcare AI leader Nadaa Taiyab to unpack what “AI in healthcare” actually looks like in practice. After two decades across clinics, healthcare IT, population health, and data science, Nadaa offers a grounded view of where AI is delivering real value today, and why the biggest wins are often on the administrative side, not in replacing clinicians.

They dig into why generative AI changed the game compared to traditional machine learning, especially for messy, unstructured clinical notes and document-heavy workflows. The conversation also zooms out to the macro trends pushing healthcare toward automation and augmentation, from provider shortages and burnout to growing chronic disease burden. Along the way, Nadaa shares hard-earned lessons on HIPAA realities, vendor risk, governance guardrails, evaluation and monitoring, and why “move fast and break things” is a dangerous mindset in regulated care environments. If you build or buy AI for healthcare, this one is a practical blueprint for where to start and what not to skip.

Join our discussion with Francesco Fabbrocino, a fintech technology leader, AI practitioner, and instructor with more than two decades of experience building and scaling large scale systems. In our discussion, we discuss the rapidly evolving world of fintech fraud detection where artificial intelligence is reshaping both how fraud is committed as well as how it’s prevented.

We explore how impersonation sits at the core of most fraud, how traditional trust signals are breaking down, and what technology and business leaders must do to stay ahead in an environment where attackers continuously adapt.