Jim O Brien/CEO - techbuzzireland.com

TransferMate takes top prize at the inaugural Deloitte Financial Services Innovation Awards #TransferMate #Deloitte

Global payments company TransferMate has been announced as the overall winner of the first annual Deloitte Financial Services Innovation Awards. Established in 2010, the company facilitates global payments in 162 countries in 134 currencies, and has nine offices worldwide.

The awards, which celebrate innovation by financial services companies across the island of Ireland, recognise both individuals and companies that are leading the way in innovation – using technology to address challenges and create opportunities, improving user experience, and changing the way business is done. Financial Services Ireland (FSI) and Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) partner with Deloitte on the awards.

Speaking at the awards, Minister Michael D’Arcy TD, Minister of State at the Department of Finance with special responsibility for Financial Services and Insurance said: “Financial services has long been a priority sector for the Irish Government. The development of our international financial services sector has been one of the highlights of Ireland’s economic development over the last 30 years. It is innovation that will be key in ensuring that we maintain what we have and to continue enhancing our IFS sector. The Ireland for Finance strategy recognises this with one of the four foundational pillars being Technology and Innovation.

“I am delighted to have been invited by Deloitte to their inaugural Deloitte Financial Services Innovation Awards. As the first event of its kind in Ireland, the awards celebrated innovation in the financial services space and I would like to congratulate all of the nominees and award winners on their achievements.”

BUSINESS 20th Sept 2019 no fee for repro
Deloitte has announced the winners of its inaugural Financial Services Innovation Awards. Global payments company TransferMate has been announced as the overall winner, while Denis McCarthy, CEO of Fexco, was recognised in the leadership category.
Pictured at the awards are David Dalton, Head of Financial Services, Deloitte, Joe Duffy, Chair of FSI Executive Board and Country Executive for BNY Mellon in Ireland, Sinead Fitzmaurice, Co-Founder and CFO, TransferMate, Terry Clune, Co-Founder, TransferMate, Richard Walsh, Head of Digital and Payments Strategy, BPFI.
Picture by Shane O’Neill, SON Photographic.

It was double success for TransferMate at the awards. In addition to being crowned the overall winner, it was also named the winner within the Product or Service category for its Global Invoice Connect product. This is an international receivables product for businesses looking for a more efficient solution for receiving payments from their global customers. The product provides an alternative to international wire payments by using TransferMate’s global network, which features a robust legal and compliance framework capable of transferring funds in over 162 countries. TransferMate collaborates with Wells Fargo to bring Global Invoice Connect to the market.

Denis McCarthy, CEO of Fexco, was announced as the winner in the leadership category. This award acknowledges the role Denis has played in driving Fexco’s diversification into new product areas and investment in innovation that has proven key to the evolution of the company into a global fintech business. Prior to his role at Fexco, as a founder of both Annadale Technologies and Aviso, he demonstrated his ability to lead a concept and idea through to product development and commercial success.

David Dalton, Head of Financial Services at Deloitte Ireland, commented: “Congratulations to TransferMate on being crowned overall winners. We launched these awards to showcase the pioneering innovations that were being developed in the industry and to showcase Ireland as hub for innovation internationally. We’ve been blown away by the calibre of innovation within the industry and TransferMate certainly exemplifies that through their innovative product offerings.

BUSINESS 20th Sept 2019 no fee for repro
Deloitte has announced the winners of its inaugural Financial Services Innovation Awards. Global payments company TransferMate has been announced as the overall winner, while Denis McCarthy, CEO of Fexco, was recognised in the leadership category.
Pictured at the awards are David Dalton, Head of Financial Services, Deloitte, Joe Duffy, Chair of FSI Executive Board and Country Executive for BNY Mellon in Ireland, Sinead Fitzmaurice, Co-Founder and CFO, TransferMate, Terry Clune, Co-Founder, TransferMate, Richard Walsh, Head of Digital and Payments Strategy, BPFI.
Picture by Shane O’Neill, SON Photographic.

Similarly, Denis’s relentless focus on continuous improvement and the determination he has shown when pursuing efforts to innovate is inspiring to all of us – he is an outstanding leader, innovator and influencer in the financial services industry. The judging panel were particularly struck by their appetite to collaborate with strategic partners, both domestically and internationally, to drive innovation within their businesses.

“Through these awards, we have observed a level of innovation in the financial services industry and an ecosystem in Ireland not seen before, and we are delighted to recognise those companies that are driving this.”

From over 100 applications the judging panel, comprising Julie Sinnamon, CEO, Enterprise Ireland; Brian Hayes, CEO, BPFI; Joe Duffy, Chair of FSI Executive Board and Country Executive for BNY Mellon in Ireland; Ciaran Hancock, Business Editor, The Irish Times; Mai Santamaria, Head of the Financial Advisory Team at the Department of Finance; and David Dalton, Head of Financial Services, Deloitte, chose the following winners:

Product or Service – TransferMate
Operations – Institute of Banking
Customer Experience – Xtremepush
RegTech – AQMetrics & Fenergo (joint winners)
Learning – Ulster Bank
Social or Sustainable Entrepreneurship – Fexco
Most Disruptive Fintech – InvoiceFair
Leadership – Denis McCarthy
Overall winner – TransferMate

Over 150 business leaders from across the island of Ireland attended the awards gala on Friday 20 September, alongside Minister Michael D’Arcy TD, Minister of State at the Department of Finance with special responsibility for Financial Services and Insurance, and keynote speaker Chris Skinner, CEO of The Finanser, author and expert commentator on the financial markets and fintech.

Five Major Revolutions Will Transform Healthcare Over the Next 20 Years. #Spons #HealthCare

The world of healthcare is changing. By 2040, specialist surgeons will use remote robots to operate on patients in different continents; babies will have their DNA sequenced before they are even born; and patients will be able to generate new blood inside their own bodies without the need for a blood donor.

These are just some of the findings of a new report commissioned by international healthcare specialists, Allianz Care, to help them prepare for the longer-term needs of their customers. The report looks at how medical science and healthcare delivery will be transformed globally in the next 20 years. Allianz Care is the international health brand of Allianz Partners and a leading provider of international health insurance.

The Future Health, Care & Wellbeing Report

Authored by internationally renowned futurologist, Ray Hammond, it presents likely future developments and trends in healthcare between now and 2040. Commenting on what healthcare will look like in 2040, Ray Hammond said:

“Healthcare is one of the few arenas in which every one of us has a stake. The next 20 years will witness profound change in healthcare, all the more notable given that medical science and healthcare delivery tend to be conservative, slow-moving sectors that are highly resistant to change. The annual global market is currently estimated to be worth around $8.1 trillion, with annual global spending on healthcare forecast to rise to $18.28 trillion by 2040. With that in mind, we have a collective responsibility to ourselves and to the next generation to determine what that change will look like and the impact it will have on all of us.”

The report identifies five key trends which, collectively, will revolutionize the healthcare landscape. These include: personalized medicine; stem-cell medicine; nano-scale medicine; gene therapy and editing; and digital health.

The key healthcare predictions for 2040 are:

Health information from traditional annual physical check-ups and other tests previously only available in a surgery or lab will be replaced by data from sensors on/around our ‘smart’ bodies (including in our clothing and, eventually, skin and blood). This will be immediately accessible to us, in real time.
A new field of ‘predictive medical data mining’ will provide early warnings of physiological trouble ahead or indications of disease as it develops. Physicians will have 24/7 real-time reports of their patients’ wellbeing and will be alerted to any change in patients’ data that requires urgent attention
Stem-cell medicine will be a powerful tool in mainstream medicine. For example, replacement human organs for transplant will be grown on demand from stem cells in the lab, with minimal risk of rejection
Nano-medicine (in its infancy in 2019) may eventually outperform all other branches of medical science, as scientists create ‘designer drugs’ that are far more powerful than today’s drugs. “The use of UV-Vis Spectrophotometers will also play an important role in the manufacturing process of nano-medicine in the upcoming years.”
Artificial Intelligence (AI) ‘chatbots’ equipped with deep learning algorithms could relieve emergency room personnel of tending to large numbers of walk-in patients with non-emergencies (e.g. sore throats, UTIs)

Ultimately, this report will help insurers anticipate the benefits and potential challenges of the evolving healthcare environment, from a customer perspective. It not only provides insight, but it will also help spark ideas and debate to proactively plan for the future.

The future of health insurance

The report makes clear that in the future, insurance business models will need to change. Currently, one of the primary purposes of insurance is that an individual is covered for the unexpected. But in the future, health issues will be identified, and often addressed at birth. Health will no longer be an unknown quantity. Insurance premiums, which used to pay for health events that ‘might happen’, may evolve into a fund which is there to pay for treatment following unexpected accidents, and to access the latest technology to treat conditions which can’t be dealt with at birth. Health plans will most likely be completely tailored to each person. Plus, as the number of deaths due to unexpected or incurable illnesses decreases, populations grow and people live longer, the sheer number of people in the world will bring its own challenges in terms of making sure that everyone can get prompt access to care. This is where digital tools, robotics and artificial intelligence can really help.

There will also be a significant shift with regards to where health information sits. Currently it’s primarily with doctors and hospitals. In the future, people will have much greater access to their own health data via in-body/device technology. However, future customers will need support interpreting that information and navigating the international healthcare system. They’ll also want data to back up decisions about which consultants they see and where to locate them. The role of the insurer will be to use their expertise and global network to make that process as easy as possible, while giving them access to the right care at the best rates.

For additional information about Allianz Care and how they are shaping the future of international healthcare, read the full ‘Future Health, Care & Wellbeing’ report, which was launched in July as part of ‘The World in 2040‘ futurology series.

AVer launches VB342+ video soundbar All in one USB 4K UHD smart huddle room camera/audio for painless conferencing. #AVer

Leading AV manufacturer AVer announces the launch of the VB342+ conferencing system which makes group video calls more efficient, delivering exceptional audio and video quality for enterprises. A huddle room, or small conference space needs good video quality to have clear view on the discussion subjects, a wide view angle to accommodate all attendees on the screen, plus easy installation.

The VB342+ includes SmartFrame and SmartSpeaker proprietary AVer AI (artificial intelligence), True WDR (wide dynamic range), and 120° field of vision (FOV) providing the smoothest of conferencing experiences in small spaces.

AVer SmartFrame. The VB342+ automatically frames all meeting participants, adjusting camera zoom, pan and focus to quickly fit everyone on-screen without overreacting to peripheral movement.

SmartSpeaker Instantly Identifies Speakers. Highly sensitive SmartSpeaker Tracking pinpoints speakers wherever a participant is in the room, cutting through noise to zoom in on the person who is speaking. SmartSpeaker has a 6-meter diameter range which avoids people having to move closer to the microphone.

Constant Clarity with True WDR. True Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) controls the exposure and processes the light values of pixels in high-contrast backlight environments to provide clear images in any environment.

Fit Everyone in the Room. The VB342+ captures the room with a 120° FOV (frame of vision) multi-glass lens that features a motorized 180° pan and 105° tilt view for a wide perspective view to fit everyone in the room.

Wireless Connection. Mobile phones can connect with VB342+ via Bluetooth in seconds, to have an instant mobile phone meeting

Rene Buhay, AVer Europe Vice President of Sales & Marketing, comments: “With the VB342+ Huddle Room Camera AVer is taking the pain away from video conferencing. No more struggling with light or sound problems, video conferencing just got a whole lot easier and better.

Price: £1099 ex VAT

VB342+ Specifications http://communication.avereurope.com/model/vb342plus

Urbanista Collaborates with the Tim Bergling Foundation to help stem Mental Health increase amongst highest affected 15-29 year old’s #MentalHealth #Urbanista #OpenToTalk

Urbanista, a leading developer and manufacturer of lifestyle audio products are proud to announce their support and long term commitment to supporting mental health illness; through the collaboration of the Tim Bergling Foundation. Founded in memory of one of the most acclaimed and beloved producers, performers and singer songwriters in modern music, also known as Avicii, who tragically lost his life to suicide in April 2018.

Open to Talk? Open to Listen, a collaboration launching in October 2019 designed to channel a long-term range of initiatives, championing the ongoing efforts made in raising awareness of mental health. Through music based collaborations, content and the sale of Urbanista headphone products – all aimed at encouraging those in need, to talk. Open to Talk? Open to Listen, created by Urbanista will proudly;

· Partner and contribute support and finances to the Tim Bergling Foundation

· Sponsor the Avicii Tribute Concert https://www.aviciitributeconcert.com/

· Create Open to Talk? Open to Listen campaign, story based content encouraging others to talk about their own experiences with mental health

· Donate to a range of Mental Health organisations through Urbanista headphone sales

A Voice for Mental Health

Both Urbanista and Avicii are connected to the music scene, especially in Scandinavia and have created the need to act and be a part of the voice, now gathering pace for Mental Health related illnesses.

Urbanista will work closely with the Tim Bergling foundation to help support Mental Health awareness and suicide prevention. Anders Andreen, Urbanista CEO, comments; As a manufacturer of headphones and speakers, music means everything to us. This collaboration goes hand in hand with our core values and it is with pride that we support the Tim Bergling Foundation.”

The Tim Bergling Foundation was created by Klas Bergling, Anki Liden and their family after the death of their son. The foundation will advocate for the recognition of suicide as a global health emergency and promote removing the stigma attached to the discussion of Mental Health issues.

An Alarming 450 million people currently suffer from mental illness, placing Mental Health disorders among the leading cause of ill health, globally. Up to one million people take their own lives every year and is the most common cause of death for young adults aged 16-29.

The Foundations activities will kick off with the Avicii Tribute Concert, supported by Urbanista, in Stockholm on the 5thDecember at Friends Arena, where 19 of the original singers on Avicii’s biggest songs will perform with a 30-piece live band, alongside DJ sets from his friends. The line-up already includes, David Guetta, Rita Ora, Adam Lambert amongst others. Others will be announced in the coming weeks. All net profits from the Avicii Tribute Concert for Mental Health Awareness will go to supporting organisation’s that address mental health needs and suicide prevention.

#OpenToTalk

Share your experiences and be part of those doing the same from October 2019 on Urbanista’s social channels.

Alongside the Avicii Tribute Concert, Urbanista begin their support with a contribution to the foundation, donating 10% of sales on all Stockholm headphones sold on the Urbanista website throughout October. The donated funds will help the formation of policies and tools that are needed to detect risks and prevent suicide, especially among young people.

In participating retailers, purchase any Urbanista Stockholm headphone during October will have the opportunity to win one of 10 VIP golden tickets to the event.

“These activities are a starting point to our long-term commitment in supporting issues close to Tim Bergling’s heart” says Anders Andreen in a statement, continuing “We are honoured to help keep Avicii’s legacy alive through the power of music and support the foundation in recognising the importance of Mental Health Awareness, Sustainability and Global Warming, the three topics close to Tim Bergling’s heart. “Urbanista supports us in this important work and we are extremely pleased to have them on-board” concludes Klas Bergling, Tim’s father.

First look and unboxing of the Groov-e Apollo desk lamp with some extras. #Office #Tech

Need a new lamp of course you do but this one does more than just switch on and shine some light it sports a bluetooth speaker and a wireless charging spot to give you that bit more than your traditional lamp.

Today we check it out and will have a full review soon so if you have any questions feel free to ask as normal on our social handles.

Wireless charging with the Apollo is designed to be as easy as possible. Users simply place compatible devices on the 5w charging pad to start powering up the battery immediately.

Apollo’s light utilises three LED modes; warm, warm white and cool white enabling the user to tailor the light tone as required. Whilst, a dimmer function means the brightness can be adjusted up or down too.For those that like tunes before bed or to get them through the working day – Apollo also has an integrated Bluetooth speaker.

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First look at the JBL TUNE 120 TWS True Wireless Earbuds. #JBL #TrueWireless

Next up in our True Wireless collection is the JBL TUNE 120 TWS which look really nice out of the box and are fully featured. On the box it claims PURE BASS and ZERO Cable but it is all about the bass as many true wireless fans look out for this in particular so I am looking forward to testing how good they sound not only with the bass end of things but overall and we will tell you if they are worth their money, JBL is a company that does audio quite good so I am sure these will sound great as a whole.

No wires. No hassles. Introducing the completely cord free JBL TUNE 120TWS. They are powerful in sound thanks to a 5.8mm driver featuring JBL Pure Bass sound and colorful in design. The earbuds combined with the elegantly designed portable charging case provide 16 hours of unrestrained musical enjoyment. Ergonomically shaped, they also ensure long lasting comfort. Equipped with intuitive and handy controls that are conveniently located on each earpiece, including one click access to Siri and Google Now.

Any questions in the interim as always feel free to ask on our social handles.

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First look at the BenQ GVI Portable Projector with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Speaker #BenQ #Projector

This is our third projector in house and the response to the previous two been good with views and questions about them as they are good way to communicate on a bigger scale and especially in Ireland evade the license fee,for now anyway. This model is at the cheaper scale and this does not mean it cant perform on a quick test it is a really capable machine,small,compact and light and easy to use too which is a bonus. Also note this has Wifi and Bluetooth connectivity which again is ideal here..You also get a small remote to make things handy.

GV1’s advanced LED projection light source lasts 30,000 hours for years of spontaneous instant-on entertainment. Its LED-powered high brightness showcases big-screen entertainment up to 100”.

Any questions hit us up on social..

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Sophos tracks evolution of WannaCry from predator to high risk vaccine. #Sophos #WannaCry #Malware

Sophos , a global leader in network and endpoint security, has published WannaCry Aftershock, a paper on what happened to the infamous WannaCry malware, following the worldwide attack that began on May 12, 2017. The research by SophosLabs shows that the WannaCry threat remains rampant, with millions of infection attempts stopped every month, and that while the original malware has not been updated, many thousands of short-lived variants are in the wild.

The continued existence of the WannaCry threat is largely due to the ability of these new variants to bypass the ‘kill switch.’ However, when Sophos researchers analyzed and executed a number of variant samples, they found that their ability to encrypt data was neutralized as a result of code corruption.

Because of the way in which WannaCry infects new victims – checking to see if a computer is already infected and, if so moving on to another target – infection by an inert version of the malware effectively protects the device from being infected with the active strain. In short, new variants of the malware act as an accidental vaccine, offering still unpatched and vulnerable computers a sort of immunity from subsequent attack by the same malware.

However, the very fact that these computers could be infected in the first place suggests the patch against the main exploit used in the WannaCry attacks has not been installed – a patch that was released more than two years ago.

The original WannaCry malware was detected just 40 times and since then SophosLabs researchers have identified 12,480 variants of the original code. Closer inspection of more than 2,700 samples (accounting for 98 percent of the detections) revealed they had all evolved to bypass the ‘kill switch’ – a specific URL that, if the malware connects to it, automatically ends the infection process – and all had a corrupted ransomware component and were unable to encrypt data.

In August 2019, Sophos telemetry detected 4.3 million instances of WannaCry. The number of different variants observed was 6,963. Of these, 5,555 or 80 percent – were new files.

Sophos researchers have also traced the first appearance of today’s most widespread corrupted variant back to just two days after the original attack: May 14, 2017, when it was uploaded to VirusTotal, but had not yet been seen in the wild.

“The WannaCry outbreak of 2017 changed the threat landscape forever. Our research highlights how many unpatched computers are still out there, and if you haven’t installed updates that were released more than two years ago – how many other patches have you missed? In this case, some victims have been lucky because variants of the malware immunized them against newer versions. But no organization should rely on this. Instead, standard practice should be a policy of installing patches whenever they are issued, and a robust security solution in place that covers all endpoints, networks and systems,” said Peter Mackenzie, security specialist at Sophos and lead author of the research.

How to protect against WannaCry malware and ransomware in general

Check that you have a full inventory of all devices connected to your network and that they are all up to date in terms of their security software
Always install the latest patches as soon as they are released on all the devices on your network
Verify if your computers are patched against the EternalBlue exploit used in WannaCry by following these instructions: How to Verify if a Machine is Vulnerable to EternalBlue – MS17-010
Keep regular backups of your most important and current data on an offline storage device as the best way to avoid having to pay a ransom when affected by ransomware
There is no silver bullet to security, and a layered security model is the best practice all businesses need to implement
For example, Sophos Intercept X employs a comprehensive defense-in-depth approach to endpoint protection, combining multiple leading next-gen techniques to deliver malware detection, exploit protection and built-in endpoint detection and response (EDR)

Review – Arlo Ultra+ 4K wireless home security kit. #Arlo #Security #Tech

Currently prior testing this model I have been using the previous model since last year the Arlo Pro 2 and it has served me well still to this date with no problems at all bar the app but them issues have been fixed with updates and works well.

Given this is a new model there is a new base station so the previous one would not allow me add the new 4K model so I had to install the whole new kit on the current base station, they are not backward compatible but they are working on a fix to correct this at the time of press and from reading on their forums so it was just a simple process to unlist the camera on the old station and set up fresh the bell,chime and two cameras on the new on which took a few minutes to complete and after that all was good and still is today and the new features in the app are also good too which enhance the user experience which I will go through in the video below.

Installation again is as easy and no wires which is important and if you have a good internet connection it will benefit you most as to where and how far you can place it this will vary per household and internet connection. I have one in the front and rear of house and mixed these about during the test period to see how they got on as the light situation is different between front and rear.

One thing for sure here is your camera will not miss a thing and you can set activity zones to precision which is great for stopping false negative notifications and and I suggest you make use of them. Once mounted the camera is very flexible as to where you can point it so you can get the exact area covered you want. One example of what I mean is I had a neighbours washing setting off my camera which pissed me off but I had not activated zones which stops this, It is all well and good just to point the camera where you want it to shoot but it will come back to bite you not using the activity zones where you can remove the notifications coming to your phone which are just worthless and will drain your battery.

The doorbell and chime are a great addition to have here and for me the bell is a gift as I do be in and out during the day and often miss the postman or courier as I have many couriers call and I can just speak to them through the bell whilst I have them on camera to verify who they are and it also great for cold calling sales men which is mostly ISP providers these days or just con artists selling carpets and stuff which you can tell them to take a hike even when you are in the house you dont need to get up and look its a guilty pleasure it must be said.

The bell has to be wired to your initial wiring it is simple and you can then change the tone or bell type with the small switch in the back of the camera. The chime just plugs into any socket and be placed wheres most convenient for you. See sample below of how bell works with mobile, As mentioned you can sync any camera to bell for the visual.

Whats new with this model is the 4K which offers rich viewing which you will see below and it really is enhanced over the PRO 2 model but I have found your internet connection can interfere with this as it has with mine but the footage is great and the integrated spotlight really ads to it too giving you instant light and it is powerful but you cant record in 4K with Auto Zoom and tracking on this is not a caveat anyway the footage is crystal clear. There is also package detection which has worked fine for me given it is in beta stage it has worked a treat.

Overall I can recommend this or any Arlo camera as it our third one in for review and they have worked fine and still work today with no issues but check the video below for more..

MOTION DETECTION

PACKAGE DETECTION

APP LAYOUT FRONT AND REAR

4K LIVE NIGHT

Top Features

Wire-free and weather-resistant design, works with Alexa and includes 1-year of Arlo smart premier service with rolling 30 day cloud recordings (up to 10 cameras)
4K and HDR zoom in to see sharp details with Arlo ultra’s 4K and HDR advanced image quality technology
Enhanced night vision: See what’s lurking with colour night vision allowing you to see video in colour rather than traditional black and white(only live streaming)
Integrated spotlight: Light up the night and ward off unwelcome guests using Arlo ultra’s integrated spotlight
180 Degree diagonal field of view: See more with a wider angle lens that has auto image correction reducing the fish eye effect
Noise canceling technology: Listen and speak to visitors with crystal clear, full 2-way audio that reduces wind and noise
Auto zoom and tracking: Auto-focus on moving objects with clarity and detail; works with apple watch, google home hub, amazon alexa

BUY HERE

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