Techstrong Gang
3 Seasons
Techstrong Gang is your daily roundtable where industry leaders and analysts break down the biggest stories in technology, AI, cybersecurity, DevOps, and digital transformation. Hosted by Alan Shimel alongside rotating experts from across the Techstrong Network, the Gang brings sharp insights, candid debates, and forward-thinking perspectives on how innovation is reshaping business, society, and the future of work.
New episodes drop Monday through Friday, offering timely conversations that cut through the noise and connect you directly to what’s driving the tech world today.
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Moltbot Adoption Grows, WebAssembly Turns 10, and AI Infrastructure Strains | TSG Ep. 1010
Episode 1
Alan Shimel, JP Morgenthal, Hope Lynch and Stephen Foskett, president of the Tech Field Day arm of the Futurum Group, dive into Moltbot, a general purpose artificial intelligence (AI) agent that, while gaining a significant level of adopton, is also raising cybersecurity alarms.
Then the gang ce...
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AI Workslop at Work, Super Bowl AI, and a Federal No-Show at RSAC | TSG Ep. 1008
Episode 2
Alan Shimel, Mike Vizard, Fred Wilmot, Anne Ahola Ward, and Gina Rosenthal dive into the issues artificial intelligence (AI) is creating in the workplace—also known as AI Workslop—before previewing how AI will be applied at the Super Bowl to improve player safety and enhance the fan experience.
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Shifting the Balance of AI Power | TSG Ep. 1007
Episode 3
Alan Shimel, Mike Vizard, Jon Swartz, Wickey Wang and Teri Robinson examine Microsoft’s move to challenge NVIDIA with its Maia 200 AI accelerator, along with the rapid rise of synthetic AI-generated music.
Then the gang takes a look at an Instagram impersonation incident that highlights ongoing ...
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Apple’s AI Pin, Anthropic Rewrites AI Rules, and the Push for 24/7 Markets | TSG Ep. 1005
Episode 4
Alan Shimel, Mike Vizard, JP Morgenthal, Hope Lynch and Stephen Foskett, president of the Tech Field Day arm of the Futurum Group, dive into a report about Apple's plan to create a wearable pin that makes artificial intelligence (AI) more personal before discussing a new AI constitution defined b...
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AI Slop, Blue-Collar Jobs, and Why Platform Adoption Keeps Failing | TSG Ep. 1004
Episode 5
Alan Shimel, Mike Vizard, Mitch Ashley, Camberley Bates and Futurum Group analyst Guy Currier delve into the proliferation of bad content being created using artificial intelligence (AI) tools, also known as AI slop, before discussing the impact AI is likely to have on blue collar jobs following ...
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CEO AI Confidence Slips, Memory Chip Shortages, and Microsoft’s Waterless Data Center | TSG Ep. 1003
Episode 6
Alan, Mike, Jon, Fred Wilmot and Gina Rosenthal delve into why CEO confidence in investments in artificial intelligence (AI) has dropped, before diving into the impact a global shortage of memory chips is likely to have on IT projects.
Then the gang takes a look at Microsoft’s effort to build a ...
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Sovereign Clouds, Surveillance Tech, and the AI Toy Ban | TSG Ep. 1002
Episode 7
Alan, Mike, Jon and Teri Robinson dive into the rise of sovereign clouds as global tensions escalate at the annual Davos conference, before taking a look at how both sides of the immigration conflict are now using surveillance technology.
Then the gang delves into a bill to ban artificial intelli... -
DevOps Dozen 2025 and the State of the DevOps Community | TSG Ep. 1001
Episode 8
Alan, Mike, Mitch, Chris Blask, and Kate Scarcella in this special edition take a look at the state of the DevOps community following the publishing of the DevOps Dozen awards for 2025.
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AI Innovation, Data Privacy, and the Growing Risk of Economic Inequality - TSG Ep 1000
Episode 9
Alan, Mike, Stephen Fossket, and Hope Lynch explore the ethical implications of technology — especially AI — and the societal responsibilities that come with it. They discuss how rapid technological advancement can deepen inequality if left unchecked, and why accountability in tech companies matt...
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42:41Episode 10
$10B AI Chip Gamble | TSG Ep. 999
Episode 10
Alan, Mike, Jack Poller, Barbara Roos and Andi Mann dive into a $10 billion OpenAI deal with Cerebras that hinges on using alternative processors to run artificial intelligence (AI) inference engines before taking a look at the degree to which AI agents are being adopted without understanding the...
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Techstrong Person of the Year, Apple’s AI Pivot, and Target’s Code Risk | TSG Ep. 998
Episode 11
Alan Shimel, Mike Vizard, Jon Swartz, Fred Wilmot, Gina Rosenthal, and Futurum Group analyst Guy Currier examine the merits of this year’s Techstrong Person of the Year award and what the selection says about leadership in the technology industry.
The discussion then turns to Apple’s decision to...
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The Real Price of Power in the AI Economy | TSG Ep. 997
Episode 12
Alan, Mike, Jon and Teri Robinson dive into a Microsoft pledge, prompted by President Trump, to pick up the cost of electricity when building out data centers to run artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
Then the gang delves into the implications of a Taiwan trade deal that calls for more TS... -
Google’s AI Shopping Protocol, AI Coding Advances, and Quantum Funding | TSG Ep. 999
Episode 13
Alan Shimel, Mike Vizard, Chris Blask, Kate Scarcella, Sid Nag, and Dan O’Brien, president and COO of the Futurum Group, discuss a new Google protocol that enables AI agents to conduct shopping transactions, marking another step toward agent-based commerce becoming practical at scale.
The gang th... -
DevOps in the AI Era, Missing AI Jobs, and Identity Security | TSG Ep. 997
Episode 14
Alan Shimel, Mike Vizard, Mitch Ashley, Camberley Bates and Jack Poller discuss the state of DevOps in the age of artificial intelligence as 2026 gets underway. The gang examines how AI is reshaping workflows, tooling and team structures across software development and operations.
The conversatio... -
Intel’s CES Comeback, California Privacy Push, and Continuous Observability | TSG Ep. 996
Episode 15
Alan Shimel, Mike Vizard, Jon Swartz, Fred Wilmot and Gina Rosenthal discuss signs of a potential Intel resurgence following announcements made this week at the CES conference.
The gang then debates a California initiative aimed at reining in data brokers to strengthen privacy protections before ... -
Robotics at CES, AI Data Center Spending, and Cybersecurity Outlook | TSG Ep. 995
Episode 16
Alan Shimel, Mike Vizard, Mitch Ashley, Jon Swartz and Teri Robinson discuss the rapid pace of robotics development showcased this week at the CES conference, highlighting how advances in hardware, autonomy and applied use cases are accelerating adoption.
The gang then examines the scale of inve...
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AI PCs Without GPUs, NVIDIA’s Autonomous Push, and the Legacy of Lou Gerstner | TSG Ep. 994
Episode 17
Alan, Mike, Mitch, Chris Blask, Kate Scarcella and Dan O'Brien, president and COO of the Futurum Group, dive into an autonomous vehicle push being made by NVIDIA and the launch of a series of AI laptops from HP, Inc. that don't require a graphic processor unit (GPU) that were all launched at the ...
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NVIDIA’s $20B Groq Deal, Meta Buys Manus, and MongoDB Bleed | TSG Ep. 993
Episode 18
Alan, Mike, Mitch, Jack Poller and Stephen Foskett, president of the Tech Field Day arm of the Futurum Group, dive into a $20 billion licensing agreement that gives NVIDIA access to an artificial intelligence (AI) accelerator developed by Groq AI before delving into why Meta is acquiring Manus to...