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A Guide On How To Survive MWC And Some Tech For Another Year
20 Plays6 days ago
Think of this as your unofficial survival kit for Mobile World Congress. We’re talking smart ways to navigate the madness, rookie mistakes to avoid, the best places to sneak off for some tapas, cocktails, and the side conversations that are way more interesting than what’s on the main stage. From quantum whispers to robots we will discuss some tech that will not steal this show at this event. This is your guide to the tech, the hangouts, and the unspoken rules that make MWC actually worth it.
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Transcript
Introduction to MWC Focus
00:00:02
Pablo Tomasi
Hello and welcome back to the Drift. I'm Pablo, your host. And in today's episode, we are you know experimenting a little bit more, but this time we're not going to try to record at a pub. So as you can see, I'm back in the traditional telco Drift recording studio. But today we will discuss MWC, so some best practices, what to avoid, some tech that I don't expect to see this year, and then some favorite places.
Challenges of Recording in Public Spaces
00:00:27
Pablo Tomasi
So again, we are trying to mix and match a little bit compared to the standard format of the podcast. And by the way, on this, the pub experiment has been a success or has been a failure.
00:00:40
Pablo Tomasi
I would say 50-50. Now, I got a few people telling me the audio is incomprehensible, which, fair enough, it is. But at the same time, the fact that I got some feedback on like, we cannot understand you, it kind of proves that some people who are listening and and it proves that people are interested in what we discuss the drift. So again, bit of failure, a bit of success. We are going to get back with another episode at the pub later on, but not today. so hopefully this time around the the quality
00:01:13
Pablo Tomasi
of the audio is good enough and the content is going to be also interesting because it has to be good, you know, part of the podcast
MWC Tips and Best Practices
00:01:20
Pablo Tomasi
gig. Anyways, so to get started, my my experience at MWC has been that of an analyst.
00:01:27
Pablo Tomasi
And so probably some of the things, most the things that I say, will resonate with a few colleagues within the analyst community, but hopefully some some of the suggestions will have a broader appeal.
00:01:42
Pablo Tomasi
Now we didn't all know some of the basics of MWC, you've probably heard that tons of times, it's about get comfortable shoes, you're gonna have to walk a lot you know in the Fira outside in Barcelona, bring water, again, pretty obvious stuff.
00:01:58
Pablo Tomasi
Something that I think is a bit more interesting and that I think should be an easy win, but I still see people kind of failing it, is remember to be branded. So you know you're there, you're kind of representative whatever company you are, so it's an easy way for you to get sort of noticed quickly.
00:02:16
Pablo Tomasi
Now, some companies are really good branding. T-Mobile definitely jumps to mind, very good at branding. But another company want to flag out is Red Hat for me.
00:02:27
Pablo Tomasi
that just because those red hats are like pretty cool and you see them, you you immediately think, recognize the company. so there are also some not as successful stories in terms of branding and i've seen some people like pushing it too far and you know trying ah to get a little bit more of a you know um blue collar style of branding which i personally i don't really resonate with that but hey as long as you get recognized and you're happy with that nice and easy so something else that i and i think it's quite important for a lot of people is like be light so many times i bring in my laptop for ride and at the end of the day i've never actually used it so unless you really know that you need to have like those powerpoint slides or presentation whatever just leave it be more likely you're not gonna need it and very practical consideration don't forget to pick up your travel card at the airport nice and easy and that brings to the next point the best way to get to the Fira
00:03:28
Pablo Tomasi
is by far public
Balancing Planning and Enjoyment at MWC
00:03:30
Pablo Tomasi
transport. You know, you got the train that gets there. It's cheap, it's frequent, you're avoiding traffic jam. And, you know, same thing applies at the end of most days.
00:03:40
Pablo Tomasi
Instead of queuing 10 minutes for a taxi, just hop on a train. And it's also like a good opportunity for for networking. now last consideration for the show and probably then we're gonna start talking about some things to avoid uh is that the preparation to nwc for me is the hardest part creating meetings you know chasing people so on and so forth but once you're there is so to use a sport analogy it's game day So it's not more about training, just enjoy the moment, just have a you know and good time and do whatever you have to do. you have to say, if you have to present, if you have to do whatever, this should be like ah a nice a nice moment for you. It should not be a burden. If you feel MWC is a burden, probably you shouldn't be there.
00:04:26
Pablo Tomasi
And oh no, really, really last point. So as you can see, i have script this time around. So again, getting more and more professional about my podcasting. Part of the show for me is about learning.
00:04:41
Pablo Tomasi
So don't be afraid of saying, i don't know, something. Don't be afraid of, you know, accept that there are going be a lot of things on the show that you don't know. And that is good opportunity for you to, you know, start tipping your toes there and then start learning later on.
00:04:57
Pablo Tomasi
And of course, as the few of you that have already met at the show, you know you need to find time to catch up with friends. And you know make sure that that you reach out to them and that you're ah you know setting up some some time aside, if you can, do to catch coffee, catch a drink. Have like a long list of people that that I need to you know catch up with at the show from pretty much from over the world. And that's like one of the reasons why I actually ah really enjoy the show.
00:05:23
Pablo Tomasi
Now moving on something slightly a
A Couple Of Things To Avoid
00:05:25
Pablo Tomasi
different. So what to avoid? Again, ah um I'm skipping the usual stuff, right? Everyone talks about security scams blah, blah, blah. That's true for every city. So, you know, standard, not talk about that.
00:05:38
Pablo Tomasi
but something else that people really always start avoiding and i've done that before when i was young and naive now i'm like old and wise if you want that's how you learn right avoid the cringy selfie in front of the Fira like everyone is doing that and it's not really that beautiful the fear from the outside so get some you know more interesting pictures otherwise you have like linkedin flooded with like people taking selfies in front of the fear it's like come on guys we can do something better or use something i don't know anything else but make sure you can stand out a little bit more now another thing to avoid and it's very basic but at the end of the day probably say from five onwards people start having you know happy hours beers one and such
00:06:27
Pablo Tomasi
I'm not sure what is the official time that sort of the party starts. Probably it's going to be around 5.30. um But just be prepared that if you're working after sort of that 5, 5.30 and you're having meetings, there is a good chance that people having a meeting with you will actually want to go for a drink. and then you're gonna be having a meeting with people in the next room or in the next exhibition area just having a good time so probably not the not the best feeling in the world but you know work is priority and then there is whatever else you have to do
00:07:00
Pablo Tomasi
Now, you know, this is like very different from usual pod if you want. Now let's talk a little bit about something that ah that is more like tech related.
Exploring Quantum Computing
00:07:09
Pablo Tomasi
So I recently run a poll on LinkedIn where I ask, you know, my audience what what do you want and which direction you want the Drift go.
00:07:20
Pablo Tomasi
And what was interesting, and I find it quite funny, is that I'm pretty sure there are quite few people that reply never actually listening to the episode. But again, this new customer's potential. Let's give them what they want. So the two the answers.
00:07:33
Pablo Tomasi
One, I think, was Comparing Telcos. which you know, possibly not the most interesting thing for me as as a potential podcaster and the other was like more obscure tech.
00:07:49
Pablo Tomasi
thaty That sounds a a bit more interesting to me. I will try to do a bit of both of course. The funny bit is that both both options require me to actually do some some work and some prep for the podcast which is something that I've been trying to avoid but uh yeah just in my mind it it literally like the scene with Thanos and I'm inevitable that's what works you know you have to the hard miles and we're knowing that and uh yeah so you know I'm gonna try to incorporate a little bit of this into the episodes going forward
00:08:21
Pablo Tomasi
so on that note while we all know that there are lots of what to expect from MWC from that tech point of view so what i'm going to discuss with you now is two tech that are not going to be big at this year's show but that will be bigger sometimes in the future so trying to change things a little bit and first of all we are talking about quantum quantum computing the quantum world that you want now this is my first time you know really trying to you know read and learn it a bit about the topic so by all means if i'm saying that doesn't make any sense do comment and let me know you know that's how you learn so the quantum world is fascinating
00:09:01
Pablo Tomasi
And partially, because as I said, I really don't understand it. find extremely complex and difficult. But also it's fascinating partially because it's ah it's a paradox, right?
00:09:12
Pablo Tomasi
It's the paradox about the moment that you see it or the moment that you understand it, you kind of break it and and I think this world is making such a sci-fi-like, sci-fi-esque, if you want, topic to cover which I'm trying to get, you know, deeper and deeper into that at the same time, there's been some fascinating stories that are loosely based on the the quantum world, quantum mechanics, whatever you want Now, definitely big one, Avengers Endgame, you know, as others probably shouldn't like tell you the story, you all know the story, but Avengers decided to go back in time using quantum mechanics and then, you know, trying to change the course of world, you know, with the defeat that they had endured in the previous movie.
00:10:02
Pablo Tomasi
so if you're a type of superhero type of movie guy or you know gal yeah and that's definitely for you and the other movie which i've seen like long long time ago definitely needs to see it again more recently it's called prince of darkness and that's about sort a priest and physics students investigating a mysterious liquid in an abandoned church so again loosely connected to this i think there's more in this correlation between discussing quantum physics technologies and movies but movie corner is over so what's about quantum for super dummies
00:10:39
Pablo Tomasi
now and very very basic and i found this on the internet of course that's that's where you get all the information nowadays so quantum computers they they use quantum mechanics and they are replacing traditional binary bit circuits with oh quantum particles called qubits now these particles these qubits they have unique properties and that that enables them to effectively compute in a slightly different way so and really in in one line. if you're thinking about quantum computers, it's like a super performing computer.
00:11:18
Pablo Tomasi
And the difference is that while the bits are binary units of information, which are either a zero or one a qubit can be zero or one or both at the same time. And then there are like this called soup superposition, I think.
00:11:33
Pablo Tomasi
Then they can be linked together in a called entanglement. And so effectively this enables one computer to do many more carry on many more calculations simultaneously when traditional computer carries effectively one calculation.
Security Implications of Quantum Tech
00:11:54
Pablo Tomasi
Now to give a little bit of stats, because analysts love stats, I think in December 2024 Google revealed that one of its quantum chips completed a calculation in minutes that would taken today's most powerful supercomputer billions of years to solve. Now, I don't know if that's true, probably it is true, either way it's a bit mind-blowing, right? What could potentially be like the implication?
00:12:18
Pablo Tomasi
So how does quantum then comes back to more mundane tech? Effectively, the quantum world, quantum tech ties into the security world, which security is the hottest market on the planet, whether we want it or not, whether we like to talk about or not.
00:12:36
Pablo Tomasi
and And it is quite important because it could break the current security system. And and they actually, I found out they have a a day. It's like Q-day, the day when the quantum computers could could break the security system.
00:12:51
Pablo Tomasi
and this is because modern internet security relies on tech such as RSA or elliptic curve cryptography don't know the specifics of that but in nutshell they rely on mathematical problems that traditional computers cannot solve and that's how they provide the security but because quantum computers are so much better they could effectively solve those problems and break the security system So there is a bit of ah of a risk there, and you know, like negative risk, something for for stories and such.
00:13:23
Pablo Tomasi
But there is, of course, some good as well that is coming. So post-quantum cryptography is expected to to replace RSA and ECC. and And effectively, it is about using algorithms designed to resist these sort of quantum attacks.
00:13:42
Pablo Tomasi
So it's still math-based encryption, but it is the type of encryption that quantum computers can't break easily. The fascinating things about all this stuff is that you can really dig deep in any of these. Now I like a very, very, very broad brush type of reading through, but there's so much that you you can deep dive.
00:14:03
Pablo Tomasi
And they had the good news about the post quantum, post-quantum cryptography is that it runs on normal computers. So you don't really need to have the quantum computers. It does not require any special hardware. And like government, for instance, are already adopting it.
00:14:21
Pablo Tomasi
Now, the next part of the pod would have been like a bit of a short summary of some of the key you know events and time around on quantum computers. But I think that I can leave that for another episode maybe. So now that's just right to be a little bit more focused.
00:14:35
Pablo Tomasi
Now, um another aspect of quantumy quantum cryptography, which uses quantum physics for security, ah quantum key distribution is is part of this. And again, using quantum mes mechanics.
00:14:51
Pablo Tomasi
uh to securely share security uh encryption again quite i i'm you know i'm talking about this but it honestly it's like so difficult for me to to visualize any of this um but that's probably why you know i should be looking into it now why this is not going to be part of an obviously again trying to get a sense like a logical sense into my podcast Obviously, a couple of
Robotics Are For Another Year
00:15:19
Pablo Tomasi
reasons. One is that it's early stage
00:15:21
Pablo Tomasi
Second is that the way that I see the market, it can only function with one big hype at a time. Now we're in the big AI hype, so there is no room for anything else. It doesn't matter how good the technology is. and And you can see that with a lot of the promises, actually, telco technologies, just private 5G
00:15:40
Pablo Tomasi
they don't matter unless there is some AI attached to it so that's why don't expect to see much quantum talk but this will happen in the future in the future and the other tech that is not gonna be part uh like it's not gonna be significant part of the event this year it's gonna be robotics and so yes i know you're gonna say there's gonna be robotics robots at the show and you will see many robot dogs and you can see some robotic arms that are like sorting you know different pieces of lego
00:16:19
Pablo Tomasi
Maybe some drones, some, you know, remote-guided cars or whatever. But nothing of this is truly new. So I think the big robot conversation is going to be absent from the show.
00:16:32
Pablo Tomasi
And what I define in very technical term, hardcore robotics. so all the humanoid robots, which i personally find super creepy, ah i don't think it's gonna have like a big presence at the show swarm robotics, space robots, anything else that really is driving the momentum in their sector i don't think it's gonna be part of the show And I've i've been flagged this by by a friend of mine, S um so she she mentioned that there is this conference, World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai.
AI, Robotics, and Connectivity
00:17:10
Pablo Tomasi
and And I've seen some videos, so I've seen some some blogs, and that's pretty impressive, and that's all about robotics. so one comment that you may say in the comment section because i always encourage people to to comment on what i'm presenting what i'm discussing um this is a telco show so what why there should be more robots why you know it doesn't make much sense and fair enough it's a valid point but the way that industry is moving sort of a telco connectivity only show will not survive
00:17:46
Pablo Tomasi
like in the long term particular particularly in the age of AI so i do think there needs to be that increase pivot into those new use cases and there have been the conversation right so robots that you need per se pervasive connectivity um possibly to think possibly just to be connected to know where they are whatever that's conversation for another time but there is that connection between connectivity, AI and robotics and I think that will develop more and more over the coming years it's also quite important for me to try to find a really good use of the AI
00:18:25
Pablo Tomasi
As much as I love AI to create stupid memes and GIFs, which is currently the only AI use case that I see, it has the potential to do something a little bit more. And I think that sort of connectivity AI robotics is an area absolutely to
Barcelona Highlights and Venue Tips
00:18:42
Pablo Tomasi
watch. and by the way this idea of like robotics driving, in yeah cognitive driving productivity, driving private 5G is something that I already had a couple of speakers you know discussing on the Tyco Drift so it's not just you know one one idea of myself coming from myself so please have a look at the older episodes and you know my guests can disc discuss that, have discussed that in much better terms
00:19:05
Pablo Tomasi
so quitting the technology corner and then last section of the of the episode favorite places in case you haven't been to barcelona well plenty plenty of places uh i'll say for me Park Guell if you're to Spurs it's absolutely outstanding so definitely recommend there to go there everyone knows about Socrata Familia, they got the Gothic Quarter, Casa Batlo so there's there's plenty to choose just if you can make sure particularly if you're the first time there to spend some time there again stroll Gothic Quarter think that's an easy one to do particularly if you can um you know
00:19:46
Pablo Tomasi
secure dinner or drinks in that area that is nice and easy to walk around now when it comes to bars and tapas I had a a few experiences terms like you you can find a lot of good places to eat I would say two that stood out for me or that just when I was preparing this that came to mind are Bodega Biarritz and Cerveceria Catalan those are two that are like really jumped up to mind but you can find a lot of them
00:20:19
Pablo Tomasi
um and then when it comes to bars oh it has so many bars like honestly you can just google you can use any google search and find some amazing bars two amazing cocktail bars however that again jumped to mind to me when i was thinking about this piece was Especiarium which are definitely gonna go again this year and Dr st Stravinsky which i think i went last year both specialized on cocktails very different style of cocktails but both like really amazing and i think that's it for today so hopefully this slightly different version of the tech list again experimenting will resonate well and hopefully you had some good tips for the show and let's see we can really get started with that sort of deeper dive into more obscure tech as you know few of you seem to have an interest in anyway that's all ah feel free to subscribe like comment whatever you do with podcasts and talk to you next time around.