techbytes.nz

techbytes.nz is the conversation series of the Technology Users Association of New Zealand, led by its chief executive, Craig Young. It goes out on YouTube and on podcast platforms. Episodes usually open with a 'kia ora' and close with a 'ka kite'. The standard setup is Craig and a single guest, who is asked to introduce themselves in their own words, sometimes starting with a hometown and what growing up there was like. When he changes the format, he says so. An end-of-year panel brings together Paul Brislin from the TCF, Ang from AA Insurance and Ollie Hill from Schneider Electric, and Craig suggests it might be a little less serious. Another episode drops the interview in favour of a natter with his longtime friend Andrew Cushen about issues of the moment. The conversations share a focus on choices New Zealand has to make for itself. The Andrew Cushen episode asks what happens to competition and the national interest when connectivity and messaging shift to international providers beyond the country's jurisdictional reach. Paying twice as much for satellite internet is tolerable for now, the argument goes, but what if it becomes the only option at four times the price? WhatsApp, which many people now use in place of text messages, faces the same question. Paul James, whom Craig describes as the government's CDO, separates administrative public sector data that can be processed in Sydney or Singapore from the datasets that need firmer control onshore. Craig then asks what 'responsible and inclusive use' of AI should mean, the wording the association chose for its AI theme. On the panel, Ollie Hill gets the electricity question, and the reply pushes back on the automatic 'what about the electricity' response that follows any mention of data centres or AI. Paul Littlefair, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Kiwibank, worries aloud about how much financial information now reaches people through TikTok and influencers, and describes the bank's education work in schools. Chris Dempster-Ribbitt and Kelsey Hallihan of Recycle a Device, the association's first social impact partner, named for 2026, talk through secure data wiping and how extending a device's life can feed a company's CSR reporting. Craig admits he pictured a warehouse of people running magnets over hard drives, because that is what television shows. A conversation with Adam Beck, Executive Director of Smart Cities Council, Australia and New Zealand, is about smart cities and was recorded while Auckland was at level three. The mood is friendly and familiar, with small jokes between the serious points and guests often introduced as friends. What a listener gets is technology seen through New Zealand's own networks, data, power grid and institutions.