Write story you want to hear, Eva tells women

Actress Eva Longoria has urged women to create their ideal roles in film and television and take it upon themselves to "write the story you want to hear".

The businesswoman and philanthropist took to the stage of the Web Summit to discuss a range of topics.

Speaking to Jemima Khan, European editor of Vanity Fair, the actress discussed her work with the Eva Longoria Foundation.

“I have never been to Ireland and they invited me to come and speak about my philanthropy and how it ties to technology,” Longoria said.

“We live in a global community. And once you accept that, you can adopt different models of different countries that are doing the same thing, so you’re not reinventing the wheel every time. A great way to share ideas and to share those models is through technology.”

Something close to her heart is inspiring women to pursue their dreams. During research for her master’s thesis, she found that “Latina women in STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and maths) fields are continually, even today, discouraged from going into those sectors”.

“I think that’s something we have to change in our educational systems.

“It’s very hard to navigate the educational system in general, and even more when you’re a woman interested in these fields and discouraged by it.”

Longoria said actresses over 40 are often hindered by ageism and sexism when it comes to acting roles. “I’m still young so I haven’t hit the ageism yet, but it exists,” she said.

She believes the under-representation of women in film and television is due in part to them not being behind the camera. “They’re not writers, there are not enough directors, not enough producers that are female. I say create the story you want to see. Write the story you want to hear.”

Wifi jokes

There were red faces all round at the Web Summit when organiser Paddy Cosgrave publicly criticised the RDS after the venue’s wifi went down during the event, known as “the best technology conference on the planet”.

While Mr Cosgrave described the outage as “incredibly disappointing”, many on Twitter, both at the event and observing proceedings from afar, saw the funny side.

Reports that three workers in a nearby cafe have been assaulted by #websummit attendees after refusing to hand over the wifi password

— Bill Badbody (@Bill_Badbody) November 4, 2014

Turns out Irish Water installed the wifi at #websummit

— Keith Jordan (@KeithJordan) November 4, 2014

Is it to late to pitch a start up at the #websummit?! I've a genius idea to provide WiFi at global tech conferences. #Genius

— Cormac Moore (@TheCormacMoore) November 4, 2014

Outrage as nerds compelled to talk to other peeps during hour-long WiFi outage #websummit

— Ken Lydo (@betdaqsports) November 4, 2014

No Wifi and no 3G signal at #websummit. Tweeting by SMS like it's 2009.

— Steven Renwick (@Major_Grooves) November 4, 2014

First #leinster coaching staff, now #websummit wifi. Seems impossible to get a signal across in the RDS this year.

— Gavin O'Connor (@gavinoconnor) November 4, 2014

— Joe Leogue