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Simon Rose

Gadgets & Gizmos: The global IT outage, robot litter-picking dogs & spray-on trainers

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

Gadgets and Gizmos

Gadgets & Gizmos: The global IT outage, robot litter-picking dogs & spray-on trainers
Tech buff Steve Caplin explains the global IT outage caused by a Crowdstrike software update and Microsoft's extraordinary advice. There's an Italian litter-picking robot dog. Small aerial drones can learn to navigate by studying ants. Other drones can mimic geckos to cling to things. Spray-on trainers for athletes are now a reality, while athletes can also run faster if shielded from wind resistance. There's a crowd-funded Dymo-type printer. And Disney are retiring an animatronic attraction – for fear it will offend alcoholics.
Guest:

Steve Caplin


Published:
Simon Rose

Gadgets & Gizmos: The world's smallest chariot, walking in a VR game & slowing down ageing

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

Gadgets and Gizmos

Gadgets & Gizmos: The world's smallest chariot, walking in a VR game & slowing down ageing
Steve Caplin delves into the world of tech, where Tokyo scientists have made the world's smallest chariot, pulled by algae. Carmarker Stellantis have patented an "improvement" to the steering wheel. VR gamers will soon have a way to walk in the games they play. There's an inflatable tent, though you may not be able to stand up in it. A PhD student has produced a way of monitoring the old and infirm without being too intrusive. Imperial College claims they've found a way to prevent cancer and increase lifespan by 25% – at least in mice. And King's College London believe they can help you lose weight with transcranial direct current stimulation.
Guest:

Steve Caplin


Published:
Simon Rose

Gadgets & Gizmos: Flying cars, butter made from air & uncannily recreating old stars' voices

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

Gadgets and Gizmos

Gadgets & Gizmos: Flying cars, butter made from air & uncannily recreating old stars' voices
Steve Caplin explains how Elon Musk will be destroying the International Space Station. There's a flying car that's a cross between a go-kart and a helicopter, while another helicopter gives tours without a pilot. Renault cars will soon score your driving performance while Bill Gates is investing in a company that will make butter from air. Chinese scientists have grown human brain cells that can control robots. Text to speech can now bring to audio life stars from the past with uncanny reality. There's a new way of trying to prevent rhino poaching by making horns radioactive. And there are some impressive crowdfunded smart binoculars.
Guest:

Steve Caplin


Published:
New Economics Foundation

Gadgets & Gizmos: NEF — Who gains from Big Data?

New Economics Foundation
Original Broadcast:

Gadgets and Gizmos

Gadgets & Gizmos: NEF — Who gains from Big Data?
Replay from 28/12/17 — Big data. It’s one of those terms that’s far more widely used than it is understood. What is it? And just as importantly – who benefits from it? To get the full picture on big data, we are joined this week by a special guest – Will Davies, Director of the Political Economy Research Centre and a Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London. Will Brett, NEF’s Director of News and Media, steps into the role of host. They talk about the impact of big data on how we understand society, and on how we experience the world of work. Also joining the discussion are NEF’s Stefan Baskerville, Director of Unions and Business and Alice Martin, Subject Lead for Housing and Work.
Guests:

Will Brett, Will Davies, Stefan Baskerville, Alice Martin


Published:
Simon Rose

Gadgets & Gizmos: CEO jets, Ferrari's electric car, solar panels for your VW & making robots smile

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

Gadgets and Gizmos

Gadgets & Gizmos: CEO jets, Ferrari's electric car, solar panels for your VW & making robots smile
Steve Caplin says executive oneupmanship comes with Sirius Aviation's CEO eVTOL jet powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Ferrari has produced its first electric car, while Volkswagen is to sell solar panels to reduce charging costs. Swedish scientists have invented a weightless carbon fibre battery that can be built into cars or planes. The Pillbot is a dirigible pill to help with gastrointestinal problems. A Tokyo university has been experimenting with making robots smile, using artifical human skin. And there are advances with bike saddles to make them more comfortable.
Guest:

Steve Caplin


Published:
Simon Rose

Gadgets & Gizmos: Pineapple leather, the $400,000 helmet & robot taxi drivers for any car

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

Gadgets and Gizmos

Gadgets & Gizmos: Pineapple leather, the $400,000 helmet & robot taxi drivers for any car
Steve Caplin discusses the importance of cheese, red wine and chocolate for living longer. Artificial leather just got better by using pineapples. The $400,000 Genesis III helmet can make the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning jet invisible – while you're piloting it. There's a deflatable bike helmet which is safer than the hard type. And instead of autonomous vehicles, the University of Tokyo has developed a robot taxi driver which fits into any car. All this plus the downside of McDonalds using AI in their drive-throughs.
Guest:

Steve Caplin


Published:
Simon Rose

Gadgets & Gizmos: Apple's AI, the AI MP candidate and how Oxen's bottoms influenced railways

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

Gadgets and Gizmos

Gadgets & Gizmos: Apple's AI, the AI MP candidate and how Oxen's bottoms influenced railways
Steve Caplin explains to Simon Rose what Apple Intelligence will do on its newest phones. He has been quizzing the AI candidate standing in the General Election and discusses what he would ask the older version of himself, as being developed at MIT. He points out that Elon Musk's Starship is the biggest rocket in history, with the entrepreneur building a Starfactory to turn out one rocket every single day. An AI pin turns out to be rather dangerous. There's a DIY compass for "mindful wandering" and a film which enables you to see at night. Even more fascinating still is the explanation of the relation between two oxen's bottoms and the width of the Saturn V rockets.
Guest:

Steve Caplin


Published:
Simon Rose

Gadgets & Gizmos: Tattooing avocados, growing your own teeth and having a third thumb

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

Gadgets and Gizmos

Gadgets & Gizmos: Tattooing avocados, growing your own teeth and having a third thumb
Steve Caplin explains why Tesco is tattooing avocados. Japanese scientists believe people will soon be able to grow new teeth. There's a robot seed-planter taking its inspiration from wild oats. A 9-seater electric plane can take off and land on a football pitch. A new Chinese hybrid car has a massive range and a minimal price, in China at least. Cambridge scientists have been studying how people make use of a third thumb. There's a crowd-funded pet monitoring camera which can tell if the animal is poorly. Bringing the internet to a remote Amazon tribe has caused problems. And in Dubai, there's a proposal to build skyscrapers 1km high.
Guest:

Steve Caplin


Published:
Simon Rose

Gadgets & Gizmos: AI gaffes and hearing aids, cutting cargo ship emissions and head transplants

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

Gadgets and Gizmos

Gadgets & Gizmos: AI gaffes and hearing aids, cutting cargo ship emissions and head transplants
Steve Caplin discusses the latest AI gaffes, as it suggests rock eating and gluing cheese onto pizzas. There's a bright idea to cut cargo ship emissions. Glass windows can be made more efficient – with one drawback. AI can help vastly improve hearing aids. A crowd-funded exercise bike claims to provide a more realistic 3D interactive landscape. And a molecular biologist believes he's only ten years away from robotic head transplants.
Guest:

Steve Caplin


Published:
Simon Rose

Gadgets & Gizmos: Monocab trains on demand, transparent wood & crowdsourcing hair colouring

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

Gadgets and Gizmos

Gadgets & Gizmos: Monocab trains on demand, transparent wood & crowdsourcing hair colouring
Steve Caplin delves into the world of tech, with ChatGPT withdrawing a voice Scarlett Johansson claims is too much like hers and tech companies agreeing not to develop AI that poses an "intolerable risk to humanity". German scientists are developing on-demand cabs to travel on disused railway lines. Apple's new accessibiity features are impressive. Chinese scientists are improving transparent wood to be flame retardant and "superhydrophobic". L'Oréal is crowdfunding a hair colouring device. The NHS is using drones to carry blood samples. And the Police might not have thought through their new solution to eBike mugging properly.
Guest:

Steve Caplin


Published: