Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin is keen on the social media ban for under-16s: not so Simon Rose. Steve is impressed by new lighter batteries for electric planes. AI is helping to cope with mutating viruses. The Argus robot is a dodecahedron with 20 legs and 20 eyes, looking the most unlike a human of any robot. There's a cautionary tale about a banking scam. There's a stylish – but probably expensive – way of hiding your TV when not in use. A screwdriver with a built-in camera can help with fiddly jobs. A company claims to be about to launch a space station with artificial gravity. And the Chinese government has asked the West to stop sending spy turtles into its waters.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin is not willing to stump up £650 for Lego's tallest model, Gaudi's Sagrada Familia. Nor is he likely to buy a souped-up version of a 1960s Ford Escort for £300,000. There's a surgical robot that works inside you which is the size of a seed. Philips has come up with dual-sided monitors to check that your hotel bill is correct. The results of a psychological survey of the problems of life on the moon won't surprise anyone. Schiphol Airport plans to use TaxiBots to take planes to their takeoff spot. The D4RYL humanoid magician has been barred from joining the Magic Circle. And phone chargers from Amazon and eBay can explode, according to Which?
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin tells Simon Rose that scientists have extracted yeast from the 5,300-year-old Ozti the Iceman to make sourdough bread. Next, they plan to produce beer. Boeing 747-400s apparently update their maps with a dozen floppy discs. If you're wealthy, it will soon be possible to visit your greenhouse with a VR headset. Nvidia's new AI chip apparently "could replace the mouse and keyboard". The Helios robot might be used for manual tasks in space, having no legs but 2 pairs of arms. There's a crowd-funded desk-mounted robot arm, but nobody knows what it can be used for. If you're too warm, there's a solar-powered cap. Scientists say they've found a way to put solar cells in windows. And cosmetic surgeons are finding clients are asking the impossible – to be made to look like an AI-generated version of themselves.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin offers some solutions for keeping cool, including Sony's wearable air conditioner, a neck fan and an umbrella with a built-in fan and water misting facility. There's a humanoid robot at a supposedly affordable price. In Shanghai there's now a robot training school. LaGuardia has a life-size AI hologram offering help for travellers. The first Ferrari electric car has been universally condemned, except by the Pope, who launched it. There's a crowd-funded AR HUD system for bikes, though it's not without its drawbacks. A Chelsea Flower Show designer has made mushrooms sing. A statue forger was trapped through carelessness with a font. And there's advice on the best way to protect yourself from a bomb blast.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin discusses the limited-edition Piguet swatch which has caused near riots in several countries. Hauwei are to make smart headlights that can project movies & games, and other things not quite so useful. Guide dogs will be able to control your house with the Dogosophy Button. Colossal Biosciences have hatched chickens from 3D-printed eggs, on their way to bringing back the Moa bird. AI agents are becoming Marxists. If you're nostalgic for classic arcade games, you can get one for your home. New Spitfires could be built at a quarter of the cost, using a wartime alternative to aluminium. Robot wolves are seeing off lethal bear attacks in Japan. And biological ageing can be slowed by artistic endeavours as effectively as by exercising.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin wonders how exciting the NBC show based around Wordle will be. There's a beer station with surge pricing in China and satirical video games machines have appeared in Washington. Audible have opened a bookshop in New York with no books, just audiobooks. You can now buy the Adidas shoes that broke the two-hour Marathon record. There is uproar at the Chelsea Flower Show because a gardener has launched an AI garden design app. Universities in Rome and Belgium have come up with a performance exoskeleton to train violinists. There's a crowdfunded egg-shaped mouse. Car rental companies lost all their records because of a destructive AI bot. And Colossal Biosciences have decided, after trying to resurrect woolly mammoths and direwolves, to bring back the bluebuck antelope.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin is impressed by the Sabicap, a beanie hat which enables you to type merely by thinking. For the deaf, a vibrating pillow sleeve will alert them in the case of fire or burglar alarms. A study shows that friendly AI chatbots are much less accurate. Richard Dawkins believes that chatbots are conscious. Tokyo Airport is using humanoid robots as baggage handlers. Those wanting hard-to-keep Arowana fish can now get a robot version. There's a robot chess tutor. And Steve has bought a mini icemaker, which he recommends.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin majors on robots. A robot won a half marathon against human runners, another beat elite players at table tennis while one in Poland chased away wild boars in a town. Heartwarmingly, a controlled robot in Ukraine rescued a 77-year-old woman escaping Russian shelling. A 23-year-old Polish influencer hoping to raise £100,000 for a cancer charity ended up with over £50 million. NASA will let you spell out your name using features on Earth. Mark Zuckerberg is going to beam solar power from space, but to power AI rather than homes. And Steve admires the world's narrowest car and a shopping bag that can increase in size and grow wheels.
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Simon Rose re-visits one of his early episodes, recorded on 25th April 2016 with Share Radio's technology editor Steve Caplin. With the show opening with some very weird sounds, and continues to describe an online Thesaurus: years before the emergence of Artificial Intelligence! Then, the world's first smart clothes peg — you'll soon find out how far things have travelled over the past decade ..
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin warns holidaymakers to check their data allowance abroad, having saved a small fortune by using the Roamless app in Morocco. He loves some of the public's names for autonomous cleaning robots. American scientists are experimenting with robot seeing-eye dogs. Skoda, who made bikes before cars, have come up with a bell that works even if pedestrians are wearing noise-cancelling headphones. The singer Eddie Dalton, topping UK music charts, turns out to be AI-generated. There's a crowdfunded gadget that lets you use your vintage camera lenses digitally, while Steve admires a cheap multi-function pen. And he is impressed that Jeff Bezos's company Blue Origin has found a way to make oxygen from moon dust.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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