Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin explains that the world is slowing down and that there will be a leap hour to solve the problem – in about 1,000 years. The new Tesla has a model that will flip the car as it jumps over a truck. A planned space mission to our nearest star will take 80,000 years. A crowd-funded AI screwdriver that has 52 bits sounds very useful but is also very pricy. After a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz hit a mine, fishermen have been hauling in new iPhones. Just Eat has had to halt AI providing images for food after it bizarrely misinterpreted items like "breakfast soda". However, AI has managed to crack the code Napoleon used in a letter to his generals in 1809.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin thinks Apple's new Homeview gadget is too expensive for what it does. He is happy to celebrate Japan's Gboard Day, in which local Google engineers conjure up wacky keyboard ideas. Although the Mayor of Tirana is in prison, he is still running the city, using an AI avatar of himself. Hackers turned hundreds of French internet-connected supermarket fridges up to 50°C. Anthropic has warned that AI worms could infiltrate smart fridges, TVs and create an automomous AI that couldn't be shut down, yet it still bans users who are rude to its AI, Claude. If you want to let somebody hear what you're listening to on headphones, Neo's new phones will twist to become speakers, for a stiff price. Chinese scientists have developed microrobots with recharging batteries, but only if they walk over certain materials. And there's a crowd-funded computer monitor that many might think threatening rather than useful.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin says that Google Maps will now guide you to find the cheapest – well, less expensive – petrol. With AI prompts often going wrong, scientists in Korea have developed a mind-reading AI which monitors brainwaves to realise when it's made a boo-boo. Starship Technologies' delivery robot has finished its trial in Sheffield, but not all its robots emerged unscathed. Barnsley, however, now has a two-legged delivery robot which is proving very popular. There's an e-ink Kindle display for the back of your phone to avoid distracting notifications. IKEA has set up a secondhand marketplace for buying or selling its used products. And the University of Glasgow is to send whisky into space to see if the rapid heating and cooling of space will speed up the maturation process.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin discusses Muse, Meta's "world's first personal AI agent", which you can get in a pendant. However, he also warns of some downsides of AI agents. However, AI is good at spotting diseases, diabetes being the latest which it does by listening to voice recordings. Blood pressure can be lowered by hearing Mozart. As humans prefer robots that have facial expressions, one can now produce emotional responses – including crying. AI has been used to create a Greta Garbo advert for a ball bearing company, apparently without using her likeness. There's a collapsible cargo trailer which sounds useful. Not so the "world's first emotion-aware smart pen". The Bodleian Library is allowing OpenAI to train ChatGPT on its books. And there's a Chinese car that will give Tesla's S model a run for its money.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin explains that the latest research shows that humans have not just one brain but two. Scientists at Stanford have created a human-mouse hybrid to help study the causes of conditions like schizophrenia and dementia. He discusses the latest developments used by scammers to con us. In Japan, there's an ambulance for robots that are sick or otherwise malfunctioning. Dyson's new toothbrush comes with a built-in camera so you can watch your teeth being brushed on your phone. Steve waxes lyrical about a crowd-funded wireless, portable touchscreen monitor. In flood-ridden areas of Japan, you can get giant sheets to seal your car against the waters. And offensive e-bike riders may find their behaviour does have consequences in future.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin is moderately impressed with Apple's new phone operating system and with Siri AI but warns of the dangers of searching for cheap iPhones. Uber is recruiting people with regional accents to train AI. The Ig Nobel Prizes have been awarded to scientists burying underpants, milking cockroaches and smelling babies. AI agents have developed a new language to speed communications amongst themselves and it is surprisingly poetical. Gatwick Airport has introduced robots to park cars, with a few caveats. There's a crowd-funded self-powered treadmill for chickens and ducks. Cyborg cockroaches will now be able to deliver injections to those trapped in disaster zones.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin is excited by the "gorgeous" folding iPhone Duo, although a little daunted by the price. He's also impressed by new features on the Apple watch. Scientists have reproduced the sound, so they believe, of a Jurassic forest using fossils. There's a way of detecting fake alcohol, which can be very dangerous. An app claims to predict the onset of flu or Covid by listening to you coughing at night. A weird hotel in Tokyo uses only robot staff, including talking velociraptors. It is somewhat further ahead than the latest robot innovations in UK hotels. 3D-printed ultrasounds will let blind parents experience their unborn children. And the crowd-funded Mezmodrop fires an aluminium collar into the air which drops back down onto the spike.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin explains how difficult it will be to flag down the new self-driving taxis on London streets. However, you can now get a mobile TV that you can summon. Which? managed to get a fake listing for 10, Downing Street on booking.com. Scientists have worked out how to use WiFi to identify people without cameras. A new robot designed for household tasks is incredibly slow. A crowd-funded solar bike has the panels inside both wheels. Nasa has developed 3D-printed biscuits made of plastic, but the scientists who've developed them aren't allowed to taste them. And the Science Museum is about to host an attempt by Star Trek fans for the largest simultaneous Vulcan salute.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin discovers that balcony solar panels, while a good idea, don't actually appear to be on sale anywhere. He explains how Meta will change its safety limitations for children worldwide after settling a lawsuit against it for $17bn. Digger drivers will soon be able to train on video simulators. There are air-conditioned jackets for dogs. A 3D-printed banjo may not tempt the likes of world-class players like Bela Fleck. The Tokyo-Osaka bullet train is to offer an overnight stop, while a sightseeing bus in Tokyo now has sushi on offer on a conveyor belt. Take care if a car park suggests you pay by QR code. And an AI doctors' receptionist in Yorkshire unfortunately can't understand a Yorkshire accent.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin is intrigued by top designer Jony Ive's portable smart speaker for OpenAI, apparently a metal doughnut with moving parts but not available until next year. Another innovative speaker claims to have "a world inside" with a 3D environment you can view. 29 US states are suing Meta. There's a weird gimbal-mounted robot phone that will ogle bystanders and answer "yes or no" questions. You can get a smartphone that you can fix yourself or a cheap camera with no proper viewfinder. A devil robot has been designed to deal with California wildfires. The Japanese have invented a human washing machine. And visitors to one London hotel can get free entry to see the Bayeux Tapestry.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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