Tech Life discovers and explains the ways technology is changing our lives, wherever we are in the world. We meet the people with bright ideas for rethinking the way we work, learn and play, and get hands-on with the products they dream up. We hold tech giants to account for their huge power to affect our lives, and ask who wins, and who loses, in the technology transformation. Tech Life is your guide to a future being made, and remade, at lightning speed in front of our eyes.
Tech Tent is in Las Vegas, in the US, for CES, one of the world' s biggest and most important tech shows. We discuss the future of VR, and the ethics of AI - and meet the exhibitors hoping they've invented the next big thing. And Silicon Valley reporter James Clayton joins Zoe to take the temperature of the industry after a bumpy year in 2022. (PHOTO: Attendees at CES Photo by Robyn BECK / AFP, via Getty Images)
Shiona McCallum and Joe Tidy invite the BBC's tech experts in Africa, Asia, America and Europe to make their predictions for how tech will shape 2023. From gaming to chip wars, and VR to AI they tell you what to look out for in the year ahead, wherever in the world you are.
The technology news team review the year in the form of a quiz. Paul Carter and Liv McMahon take on Nick Kwek and Alasdair Keane to see who remembers most about the best - and worst - tech news moments of 2022. And all four face the ultimate test: can they tell which is the genuine Christmas story, loved for decades - and which has been conjured up in an instant by AI?
Sam Bankman-Fried is arrested and charged days after telling our reporter Joe Tidy he was confident he would avoid prosecution. We discuss the question Joe asked Sam - has he killed crypto? Also this week: the dismayed reaction of the global charities that sat on Twitter's now disbanded Trust and Safety Council. As China goes to the World Trade Organisation over the USA's restrictions on its semi-conductor industry, we ask if there is any end in sight to the so-called chip wars. And, the actor A...
How do you feel about talking to a computer? New AI chatbot, ChatGPT, passed one million users in just a week but what are its potential uses and limitations. We also hear from tennis icon, Billie Jean King on why she thinks tech will change the way tennis is played. Plus, with Apple extending its self-service repair to a number of European Countries, how do you feel about repairing your iPhone at home? We hear from someone who gave it a go. (Photo: A man using a laptop talks to a chat bot. Cred...
This week journalist and author James Griffiths explains how the Great Firewall of China works - and why it failed to stop the recent wave of protests there. Reporter Alasdair Keane meets the robots that could provide a helping hand to the most vulnerable. And game developer Colin Macdonald reflects on the unlikely origins of Grand Theft Auto, as the game franchise turns 25. (Photo: protestors on the streets of China. Credit: Getty images)
Smart Speakers have become part of the furniture of many people's homes, but they don't seem to have proved as lucrative as the companies who created them had hoped. We explore what's next for them. We also hear from three people who say using Twitter changed their lives. Plus, has China really resolved the issue of video game addiction among young people and did you know dogs can be trained to find faults in underground electricity cables? Producers: Alasdair Keane and Ashleigh Swan (Photo: A s...
The collapse of the FTX currency exchange, and the downfall of its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried has been astonishing. Where does the industry go now? The biggest ever satellite, BlueWalker 3, has successfully been deployed - what will it mean for global communications and the night sky? Plus, why Chinese army veterans are being drafted into the world's biggest iPhone factory. And why has a video of a meteor got a woman thrown off Twitter? Astronomer Mary McIntyre explains how her account was banne...
This week Facebook owner Meta becomes the latest tech giant to axe thousands of jobs. We ask veteran industry watcher Michael Malone how big a crisis this is for Silicon Valley - and we hear from our west Africa correspondent, Nkechi Ogbonna, about how big tech's problems are being felt there. Cyber reporter Joe Tidy takes us through the rise and fall of the crypto exchange, FTX. New research highlights the rise and rise of the borderless IT worker. And gaming guru Sir Ian Livingstone tells us a...
Tech Tent analyses Elon Musk's first few days in charge of Twitter. Cyber reporter Joe Tidy meets the people pouring millions of dollars into the Metaverse, before it even exists. Is it finally time to say farewell to the fax? And the social media mix up involving Premier League Star Erling Haaland and a Swedish tourist board.
The UK's deputy information commissioner tells Tech Tent why some new biometric technologies are "the modern phrenology", and based on "magical" thinking. We discuss whether the world is too dependent on WhatsApp - and why Big Tech financial results are going down the drain. Our reporter visits a factory making a female crash test dummy, and we ask what next for the self-styled "Chief Twit" Elon Musk as he completes his purchase of Twitter.
Tech Tent explores why millions of SIM cards face being disconnected in Kenya and Ghana as authorities force people to register them. We'll also speak to writer Becky Holmes on why she responds to romance fraudsters and BBC Tech Reporter, Alasdair Keane, visits a cyber security competition where laptops aren't allowed in the room. (Photo credit: Getty Images)
Tech Tent finds out about the BBC investigation into how much money donated through Tik Tok live actually makes it to displaced people’s pockets. Also this week, what should the future of the office be, and why do robots often look like humans?
Elon Musk wanted Twitter, then he didn't - and now he does again. Why has he changed his mind and what does it mean for Twitter? Our Silicon Valley reporter James Clayton guides us through the latest twists and turns in tech's most dysfunctional courtship. Also this week can anyone challenge Google's search engine supremacy?
The boss of Apple, Tim Cook, tells the BBC there are no good excuses for the persistent gender imbalance in tech. We ask women starting their careers in the sector what needs to change. How the EU is making it easier to sue when AI goes wrong. And our Silicon Valley reporter James Clayton takes a ride around the streets of San Francisco in a self-driving taxi.
This week: Iran suffers internet blackouts and mobile phone outages as protestors mount angry protests against the country's morality police. Will it help stifle dissent? Wikipedia on their competition to find the sound of all human knowledge. And how one man is still going strong in the floppy disk business.
This week on Tech Tent: the Merge - Ethereum, the world's second biggest cryptocurrency, attempts the Merge, a radical new operating model that cuts its energy usage by 99%. Will it work - and how will it reshape crypto? Also - how a carrot emoji became a cover for covid disinformation. And the biggest, brightest satellite ever launched - will it change our relationship with the night sky?
On Tech Tent this week Silicon Valley reporter James Clayton joins us from Apple's new product launch in Cupertino, California. We hear from the British firm which is ahead of the pack when it comes to making satellite phones mainstream. We interview a senior figure at Cloudflare about the Kiwi Farms controversy. The co founder of an anti crypto conference tells us why he thinks the event was necessary. And art, made in the studio - with the help of some AI.
On Tech Tent this week, we hear about India's ambitions to build the world's fastest 5G network - and why WhatsApp is launching a grocery shopping service there. British regulators take a dim view of Microsoft's plan to buy Activision Blizzard. We ask young people what the appeal of BeReal is. And we meet the talking, humanoid robot helping children open up about how they really feel.
On Tech Tent this week, reporter Chris Vallance runs us through the serious allegations about lax security levelled at Twitter by its former employee Peiter "Mudge" Zatko. Dr Jon Roozenbeek, of Cambridge University, explains how educating people about how misinformation works appears to be an effective way of informing their online experience. And the makers of a voice changing technology respond to accusations it is increasing prejudice rather than addressing it.
This week Tech Tent speaks to TikTok stars Chloe and Tabby Tingey - aka the Sugarcoated Sisters - about transferring their act to the Edinburgh Fringe and a real life audience. Reporter Alaisdair Keane finds out how organising festivals is increasingly reliant on tech too. We also digest China's decision to force its biggest tech firms to share their algorithims with regulators in the name of data safety. And we talk death tech and digital zombies with Dr Debra Bassett.
We meet the gamers vying for unofficial medals that the Commonwealth Games Amazon warehouse workers in the UK protest And we attempt a conversation with Meta's new chatbot Plus as WhatsApp ditches an irksome feature we look at the new do's and don'ts in instant messaging (Picture: Clive Rose/Getty Images)
We take a look at virtual reality as it helps surgeons in Brazil work with colleagues in Britain on an operation to separate twins joined at the head. As global temperatures rise how do we keep data centres cool in a power efficient end environmentally friendly way. Teaching technology in Africa - the founder of a school in Lesotho tells us how it got started. And should records ditch vinyl to go green? (Picture credit: Getty Images)
The head of WhatsApp signals the firm will resist efforts to weaken its encryption, as the UK and EU look to enact legislation that could compel firms to scan messages.
On Tech Tent this week, tech journalist Charles Arthur on the troubles at Tesla. The boss of Tinder tells our reporter Shiona McCallum how she wants to make the dating platform safer. The creator of an app to help children with type diabetes on his troubles with the Google playstore. And Robert Metcalfe, associate professor of Economics at the University of Southern California, on the powerful way fake reviews warp our online shopping habits.
As Twitter launches legal action to compel Elon Musk to complete a takeover he says he now wants to stop, Silicon Valley tech reporter James Clayton and New York business correspondent, Michelle Fleury join us to take stock of how what was meant to be the biggest deal in tech has turned into the industry's biggest row instead. Tech Tent also speaks to Carl Pei as he launches the Nothing One and attempts to shake up the smartphone market. China analyst Kerry Allen tells us about screen time for C...
This week Tech Tent comes from the Wimbledon tennis championships, in London, and finds out about the sophisticated AI systems powering match predictions, with Kevin Farrar, from IBM. Alexandra Willis, Communications and Marketing Director at Wimbledon, discusses how this most traditional of tournaments is venturing ever furter into online and virtual worlds. And away from the tennis, cyber reporter Joe Tidy explains the latest steps Apple is taking against Spyware like Pegasus- and brings us an...
Professor Gina Neff and Eva Blum-Dumontet investigate how individuals and tech companies should react to abortion becoming illegal in parts of the US. David Martin Ruiz from the Eurpoean consumer group BEUC explains what it calls Google's "fast track to surveillance" for its users, and making virtual reality sound immersive, with professor Mark Plumbley.
On Tech Tent this week, a BBC investigation into so-called "up-skirting" on Facebook - and Thomas Hughes from Meta's Oversight Board on its first year as an arbiter on disputes on Facebook and Meta. Dr Andrew Hundt on why AI mimicks the prejudice of human beings. Shiona McCallum has been to the Teen Tech awards. And Glastonbury Festival is back - with festival goers set to gobble up more mobile data than ever before. Analyst Ben Wood is there.
This week Tech Tent is presented by Joe Tidy, who's been to El Salvador - which has bought thousands of bitcoins and become the first country in the world to make it legal tender. Now prices are crashing so will its experiment end in failure? Bitcoin podcast host Natalie Brunell and finacnail commentator Frances Coppola give their thoughts. Also: entrepreneurs at London tech week on their hopes and fears for the future. A Facebook moderator tells Chris Vallance of the strain of screening graphic...
