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.
Sonar and AI have been brought together in a hand-held device that can find humans underwater. We speak to its inventor and an underwater search team leader. Chris Vallance examines voice cloning and has a telephone conversation with artificial intelligence. Shiona McCallum reports on tech protecting crops from climate change in Africa. And Alasdair Keane learns about making magnets. PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images/Editorial12
Tech Life does a deep dive into Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs. We find out the countries where they are most in demand. Also in this edition, we learn about video gaming in Iran. And we speak to the teenager in India who invented a device to help people with Alzheimer's, inspired by his grandmother. PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images/Traitov
Technology can pose dangers to our mental health - cyberbullying, social media addiction and disinformation. But can tech help our mental wellbeing ? We explore the issues. Tech Life's Alasdair Keane reports from Las Vegas on a sound system for cars that alters music as the vehicle is driven. And tech meets beauty - find out about hair dryers delivering more than hot air. PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images/Westend61
Las Vegas plays host to CES - one of the biggest consumer tech trade shows in the world. Alasdair Keane is there for Tech Life, reporting on the latest innovations and devices. Also, video gaming is big business in Africa. Tech Life presenter Shiona McCallum finds out how big the business is. And a new substance has been discovered which could solve a problem with rechargeable batteries. (Photo: Sphere logo. Credit: Greg Doherty/Getty Images)
Shiona McCallum and Alasdair Keane present a special edition of Tech Life. They invite BBC reporters to predict what might happen in the world of tech in 2024. From Africa to North America, from Asia to Europe, our experts give you their tips for what might be making technology news in the coming months. Hear about electric cars, cryptocurrency, video games, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and more. How will developments affect your life ? Photo Credit: Getty Images/Ketut Agus Suardika...
Tech Life looks back at another rollercoaster twelve months. From warnings AI might kill us all, to the tech millionaire trying to live forever, we review the biggest stories and our favourite interviews from 2023.
Internet usage is booming. We're using online services more than ever before. So which ones are popular, and why? We find out. Also, we bring you two very different voices from Africa, talking about the benefits - and problems - of social media content. And many of us are still dealing with the consequences of coronavirus. Now experts are using technology to help prepare for the next pandemic. PHOTO CREDIT: Mike Muchiri, or Muchiri Mike as he's known on TikTok, with Tech Life's Shiona McCallum i...
Tech Life looks at ways to connect people. We examine the mobile phone usage gap. What is it and can it be narrowed ? And how do you shop online if you have no official address? Our reporter in Brazil finds out. Also, we look at the company saving billions of litres of drinking water around the world by detecting leaky pipes using clever tech. And we find out about the latest fast-paced video gaming technology for people who are blind or partially-sighted.
Alasdair Keane is on a farm with a difference exploring the tech helping farmers adapt to changing climates. We'll hear from startups tyring to improve how crops are watered and analysing moisture data from space. We also find out how one ice cream company is warming their freezers without the ice cream melting. (Picture: Inside IGS vertical farm)
Shiona McCallum reports from Kenya on ways people there are tackling e-waste and helping to recycle electronic products. It is one of the fastest growing streams of waste, with an estimated 50 million tonnes produced globally every year. Also in this episode Alasdair Keane has been finding out about a project to make the internet available in more languages and we hear about a community in India using step trackers to campaign for better sanitation.
We join the search for tomorrow's innovators at a global competition in Portugal. Who will win ? Listen and find out. Also, why do some AI chatbots perform better using the English language ? And new signings are heading to one of the world's most popular football video games. Photo: Competition finalists, Lisbon, November 2023.
This special edition of Tech Life comes from Nairobi, in Kenya. We visit an agri-tech hackathon, where high tech ideas for reducing the vast amount of wasted crops in Africa are being put forward. We have a tour of the Basi-Go E-bus charging depot, and hear their vision for bringing the electric vehicle revolution to the streets of Nairobi. Market traders tell us how their lives have been transformed by the M-Pesa mobile money system - and we head to Nairobi Garage start up to meet the next gene...
Arturo Béjar is a former director of engineering at Facebook and was responsible for its protect and care team. He shares his concerns with Tech Life. Also, we get the view from South Korea on making artificial intelligence tools safe. And how to sniff out forest fires - with the help of an AI nose. PHOTO CREDIT: Arturo Béjar
A professional body for computing in the United Kingdom says schools should teach children how to use AI from the age of 11. Do you agree ? We ask where it is happening already. Also, politicians and experts discuss AI safety at a big global summit. Health tech helps epilepsy diagnosis in the Caribbean. And we test the tech that takes the crunch out of chewing. PHOTO CREDIT: PonyWang, Getty Images.
From summarising video calls to making presentations in minutes, Microsoft is launching an AI copilot on some of its apps and Tech Life have been for a preview. But will it change how we work or present new challenges? We also speak to the tech entrepreneur, Miron Mironiuk, who is collaborating with Pope Francis to teach children tech skills. And we meet 21 year old Luke Farritor who has won $40,000 unscrambling ancient texts that were left unreadable after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Presen...
BBC disinformation reporter Shayan Sardarizadeh talks to Tech Life about the spread of false information online during times of conflict, and how he verifies social media posts. An expert on electric cars answers your questions about EVs. We send our reporter out to sea to find out how tech can help marine conservation. And say hello to some old friends - Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario. (Photo: Man holds a yellow warning symbol in front of a laptop. Credit: Getty Images)
Researchers estimate that the AI industry could consume as much energy annually as a country the size of the Netherlands by 2027. We take a look at the details and ways of reducing electricity demand. Also, we talk to one of Africa's leading technology entrepreneurs about how he sees AI helping the continent and how workers can adapt to it. And how do you persuade an unwanted wildlife creature not to mess up your garden ? One man trained his home camera system to solve the problem. (Photo: Elect...
Shiona McCallum takes Tech Life on the road to find out more about electric vehicles and the challenges of rolling them out globally. Monica Miller is in Singapore experiencing some of the new cars on the block and Alasdair Keane joins Nissan's Formula E team in France. (Picture: Shiona McCallum plugging in an EV)
An AI-powered tool helped blind people make sense of the world - then ran into privacy concerns. Be My AI user, the BBC's Sean Dilley, in Washington DC, tells us what happened next. A rare interview with the boss of Spotfiy, Daniel Ek, who tells us there is a place for AI in music making. Plus, reporter Marc Cieslak tells us about second thumbs and brain hacking, as he explores the mind boggling world of neural interface technology. (Photo: A blind man using a mobile phone. Credit: Agrobacter/Ge...
Simon Gordon, founder of Facewatch, a British facial recognition company and Fraser Sampson, the UK's Biometrics and Surveillance Commissioner discuss the growing use of facial recognition tech. Dr. Cosmas Zavazava, Director of the ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, tells us about how much of the world remains offline. And Tom Singleton reports on how a digital payment scheme, set up by the UNCDF, is proving to be a lifeline for people exposed to extreme weather in the Pacific Islands. ...
There's a new testing kit for life-threatening diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. We hear about the technology from the project leader and some of those involved in Uganda and Kenya. Also in Tech Life, we report on lab grown diamonds in India. And posting photos of flooding on social media could help experts predict where it might happen next. (Photo: Composite image with a globe and medical staff looking at a tablet. Credit: Getty Images)
Associate Professor Lee Seok Woo, from NTU, in Singapore, tells us how a Tom Cruise film inspired him to create a battery, powered by tears, that's so small it could be fitted to a contact lens. Ben Derico reports from San Francisco on why Chatbot detectors are mistakenly accusing people for whom English is a second language of cheating in exams. Analyst Ben Wood, from CCS Insight, brings us up to speed on Apple's latest product plans. And journalist Jack Thompson guides us through the farming r...
This week, the academic Kate Crawford tells us how she travelled the world to find the true cost of AI. Reporter Chris Vallance updates us on a watermark system - developed by Deepmind, Google's AI arm - which aims to show whether an image was generated by a machine or designed by a human. Mansoor Hamayun, Co-Founder and CEO of Bboxx tells us about the company's smart cooking valve, designed to protect lives - and trees - in Rwanda. We speak to Fu’ad Lawal, the founder of Archivi.ng,and archivis...
Have you ever turned to a smart assistant on your phone or a speaker to catch up on the progress of a big sports match? During the Women's Football World Cup one popular device failed to recognise the women's semi-final as a football match. We explore why, and other biases that exist in AI. We also answer another listener question to explore AI in drug and vaccine discovery, and meet the people in Malaysia and Japan who are among Wikipedia’s top editors. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images: G...
The internet is full of ways to learn, from quick life hacks to new skills. On Tech Life we meet the teacher in Nigeria trying to share IT skills on TikTok to help people get jobs in tech and we hear from people all over the world on what they've learned online. Also in this episode, we speak to the boss of the online moderation company, Sama, who've faced claims from employees that they were traumatised by work reviewing graphic online content. And what next for digital health care in Rwanda af...
Juan Lavista Ferres, chief data scientist at Microsoft's AI For Good Lab, tells Tech Life how artificial intelligence can help predict wildfires. Driverless cars are popping up on streets around the world. But not everyone welcomes them, and some protestors in San Francisco have turned to 'coning'. What's that ? We have a special report. China is considering a limit on the amount of time children can spend on smartphones. You've been telling us what you think about the benefits and problems of c...
Have you thought about the cost of storing data from your phone or tablet ? We examine what cloud storage costs you financially, and its impact on the environment. In Kenya, a huge cyber-attack targets the government's online services. We hear from some of those affected. Facebook has reached three billion users around the world. We ask what people like about it ? And we have a report on delivering rental cars in Germany, but without any drivers. (Picture credit: Getty Images)
Zoe Kleinman and Shiona McCallum talk about X, the new name for Twitter, as Elon Musk continues making changes at the firm. What will the rebrand mean and where does the platform go next? We also try the eye scanning ‘orb’ that's been created to verify crypto payments. And we’re behind the scenes at CERN in Switzerland and talk to the creator of the AI League game that is accompanying the FIFA Women’s World Cup (Image: A worker begins removing the sign at Twitter HQ (Justin Sullivan / Getty)...
DeepMind founder Mustafa Suleyman reflects on the AI revolution - and tells us he left the UK for Silicon Valley because it remains the top place for tech talent. But Canada is trying to lure some of those highly skilled migrants away - immigration lawyer Pavan Dhillon explains how. Dr Grace Livingstone joins us from Uruguay to tell us why plans for a Google data centre there are so controversial. And - as AI version of Johnny Cash goes viral - Matt Griffiths from the charity Youth Music tells u...
Meta - the owner of Facebook - has launched Threads, a text-based social media app. Tech Life's correspondent in San Francisco tells us about the launch. And we look at the development of social media with Brooke Erin Duffy, an associate professor in the Department of Communications at Cornell University in the United States. Also in Tech Life, we hear from the chief executive of Nextdoor, who has global ambitions. Where does technology and the law meet ? A question being discussed in Nairobi, K...
