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Hrkn to .. Gadgets & Gizmos

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This podcast has
245 episodes
Language
English
Publisher
Share Premium
Explicit
No
Date created
2021/06/04
Latest episode
2026/04/16
Average duration
27 min.
Release period
7 days

Description

Stocks may rise and fall, businesses may boom and bust, but gadgets keep appearing at an ever-increasing rate. Share Radio’s Gadgets & Gizmos show explores the latest technological innovations, from the indispensable to the downright ridiculous. Show host Simon Rose and technology editor Steve Caplin take a weekly humorous look at what’s on offer, featuring both existing products and those whose inventors utilise crowdfunding platforms to make them a reality. Through its 300-plus shows, Gadgets & Gizmos has delved into the world of wifi, Bluetooth and exploding lithium batteries, reviewing gadgets of interest and ridiculing those that should never have got off the drawing board. Where some financial journalists tell you how to make your money grow, Gadgets & Gizmos tells you how to spend it – and when not to. Hrkn to www.shareradio.co.uk for more ..

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Gadgets & Gizmos: Data roaming, robot seeing-eye dogs & AI singers
2026/04/16
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 authonomous 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 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gadgets & Gizmos: Hydrogen-powered trucks, perfect hair-dyeing & smelly VR
2026/04/09
Steve Caplin is impressed by hydrogen fuel cells for trucks, but disappointed there are so few hydrogen stations to fuel them. There's a device for perfectly matching colour for hair dyeing. VR headsets will soon have added aromas to heighten realism. There's a robot that can keep functioning even if it loses all its legs. Cassette-manufacturer Maxell have a new portable cassette players for those who are into retro gadgets. A clever device being crowdfunded lets you pair your devices with TVs while away, as well as a smart night light Steve strongly recommends. But beware of economising on bike or scooter batteries as eBike fires are up 38% in just one year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gadgets & Gizmos: ChatGPT as literary critic, an amazing video drone & controlling games with your brain
2026/04/02
Steve Caplin is surprised to find that Amazon can amend or even delete Kindle books you supposedly own. He is less surprised at how ChapGPT assesses good literature. He is very impressed with a drone that captures everything in 8K without you having to pay much attention to what's in view. There's a gizmo that turns an ordinary watch into a slightly smarter watch. The new iPhone OS can zoom in on audio as well as video. Yamaha have a 3-wheel motor scooter, but Sony have given up on their much-heralded e-car. There's a crowd-funded digital camera designed to look like the old disposable Kodaks, a folding kayak and a spork with lots of attachments. And, in Shenzen, they now have a games arcade where you can control everything with your mind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gadgets & Gizmos: Electric submarines, self-balancing motorbikes & robotic wasps
2026/03/26
Steve Caplin discusses some of the features of Apple's updated operating sstem, including having the ability to talk to chatbots while driving although, worryingly, there will also be a curated "sleep" playlist. He craves a gorgeous red electric submarine. There's a cargo ebike with some interesting features. Be careful about telling the Gemini chatbot that it's wrong; apparently this causes it "emotional distress". A YouTuber has powered an electric car with thrown-away vape batteries. There's a crowd-funded robotic wasp which, suspects Steve, may not be all it is claimed. He finds himself able to resist a beer-filled transparent jacket, despite the two methods of extracting beer from it. And he discusses the world's first quantum battery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gadgets & Gizmos: AI renting humans, lab-grown computer gamers & plastic bottles treating Parkinson's
2026/03/19
Steve Caplin tells Simon Rose that AI agents can now rent human beings to carry out tasks they can't manage themselves. Brain cells in a petri dish have been taught to play the 90s shooter game Doom. BYD's Dena Z9GT can charge from 10% to 70% in just 5 minutes; unfortunately the UK doesn't have any of the required chargers. Tesco is experimenting with replacing bar codes with QR codes; Steve isn't convinced it will work. Pager sales have leapt in Russia after the internet was turned off. There's a collapsible cool box, a laundry chair with arms and a computer mouse that splits into half to become a game controller for your phone. And scientists in Edinburgh have genetically engineered bacteria to break down plastic bottles into a medicine for Parkinson's Disease. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gadgets & Gizmos: 50 years of Apple, remote prostate removal and hummus on the Moon
2026/03/12
Steve Caplin celebrates 50 years of Apple, a company which he claims has changed our lives in many ways. A man in Gibraltar has had his prostate removed by a surgeon in London using remote control. Some of the AI bots on Moltbook – thinking of founding a religion – are not happy it has been bought by Mega. The Society of Authors wants books to say if they have been written by humans or AI. There's a new mop that could be handy for murderers. Steve salivates over a solar-powered EV which probably wouldn't do too well in the British climate. He feels scientists who are trying to find a way to keep batteries cool might not have thought through their latest idea which brings water and electronics together. And scientists in Texas may have found a way to grow chickpeas – and thus make hummus – on the moon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gadgets & Gizmos: AI opts for nuclear war, Meta Ray-Ban owners being spied on & the Tesla Cybercab
2026/03/05
Steve Caplin says Apple have come out with a slew of new devices, the only interesting one being a new MacBook at a surprisingly low price. When three AIs simulated war games, they opted for nuclear war 95% of the time. Wearers of Meta's Ray-Ban AI glasses might be disturbed to learn that they are being watched by monitors in Nairobi, including while they have sex. The Tesla Cybercab has no steering wheel or pedals; it also can't actually drive on roads yet. Google spinoff Beam offers high speed internet using light instead of cables. Surrey University has found a way to make batteries without expensive lithium while a Cornish firm thinks lithium will be a by-product of its geothermal power. There's a robot chef that can produce up to 500 dishes, but might take a while to clean afterwards. And a Finnish company is embedding retractable studs in tyres to make snow chains redundant. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gadgets & Gizmos: Dyson's electric mop, musical freezers and the world's largest spherical building
2026/02/26
Steve Caplin is dismissive of a robot that can fold laundry – very slowly and possibly needing remote human operation. More impressive is the forthcoming Dyson PencilWash electric floor mop. He is in tune with the Co-op in Sheffield whose freezers are attracting people who like the C#major chord they play. Scientists at Vienna University have created the smallest ever QR code while Microsoft's aim to store data on glass that will last millennia might have a small flaw. Steve explains why some video doorbells don't spot nefarious activity. There's a military-grade smartphone with thermal imaging and night vision. And the world's largest spherical building, modelled on the moon and containing a 4,000-room hotel is being planned. They just aren't sure where to put it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gadgets & Gizmos: AI partner turned off, ghost number plates & a smart badge to wear
2026/02/19
Steve Caplin is surprised by research showing that children are mostly watching YouTube on television. 20 years on, the V&A is mounting an exhibition on YouTube. The GPT-4o chatbot, which served as virtual boyfriend and girlfriend to many, was turned off the day before Valentine's Day. Hollywood is nervous about the Seedance 2.0 AI video generator which has produced a clip of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt fighting as realistically as if from a big-budget action movie. Somebody has paid a quarter of a million dollars for a toy car, though admittedly a Ferrari. A proposed airship wind energy system will need to rise up on a 2km cable. Apparently 1 in 15 cars have a ghost number plate that can't be read by traffic cameras. A crowd-funded badge will let you display photos or even videos. Elon Musk has switched his future city from Mars to the Moon. And Steve warns of a new "gifting" scam. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gadgets & Gizmos: Flying pigs, drones predicting crimes & an AI piano teacher
2026/02/12
Steve Caplin reports on the Chinese village which lost power after a farmer transporting a pig to the abbatoir by drone managed to get it tangled in a power line. There's a new eVTOL single-seat aircraft available to buy next year. Network Rail is to use drones to predict crimes on train lines, though it hasn't revealed what they'll do if they spot one. Criminal gangs are using lifestyle surveys to clone pensioners' voices and then raid their bank accounts. ROLI have devised an AI music coach to teach people how to play the piano. There's a crowd-funded visual soldering iron, eyedrops to treat presbyopia and the extraordinary project The Line in Saudi Arabia is being reduced from a city 105 miles long to just 1.5 miles, which might be used to host AI data centres. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gadgets & Gizmos: Cyborg pigeons, flying umbrellas and who is more creative, humans or AI?
2026/02/05
Steve Caplin majors on AI, with Barnsley declaring itself the UK's first "tech town", Google's Project Genie creating a virtual world from text or even a photo and the University of Montreal testing whether humans or AI are the more creative. We eavesdrop on an internet chatroom that is only for AI agents, hearing what they think of us and whether they believe they are conscious. There's a flying umbrella, crowdfunded add-ons for the Swiss Army knife, the Russians developing cyborg pigeons that can be controlled remotely and a breakthrough in smart clothing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gadgets & Gizmos: A dangerous AI assistant, a personal food concierge & talking to dead relatives and pets
2026/02/02
Share Radio's tech supremo Steve Caplin wouldn't touch personal AI assistant Clawdot with a bargepole, useful though it might seem. However, Just Eat's "personal food concierge" is another matter entirely. There's an app to help identify dinosaur footprints, though Steve has clocked a problem with a drone intended for firefighters wanting to check inside burning buildings. Chinese scientists have come up with a tooth powder to keep teeth white and there's a crowdfunded holographic display which can create talking relatives or even pets from a single photo. Beekeepers may get stung less often with a portable harvester while the Chinese are clamouring for stuffed horses with the smile the wrong way up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gadgets & Gizmos: Lip-syncing robots, airbags for cyclists and reinventing the steering wheel
2026/01/22
Steve Caplin is intrigued by a robot that the University of Columbia has been training to lip-sync to make it more lifelike. He discusses the history of the laser, originally called a death ray and yet which is only now apparently worthy of the name. There’s also an airbag for cyclists, a cycle helmet that protects more than just head-on crashes as current helmets do, while the Australians have come up with a semi-recumbent electric trike. Peugot have tried to reinvent the steering wheel, which they claim will be the “future of driving”, and there’s a Norwegian sewing app that may defeat any non-Norwegians trying to find it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gadgets & Gizmos: More CES stuff including AI lawnmowers, saunas, showers and even a triceratops
2026/01/15
Steve Caplin returns to Las Vegas's Consumer Electronics Show, marvelling at AI lawnmowers, air conditioners, saunas, showers and even an AI robot triceratops for the lawn, though it's rather a small one. We are promised a single-seat eVTOL for around £30,000 very soon from China, whose BYD EV car company has now overtaken Tesla for sales volume. Amazon has entered the TV business with a set resembling a framed artwork. Matthew McConaughey has trademarked himself to prevent AI cloning him. Apple is to use Google Gemini to power Siri and Nike have taken a decade to develop shoes that apparently stimulate the wearer's feet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gadgets & Gizmos: The best and weirdest from the Consumer Electronics Show including musical lollipops
2026/01/12
Steve Caplin highlights the first week of the Consumer Electronics Show, salivating over Lego's new smart bricks, packed full of features but currently only available to those buying two Star Wars models. There's also a ridiculously large TV, a rapid icemaker, a trifold Samsung phone, a clever charging smart lock, a robot vacuum that can climb stairs and lollipops that play music via bone conduction while you're devouring them. Kawasaki are to make the robot horse that before was only a CGI video. AI art creators are complaining about their work being stolen, ironic since they stole it in the first place. Video business cards are looking for crowdfunding. And very precise 3D printing is going to be possible thanks to the use of mosquito proboscises. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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