Tech that refuses to die
Tech Life
BBC
4.4 • 221 Ratings
🗓️ 9 July 2024
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As Japan axes the use of floppy discs for official government business, presenter Chris Vallance looks at other old tech that's still in use. From magnetic tape to a clockwork interplanetary rover, he discovers some vintage tech with a future. Also in this edition of Tech Life, we test an app that uses artificial intelligence to identify objects and tells us how to recycle them. And we speak to an expert conserving rhinos in South Africa with the help of nuclear technology.
Presenter: Chris Vallance Producer: Tom Quinn
(Photo: A hand loads a floppy disc into a disc drive. Credit: Stockbyte/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | On Radio 4, the more you listen, the more you see. |
| 0:04.7 | Hello, I'm Brian Cox. |
| 0:05.6 | And I'm Robin Ince, and this is The Infinite Monkey Cage. |
| 0:08.3 | In this series, we're going to have a planet off. |
| 0:10.8 | I feel like Jupiter wins. |
| 0:12.8 | And after all of that, we're just going to chill out a bit. |
| 0:15.9 | We're talking about your bog standard. |
| 0:17.8 | Ice, not the fancy one. |
| 0:20.1 | Science with funny bits. |
| 0:21.9 | The new series of The Infinite Monkey Cage. |
| 0:24.1 | Listen on Radio 4 and BBC Sounds. |
| 0:28.1 | Hello and welcome to TechLife, the programme about technology making a difference to your life, wherever you are in the world. |
| 0:35.3 | I'm Chris Valence. |
| 0:36.7 | This week, as Japan axes the use of floppy |
| 0:39.5 | discs for official business, we look at other old tech that refuses to die. And when something |
| 0:45.5 | is finally no longer useful, don't bid it. Recycle it. A world first is being claimed for an AI-powered app |
| 0:55.0 | that instantly identifies items and offers advice on recycling. |
| 0:59.6 | We put it to the test. |
| 1:01.3 | And I speak to the man using nuclear technology to protect endangered rhinos in South Africa. |
| 1:06.7 | Music Well, the exciting thing about tech is it's always evolving. |
| 1:28.6 | I remember when telephones still had circular dials, |
| 1:31.5 | and when watching a film at home meant renting a book-sized VHS tape from a shop of all things. |
... |
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