Hrkn to .. Gadgets & Gizmos

In his latest look at technology, Steve Caplin marks 50 years of the microchip. Uber is about to reach its 1 billionth trip in the UK, while Tesla's app locked owners out of their cars. There's an LED-lit zebra crossing, Adele putting an end to album-shuffling on Spotify, which has added lyrics to its songs, 8 million of them. There's crowd-funding for a gizmo that cancels out spurious noise when...

Share Radio's Technology Editor Steve Caplin looks at Amazon's beef with Visa, banning its credit cards. He is open-mouthed at news that Apple is going to allow customers to repair their own devices in future. He also discusses DogPhones for dogs left alone at home, a device to detect offensive language in schools, a system to launch satellites by slingshot, why Tesla cars are shipping without USB...

Share Radio's technology editor Steve Caplin looks at IT problems at Walker's crisps and how supermarkets are trying to hide empty shelves from shoppers. Heinz have apparently worked out how to produce tomatoes on Mars, Twitter is allowing people to edit tweets (at a price) and Curry's has teamed up with Uber for quick home deliveries. If you've a bored dog, then DogTV is here, aimed at the canine...

Share Radio's technology editor gives us the low-down on high-tech. There's Hertz ordering 100,000 Teslas, just as 12,000 are recalled, how SpaceX's astronauts are coping with a lavatory leak, the 20th anniversary of the music revolution sparked by the iPad, the scientists who have found a way to make wooden knives that are 3 times sharper than steel, a hover bike arriving next year that will set...

In the week of COP 26, we re-visit an episode from May '21 in which Steve Caplin, Share Radio's technology editor, looks at Google's 3D video chat system, the return of airships, Einstein's e-mc squared letter, the installation of the swimming pool 35 metres high, a hydrogen engine with only 20 parts, an electric Popemobile, an anti-hacking system, how a man blind for 40 years has recovered his ey...

Steve Caplin, Share Radio's technology expert, discusses Gloucestershire's solar-powered fire engines and Dutch students who've built a solar-powered camper van. Facial recognition payment has come to the Moscow Metro and schools in North Ayrshire. Apple have listened to customers with their new Macbook, Tesco have a checkout-free store as well as a one-hour delivery service that isn't as fast as...

Steve Caplin, Share Radio's technology editor, on William Shatner's brief trip into space, expressing disappointment that we didn't all wear monkey masks. With news that Prince Charles's Aston Martin runs on cheese whey, he hopes he drives "caerphilly". There's news of Sky Glass, ending satellite dishes, a lost Picasso palimpsest revealed, IKEA's flat-pack houses, a clever system for recharging e-...

Share Radio's Technology Editor Steve Caplin admires William Shatner, TV's Captain Kirk, going into space at the age of 90. He discusses competing movies to be made in space, why NASA is firing a rocket at an asteroid 7m miles away, recommends an interactive website for psychological disorders, applauds a method for ridding railway lines of those pesky leaves and tells of Netflix's move into gamin...

Share Radio's equivalent of James Bond's Q looks at the latest not-so-secret gadgets. There's the world's biggest and most expensive solar farm (by a factor of 10), being built for Singapore but located in Australia, an Alexa-powered robot from Amazon, pigs being employed at Schiphol airport to reduce bird strikes, a flapping wing room fan, lab-grown coffee, airless tyres from Michelin and a solut...

Share Radio's technology editor Steve Caplin pays tribute to the inventiveness of the late Sir Clive Sinclair, inventor of the pocket calculator among other things - even though he always used a slide rule. He gives a Tesla a test drive, including its built-in whoopee cushion, admires a new microcar, looks forward to streets lit by glow-in-the-dark plants, explains why the Lithuanian government is...

Tech maven Steve Caplin discusses cosmic concrete using Martian soil and astronauts' body fluids. Also MooLoos, training cows to pee environmentally soundly, hydrogen-powered, autonomous freight submarines, the idea of all homes and offices having to have charging points, the rifle that can shoot round corners, AR-equipped swimming goggles, a wireless portable hydrojet cleaner and the iPhone 13. L...

Share Radio's tech supremo, Steve Caplin, explains why Abba are having to build a venue for a London concert featuring them as they were 40 years ago. Also the finalists of the James Dyson awards including a Braille ebook, a touchscreen games table, fast food delivered in the air, Apple easing its take in the App Store, a wireless charging room and smart bike pedal lights which mean you never need...

As Simon Rose takes a well-earned break, we re-visit a programme first broadcast in March 2017 when Share Radio was a national DAB station. From April 2017, zero emission cars have been the only vehicles exempt from road tax. Despite growing interest and increasing pressure to move away from polluting vehicles many were still reluctant to make the jump. So just what are zero emissions cars and wha...

Share Radio's technology editor mourns the loss of Peter Corby, inventor not just of the eponymous trouser press but rather more. He looks at Amazon's decision to open physical department stores, Elon Musk's announcement of the Tesla Bot, a crowdfunded "smart" ukulele, why the world's fastest rollercoaster is breaking bones and the British battery researchers who are hoping to make solid-state bat...

In this week's tech show, Steve Caplin discusses the Swiss researchers who've calculated Pi to 82.8 trilllion digits; but how will the Guinness Book of Records check it? He also brings news of the first ever wooden satellite, the battery-laden caravan that won't slow your Tesla, Tesla's problems with flashing emergency lights, dissolvable smart watches, getting bacteria to find precious metals in...

Share Radio's technology editor Steve Caplin discusses research that enables mice to eat more and still lose weight, Leica's first smartphone, waterproof cotton lifejackets, Adidas's sports sunglasses, a sign language translation glove, a keyboard that uses only AA batteries for power, the liking of bees for caffeine, more funny tongue-in-cheek Amazon reviews and biodegradable plastic that's usefu...

Tech whizz Steve Caplin looks at the apps Zoom has added to its package but is a little worried about data implications. He discusses several advances in battery technology, with rust powering one new process. There's a new electric bike with an illegal top speed, Ordnance Survey's first game to encourage people to get out, the bullying of children called Alexa and some of the funniest tongue-in-c...

Steve Caplin feels (slightly) sorry for Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson, told just after their flights that they don't qualify to be astronauts. He reflects on those changing their Tinder location to Tokyo in the hope of dating an Olympic athlete. He also discusses the e-motorbike that will follow you around, a way to get your exercise bike to tilt on imaginary hills, how to experience the Great Ba...

Steve Caplin, Share Radio's technology editor, admires Jeff Bezos's space flight but wishes the crew had thought to take a camera with them. He is perplexed by the new James Bond Aston Martin which needs refuelling every 10 miles. There's also a new Steam Deck portable console, Deep Dive Dubai with a sunken city to explore, Morrison's abandoning checkouts, Tel Aviv tackling a dog poo epidemic with...

Share Radio tech whizz Steve Caplin explains why Sainsbury's has decided to stop selling CDs and DVDs and why the Japanese government hasn't been able to scrap its fax machines. He gasps at the $1.5m auction for a Super Mario 64 game and even more being spent on Isaac Newton's handwritten notes. He discusses 3D police mugshots, the proposal to shoot containers at 760 mph down a mag-lev tube, at ro...

Share Radio's tech whizz Steve Caplin on 82-year-old woman astronaut Wally Funk finally getting the chance to travel into space. There's a Cambridge supercomputer using AI to solve healthcare problems, vertically-farmed strawberries, a fishmonger who beat Amazon in court, the prospect of burgers made from chaff, smart MOD missiles that talk to each other, a colour-changing bike helmet, temporary p...

Steve Caplin, Share Radio's tech whizz, discusses with Simon Rose problems with the NHS app as well the tourists charged over £2,000 for visiting Brighton Pier. He tells of a new flying car in Slovakia, how Google is warning users of "data voids", how lego is making bricks from recycled bottles, how you can ride in a balloon to the edge of space (for $125,000), the glasses that simulate a 140-inch...

Share Radio's tech guru Steve Caplin looks at Jeff Bezos's space trip with the $28 million auction winner, at Tesla's new car that accelerates to 60mph in less than 2 seconds, at cinema speakers giving each member of the audience a personal sound bubble, at how to find a cool walk in Barcelona, a cure for hiccoughs, the British Army finally ditching maps, tuneable glasses and an app that will play...

Steve Caplin, Share Radio's gadget guru, discusses the net outage that took down so many websites as well as the encrypted-message app set up by the FBI to trap organised crime gangs. As well as highlighting developments in Apple's new iOS iteration, he discusses robot falcons deterring airfield pigeons, a 3D printed cello, a revolutionary women's urinal, microbes removing stains in the Medici cha...

Share Radio's technology editor Steve Caplin explains how the Japanese believe they can turn food scraps into a building material stronger than concrete. Also Amazon Sidewalk and meditation boxes for their warehouse employees, how potatoes can be made to fluoresce to show if they're stressed, the British tanks that cost £3.5 billion that are almost completely useless, smart sunglasses, a 25-inch e...