Rick Huckstep and Shaun Weston chat about MWC2023, #FitTech, ChatGPT in schools, TikTok for drivers, John Deere satellite internet, James Bond, and falling out of love with Spotify.
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00:00 Preamble
Rick confuses Shaun with his lack of James Bond knowledge, then blames it on ChatGPT and Google. Who’s your favourite Bond actor, and does it matter if he’s a sexist dinosaur? 🤔
06:08 Tempting Tech
Rick talks about Rihanna and her Savage X Fenty brand partnering with FIT:MATCH (and Intel).
This is about the installation of body shape technology in changing rooms (US: fitting rooms). Would you as a customer use a changing room replete with sensor technology? Who’s doing what with or data, or does it matter so long as our undies fit? The product is called Fit Xperience, and uses Intel's RealSense technology and the Intel Distribution of OpenVINO toolkit.
Shaun’s tech of the week relates to a BBC video … of a young man called Eli Crossley, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, otherwise known as DMD. It's a genetic disorder characterised by progressive muscle weakness. You get muscle loss starting in the thighs and pelvis, with difficulty standing up and an inability to walk by age 12. There's no cure. There are many treatment options, and it's the one Eli is using to counter the effects of his weakening arms that caught Shaun’s attention.
12.48 Tech News
- Australia’s Recharge Industries has purchased the defunct Britishvolt battery maker after it ran out of money last month. The new owners will keep the Britishvolt brand name and plan to focus on batteries for energy storage and high-performance sports cars.
- Canada will ban video app TikTok from all government-issued devices. A TikTok spokesperson said the company was disappointed by the decision.
- Schoolchildren in Britain are allowed to quote from content created by ChatGPT in their essays, says the International Baccalaureate. The IB said students could use the chatbot but must be clear when they were quoting its responses.
What do Rick and Shaun think about ChatGPT and education?
16:20 MWC Barcelona 2023
MWC Barcelona kicked off this past week. MWC stands for Mobile World Conference, a showcase for mobile hardware, software and network infrastructure. It may not sound exciting, but with nearly all of us carrying mobile devices in our pockets, it’s a tough topic to ignore.
- Is the telecoms industry trying to keep up with the general tech community?
- What does the global mobile device market look like?
- Yes, there’s a Mercedes model that has TikTok built into the dashboard!
- The move towards immersive technologies may lead to hot chips, so cooling gel will come in handy.
- Are we running before we can walk? We seem to leap to newer technologies without mastering the rollout and adoption of previous-generation tech.
- John Deere is looking to have its own satellite internet service.
- Superfast broadband should be a priority if immersive technologies are to blossom.
- Better network coverage for 5G and 6G will enable immersive experiences.
- Rolling or folding screens from Lenovo.
34:30 Podcast Statistics
We average about 35-40 minutes per episode, which leaves plenty of room for other podcasts. According to Codeless stats, podcast listeners spend an average of six hours, 39 minutes on podcasts weekly.
Rick listens to his podcasts using Spotify, but he’s falling out of love with the service. This opens a brief debate about whether it’s better to let customers share their passwords with friends, or to put up more barriers to access, which ultimately affects the user experience for everyone. Which route would you go down?
Further Reading
- What are virtual fitting rooms and how do they work? (Shopify)
- Metaverse live streaming is more than just watching shows in a 3D virtual world (VentureBeat)
- Eli and the SMART Suit aim for Glastonbury! (Duchenne UK)
- Duchenne UK wins £1.25m award through People’s Postcode Lottery Dream
- Fund for revolutionary mobility suit (Duchenne UK)
- 5 Use Cases for Immersive Technology and the Metaverse from MWC2023
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