Tech Tent: Future farmers, Minecraft and Doom Rory Cellan-Jones Technology correspondent @BBCRoryCJon Twitter
22 January 2016
Every Friday, Tech Tent on BBC World Service provides the latest technology news. Here's the latest.
Big Data on the Farm
It's the world's oldest industry and one you might not think was that forward-looking - but farming is undergoing a whole new data-driven revolution. Farmers are coping with an ever-growing flood of data. These data can be from drones taking aerial photos of crops to combine harvesters measuring every square metre of output, or sensors giving minute by minute updates on the health status of animals. We will hear from a chicken farmer adapting to this new way to work. Our special guest is Rob Carter who founded Field Margin, which helps farmers use their data via a smartphone application. By the way, our colleagues on BBC Radio 4's Farming Today have been covering technology and farming all week and have a special report on Saturday morning's On Your Farm.
Minecraft in the classroom
Since Microsoft bought Minecraft, we have not heard much about its plans for the immensely popular world-building game. The software giant has announced a major push into education by launching a classroom edition of Minecraft. Jane Wakefield visited BETT in the UK to discuss the Microsoft plan. This allows children to learn Minecraft at school, and then continue playing at home. To log in, schools will need an Office 365 Account. This is part of Microsoft’s strategy to compete with Google as the top software provider in the classroom.
Lessons from a Kickstarter
Kickstarter was criticized by backers after the Zano minidrone project fell to earth last November. The crowdfunding platform hired an investigative reporter in order to discover what went wrong. Mark Harris' 13,000-word report was published this week. It is both an excruciating account on how to run a technology company and a warning for anyone who doesn't understand that crowdfunding is not like ordering products from Amazon. We speak to him about his thoughts on crowdfunding as a means of getting tech ideas off-the-ground.
Doom moves up a level
Twenty-three years after the original game Doom was released, there is still a dedicated community of players. This week, they have something to celebrate. John Romero is the original developer of Doom. He has released the first level in 20 years. Zoe Kleinman, Zoe's reporter, has been speaking to him. He said he was nervous about what the community would do but that most fans were positive.
Tune in to the BBC World Service at 15:00 GMT for all that and more or catch the podcast later.