Podcasts from Gadgets and Gizmos

Share Radio's technology editor Steve Caplin marks the anniversary not only of the word "robot" but also of the first woman being sawed in half. He reveals the most-edited Wikipedia pages and Elon Musk's plans for bringing broadband to the remoter areas of the UK. He informs us of a sophisticated and expensive pet entry system as well as a robot that keeps pets occupied, along with a bird feeder with facial recognition. From the online CES he highlights a transparent computer screen, AR glasses with 5 virtual displays and a wellness lavatory.

Share Radio's technology editor Steve Caplin discusses some of the more interesting innovations in the tech world. There's a competition for remote-controlled cars on the moon, the idea of wooden satellites to curb space junk, Facebook finally paying for news content, Amazon's first TV, the mistakes on the H G Wells' coin, a professional Polaroid camera, anti-radiation stickers, the UK's first electric hearse, restarting pigs' brains and self-healing phone screens.

Share Radio's technology editor Steve Caplin looks back over 2020 with Simon Rose. Here, looking at the second half of the year, he discusses self-driving hospital beds, robot dolphins in Chinese acquariums, a fly-in cinema, fitbits for lobsters, Alexa's regional accent, jet suit paramedics in the Lake District, making diamonds from thin air, NASA turning stars into sounds and the sale of the first ever mouse for rather more than the auction estimate of $800.

Share Radio's technology editor Steve Caplin looks back over 2020 with Simon Rose. Here he looks back over the first six months of the year, marvelling over such things as the fake social network that loves its users, Japanese drinking crisps, the world's first flat wine bottle, 5G underpants, the robot toilet roll dispenser, the voice of a 3,000-year-old Egyptian priest and the Aston Martin DB5 with copies of all James Bond's gadgets - a snip at £2.75m, even if you aren't allowed to drive it on public roads.

Share Radio's tech guru, Steve Caplin, is delighted - in a week of space failures - that NASA had some success on Mars by playing a high-tech game of whack-a-mole. The Royal Mail delivered a parcel to the Isle of Mull by drone. Basketball hoops have become "smart". The first ever computer mouse is being auctioned off. A Kickstarter project aims to end trips to the optician. The UK unveils its first electric forecourt. And Shanghai launches its fully autonomous taxi fleet - with no safety drivers.

Share Radio's technology editor gives his usual end-of-the-year roundup of some suitable (and unsuitable) gifts for Christmas, from a £248,000 robot kitchen right down to a £3 device for microwaving eggs (which sometimes explode). He covers the Echo Show, the Osmo Pocket, the Oculus Quest, a Rolls-Royce shooting stick, the Tile Mate, a Zoom escape room adventure, a pocket thermal printer and top-of-the-range headphones.

Share Radio's technology editor Steve Caplin discusses the odd result of the South African lottery with six consecutive numbers. He also marvels at robots serving champagne, cultured meat, an end to astronauts burning their underwear, quieter helicopters and silent ion-propelled drones, a fan that follows you around the room, even smarter smart photo frames and an electric conversion kit for classic Minis, a snip at just over £10,000.

Steve Caplin discusses the Yardroid, a robotic gardener that can even help guard your property, though he warns that cheap smart doorbells, designed to do just that, can easily give others easy access to your home wifi network. There are more flights to nowhere, this time for Buddhist monks and Taiwanese speed daters. There's a tech game table loaded with board games and Parisian e-bike ambulances. As for the animal kingdom, there's not only talk of pain relief drugs being derived from tarantula venom, but also how camel fur might be used to develop new cooling material.

Share Radio's technology editor Steve Caplin looks at the latest news. £5m worth of Apple products were stolen, even though Apple will be able to track them if they're ever used. Harley-Davidson moves into e-bikes. There's the first electric wing suit, a concept phone with a rollout screen, a virtual Santa's grotto, an amazing VR piano app, a camera strap with incorporated tripod, a claw to clear up space junk and Japanese robot Covid monitors and robot wolves.

Share Radio's technology editor Steve Caplin looks at Apple's new computers using, for the first time, an in-house vastly faster chip. He also discusses the possibility of the British Army having robot soldiers, Netflix reinventing old-style TV, a flying car, self-folding paper, a keyboard that simulates an old-style typewriter, New York's KGB Museum auctioning off its gadgets, an electronic noise to detect bad meat and a 9-year-old's design for a space lavatory.