Notes

Tech Tent: Future Farmers, Minecraft And Doom

Tech Tent: Future farmers, Minecraft and Doom Rory Cellan-Jones Technology correspondent @BBCRoryCJon Twitter



22 January 2016



Every Friday we digest the week's tech news on Tech Tent on the BBC World Service. Here's what we are looking at this week.



Big Data on the Farm



It's the oldest business in the world and one that you wouldn't think of as being forward-looking, but farming is undergoing an entire new revolution in data-driven technology. Farmers are confronted by an ever-growing volume of data. From drones that provide aerial views of crops, to combine harvesters that monitor the output of each square metre and sensors that provide minute-by-minute information about the health of animals, there is a lot of information. A farmer of chickens will discuss his experiences with this new method of working. Rob Carter, co-founder of Field Margin, will be our special guest. Field Margin is a smartphone application that helps farmers manage their data. Our colleagues from BBC Radio 4's Farming Today have been covering technology in farming all week. They will present an extra report on Saturday's On Your Farm.



Minecraft in the classroom



Since Microsoft purchased Minecraft we've heard nothing about its plans for the hugely popular world-building game. But this week the software giant announced a big push into education, launching a classroom version of the game. Jane Wakefield, Jane's correspondent, went to BETT, the UK’s largest educational technology event, in order to speak with Microsoft about the plans that allows children to learn Minecraft in school and play the game at home. To sign in to the education edition, schools will require an Office 365 account. We'll be asking if this is part of Microsoft's strategy to challenge Google as the most popular software provider in the classroom.



Lessons from a Kickstarter



When the Zano mini-drone fell to earth in November of last year, Kickstarter came in for a lot of criticism from the backers who had lost out. So the crowdfunding platform commissioned an investigative reporter to find out what went wrong. This week Mark Harris published his 13,000 word report, which is an incredibly detailed description of the wrong way to manage a business in the field of technology and a cautionary tale for those who don't understand that funding a crowdfunded project is not like ordering something from Amazon. minecraft names We speak to Mark Harris about his thoughts on crowdfunding as a method of getting tech ideas off-the-ground.



Doom increases in level



Twenty-three years have passed since the original game Doom was released, there is still an avid community of players. This week, they have something to celebrate. John Romero, one of the original developers has released the first level in the mid-90s. Our reporter Zoe Kleinman has been talking to him about the new level - he says that he was worried about how the community would react, but the majority of players have been very happy.



For all of this and much more listen to BBC World Service at 15:00 GMT or listen to the podcast later.


Website: https://mcnames.net/