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, Tech Tent on BBC World Service provides the latest news in technology. Here's what we're watching this week.
THE ROBINSON MUSIC


Big Data on the farm



It is the oldest industry in the world, and it is also one you might not consider to be a forward-looking industry. But the farming industry is experiencing a revolution in data driven technology. Farmers are confronted with an ever-growing amount of information. From drones that provide aerial views of crops to combine harvesters that monitor the output of each square meter, to sensors that give minute-by-minute information about the health of animals, there's a lot of information. A chicken farmer will share his experiences with this innovative method of working. Rob Carter, co-founder of Field Margin, will be our special guest. Field Margin is a smartphone app that helps farmers manage their data. By the way our BBC colleagues on Radio 4's Farming Today have been covering farming and technology throughout the week and have special reports on Saturday's On Your Farm.



Minecraft in the classroom



We've heard nothing about Microsoft's plans for Minecraft since it was acquired by Microsoft. Microsoft has announced a major expansion into education, launching an educational version of Minecraft. Jane Wakefield, Jane's correspondent attended BETT, the UK’s largest educational technology trade show, in order to speak with Microsoft regarding the plan that will allow children to learn Minecraft in school and play the game at home. To log in to the education edition, schools will need an Office 365 account. We'll be asking if this is a part of Microsoft's strategy to compete with Google as the leading software provider in the classroom.



Lessons learned from a Kickstarter



Kickstarter received a lot criticism following the Zano mini-drone project went down to earth last November. The crowdfunding platform hired an investigative reporter investigate what went wrong. This week Mark Harris published his 13,000 words report, which is an incredibly detailed report on how to not manage a business in the field of technology and a cautionary tale for those who don't understand that backing a crowdfunded project is not like ordering something from Amazon. We speak to Mark Harris on the show about where he believes crowdfunding can be a way of getting tech ideas off the ground.



Doom is able to move up a level



Twenty three years after the cult game Doom was released, it still has a loyal community of players, and they're celebrating this week. John Romero, one of the original developers, has released the first level in the mid-90s. He spoke with Zoe Kleinman, our reporter. He admitted that he was anxious about the response of the community, however, the majority of fans have been overwhelmingly positive.



Tune to the BBC World Service at 15:00 GMT for all of that and more, or listen to the podcast later.


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