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 this week will look like.
Big Data on the Farm
It's the oldest industry in the world and one that you may not consider to be a forward-looking one - however, farming is experiencing an entirely new data-driven revolution. From drones giving aerial surveys of crops, to combine harvesters measuring precisely the output of every square metre, or sensors giving minute-by-minute updates on the health of livestock, farmers are navigating an ever-growing volume of data. A farmer who raises chickens 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. Our colleagues from BBC Radio 4's Farming Today have been covering technology in farming all week. They will present an exclusive report on Saturday's On Your Farm.
Minecraft in the classroom
Since Microsoft purchased Minecraft we've heard little about its plans for the hugely loved world-building game. The software giant has announced a major push into education by launching an educational version of Minecraft. Jane Wakefield, Jane's correspondent, went to BETT, the UK’s largest educational technology trade show to discuss with Microsoft about the plans that will allow children to learn Minecraft in school and play it at home. Schools will require an Office 365 account to log in to the education edition - we'll be asking whether this is part of Microsoft's plan to battle Google as the most popular software provider in the classroom.
Lessons from the experience of Kickstarter
Kickstarter received a lot of criticism after the Zano mini-drone fell to earth in November. The crowdfunding platform hired an investigative reporter look into what went wrong. Mark Harris' 13,000-word report was released this week. minecraft servers list It's both an extremely detailed account of how to run a tech business and a cautionary tale for those who don't know that crowdfunding is not like buying products from Amazon. We chat with Mark Harris about his thoughts about crowdfunding as a way to get tech ideas off the ground.
Doom moves up a level
Twenty-three years have passed since the original game Doom was released, there's an active group of players. This week they have something to celebrate. The first new level since the mid-1990s was released by one of the original developers John Romero. 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.
For all of this and much more, tune in to BBC World Service at 15:00 GMT or listen to the podcast later.