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Digital Planet: BookTech Awards

Factual: Science & Nature

Someone using a tablet device at the newly opened Amazon Books store in Seattle, Washington

01/12/2015 GMT

BookTech Awards

BBC World Service - Digital Planet, BookTech Awards

BookTech Awards take on e-readers and Amazon

BookTech Awards take on e-readers and Amazon; Smart Scooters in Taiwan; TechCrunch – Startup Battlefield; Roadie’s automatic tune up

Booksellers and publishers seem continually under assault whether from disruptive new technologies like e-readers or from the latest manoeuvres of Amazon.  Often accused of being conservative and resistant to change, the books’ industry is trying to change that mind-set and to embrace tech and innovation.  A clear example of that is the inaugural BookTech Awards which will be handed out on Friday at this year’s FutureBook Week.  Click hears from one of the organisers, Molly Flatt and one of the finalists, Michel Lafrance from the Owl Field. 

Smart Scooters in Taiwan
For many people in Taiwan the scooter is the main mode of transportation, with 14 million scooters.  But the vehicles emit greenhouse gas and other pollution.  In recent years, Taiwan’s government has tried to get people to replace traditional petrol driven scooters with environmentally-friendly ones. The launch of an unusual Taiwanese smart battery-operated scooter, the Gogoro, may help.  Click’s correspondent Cindy Sui reports from Taipei.  

TechCrunch – Startup Battlefield  
Disrupt London next week is TechCrunch’s European technology conference.  TechCrunch’s journalists have sifted through the entries for Startup Battlefield, the event that brings early stage startups together, to compete for the coveted Disrupt Cup for a £30,000 cheque.  Past winners include names such as Dropbox  and Yammer.  Click talks to Mike Butcher about how to pitch your tech idea.

Roadie 
Roadie is a smart automatic tuning device for guitars and other string instruments.  Roadie was the winner of the audience choice at TechCrunch last year in the Disrupt NY Battlefield. The co-founder Hassane Slaibi demonstrates his Roadie on Click’s Gareth Mitchell.

(Photo: Someone using a tablet device at the newly opened Amazon Books store in Seattle, Washington. © Getty Images)

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