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Digital Planet: Phones sending data every 4.5 minutes

Factual: Science & Nature

Phones sending data every 4.5 minutes

06/04/2021 GMT

BBC World Service - Digital Planet, Phones sending data every 4.5 minutes

Phones sending data every 4.5 minutes even if they are just idling in our pockets.

Phones sending data every 4.5 minutes. Also R.U.R. versus Q.U.R. and virtual stadium noise – how to make an empty stadium sound as if it’s full of fans.

Our smartphones are sharing data every four and a half minutes according to research from Trinity College Dublin.  Telemetry, automated recording and transmission of data, from Apple and Android devices back to these company’s servers is going on even if the phone is only used to make calls. Professor Douglas Leith is on the programme and explains that even when a user has logged out of sending telemetry or they are not logged on, data is still being transmitted.

R.U.R. versus Q.U.R.
The 1921 play Rossum’s Universal Robots (R.U.R.) by Karel C̆apek gave rise to the term “robot,” but the 1941 short story Quinby’s Usuform Robots (Q.U.R.) by Anthony Boucher more accurately reflects today’s robots says Professor Robin Murphy from Texas A&M University.  Robin, herself a disaster robotics specialist, is on the show to discuss how these two different ideas developed in very different social and political climates and what we can learn from both these Sci-fi stories.

Virtual Stadium Noise
If you've been watching sport in the last few months you may have noticed that stadiums are almost empty. But when you watch the game, it's very likely that you will hear a crowd cheering the players on. So what's going on?  It looks like broadcasters are turning to video games, for the sound of the crowd. Our reporter Chris Berrow has been finding out. 



(Image credit: Getty Images)                                         



The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Angelica Mari.

Studio Manager:  Giles Aspen
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz

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