-
Alison Smith interviews Jon Bentley from The Gadget Show
-
Alison: Brilliant, we're on. I'm going to get the interpreter in as well if that is all right?
-
Jon: Yes
-
Alison: Em .... [giggles] ... trying to see the screen!
-
Jon: Yes
-
Alison: Right, My first question is ...
-
... with your extensive knowledge of gadgets are there any you think we should know about and profile on Pesky People?
-
Jon: Mmm oh gosh ... oh ....
-
Alison: Anything that springs to mind that is … or stands out?
-
Jon: I mean gadgets? Everyone is interested in
-
I guess there must be .... em, there must be ...
-
there is such a vast field … I'm interested (in)
-
just this year … what phones manufactures are going to are they going to be any better than the iphone?
-
I'm interested in 3D technology - whether it is actually going to take off.
-
'Im interested in whether the ipad is going to be innovative (or not).
-
I'm er ...
-
Alison: Good one
-
Jon: I'm interested to see
-
the whole business of whether copyright and the media is going to be sorted out
-
especially with the Digital Bill .... and everything like that ...
-
that's perhaps I'm being far too serious?
-
Alison: No not at all not at all [giggles] not at all.
-
Alison: This actually leads one of the questions of
-
What is important to you when you are checking out and finding new gadgets?
-
What, what really gets you excited?
-
Jon: Which particular bits get me excited?
-
I tend to like
-
I tend to like new computers,
-
I like new cameras quite a lot, I use a lot of photography
-
something that pushes the boundaries there I'm really interested in.
-
I like the way Digtial SLR's use video.
-
You get sort of, some amazing cheap cameras.
-
Not so cheap, like the latest Canon SLR550 for around £600
-
you can get almost 100 quality movies
-
with limitless amount of depth of field and all that sort of thing.
-
I like it when a bit of technology comes along
-
that makes something possible that has not been possible before.
-
That was a bit of a rabble wasn't it? ... [laughs]
-
Alison: No, Not at all, fantastic!
-
Alison: Em ... I've got a challenge for you.
-
Jon: Oh!
-
Alison: Em, I know that you take up lots of new challenges on The Gadget Show
-
Jon: Oh yes!
-
Alison: you go through all sorts of trials and tribulations,
-
getting very wet n freezing cold
-
and blown over in gales and all the rest of it.
-
Em, What do you think of taking up Pesky People's challenge
-
to explore and feature accessible, useful gadgets for Disabled and Deaf people
-
on The Gadget Show?
-
Jon: To do that as a challenge on The Gadget Show?
-
Right, I think we should possible should.
-
I quite like people to suggest to our producers ...
-
who tend to decide what goes in each programme
-
and the overall subjects and challenges.
-
Alison: ah
-
If people come across interesting gadgets that really help them
-
I'd very much like to know about it.
-
Alison: Well a good one for me is I have digital hearing aids
-
that are also wireless and can connect to bluetooth,
-
em, if I press one the other one reacts, they change automatically in background sounds n stuff.
-
So they are only about two months old [laughs]
-
From that point of view it's like technology so can change things
-
in some really great ways.
-
Jon: So that is something that helps cut out background sounds?
-
So like noise cancelling headphones?
-
Alison: yeah they cut out background sounds,
-
em, I can connect to my mobile, em, my ipod, it will work with the bluetooth so you get duel sound into both ears.
-
It's got 5 different settings, so that I can go out to gigs,
-
I can be in a car and get the background noise cut out so I can listen to conversations.
-
So for me they are very useful gadgets.
-
Jon: So they've only been out two months?
-
Alison: This one is two months. It's the newest ones I've got curtesy of the NHS
-
So yeah the NHS has something good coming out of it.
-
Jon: Oh so it has become better in latest versions?
-
Alison: Really improved. The first digital ...
-
the first digital phones that came out interfered with hearing aids so you would get a buzzing noise going on.
-
So that is the only reason the NHS started providing
-
Digital ones because they were too many … mobile phones took off and they had to do something to sort it out.
-
Jon: That sounds fascinating, I must look at your blog to see what you are using.
-
Alison: Yes, yes, I'll give you my card - lovely.
-
We are very new, em … we're very em ...we have been going for 7 months
-
but already getting a lot of attention.
-
And we have just had an Untld 4iP fund award
-
Jon: Ah
-
Alison: for me to develop it as an individual ...
-
and I'm also one of the 'Inspiring Voices' from the Media Trust. So
-
Jon: ah
-
So we are getting recognition but just need to get it really off the ground.
-
Jon: mmm mmm
-
Alison: so ... It would be very interesting to get your feedback …
-
Jon: Feedback on?
-
Alison: [spoken quickly] to get your feedback on the website if you want to have a look?
-
Jon: Yes I'd like that, yes and very much like to have a look at your website
-
yes, and your blog ...
-
… and, what else do you put on there?
-
Alison: Em, from (today), we are going to put up things to do with products and different issues
-
around gadgets and stuff … so that is going to be very new.
-
One of the other things we are going to develop is
-
Hot or Not' in terms of good / bad sites
-
and how digital stuff comes in is great but
-
at the same time whether it is accessible or not.
-
So really challenge a few people at the same time.
-
Jon: It's all disappearing,
-
I mean the whole concept of digital is a very changing thing
-
websites and so on.
-
Alison: Absolutely
-
Jon: It used to be if a newspaper came back
-
you'd stuff it in the library
-
you'd go back 30 years … websites don't exist ...
-
I was fascinated by some library or another …
-
it was the … British library ... actually ... conserving websites.
-
Alison: Yes they are conserving websites. Yup, they are certainly doing that.
-
There is lots of talk about
-
how do you preserve something now
-
that is not going to be available technology wise in the future like floppy discs …
-
Jon: oh yes
-
throughout ... what's happening with like VHS and look at the range of gadgets, the whole thing, oh we had that, had that, oh that's gone. [giggles]
-
Jon: I was remembering ... there is always going to be ... I go back ….
-
to my earlier career before the car programme (Top Gear)
-
I used to work on the history programme called Timewatch
-
and in the office, er, we did something on Doomsday project
-
in 1986
-
that all the schools in Britain recorded
-
the things about the local area, things they liked to do, like music
-
it was all recorded on Philips laser discs,
-
the irony is actually it is very hard to get machines that now can play these things.
-
The irony is
-
you can look at the original Doomsday Book
-
but not the one from 1986!
-
It seems all wrong some how!
-
Alison: Yup that is a good forecast for us isn't it? [laughs]
-
Brilliant thank you very much.
-
Jon: Delighted.
-
Alison: I'm aware ...
-
Jon: Honestly, is that Pesky honestly as in Pesky?
-
Alison: Yes
-
Jon: Yes? Gosh!