Find partners
The Gareth and Billcast

The Gareth and Billcast

Hosted by Bill Thompson

Episodes

100

Latest episode

Jul 2024

Language

EN

About the show

The Gareth and Billcast (and also old archive from Bill, including the podcasts made for the Cambridge Film Festival from 2006 onwards)

Listen to episodes

60 recent
July 12, 2024Episode 117 min

The End of the Cast Show

And that's a wrap.. Gareth and Bill wind up the GBCast with a conversation about generative reality recorded at the Digital Planet meetup that took place in March, with special guest Ghislaine Boddington. Thanks for all the downloads, and we both look forward to sharing time together elsewhere on the interwebs.

February 26, 2024Episode 94 min

Getting the Gang Back Together

To celebrate/commemorate a year since the last World Service broadcast of Digital Planet Gareth, Bill, Ghislaine, Angelica (online) and Ania are meeting up in a wine bar in central London on the evening of March 28 and we'd love to see old listeners and new friends there. Sign up on Eventbrite (search Digital Planet).  And Gareth wants to tell you all about it..

November 27, 2023Episode 833 min

Series finale, faking data vs synthetic data, and your views on photography

In this final episode of the series (we'll be back in the new year) Gareth and Bill muse on the ways generative AI can be used to fake experimental data, the uses of synthetic data, and we pick up the online conversation about 'computational imaging'.

November 19, 2023Episode 730 min

Computational imaging, data recovery.. and some rapid scheduled disassembly

In this episode we reflect on SpaceX's latest mission and OpenAI's apparent implosion, muse on the nature of photography in an age of computational imaging, and discuss how the Super Pressure Balloon Imaging Telescope managed to get its data safely back to earth using Raspberry Pi computers.

November 12, 2023Episode 630 min

eLORAN and GNSS, and the potential tricksiness of GPT-4

In this episode Gareth eulogises the radio-based LORAN navigation system, and Bill wonders if GPT-4 is pulling a fast one. Or not. With an accelerated sketch and quite a lot of self-referential wittering.

November 5, 2023Episode 525 min

Network security in cafes and pubs, and AI safety

In this episode Gareth picks up on a survey showing british people worry about wifi security in pubs - but is it just lazy marketing of VPNs? And our take on the UK AI Safety Summit. Plus more input from our esteemed listeners!

October 29, 2023Episode 429 min

Can You Fix It? Only if they let you...

In this episode we discuss cars,tractors, smartphone and laptops, and why the right to repair the stuff you own matters, practically and philosophically. We find time to read out some comments from listeners, while the Gazmotron continues to wreak havoc.

October 22, 2023Episode 324 min

Darker Skies and Pulsating Lights

This week, once you're through the 'sketch', Gareth discusses a novel approach to countering light pollution by making LEDs flicker 150 times per second, and Bill looks forward to this year's Lumiere festival in Durham, England which will feature Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's Pulse Topology and brings back memories of the Venice Biennale in 2007 (the photo is Gareth and Colin interviewing Rafael)

October 16, 2023Episode 225 min

Will Robots Think? And Who Needs Pictures?

This week Bill reflects on the progress made using transformer networks to integrate language and visual processing with robotic control, particularly in Google DeepMinds RT-2, and whether we're heading for embodied awareness, while Gareth speaks out for the special place well-crafted audio has in the cultural landscape - who needs pictures? And we go purple about the Vesuvius Challenge. (Image of cocktail making robots taken at the Barbican 'AI: More than Human' exhibition in 2019. The Negroni was acceptable.)

October 8, 2023Episode 122 min

Back again.. in one state or another

In this first episide of our second series, Gareth and Bill look at the progress being made in quantum computing, developing systems that use the properties of entangled 'qbits' instead of binary bits to carry out calculations.  How can we be quantum-ready?

Is this your show?

Claim this listing to keep it up to date, reach guests who want to pitch you, and manage bookings with Guestify.

Claim this listing

More Technology podcasts