45 min

Internet shutdowns cost $8bn in 2019 Digital Planet

    • Technology

The cost of the major internet shutdowns in 2019 has been estimated as $8bn according to a report by the Top10VPN website, with WhatsApp being the platform that is blocked most often.
Twitter bots and trolls on bush fires
Could the latest orchestrated social media disinformation campaign be unfolding in Australia. Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology have been analysing thousands of tweets and found some concerning activity. Could paid for trolls be behind tweets suggesting that arsonists are responsible for this year’s bush fires?
Indigenous language keyboards
The United Nations has just declared an International Decade of Indigenous Languages. It is to begin in 2022, so we have been finding out about getting indigenous languages onto a device – and it isn’t always as hard as you think.
Worm robots
Robotic worms might be soon being used to sniff out people as part of search and rescue operations. Our reporter Jason Hosken has been to the lab where they’re developing chemical sensors that could help trace people who have perhaps been trapped under rubble following a natural disaster. The robotic worm could end up assisting, or reducing the need for, specially trained sniffer dogs.
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz
(Photo: Internet shut down in India. Credit: AFP)

The cost of the major internet shutdowns in 2019 has been estimated as $8bn according to a report by the Top10VPN website, with WhatsApp being the platform that is blocked most often.
Twitter bots and trolls on bush fires
Could the latest orchestrated social media disinformation campaign be unfolding in Australia. Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology have been analysing thousands of tweets and found some concerning activity. Could paid for trolls be behind tweets suggesting that arsonists are responsible for this year’s bush fires?
Indigenous language keyboards
The United Nations has just declared an International Decade of Indigenous Languages. It is to begin in 2022, so we have been finding out about getting indigenous languages onto a device – and it isn’t always as hard as you think.
Worm robots
Robotic worms might be soon being used to sniff out people as part of search and rescue operations. Our reporter Jason Hosken has been to the lab where they’re developing chemical sensors that could help trace people who have perhaps been trapped under rubble following a natural disaster. The robotic worm could end up assisting, or reducing the need for, specially trained sniffer dogs.
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz
(Photo: Internet shut down in India. Credit: AFP)

45 min

Top Podcasts In Technology

Apple Events (audio)
Apple
Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast
Vox Media Podcast Network
Reply All
Gimlet
Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats
Wes Bos & Scott Tolinski - Full Stack JavaScript Web Developers
TeleGeography Explains the Internet
TeleGeography
The Real Python Podcast
Real Python

More by BBC

Global News Podcast
BBC World Service
Africa Daily
BBC World Service
The Comb
BBC World Service
From Our Own Correspondent
BBC Radio 4
HARDtalk
BBC World Service
BBC Inside Science
BBC Radio 4