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Bicycle Aid For Calais And Virtual Assistants
About this show
Introduction
In this episode of Norwich Today, presenter Alison Nicholl interviews Dan Harris about a humanitarian project providing bicycles to the refugee camp in Calais. Other segments include a competition for emerging musical acts from Norfolk and Suffolk, and a discussion by Dominik on the capabilities of virtual assistants such as Siri, Google Now, and Cortana.
In this recording from Norwich Today, presenter Alison Nicholl speaks with Dan Harris regarding a humanitarian trip to the 'Jungle' refugee camp in Calais. Harris explains that the project raised over 820 pounds to provide 30 donated bikes and sturdy ex-postal bikes, noting that the camp is a five-mile walk from aid centres. Mechanics from Bicycle Links and Norwich Bike Repair Co-operative are also joining the effort. In a separate segment, Dominik discusses the capabilities of speech recognition and compares virtual assistants including Siri, Google Now, and Cortana, noting improvements in Google's engine regarding complicated words.
Topics
- Refugee crisis and conditions in the Calais 'Jungle' camp
- Crowdfunding and community support in Norwich for humanitarian aid
- Practical logistics of providing bicycle aid in conflict/refugee zones
- Practical uses of speech recognition
- Comparison of virtual assistants (Siri, Google Now, Cortana)
- Platform compatibility for voice technology
Participants
- Alison Nicholl
- Dan Harris
- Dominik
- Alister
Names are taken from the archive as written and may include spelling variants.
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And so the conditions are, yeah, pretty diabolical, really. But the people—they are trying. There, I've seen they're trying to build some churches and some schools, just making them from wooden pallets. I think the kind of outpouring of compassion over the last two months has been incredible, and I've seen.
Which we thought we were going to have to pay for, people have actually come out of the woodwork and offered us for free, and so actually, I don't think the figure was quite enough. But through the generosity of people in Norwich, actually.
Just turned on and are listening. I may have just turned on their Siri just by just by saying, "Hey Siri, go for a walk in ten minutes." I have just may may have wreaked havoc on somebody's life, but hopefully it wasn't. It was fairly benign. Well, make them a bit more healthier, and the sun's coming out, so.
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Bicycle Aid For Calais And Virtual Assistants