30 Apr 2016

Tech: chatbots, PledgeMe, and Spark's Lightbox offer

From This Way Up, 1:35 pm on 30 April 2016
male chatbot
chatbot

Technology correspondent Peter Griffin on the rise of the 'chatbots'; using artificial intelligence to simulate responses and conversations on a social network or customer service website near you.

Also the local crowdfunding platform PledgeMe moves into peer-to-peer lending, and Spark says it will keep giving away its online video streaming service Lightbox to all home broadband customers.

It's another development in the complex and rapidly evolving video streaming on demand market, with Sky's internet TV service Neon about to go HD and launch an app for Apple TV, and the Australian parent company of streaming service Quickflix going into voluntary administration. Meanwhile, Netflix's crackdown on local consumers using VPNs to access an expanded catalogue could lead to an exodus of subscribers.