voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. this week, we're at europe's biggest tech show to meet this year's tech movers and shakers. quivering: er... yeah, we have the lowdown on what's cooking, what's trending, and what's bouncing.

are those phones? they are phones, yeah. 0k. meanwhile, lara's getting her groove on at a live concert in the metaverse. my avatar, beat engineer, there. he's ready to dance. my finest dance moves. and we meet the brothers who are trying to replace plastics with plants. but how do they stop those pesky splits? what makes a team quite strong is really these different opinions. one opinion we can all agree on, though, is that you won't want to miss this. life in plastic, it's fantastic. willkommen. bienvenue. hi. welcome to ifa, europe's biggest tech show, where, every year, thousands of people pile into berlin's giant exhibition centre to grab a sneak peek at the latest... ..well, everything.

the press, business and the public can zip around more than two dozen halls full of weird and wonderful displays and demonstrations. you can play ping—pong with foldable phones to somehow prove how tough they are. you can meet robot animals, stuffed pets. you might even catch a glimpse of a real live pussycat doll. yes, even nicole scherzinger, lead singer of the aforementioned supergroup, was brought in to bring some bling to the tech discussions. now, you'll find all of the tech—show staples here. robo vacuums and lawnmowers — check. flying car — check. not actually flying... buzzer ..check. loads and loads and loads of screens — check, check, check. massagers for the whole body, orjust the ankles... quivering: er... now, although this is overwhelmingly a home appliance show, even if you are not

wowed by white goods,

back in 1930, it was opened by none other than albert einstein. the radio, and wireless technology in general, has been the springboard for so many of our modern devices, and there's certainly no shortage of new things to get excited about here. here's an interesting phone. it's from tcl, and it's using tcl�*s nxtpaper display technology, which means you have this matte finish. it's not a reflective screen at all. erm, and it's designed to be easier on the eye. but when you flick this switch here, it goes into full e—paper simulation mode.

so it really does look like an e ink display that you'd find on your e—book reader. it's not e—paper, it's still an lcd display, but, with the matte finish, it certainly is easy on the eye. first thing you notice is, the battery life has shot up to about 132 hours because it's not using wallpaper or anything like the processing power it has before. most of the apps work, including, weirdly, youtube, on e—paper. and from new hand—helds to new laptops. this is honor�*s new magicbook art iii. it's an arm—based laptop, and the first one that i've seen that keeps its webcam in a little pocket. you pop it out the side, magnet it on the top, and there's your webcam, only when you need it. he laughs but how do you grab attention at a big tech show like ifa? how do you stand out

from the crowd? well, one way to promote, for example, your new portable printer for phone photos is to associate yourself with a cultural phenomenon that is guaranteed to turn heads. of course, serious journalists like me would never be fooled by such tactics. the thing is, though, consumer electronics is a serious business. there is serious money involved, and shows like this have to take things incredibly seriously. and it's never a given that they'll remain relevant in the future. we watch announcements online these days, we do business remotely, and we don't want to travel as much. ifa has yet another new ceo this year, and he's tasked with trying to keep the event in the headlines. how hard is it to organise and

run a big tech show like ifa? it feels like you start to fly, but you build the plane within the flight. it's something like that. yeah, yeah. because you cannot wait. there are so many deadlines you had to follow. if you don't follow, there's a chain reaction. but nevertheless, we embrace the challenge. and we had a real... we're a new team and, you know, we are in berlin. berlin is special. ifa is special. everything is a little bit crazy. as we move into the future, which, by the look of this montage, feels pretty dystopian, what with the clockwork orange, robocop doing cycle crunches, and donnie darko in a space helmet. the new ifa boss says he wants to make the show a more citywide cultural event, attracting younger people, and perhaps broadening out beyond just straight—up tech, a lot like the annual south by southwest festival does in texas, combining, as it does, tech with film, music and art.

so, many things to change because we cannot wait. this year is the starting point, getting more in the direction that we are more innovative and getting even bigger. being the most important technological show in the world. would you say ifa is different this year? and would you say that it's going to be different from now on? everything that you feel with ifa is totally different. why? because we want to give a visual signal to everybody that there is a change. ifa is getting younger, more innovative, front of the wave of trends, and we are more a cultural event than a typical tech show. one thing that's changed is the name. it's still ifa, but it doesn't stand for internationale funkausstellung any more. no, these days it's innovation for all. another thing that's changed is that al, something that's supposedly been in everything here for years, might now really be able to make our homes smarter.

it goes from room to room and controls appliances and iot devices. not only is there this continuing promise that our devices will learn our habits and make our lives more efficient, but with the arrival of large language models like chatgpt, we might finally get that home assistant that we can have an actual conversation with. hey, ballie, can you show me the status of the devices - in the house? assistant: sure, iwill show. you the status in 3d map view. but neither lg's nor samsung's ankle—high home help bots have been released yet, and i do been released yet, and i do find myself wondering which one find myself wondering which one i'll trip over first. i'll trip over first. talking of which, samsung has talking of which, samsung has by far the biggest presence by far the biggest presence here, with an entire hall here, with an entire hall dedicated to many of the big dedicated to many of the big themes of the day, including themes of the day, including sustainability, with its energy sustainability, with its energy monitoring system, wearables, monitoring system, wearables, with rings that put your house with rings that put your house to sleep when you drift off, to sleep when you drift off, and accessibility, with tv and accessibility, with tv displays that allow displays that allow

for viewers of differing levels of eyesight. for viewers of differing levels of eyesight. keeping high—profile names like these interested and happy to keep coming back is one of the challenges big shows like ifa will continue to face. you'll find many of the massive household names here at ifa, but also this show has its fair share of tiny start—ups, which may have had the next big idea. i'll show you some of those later. but what does it take to be an entrepreneur and develop that idea into something that could change the world? well, in sweden, alistair keen has been to meet two brothers who formed a company called plasticfri. hi, how are you doing? good, thanks. and you? good, thank you, yeah. nice to meet you. likewise. what's the biggest risk you've taken? i would say to be an entrepreneur, maybe. he laughs the biggest risk of my life. but at the same time, the sweetest risk of my life.

plasticfri is a green tech - company based here in sweden. we have developed - a breakthrough technology, which is based on thei multi—step processes, in order to develop and offerl eco—friendly and plant—based alternative to plastics. this is one of the products that we have developed — a paper cup which is not like the other paper cups in the market, because there is no plastic film inside, and it is also certified recyclable as paper. normal paper cup has a film inside, and this film is made of plastic. so imagine when you are drinking a coffee. like, any time that you sip, you are bringing microplastics into your body. and what we achieve with our plastic—free paper cup

it is even some leaves that we see here. - some of these plants, we use and extract the ingredients i that we need in order to create our base raw material. - when you have the agricultural waste and non—edible plants. and wood fibre, then- we extract the ingredients that we would need in our processes. . when you have the extraction, you have a mixing process, - then it goes through _ fermentation, and then you have several steps of the process in order to convert that - to an end product like this. lots of us have been there with a paper straw, where, halfway through where, halfway through the drink, it goes mushy the drink, it goes mushy and we can't finish and we can't finish the product. the product. what's different what's different about your straw? about your straw? so, if we look at the normal so, if we look at the normal paper straws, the way - paper straws, the way - they are being manufactured they are being manufactured is that you roll a piece - is that you roll a piece - of paper, you dip them. actually is dissolved - of paper, you dip them. to a glue bath, and then to a glue bath, and then you take them up, you take them up, you let them dry. i you let them dry. i and the reason that they get - and the reason that they get -

soggy is that when you put them soggy is that when you put them into your drinks, the glue into your drinks, the glue actually is dissolved - into your drink. with our technology — - which is the same for the cups, bags, e—commerce mailers,| and the straw — we eliminate completely the glue. we only use heat and pressure. cost—wise, how does it compare to a traditional plastic bag? yeah, so, plastic industry has been around for tens of years now, quite a well established industry, and it is obvious that it will be cheap. our technology is very, very highly scalable, which means that, in large volumes, we can be competitive in pricing with the traditional plastics. any time that we talk about sustainability,

give us a sense of how much you're putting into this start—up. within the past five, - six years, we've been working at least 100 hours per week, which is an insane amount. of work. but that's also connected to l the passion, because we think the negative effect of plastic pollution on human beings, i on the whole ecosystem, it has gone too far. - i can't imagine working with any of my siblings as closely as you two work together, let alone having a business. how do you manage that relationship? of course, as human beings, we are different. there are ups and downs in the world of siblings as well. but what makes a team quite as strong is really these different opinions. if we think the same, then we don't have a panoramic view of the strategy. there can be conflicts, but this is part of the game. what we want to achieve i is that, actually, to remove more than 10 billion - plastic articles by 2026.

so we're expanding very fast because we know the time . is quite short and we cannot wait for tomorrow. - we need to take action today. time for a bit of music. on monday apple launched its latest iphones with a range of colours and a new camera button. it runs apple intelligence the company new ai. it will change the way it uses, edits photographs and respond to messages. it has more powerful chips and enhanced privacy features. sony is to launch a more powerful and much more expensive version of its usually popular playstation five consul. it will be able to show more advanced graphics and display the most demanding games and

higher, more consistent frame ways. but it comes at a cost. in fact, just over $900, which is under £700. it will launch in major territories on the seventh of november. and finally, scientists and a team have developed a robotic leg made from oil filled have developed a robotic leg made from oilfilled plastic bags that resemble everyday freezer packs. two muscles composed of four oilfield bags are partially covered on each side by electrode patches and when it is time to begin leaping, the team starts shocking. time for a bit of music. i've come to london's maida vale studios, where many really famous artists have performed, to see one of the uk's up—and—coming bands play live.

this is strange, though. where is everyone? at the moment, it looks like no—one�*s in the venue, it looks like no—one has arrived to see the show, but i think someone is about to arrive. hopefully a whole crowd. in fact, there is no other real life audience for this show. radio 1's new music portal. and don't worry if you're listening to the radio, it's fine. you just hear it like a normal gig. the song on the radio i never play...# good neighbours are behind me, performing live on radio i, but i'm alsojoining them virtually here. i can move all around the virtual stage. i can get a front row position. my avatar, beat engineer there, is ready to dance. i've got some moves! a bit of cheering. there we go. my finest dance moves. this performance, a radioi live lounge, is being simultaneously turned into an interactive 3d virtual event, one that anyone can join on their laptop

or mobile device. it's part of a joint venture between the bbc�*s r&d department and software company condense. but what's it all about? what we are so excited about with condense is we can take, you know, stuff the bbc is really good at and been doing for a long time — live music, live performance — and take that and put it into these in—game environments where audiences are spending more and more of their time. do you think this is also something about the fact that radio i audiences are more likely to be of a particular age, that they'll engage with this? or do you see there's a whole cross—section of content for all ages that you can make immersive in this way? i think radio i really wanted to reach out and build relationships with these audiences in these spaces. i do think the same technology can apply across a number of genres, but, you know, what we've seen already is, actually, musical performances are well established in these spaces. we want to deliver this

experience in a way that is native to those environments and makes the best use of the forms of interactivity that it allows. we want to increasingly build an interactive conversation with our audiences, and this is a great way to do that. to see how it works, i had a good nose around behind the scenes before the show started. this rig is where the virtual stage is created. there are ten cameras around that are doing the volumetric capture. there's also a 360 camera here, and on this screen, the band can interact with the audience. you can see them jumping, clapping, dancing, and they can get a bit of the atmosphere back from those who are watching virtually. the performance is transformed into a real—time 3d model and streamed into a virtual venue, which is called the new music portal. it can be viewed from any angle and from anywhere. fans can interact with the band and artists can interact with the avatars of their fans.

good neighbours is our guinea pig band today, so what's the experience been like for them? # so i put you in some roller—skates # the perfect way to play it safer, yeah... very space age. it's kind of like we're in a musical prison right now, but a nice one. i was trying not to focus because otherwise i'd just be staring at that the whole time. well, it could be quite distracting, couldn't it? yeah. you can still see when people are, like, into itand wandering around and being active. because obviously it's not the same as seeing a whole crowd of fans in front of you. sure. but comparing this to what it's like doing something on the radio where they can't see anything. i guess it's like... it's definitely a heightened experience of that, because when you do see people actually moving as beings on the screen, that definitely fills you with a bit more confidence. but what about the audience? we're aiming for an experience that makes people feel- like they're getting even a small part of the live, i the real live experience. so when you're watching online, it's passive. - when you're watching -

through our tech, you feel like you're part of something. and it's interesting. when we talk to people - about what they've experienced after our events, they say, "oh, i loved being there. l i attended. i was part of it." # it's the place i go when i start slippin�* # darling, won't you take me home?# and eventually, i guess you can have people doing in augmented reality with vr headsets and... yeah. a whole different world. what do you think this means for the future of music and how you guys are going to perform throughout your career? i definitely think it's going to help bands like us that are on their way up, where maybe we don't have the budget to go to, like, brazil or somewhere across the world. i think it's going to open up a really good relationship with fans. well, that's interesting. because it's notjust about the fans travelling, it of course means you don't have to travel. yeah, true. yeah. i guess that you can sort of reach a wider audience

straight away and they can actually see live shows. so in a way, it's bringing live shows back. ok, let's finish up back in berlin at the 100th ifa electronics show. now, a lot of ifa is given over to home appliances like washing machines and robo vacuums. but this is hall 27. it's called ifa next. and this is where the weird stuff happens. it's a place for start—ups to show off their prototypes and big new ideas. and if ifa is to stand for innovation for all from now on, well, this is where you'll find it. now, everfancied being your own dentist? muffled: the tool is fine, i'm sure. . my technique, not so much. what are you smiling at? it's a nasa cat carrier for your space cats.

one design problem, though — a bit too breathable, if you know what i mean. houston, we have a problem. time for a new hairstyle. here's a smart mirror that's got some suggestions. first thing you've got to do is have your photo taken. beautiful. right, and now the magic begins, yes? yeah. now, what this is doing is actually analysing my face and it's, first of all, going to remove my actual hair, so prepare yourselves. oh—ho—ho! that's marvellous, that is. that's me at the end of ifa. the mirror allows you to change the colour of your virtual hair and even the texture. oh, you can kind of stroke it into position! oh, well, that's made it all better now. is that... ? that's �*905 boyband.

that's backstreet boys. do you know what? i've been thinking about changing my hairstyle for years, and now i'm not any more. like everything at ifa, some of these things might hit the big time. many won't, and some of the underlying ideas and technologies may actually form the basis of something completely different. can i tell which is which? well, after 20 years on thejob... ..no. and that's it from us from ifa100. hope you've enjoyed our whistle—stop tour. i certainly have. thank you very much for watching, and we will see you soon. hello there. for some parts of the uk,

there is a big change on the way weather—wise — particularly in the south where, on thursday, we saw a lot of sunshine. temperatures in london got above 26 celsius. but we're watching this area of low pressure swirling up from the south, increasingly bringing some showers and thunderstorms over the next few days. and the rainfall is really going to accumulate. some spots could be looking at around a month's worth of rain from these intense downpours and thunderstorms. however, only really in the south — further north, it remains largely dry. the best of the sunshine across north west england, northern ireland, western scotland. eastern scotland, north east england likely to be plagued by a lot of cloud, which will make it feel rather cool. and actually, that cloud has been rolling its way a long way inland, taking its time to burn back towards the east coast through the day on friday, but it should do. staying quite murky, though, for parts of eastern scotland, northeast england. and then, down towards the south of england, perhaps into the midlands, wales, we will see some of these showers and thunderstorms popping up, some of which will give

a lot of rain in a short space of time. 23 degrees in london. just 15 if the cloud lingers there in aberdeen. and as we go through friday night, that cloud again rolls a little bit further inland. still the chance for some showers and thunderstorms rumbling around across the channel islands, getting back into southern counties of england. a mild night forjust about all of us, a mild start to the weekend. and again on saturday, down towards the south, we'll see these showers and thunderstorms across southern counties of england into east anglia, the midlands, parts of wales. but for northern england, northern ireland, western scotland, we'll see some sunshine. eastern scotland, north east england still plagued by that cloud, perhaps the odd spot of drizzle. could be quite misty and murky around some of the coasts. and temperatures, if anything, coming down a little bit from where they have been. and then into sunday, it looks like we'll see some slightly more persistent, heavy, thundery rain, again affecting southern parts of the uk, east anglia, the midlands, wales. further north from there, largely dry. best of the sunshine in the northwest, more cloud into the northeast, so the pattern continues. but a change in the weather pattern next week — it does turn really quite unsettled. showers or longer spells of rain, could be quite windy, and it turns quite

a lot colder as well.

live from washington, this is bbc news. israel launches new strikes in southern lebanon, targeting hezbollah as the group's leader calls this week's device explosions "a red line". donald trump and kamala harris holds duelling campaign events as the race for the white house tightens. we'll hear from voters in the key battleground state of michigan. and multiple women come forward accusing the late mohamed al fayed of rape sexual assault. i'm helena humphrey. good to have you with us. the leader of hezbollah on thursday described two waves of deadly attacks across lebanon using explosives in pagers and walkie—talkies as "a declaration of war". in a televised address, hassan nasrallah said that

israel crossed all red lines after 37 people were killed