05/01/2017 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News, with Sally Bundock

Smart homes, voice recognition and driverless cars!

We'll take a look at the rise of the robots at the world's

Live from London, that's our top story on Thursday 5th January.

The trillion dollar tech industry gathers in Las Vegas -

in search of the gadgets that will get it growing again.

Our top tech team is there, trying and testing out the latest stuff.

Also in the programme - upsetting the Apple cart!

Chinese authorities force the Silicon Valley giant

The markets will be quite a mixed day, we are talking you through the

winners and losers! Is that Rory with make-up on?

We'll talk to the boss of a tech company hoping to revolution-ise

We'll talk to the boss of a tech company hoping to revolutionise

And keeping with all things tech - we want to hear from you.

What are the gadgets that you can't live

Let us know - use the hashtag BBCBizLive.

I am predicting that for many of you you will be saying it is your

smartphone but for me, it is my kettle, I cannot live without it!

We start in Las Vegas where thousands of technology

executives are gathering for the annual Consumer Electronics

It's the most important event of the year for the tech industry -

a chance for companies to show off the gadgets they hope

It's a huge business - and an increasingly tough one.

According to the Consumer Technology Association -

which organises the Las Vegas show - we will buy gadgets worth close

The problem is the industry as a whole is not growing.

If it's accurate - that figure would be

down around 2% on 2016, and it would be the fourth year

Smartphones are by far the world's most popular gadget -

accounting for half of all tech revenue - but sales

Well - it could be the year of wearable technology -

They have been saying it for a while now...

Revenues from wearable devices are expected to soar

almost a third this year - although still just a fraction

And one of the biggest themes to watch - artificial intelligence -

more and more gadgets are being given the ability to learn

In a penthouse suite at a ritzy Las Vegas hotel,

There is a smart speaker for children, each toy has a playlist.

..There's even Nora, described as a smart snoring solution.

It's paired with a pad under the pillow which detects the snoring

and moves just enough to stop me, without waking me up.

The big theme this year is turning the advances in artificial

This one is meant to be a shop assistant, while this one

is designed as a companion for children or elderly people.

AI seems to get everywhere, even into this toothbrush, which learns

Artificial intelligence is not just gathering the data,

Then you learn where your weaknesses are, where your strengths

are and the purpose is to become better at taking care

This walking stick is also smarter than it looks.

An in-built mobile phone SIM card means it can help

It will detect the fall of the user and when it detects it it will alert

the family or the neighbour, so they can come and

And this clever mirror helps anyone to try out make-up.

Out on the Las Vegas strip, this young entrepreneur

His instant translation headphones aren't quite ready.

They will eventually be tiny earbuds, that he is still

This is important because we will be able to showcase what we've been

working on to the world, to show this is something we started

years ago as a small team, as a small start-up,

The odds are against Danny, a one-man band taking on giants

like Apple and Google, but he's betting that he

has the product that can change the world.

So, I was just trying to get Aaron to take on his most revolutionary

gadget... I will be boring... You said the kettle? Yes! It's an easy

one. It is boring, but the smartphone, I think it is a

phenomenal thing. Boring, it is! You can go anywhere in the WorldCom is

use GPS, go on Google maps, do that... -- go anywhere in the world

and use... Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba

has sued two vendors for selling counterfeit goods,

weeks after being blacklisted It's the first time the firm

has taken legal action Alibaba sued the vendors

for allegedly selling The move comes just two weeks

after the company was put back onto the US's "notorious markets"

list over failing to curb the sale Rex Tillerson - the former Exxon

boss chosen by Donald Trump for US Secretary of State -

will receive $180m to cut financial ties with the firm

if he gets the job. The pay-out is aimed

at addressing concerns he could favour the oil giant,

or his own interests The 64-year-old Texan worked

for Exxon Mobil for 40 years, including in the US,

Yemen and Russia. Do you remember when we were talking

about building the gig a factory? This is Elon Musk, and they are

beginning production of the battery. We just had the numbers for Tesla

yesterday, how time flies! The production of those cars right there

increased to 68% last year, they are making more and more... It is

interesting, not everyone is clear on what is going on inside of that

monster sized giga factory. And some sun, making their new smartphone

after all of those problems that it had with the last one that kept on

going up -- Samsung. It is the device but you cannot live without

though, the smartphone! But I do not want one that blows up!

Apple has removed the New York Times app from its Chinese app

store after a request from the Chinese authorities.

She has got all of the details, it is nice to see you. This is

interesting, isn't it? Indeed, good morning. This website has been

blocked in China, if you remember, since 2012, after the newspaper

published a number of reports about the private wealth of members of the

political elite and their families but, as you say, the app had been

available until late last year but Apple withdrew it after a request

from Chinese authorities and the Chinese are looking at regulations

designed to curb activities such as "Endangering national security,

disrupting social order and violating legitimate rights in the

interest of others" at the newspaper, they responded with

criticism of apps from other organisations, saying that apps like

the BBC are still available, but the English version occasionally has

human rights or political stories blocked on the website and on the

app. Legs we will talk about that later

in the programme. Looking at the New York Times article on that

particular story -- thank you. Asia had a mixed day, profit in Japan,

they have had a surge in Asia in general, the Yen gained in value.

Exporters losing some ground as the Yen strengthened. In other markets,

Hong Kong up 1.5%, Europe is quite mixed at the moment. And, a lot of

what is going on in the markets today, Europe and Asia, is in

reaction to the Federal reserve, minutes were out late yesterday. We

will speak in more detail about that in a moment but today on Wall

Street... And Samira Hussain has

the details about what's ahead The weaker pound will

likely hurt the earnings But the focus will really be

on Walgreens' acquisition Now, multibillion-dollar deals,

particularly in health care, have been facing more scrutiny

from US anti-trust authorities recently, with many being scrapped

or undergoing lengthy approval processes because of a fear

of creating a monopoly. But an agreement to sell 865

Walgreens store is is being seen as a positive sign for the merger

which is expected to Now, craft whiskey and beer has

been bringing some cheer The alcoholic beverage maker

is raising their full-year profit expectations because of a healthy

demand for its Corona and Modelo beers, and expanding its premium

liquor portfolios is also given We are all sitting here talking

about gadgets, David, what is yours, a gadget that has changed your life

or that you love? IPhone, I'm boring like you, sorry! Come on YouTube,

something more imaginative? The dishwasher, whoever invented that!

-- come on you two. Happy New Year, David. It is nice to see you. Let's

talk about this... The front page of the pink pages... The Fed... No, the

Financial Times! The minutes coming out of the Fed yesterday, state --

statements towards Donald Trump's policy. We need to remember that

Janet Yellen in the chairman and Federal reserve in total isolation

of her job, forget what is happening with Barack Obama and Donald Trump

in the future... She is looking at the big picture all the time, we got

our last quarter percent increase recently, and what she has set out

of the Trump plans, that is basically to cut corporation tax

from 35% down to 15% in two years. And, to introduce $1 trillion worth

of spending around various parts of the country. This, basically, is

good but it is inflationary. If you look at the futures, they can be

misleading, but the market is telling us that in 2017 there will

be a 0.59% increase in US interest rates, you will get to quarter

heights anyway and do not rule out the possibility of a third if all is

well when Donald Trump is installed as a president of the United States.

We have had a lot of rhetoric. If we hear positive stuff which gets

through Congress, great news, the markets will crack on but if we hear

other stuff that we do not want to hear, like problems with China and

those real trading bases, then you have an issue. I hope we don't. But,

watch this space... David is back in five minutes, not off the hook yet,

he has more work to do on the programme! Thank you. Pleasure.

We'll talk to the boss of a tech company hoping to revolutionise

You're with Business Live from BBC News.

Four months after facing a investor revolt -

Sports Direct looks set to have another battle today.

Later today, shareholders will be voting on whether chairman

Keith Hellawell should keep his seat on the board.

Theo Leggett is in our Business Newsroom.

It's good to see you, my friend. How important is this vote? Seriously,

let's be frank, are there real prospect here that he could lose the

job? Only if he decides to, the vote that we are having today is a result

of Keith Halliwell losing the vote on his reappointment to the annual

general meeting in September but under new rules designed to give a

bit more say to independent shareholders and companies dominated

by one major shareholder, in this case, Mike Ashley, you can have a

vote and if it is lost, then there has to be another a few months down

the line but the difference this time, Mike Ashley is involved in it

and since he has a 55% stake in the company, unless he decides Keith

Halliwell has to go, then he is probably staying onwards. The only

difference that might be made is if Mr Halliwell himself decides there

is too much opposition and he cannot do his job, he may decide to step

down. He has already offered to resign but was persuaded by Mike

Ashley to stay on but in the general meeting this year, if he loses the

vote then, he would step down anyway but at the moment, it seems he will

stay in his post. Shareholders will show they are annoyed with the way

that the company is being wrong but -- run but really they do not have

much influence. For the shareholders, you assume that it is

incredibly frustrating because Sports Direct has so much going on

and no good news None at all. For the past 18 months

Sports Direct has been under pressure following media revelations

about working conditions at its main warehouse in Sharnbrook in

Derbyshire. MPs took on board what was going on there and issued a

scathing criticism of the company and said it had Victorian style

working conditions. Now, Mike Ashley did say he would work on this and

try and sort things out. What has happened as we have seen the Chief

Executive leave leaving even more control in the hands of the leading

shareholder Mike Ashley which is what institutional shareholders

don't want to see. The plot thickens. Thank you, Theo, from our

business unit. Are you nice to your parents?

I try to be. You better be, they are watching.

We will get some money from them one day and we will be wealthy.

You're watching Business Live - our top story.

The biggest names in tech are in Las Vegas for

It is the Consumer Electronics Show, it comes around again.

It has, another year. It is... Arguably... Arguably... Arguably?

It's arguably the biggest event on the tech calendar and we've

already seen one start-up unveil what it claims to be the world's

Yes, we'll keep you up to date with the latest from CES,

both here and on the BBC News website.

Dave Lee is there, loads of people are there. Arguably there is loads

of people. CHUCKLES

This morning we're getting the Inside Track on one company

which is taking on the titans in the world of foreign exchange.

When it began operations in Dublin seven years ago,

Currency Fair was the world's first peer-to-peer currency exchange.

And since then almost $4.5 billion-worth of currency has been

exchanged on its site - that's around ?3.6 billion.

Well, users log on to the website or smartphone app, and it then

connects buyers and sellers of different currencies.

Users can also set their own exchange rate, but the model relies

on people being willing to trade with each other.

The company claims that by cutting out the middleman,

it makes it cheaper and faster to exchange money than other

Brett Meyers, its co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer is here.

Can I ask this question beforehand? Are you a tech company or a finance

company? If I had to pick I would say finance because we deal with

people's money, security compliance is hugely important but we are a

finance company enabled by some unique technology. You have

relatives in South Africa and I am an Australian. For the dummies here,

I want to see how this works, I want South African Rand and I'm in

Australia and I log on and Sally is in South Africa and she has rammed

that she can sell me. And die by the Rand? You would never buy the

currency yourselves, it is depersonalised there is no risk of

the other person not paying or not having the funds. That is high risk

with Aaron and I. There is always issues! This is a company which was

started when? We started in 2009 working full-time and launched in

2010. That is quite key, isn't it? In the last couple of years there

has been a lot of financial companies starting. Thin tech has

really taken off. Is the fact you were around then what important

because there is a lot of competition now? It is important

from the sense it takes time to build trust. The fact we have been

around for six or seven years means people can research. There were not

that many others around at the time. Transfer Wise went around then and

many of your main competitors didn't exist. Banks did and they are our

main competitor. If you added together all of the transaction is

being done by the new Currency Fair FinTech firms it is a small piece of

the pie, we are bringing up the sector rather than challenging each

other. Can you briefly explain this? You were the CEO of the company and

you are now chief strategy officer. You gave yourself aid E-Motion,

didn't you? That's not the way I look at it. But effectively we got

the point, I think, where we got to the point where scale was the most

important thing, this was my first CEO role and I can certainly learn

how to do that but I thought what is the best way to get this company big

as soon as possible. Put a proper CEO in? And you focused on what you

wanted to do. Exactly, I'm able to look at the markets and where we

want to be in the next couple of years so it is a win- win for the

company. For the viewers' perspective on this, talking about

money changing hands and currencies but you are talking about big sums,

it is not I want to go on holiday to South Africa and I want a couple of

hundred around. It could be, couldn't it? It is not small

amounts, you're talking about big amounts? The average is about 5000

euros, ?4500. But we do do some smaller stuff. But where our unique

value kicks in is when the transaction is a bit larger and

people stop thinking about it as a payment and more of a personal

finance decision. I've saved up money in Australia, I'm coming home

to the UK, you're not thinking what is the quickest, fastest, easiest

way to get that back. Your commission on the movement is much

less than a high street bank. On average we pay about a third of a

percent. There is some criticism about the model, that there is some

bold durability, for example, with Brexit. Where there are lots of

peer-to-peer sites that had to stop trading because it was Ravitch, the

volatility of the pound, for example. We stayed open during

Brexit which was a big validation of our model because we operate a real

exchange where we allow people to choose to wait for a rate that suits

them, or exchange immediately. Because of that we allow a market to

build upon both sides and that was able to handle the volatility really

well. With so many companies like you was around, these online FinTech

companies, how does the user finds those that are reliable, because

it's about trust and there is a real worry about these smaller companies

not being able to follow through with financial commitments? Exactly

and you see this not just in foreign transfers but lots of areas of

Fintech and it is not certain whether they are subsidising to

build up a user base or whether they are cheaper. Both are true so

consumers need to do their research and the fact we have been around a

long time of the weather model works is a good test. We appreciate your

time, thank you for coming on. In a moment we will look at the

Apple story again and the New York Times. Here is how to stay in touch.

The business life page is where you can stay ahead with all of the day's

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Dave is back as promised. Let's start with this story about Apple.

There was one time not long ago when Apple were selling more smartphones

in China than the US and the story highlights how important the Chinese

consumer is to Apple. The company used end point is don't mess with

these people. The remains that Apple have taken this app from the Chinese

and English language perspective from the App Store, to make sure

they still have control over the media. What the capitalist system

that works so brilliantly in the Communist regime, they don't want it

messed up and Apple know the rules. It's the same way when Rupert

Murdoch had issues over there, it takes time to learn rules with the

Chinese but if you want to play in their ballpark it is what you must

do. This article is the New York Times reporting on itself and what

is going on with Apple. Apple's view is a very generic view. I can't

really say what they really think, whereas the New York Times is no

holds barred, it is just censorship of the media as far as they are

concerned. Absolutely, want to play by the rules that is what you have

to do with China. Let's talk about viewers' gadgets.

I want to talk about the Australian company that made more than 2000

times return on its investment. The ice-making machine. I love my

ice-making machine. I have one of those American fridges at home. In a

hot country. We might be moving soon and I can't take it with me. I want

the thingy. Colin says it is his laptop. I imagine lots of people

would say that, more powerful than a mobile and more mobile than a PC. At

the other walked out and left your iPad at home and felt like you have

left your right arm? I have gone back for it, it is not even a

discussion. When you get to my age, trust me, it happens quite often. I

am getting there. David, so nice to see you, thank you

for coming in, and have a wonderful New Year.

Have a really good day whatever you are up to, whatever device you can't

live without. Enjoy. Seat you later, goodbye.