The Gadget Show's Jason Bradbury

What’s been your favourite build on The Gadget Show?

I loved the second version of my hoverboard design, which we did just before Christmas. It was powered by a jet engine, so it just puts all the other builds into insignificance really.

We tested it on an army base and it worked brilliantly. We had two leaf-blower engines to provide the hover – both were twice as powerful as my original engines so it was four times as powerful as my first version. Then we attached this jet, which was the size of a Hovis loaf to propel it. It was just brilliant.

What are you going to do to improve it next time?

I have plans to put an electric engine in, but that probably won’t be for The Gadget Show. I have plans to resurrect my water-powered dragster, rather than the hoverboard. That was a big, pressurised container of water that was supposed to shoot me down the road, but it basically just filled my legs with high-pressured water and soaked my socks. It pushed me about six metres at about two miles per hour. I want to do better than that.

What gadgets have you been using the most this year?

The Sony eReader. I want it to be in colour, but it has earned a place in my life this year. Something else that I just think is worthy of mentioning is Sky+ HD. I think their service is amazing and, because they’ve ported it to the Xbox, I can have really good TV content in different rooms in the house really inexpensively. It’s a genius move.

You’ve obviously got a soft spot for robots. When do you think we’ll let them into our homes?

It’s like the eReader evolution; what we need is an iPad or iPod of robots. You need a point relief that changes the game. I have issues with the notion that we’re going to have domestic slaves. The technology will be there, but whether we’re emotionally able to accept some sort of domestic robot servant into our lives is another question.

There will probably be more robots in hospitals in the future, caring for the elderly, for example. There will definitely be big leaps in robotics in the operating theatre. There are 12 surgery robots working in the UK right now, which are operated remotely by surgeons using telepresence.

You help judge the BAFTAs for video games. Which stood out this year?

Modern Warfare II, the first-person shooter from the Call of Duty series, stood out by becoming the biggest product launch of all time. Batman: Arkham Asylum – made by a British studio – is possibly the most successful comic-based game ever. Also, the rise in apps and app-based gaming, especially on the iPhone and iPod Touch, is fascinating. No-one would have predicted the rise of gaming on the iPhone.

And which apps have stood out for you?

If you have a successful online product, then you need to integrate it into the mobile space, so things like Tweetdeck [an app that lets you access Twitter and Facebook from your phone or computer] have all been important in the past year. I think the actual native Facebook app is the way to do it, but the others seem to be third-party-driven. This is really interesting because it means that someone in their bedroom is enabling thousands of people to connect. That’s quite democratic, isn’t it?

Are you keen on social networks?

I’m really into my social networking at the moment. I think that it’s another technology that has changed my life in the last 12 months. Twitter especially. While working with TalkTalk to integrate phone networks with social ones, I’ve come across a really good one called Ning. It’s interesting because it unashamedly doesn’t try to compete with Facebook or Twitter and offers you a blog-like experience that comes with all the power of social network sites.

What piece of tech do you think will really change our lifestyle in the next decade?

That’s a big question. Because of Moore’s Law, and where we are on that curve, the next 10 years will feel like an express elevator towards the future. We’ll see changes to make the last 20 years seem insignificant. I’ve been to several research institutions and labs to play with a lot of mind-control tech. I’ve played several video games using my brain and used my thoughts to move pixels around a screen. I’m absolutely convinced that a rudimentary form of thought-control interface for mobile devices will exist in 10 years.

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