Day, we are talking you through the winners and losers is that rory with make up on . Cutting out the middle man. Well talk to the boss of a tech company hoping to Revolution Ise well talk to the boss of a tech company hoping to revolutionise the way we transfer money abroad. And keeping with all things tech we want to hear from you. What are the gadgets that you cant live without and have changed your life . Let us know use the hashtag bbcbizlive. Welcome to the programme. Iam 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 show which opens today. Its the most important event of the year for the Tech Industry a chance for companies to show off the gadgets they hope we will soon be buying. Its 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 to a trillion dollars this year. That is a big sum of money. The problem is the industry as a whole is not growing. If its accurate that figure would be down around 2 on 2016, and it would be the fourth year in a row of falling revenue. Smartphones are by far the worlds most popular Gadget Accounting for half of all tech revenue but sales are expected to peak this year. So what are the growth areas . Well it could be the year of Wearable Technology like smartwatches. They have been saying it for a while now. Revenues from wearable devices are expected to soar almost a third this year although stilljust a fraction of the overall market. And one of the biggest themes to watch Artificial Intelligence more and more gadgets are being given the ability to learn as rory cellanjones reports. In a Penthouse Suite at a Ritzy Las Vegas hotel, smart home exhibits are on show. There is a Smart Speaker for children, each toy has a playlist. Kung fu fighting. Alexa, trigger lock. A voice activated door lock. And upstairs. Theres even nora, described as a smart snoring solution. Its 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 Intelligence into products. There are robots, of course. This one is meant to be a shop assistant, while this one is designed as a companion for children or elderly people. Push itsjust here. Ai seems to get everywhere, even into this toothbrush, which learns how you brush your teeth. Artificial intelligence is not just gathering the data, its being able to use it. Then you learn where your weaknesses are, where your strengths are and the purpose is to become better at taking care of your oral health. This Walking Stick is also smarter than it looks. An in built mobile phone sim card means it can help if there is an accident. 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 help these people. And this clever mirror helps anyone to try out make up. Out on the las vegas strip, this young entrepreneur from manchester has just flown in. Welcome to las vegas. His instant translation headphones arent quite ready. They will eventually be tiny earbuds, that he is still looking forward to ces. This is important because we will be able to showcase what weve been working on to the world, to show this is something we started years ago as a small team, as a small start up, with dedication and passion. The odds are against danny, a one man band taking on giants like apple and google, but hes betting that he has the product that can change the world. So, i wasjust so, i was just trying to get aaron to ta ke so, i was just trying to get aaron to take on his most revolutionary gadget. I will be boring. You said the kettle . Yes its an easy one. It is boring, but the smartphone, i think it is a phenomenal thing. Boring, smartphone, i think it is a phenomenalthing. 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. In other news. Chinese e commerce Giant Alibaba has sued two vendors for selling counterfeit goods, weeks after being blacklisted by a us industry watchdog. Its the first time the firm has taken legal action against counterfeiters. Alibaba sued the vendors for allegedly selling fake swarovski watches. The move comes just two weeks after the company was put back onto the uss notorious markets list over failing to curb the sale of counterfeit goods. 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 while in office. The 64 year old texan worked for exxon mobil for a0 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 beginning production of the battery. Wejust had 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 a ll 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 wa nt 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. Mariko oi is in singapore. She has got all of the details, it is nice to see you. This is interesting, isnt 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 injapan, 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 up1. 5 , 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 ina will speak in more detail about that in a moment but today on wall street. And Samira Hussain has the details about whats ahead the weaker pound will likely hurt the earnings of the walgreens boots alliance. But the focus will really be on walgreens acquisition of its smaller rival rite aid. 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 close in early 2017. Now, Craft Whiskey and beer has been bringing some cheer to constellation brands. 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 the company a boost. We are all sitting here talking about gadgets, david, what is yours, about gadgets, david, what is yours, a gadget that has changed your life 01 a gadget that has changed your life or that you love . Iphone, im boring like you, sorry come on youtube, something more imaginative . The dishwasher, whoever invented that come 01 you dishwasher, whoever invented that come on you two. Dishwasher, whoever invented that come on you two. Happy new year, david. It is nice to see you. Lets 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 state m e nts out of the fed yesterday, state statements towards Donald Trumps policy. We need to remember that janet yellen in the chairman and Federal Reserve in total isolation of herjob, forget what is happening with barack 0bama and donald trump in the future. She is looking at The Big Picture all the time, we got out 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 bea 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 asa 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 dont. 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. Still to come. Cutting out the middle man. Well talk to the boss of a tech company hoping to revolutionise the way we transfer money abroad. Youre with Business Live from bbc news. First. Four months after facing a Investor RevoltSports 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. Its good to see you, my friend. How important is this vote . Seriously, lets 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 hisjob, he may decide to 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 iuii 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 dont want to see. The plot thickens. Thank you, theo, from our business unit. Are you nice to your pa rents . I try to be. You better be, they are watching. We will get some money from them one day and we will be wealthy. Youre watching Business Live our top story. The biggest names in tech are in las vegas for the Consumer Electronics show. It is the Consumer Electronics show, it comes around again. It has, another year. It is. Arguably. Arguably. Arguably . Its arguably the biggest event on the Tech Calendar and weve already seen one start up unveil what it claims to be the worlds fastest self driving electric car. We did that yesterday. Yes, well 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 were 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 worlds first peer to peer currency exchange. And since then almost 4. 5 billion worth of currency has been exchanged on its site thats around 5. 6 billion. So how does it work . 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 traditional forms such as via banks. Brett meyers, its co founder and chief Strategy Officer is here. Cani can i ask this question beforehand . Are you a tech company or a Finance Company . If i had are you a tech company or a Finance Company . If had to pick are you a tech company or a Finance Company . If had to pick i would say finance because we deal with peoples 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 im 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, isnt it . In the last couple of years there has been a lot of Financial Companies starting. Thin tech has really ta ke n companies starting. Thin tech has really ta ken off. Companies starting. Thin tech has really taken off. Is the fact you we re 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. Tra nsfer that many others around at the time. Transfer wise went around then and many of your main competitors didnt 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