Click Season 2020

It's the Clickmas 2020 Special – virtual style! With bags of seasonal tech fun, including flying jetpacks, tabla tapping and a special mixed reality festive song.

Click looks at the tech hoping to end the dreaded phrase of every British commuter: ‘delay due to leaves on the line’. We explore how different countries have responded to the coronavirus pandemic and look at the apps charging to connect you with celebrities.

As the trial of rental e-scooters begins in the UK, they are starting to flood the streets of cities around the country. But are some of these riders still breaking the law? Omar Mehtab takes another look at the rules surrounding the light electric vehicles, and what is being done to help make these safer for everyone.

To coincide with the International Day of Persons With Disabilities, Click explores the latest developments around accessibility and inclusion in tech. Blind reporter Lucy Edwards investigates how AI helps visually-impaired people identify people and objects with their phones, while Niamh Hughes looks at the strides made in gaming accessibility, through the prism of her own experiences.

A special episode celebrating women in technology. We assemble three senior female tech leaders in front of an audience of 100 young women just starting out on their tech careers. We also hear from Joanna Shields of UK-based BenevolentAI, whose artificial intelligence has developed a treatment for some categories of Covid-19 patient.

Click is taking to the road and looking at the future of electric vehicles. Spencer Kelly heads down to Cornwall to find out if it might hold the key to Europe's demand for lithium and Lara Lewington discovers a car which might be able to charge your house. Plus Chris Fox looks at the latest in phone technology.

This week on Click, how can we keep teenagers safe online? We look at a new AI system that monitors video content on the fly and blurs anything unsuitable before kids see it. But can tech really help solve the problems that tech creates? We speak to a mum whose daughter took her own life. She now campaigns for fundamental change, for tighter control of tech companies and online education for both parents and kids.

Click scrubs up to meet the many-armed robot on wheels that's making keyhole surgery more available. We learn how a therapy app and electricity emitting headset could provide better at-home treatment for those living with depression. And we see one of the world’s first trials of an artificial intelligence algorithm to help doctors quickly distinguish between Covid-19 and cancer treatment toxicity on scans. These decisions could be a matter of life and death and are challenging for the human eye to detect.

Ahead of the US presidential election, we report from states that are trialling technology in order to help more people vote. And we take a view around the world to see if greater use of tech in the voting process could lead to increased turnout. In just over a week, sailor Pip Hare is to set off attempting to beat Dame Ellen MacArthur's record for circumnavigating the globe alone. To try to achieve this, she of course has a high-tech boat. It is decked out in kit designed to track her mental health throughout the voyage. We went to meet Pip before she sets sail.

Click talks to grime star Stormzy about his role in the forthcoming video game Watch Dogs: Legion. The Glastonbury headliner appears as a fictional version of himself in the game, which is set in a dystopian near-future London that has been taken over by a rogue government. He speaks about using the game to speak out against injustice.

In this edition, we look at the role of technology in domestic abuse. Increasingly survivors report being stalked through tracking apps on their phones, key loggers on their computers and their lives being controlled through smart devices in their homes. We are also in South Africa, where domestic abuse is a taboo subject, never talked about but faced by millions. Now a charity is using a chatbot to reach as many women as possible to offer a helping hand. And there's a look at the latest iPhone from Apple and a preview of the new Xbox Series X console.

Click talks to Zoom about the future of home working and visits an AI insect farm that's producing animal feed in a smart and sustainable way.

Known as one of the toughest races in the world, the America’s Cup presents a unique challenge as the rules and specifications change each time it takes place. We talk to Team Principal and the world’s most successful Olympic sailor, Sir Ben Ainslie, and see how technology is helping to design not only the boat but also to prepare the crew for this arduous voyage We also look at the latest hardware from Google and go underwater to explore the tech that is helping to protect coral reef in Australia.

This week Click looks at the technology that can create virtual avatars. And in the midst of the pandemic and ahead of the US election we examine at the spread of misinformation online.

Click looks at how tech can help us get back to work. A digital twin of St Pancras International station has been built to help protect commuters and offices are using computer vision alert systems to help employees keep their distance. Plus the latest developments from Silicon Valley. When all the world's an internet call, Marc Cieslak discovers whether technology can help bring theatre back to life.

Click takes a look at how virtual reality is being used to help the emergency services find an alternative during the coronvirus pandemic for traditional face-to-face training.

Click reveals the discovery of one of the largest collections of material belonging to the so-called Islamic State group ever found on the internet.

From sucking carbon out of the air to a 'dogless' hotdog, this week Click looks at some of our favourite sustainable tech from the recent past.

Click looks at the tech rivalry between China and the west, finding out what has caused the ban on Huawei's 5G equipment. We also look at alternatives to TikTok

Will fashion shows ever happen again? Top producers are looking to virtual fashion shows - more akin to pop videos than cat walks - to showcase their wares. As they wake up to the creative possibilities this approach offers, will fashion ever go back? Also we talk to the activists in Hong Kong hoping to stand firm against a new security law passed by China. We look at the trend for high tech hydroponics allowing you to grow your own food at home and take a virtual tour of Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft.

Click looks at the future of working from home and how video games could help to ease the isolation of lockdown. We also find out how tech is being used to try to save koalas in Australia.

This week Click sees how the coronavirus pandemic has revolutionised the use of remote medicine by doctors and hospitals in the UK.

Click talks to Jamie Cullum, Pussy Riot and Hozier to get their thoughts on how the global pandemic may have changed live music forever.

Click is in LA to meet the company with the biggest 3D printer in the world being used to print space rockets!

Click looks at the battle for self-driving car supremacy between the USA and China.

Click comes from CES in Las Vegas, the world’s largest tech show. With the latest announcements from the show and a look at trends for the year ahead.

The biggest tech stories and trends of 2019, including space travel, electric cars, 5G and the increased use by the police of facial recognition.