Simon Cox is at the helmÌýas the programme which explores the latest developments and issues in the world of IT returns for a third series.
Contact Us
If you've got a suggestion for the programme - email us clickon@bbc.co.uk.
Programme Details
01 September 2008
Whether you've embraced technology willingly, or you’re slowly learning the delights of the digital world, this series will have something for you.ÌýSimon CoxÌýfinds out how modern technology touches people's lives.
Festival ticketing systemsÌý At this year's Edinburgh Fringe festival, problems with a new computer ticketing system left show-goers uncertain as to whether the tickets they'd booked would be there waiting for them.Ìý And the Fringe is far from the only event to have suffered computer glitches in their box office.ÌýSimon speaks to Roger Tomlinson, an independent ticketing consultant, and Timothy Nathan, who supplies software to arts venues, to find out what should be done to ensure that audience members can purchase tickets smoothly and successfully.
Virtual Sculpture
Hermione Cockburn meets forensic anthropologist Caroline Wilkinson, who uses information from skulls to recreate faces - for example to identify human remains, or in archaeological work -Ìýbringing the past to life as she visualises how an Egyptian pharaoh or Roman soldier would once have looked.ÌýTraditionally faces would be reconstructed using plaster casts and clay. Today, Caroline does the same job using computer software combined with a haptic sculpting tool - which allows her to "feel" the surface of the onscreen skull as she works. Hermione has a go at using the haptic tool; and comes face to face with a 3800 year old Egyptian mummy.
For more information:
Touchscreens Touchscreens are on the up at the moment, thanks to the success of a new generation of mobile phones. Simon is joined by technology journalist Rupert Goodwins and Shahram Izadi from Microsoft Research in Cambridge – and asks whether touch technology is about to change the way we interact with our digital devices.
Geocaching
Geocaching is a form of GPS treasure hunt:Ìýacross the globe, there are over half a million "caches" left by enthusiasts for their fellow geocachers to find and log.Ìý Simply go online, download the co-ordinates to a handheld GPS - andÌýoff you go a-hunting.ÌýÌýSimonÌýand his daughter set out to find a local geocache with the help of IT writer Adrian Mars, along the way pondering the possibilities being able to access location-based data will offer us in the future.
For more information:
The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ is not responsible for the content of external sites