The us supreme courtjudge Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died. She was 87 and had been undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer. As one of four liberal justices on the court, her death raised the prospect of President Trump trying to expand the courts conservative majority. World Health Organisation has warned that the coronavirus pandemic is not burning out or going away. The head of the Whos Health Emergencies programme says countries in the Northern Hemisphere needed to do far more to combat the disease over the coming winter. The United States government has said it will then downloads of two chinese social media applications, tiktok and wechat from sunday. Tiktok said it was disappointed with the ruling. Both companies had said they will vow to fight the president s decision. Those are the headlines. Now on bbc news click. This week working together and staying apart. A new slice of apple. And theatre through the looking glass. Hey, welcome to click, hope you are doing ok. It has been a big week for me, look where i have been. Yes, on my first trained for six months. And look who i went to see, my good friend lara, who is more than she looks on tv, i had forgotten. True but that picture doesnt help. It was really lovely to
see you and maybe next time i will get the train to you. If i do, i might be needing this. laughs . | do, i might be needing this. laughs . I have do, i might be needing this. laughs . I have been looking at is on your social media feed and ifi at is on your social media feed and if i am honest i am still having trouble processing it in my head even now. I dont blame you my husband bought it for me asa you my husband bought it for me as a romantic gift, you would have thought after lockdown he would be sick of the site of my face, but it seems not, even if the dimensions are a bit strange. Somewhat. But inspired by that i have come up with my own, i have made my own version ona own, i have made my own version on a budget, so. Thats me, isnt it . There you go. laughs . Nice, it is more flattering than mine. Thank you, no flattering than mine. Thank you , no worse flattering than mine. Thank you, no worse i guess, no worse. Now listen, if you are going back to work you may have to wear a mask either on the journey or in the office. For some people who work in bigger offices, all i have to do is maintaina offices, all i have to do is maintain a social distance from their colleagues in a can. Yes,
butjamie their colleagues in a can. Yes, but jamie cake has their colleagues in a can. Yes, butjamie cake has been to their colleagues in a can. Yes, but jamie cake has been to see how Computer Vision is used to see how Computer Vision is used to keep people apart both in the commute and in the office. And steak. The commute and in the office. And steak. During the pandemic we have seen innovations in ways to monitor people . Movement activities to stop the of the virus. This includes using drones like dragonfly who can pick up on people coughing. And this system which detects whether or not people are Wearing Masks. Cameras, data and Computer Vision software are used to ease the process of returning to work, including a first of its kind system in one of londons biggest train stations. Busiest train stations. Busiest train stations. Here at St Pancras International station they are using something called jeld Wen Technology to help monitor peoples movements around the station. Digital twin technology. They are using it to encourage people to stay apart during the commute. A
digital twin is apart during the commute. A digitaltwin is an up to the minute replica of people in a space. The entire station is scanned by open space before the pandemic, working with the department of transport and innovative uk. 30 bespoke cameras equipped with 3d cameras are dotted around the station with another 20 on the station with another 20 on the way. Flat against the surface of the ceiling, they are separate from the current cctv system. So we have cameras working in this part of the station, all of them overhead and two along this line, and with these cameras together they can give us a continuous view of Movement Across the concourse. So that makes them different to the cbt cctv cameras . They are able to specifically answer movement of people to a certain level of accuracy, so you can match the data with our digital twin. This is the first time anywhere in the world a digital twin is managing real Time Movement of
people in a train station, and the first system of this kind making operational decisions about social distancing. People pepup about social distancing. People pop up red or green depending on whether they are two metres or more apart. All the data is anonymized in keeping with gdp are. Video data is combined with ticketing information and the team has access to huge amounts of pre and post covid Movement Data to help develop the software. Station staff can then steer people to areas which are clear, redirect lifts and escalators and provide hotspots to encourage social distancing. It has been challenging from our perspective to give confidence to our travelling public around steps we have ta ken to to our travelling public around steps we have taken to make sure they go through our stations that they are absolutely have robust plans and procedures in place. From the train to the office, a different kind of system is implemented here using pre existing cameras. The Second Home Co working space ora Second Home Co working space or a reduction in user since
the start of the pandemic. Now they have introduced an alert system for staff to enforce social distancing. The data from two of the cctv cameras hearing this Co Working Space being analysed in the cloud by an ai engine that is able to determine how many people are in the space at the distance they are keeping, how long people are staying distance and evenif people are staying distance and even if people are talking, singing or sneezing. You can act on it quite quickly, you get alerted, i get a letter my phone, so if there was a crowd congregating i can split up quite quickly, so we have a one directional system but if people are bumping into each other than we definitely look at rerouting people into different ways. Apart from distance which is the most obvious one, there is also more nuanced behaviours, including everything from what people are engaged in, all of which has different effects on the particulates and the spread of the particulates. Are they Wearing Masks or not, how long are they spending on each others presence. So it is a very rich texture of covid safe
behaviour. All around the World Companies are taking advantage of advances in Computer Vision. Amazons warehouse system uses Image Recognition and depth sensors to measure the distance between people. Employees who say six feet apart get a green circle around them while employees who dont get a red one. A Computer VisionCompany Tractor parts of where people are walking to better understand hotspots are. The images are immediately stripped of any images are immediately stripped ofany human images are immediately stripped of any human characteristics and made into boxes with simple labels like austrian, car and bus. Pedestrian. Markets and pancreas there are lands to embed robots into the digital twin system. They could be used for cleaning and help enforce social distancing, saving workers from potential exposure to the virus. Jen there, and until there is a vaccine were going to have to get used to some of these sorts of
measures. Of course the other way to keep things up and running though is regular and quick testing. Which could help keep anyone with the virus away from others. Right now in the uk there are problems with people being able to access tests, but there are new types of tests currently being trialled. Different researchers are trying different methods and the problem is that right now we dont know how well any of these will work. With current tests taking a day or more to come back, many of us are hoping for newer tests that could give results while you wait. Normally developing a procedure takes a long time, the work is rigorously and tested before we even get to hear about it. But right now every new theory and every new testis every new theory and every new test is being publicised much earlier in its development, leading to claims which can sound too good to be true, but which we all want to be true. Some companies are trying to develop on the spot testing
that could take just 20 seconds. This one is investigating using ai seconds. This one is investigating using al to recognise the coronavirus in samples of saliva. Other patients in hospitals and care homes are using portable machines like this that deliver dna swab results injust machines like this that deliver dna swab results in just 90 minutes. No lab needed. The uk government has also partnered with the Oxford University spin out behind these little and large devices capable of analysing swab or saliva samples in 90 minutes. But there is a thought that it might not matter if the tests are not that accurate. This does sound counterintuitive, but is an argument that has been put forward by economist and bbc presenter tim hartford. You are saying that is not a disaster. It is only a disaster if we ignore the fact that the testis if we ignore the fact that the test is imperfect. Sojust if we ignore the fact that the test is imperfect. So just to put some numbers on it, lets imagine one in 1000 people is
infected at any one time, which is not 1 infected at any one time, which is not1 million miles away from the situation right now in the uk. And lets say the test gives 10 false positives, so out of every ten people you test, the tests as they are positive but actually they are not infected at all. On those numbers if you test 1000 people, one of them has got the virus, and then 100 of them have, are wrongly flagged as having the virus because you have a 10 false positive rate. So then you have 100 times as many people being given false positives as given a true positive. So that sounds like a total disaster, you couldnt possibly use that information. But think about it in another way, before you gave everyone a test, you would have thought one in 1000 people has the virus, but now you are able to zoom in on a subset of those people, 100 people, and now you know one out of 100 people has the virus. So the other 100
people are probably fine but if the alternative is to lockdown everybody, to tell everybody they have to stay home and tell eve ryo ne they have to stay home and tell everyone they cant go to school or a restaurant, maybe the imperfect test could be better. We just have to use the information in the right way. So your latest book has just been finished i think as we we re been finished i think as we were going into lockdown. I wonder whether you looked at what the virus was doing around the world and how you think about the statistics . the world and how you think about the statistics . I am sad to say and underline the point i was trying to make in the book which was that while we tend to think of statistics as a kind of political weapon, people lie with statistics and they try to win arguments with statistics, actually statistics area statistics, actually statistics are a way of seeing the world around us, seeing things we cant see any other way. So they are a bit like you need radar to spot incoming bombers, we need statistics to spot the incoming virus. So i am trying to get people to the numbers
seriously take the numbers seriously take the numbers seriously as a way of seeing what is true. Hello and welcome to the week in tech. This week, apple announced the launch of a new workout Subscription Programme called fitness . It forms part of a bundle of service including news and arcade branded as apple one. Facebook unveiled a new version of its oculus vr headset with more power and higher resolution. It also comes with a significant price drop. The entry level version will be £100 deeper than its predecessor. And sony confirm the price of the forthcoming playstation five, matching the 500 price of its rival the xbox one series acts. Google says it has gone beyond being Carbon Neutral and is now compensated for all of the carbon it has ever produced. It comes as a range of big tech firms have committed to reducing or eliminating their carbon footprint. British based
chip designer arm is being sold to the American Graphics specialist nvidia. Nvidia says the deal worth 40 billion will create the premier competing company for the age of ai. And finally. Is their life on venus . Scientists have discovered what they say could be potential signs of life floating in the clouds of the planet. A new scientific paper reveals the discovery of gas called phosphene, typically associated with living organisms. The future really is in the cloud. This isnt fog, it is smoke. California is a state reeling from wildfires. Flying into San Francisco this week from london, you could barely see the city. My name is James Clayton and i am the bbc and
click San Francisco technology reporter. I have landed at a pretty weird time. I have been to San Francisco a few times before, but this was San Francisco only different. Mandatory masks everywhere, the airport is almost completely empty. The streets quieter, much more so than london. I have come during a monster week for technology though. Many of the stories based on themes that are likely to dominate tech journalism in the years to come. On monday, oracle agreed a deal with tiktok to oversee its Us Operations after mr trump said it would ban the company if it couldnt find a us suitor. I will be doing more on how tech is being dragged into a geopolitical battle between china and the us. It was also a week that twitter launched its election hub to promote Accurate Information and resources for voters. How Companies Like google and
twitter and facebook regulate their platforms in the run up to the elections are likely to have a massive impact on that november poll, and it is something that click will be doing more on. It also happened to bea doing more on. It also happened to be a week when mr trump visited california, sparking controversy by refusing to acknowledge Climate Change was make impact on the environment. Going forward, could dig tech do more by notjust being Green Companies themselves but by leading the way in innovation and perhaps even reversing some of the damage humans have done to the planet. In apples launch on tuesday, the couple didnt release an iphone or a new range of matter walks but did talk about its new healthcare products, including a new happy couple watch that can measure oxygen levels in the blood. How the world of tech response to covid 19 in the coming years is likely to be crucial in our battle against the virus. And finally this week, google was grilled
by senators asking questions about anti trust, or in other words, Companies Like google not political. Whether massive tech Companies Like facebook, apple, and amazon are to be and should be broken up, a central challenges to governments around the world. The tax stories we have seen this week underpin perhaps the fundamental question of our age, how can we harness the progress humanity has made for good and not bad . That was James Clayton who, as he says, is our new man in San Francisco. And he is online now. James, not even off the plane and we ask you to start filming. Well done, what a time to move to San Francisco though. Is a really strange time for two reasons. Obviously, you have seen those kind of horrendous pictures of california under this huge blanket of smoke. Its notjust california but pretty much the whole of western america. It is
oregon, washington, then of course you have covid 19. Covid 19 has affected the us very badly and california is no exception. It is really noticeable. How do you feel about being there because yellow if you look at all of the conferences are coming up literally all of them are virtual. So the chances of me actually being able to get there and actually review products in the same way as my predecessor did, well, its going to be quite unlikely for now. I know the different people feel differently about Climate Change within the us and the big tech giants have certainly committed to trying to go Carbon Neutral or i think, google now says it is Carbon Neutral. Do you think that the arrival of forest fires at the doors of these companies will change any of their behaviours or focus any of their attention . I think the next stage is are they going to really invest in the kind of
innovation that the welds might actually need to try and reverse some of this Climate Change . At the moment, microsoft have committed a lot of money to that, so have amazon and apple. It really is a limb in the last year that has happened. Would also looking forward to covering . The big tech story of the next few weeks is going to be about social media with the us elections. You are already seeing all sorts of this information and all sorts of challenges and problems that Companies Like facebook and