Posts Tagged ‘bbc’

So many people know what “tired and emotional” means that it’s surely now unfit for its original libel-skirting purpose. But if someone is “hiking the Appalachian Trail” or taking a “wide stance”, would you be in on the gig? [BBC]        

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Scandalous euphemisms

Matt Denton of Hampshire, UK, built a huge hexapod walking machine that he operates by joysticks inside the cockpit.        

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Hexapod robot vehicle

You wrote a blog post about how I was assaulted by the police after filming my boyfriend being searched, back in 2009.        

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Short UK documentary about woman threatened with terrorism charges for videorecording cops while they stop-and-searched her boyfriend on the tune

The BBC has confirmed that it will broadcast six short films exclusively on iPlayer over the next two years, becoming the latest media outlet to debut original content on its online video streaming service. The BBC says that the dramas will feature “up and coming talent” that is linked to the BBC Three brand, providing UK license-fee payers with the opportunity to watch content in their own time or on the move. Continue reading…

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BBC to debut six iPlayer-exclusive short films

Huawei launched a customized version of its Ascend W1 Windows Phone for Africa today, as Microsoft tries to make headway in less-saturated markets on the continent. The phone, called the Huawei 4Afrika, is being launched in Angola, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa, and will be available in blue, red, black, and white. The device will be the first in a “4Afrika” series, part of Microsoft’s bigger strategy for the region . Continue reading…

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Huawei’s Windows Phone 4Afrika leads Microsoft’s latest push on the continent

The BBC has been a pillar of British entertainment for many years, but it’s now also known across the world as a leading online news source. The Register took a deep look into how BBC News was created , from initial brainstorming to creating a content management system from scratch. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t easy to accomplish such an ambitious task within an enormous organization like the BBC. The article also details the complex internal politics at play, as different sectors of the corporation argued with each other about resources and talent snatching.

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How the BBC built a leading online news source from scratch

another random user writes with an excerpt from the BBC about Microsoft’s vision for augmented reality glasses: “A patent granted to the U.S. tech firm describes how the eyewear could be used to bring up statistics over a wearer’s view of a baseball game or details of characters in a play. The newly-released document was filed in May 2011 and is highly detailed. … Although some have questioned how many people would want to wear such devices, a recent report by Juniper Research indicated that the market for smart glasses and other next-generation wearable tech could be worth $1.5bn by 2014 and would multiply over following years.” Noticeable differences from Google’s version: two lenses, a wrist computer, and wires

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Microsoft Granted Patent For Augmented Reality Glasses

The latest entry in the critically-acclaimed Planet series from the Discovery Channel and the BBC airs tonight at 8:00PM ET. “Winged Planet” — like “Blue Planet” and “Planet Earth” before it — is a nature documentary that utilizes state-of-the-art technology to capture absolutely amazing footage. What makes “Winged Planet” exceptionally special is the use of custom cameras that have been attached to birds, as well as remote-controlled avian replicas that could travel among the high-flying animals.

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Birds with cameras take flight in ‘Winged Planet,’ tonight on the Discovery Channel

Wikipedia hosts a vast trove of information, but the admitted gender gap amongst the site’s volunteer editors has left many female historical figures out of the digital history books. The Royal Society wants to rectify this: BBC reports that an “edit-a-thon” will be held in London (and online) on October 19th, to celebrate the contributions women have made to science by ensuring that their Wikipedia profiles are comprehensive — or exist at all. Profiles for a few historical figures have been singled out for updates, but the project’s ultimate goal is to improve visibility across the gender divide, and prevent this sort of event from being necessary in the first place. Continue reading…

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Royal Society plans Wikipedia ‘edit-a-thon’ to honor female scientists

Researchers at the UK’s National Media Museum have unearthed the world’s first color moving pictures, dating back to 1902. As the BBC reports , the footage was shot by Edward Raymond Turner as part of a test reel that includes images of marching soldiers, birds, and Turner’s own children. The film had been gathering dust in a tin for more than a century before being discovered by Michael Harvey, Curator of Cinematography at the National Media Museum. Turner patented his three-color process in 1899 with the support of American entrepreneur Charles Urban, but died of a heart attack just four years later, at the age of 29

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World’s first color film footage discovered in England

Twitter has long had a reputation as an important tool in social revolutions around the world, but the BBC recently explored the platform’s capacity for a different kind of social change. Linguists have observed a decline in the use of the formal “you” on the platform in many languages, especially French — and not just because the informal “tu” takes up two fewer characters than the formal “vous.” The BBC explores the root of the trend and what it may mean for the future of language and social interactions at the source link below. Continue reading…

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Twitter and the decline of formal language

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Olympics footage in Super Hi-Vision shown off at the BBC – Verge Forums

Life Technologies, a California-based biotech company, has become the first entrant for the $10 million Archon X Prize, which aims to sequence the DNA of 100 centenarians to produce the world’s first “medical grade” human genome, according to a press release from the X Prize Foundation . With team registration open until May 2013, the competition requires participants to perform the feat in 10 days and at a cost of no more than $1,000 per human genome, using equipment produced themselves. The prize was first announced back in 2006, formed as a joint effort between the X Prize Foundation and legendary geneticist J. Craig Venter, head of the Venter Science Foundation — back then, performing the same set of sequencing would reportedly have… Continue reading…

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First team joins X Prize race to unlock the secret of living to 100

The International Football Association Board has unanimously voted to approve goal-line technology, in a move that could put an end to crucial split-second decisions going the wrong way. The technology has been debated for years, but a series of controversies — including Marko Devic’s disallowed effort for Ukraine against England during last month’s Euro 2012 tournament — resulted in FIFA president Sepp Blatter finally deciding that it is “a necessity.” Continue reading…

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Goal-line technology finally approved by International Football Association Board

Zynga’s acquisition of OMGPOP hasn’t slowed down Draw Something ‘s success, as the game has now been downloaded 50 million times in just 50 days. The asynchronous, Pictionary -like hit managed to reach 20 million downloads after its first five weeks, so this latest milestone suggests that the title is actually picking up steam. It was only yesterday that the game unseated Angry Birds Space atop the paid app charts for iPhone and iPad, which in comparison managed to move 10 million downloads in its first three days (though developer Rovio hasn’t announced any stats since that time). Draw Something at its busiest sees more than 3,000 pictures a second, and so far around six billion drawings have been created

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‘Draw Something’ sees 50 million downloads in first 50 days

February 29th may have been over a month ago, but several TomTom GPS units are just now encountering a leap year-related bug. According to the BBC , the bug makes it so that units can’t connect to a GPS signal, instead presenting users with a blank grey screen. The issue first popped up on March 31st and is reportedly hitting users globally. You can check out the relatively small list of affected units at TomTom’s customer support page — and thankfully, a fix has already been issued.

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TomTom GPS leap year bug forces users to connect to PC for fix

[Video Link] Created by Peter Serafinowicz.

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The Dalek Relaxation Tape (by Peter Serafinowicz)

Readers in Europe will soon have a new Kindle option — Amazon is taking pre-orders now for the Kindle Touch in both 3G and Wi-Fi-only variations, with a launch date of April 27th. In the UK, the Wi-Fi model will costs £109, with the 3G-capable Kindle Touch priced at £169. Germany, France, Italy, and Spain will also all carry these models for €129 (Wi-Fi-only) and €189 (3G). It sounds like it will be exactly the same hardware as we saw when we tested the Kindle Touch a few months ago , without any of the “special offers” advertising we see in the US on board

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Kindle Touch available for pre-order in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy; will be released April 27th

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. empire may have been hacking more than just phones. Lee Gibling, former owner of hacking site The House of Ill Compute or THOIC, told BBC Panorama that he was paid by News Corp.

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News Corp allegedly hacked UK pay-TV competitor out of business

The BBC’s iPlayer video-on-demand service has gone live for all Xbox 360 users in the UK, years after it came to the PlayStation 3 and Wii. The service’s launch brings a protracted negotiation battle to an end, and it appears Microsoft was on the losing side. The company reportedly wanted to keep its policy of only allowing paying Xbox Live Gold members access to content partners’ programming, which would have gone against the BBC’s public remit — the broadcaster legally can’t put shows behind a paywall for people who have already paid their TV license fee. The iPlayer is free on all other mobile devices and games consoles that it’s offered on. Now that the iPlayer is here, though, it appears that the wait brought its own benefits….

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BBC iPlayer for Xbox 360 finally launches in UK, includes Kinect support

We’d heard that the BBC was putting together a video download service that will allow it to better monetize its back catalog, and now it appears the company has confirmed the news. BBC News itself reports that the network’s director general Mark Thompson stated that the initiative was in the works during an appearance at the Royal Television Society in London. He reiterated the previously-leaked details: the service will allow users to download content from the BBC’s archives for a “relatively modest” fee, and it will not affect the free viewing window currently provided by the network’s iPlayer application. “The BBC’s archive programs — like Fawlty Towers and Doctor Who — already represent a significant commercial revenue stream in… Continue reading…

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BBC confirms ‘Project Barcelona’ video download service is in the works

The late John Peel is to have his infamously vast record collection displayed online as part of The Space, an experimental digital project supported by the BBC and the Arts Council of England. Peel was a legendary DJ for BBC Radio 1, responsible for breaking many bands to the world and renowned for his encyclopedic knowledge and eclectic taste. While copyright issues mean it’s unclear how much of his collection will be available to actually listen to online, as part of the project the BBC will be uploading the archive of Peel Sessions live recordings. Visitors to the site will be able to view Peel’s notes on his records along with the artwork from more than 25,000 vinyl LPs

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John Peel’s record collection to be digitized and displayed online

The international radio broadcasting institution that is the BBC World Service is turning 80 this year, and to celebrate it’s opening up its daily editorial news meeting to the public in a nod towards the importance social networks play in the news gathering process. At 9:00 GMT on February 29th the World Service will welcome everyone — those who’re there in person and others who follow over broadcast, online streams, Twitter (#bbcws80), Facebook, or Skype — into the newsroom to watch the debates that shape the news agenda for the day. Back in 1932 when the seminal international radio broadcast began, the idea of bringing the public into the editorial meeting would’ve seemed completely foreign, but today the reality is that social…

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BBC World Service to broadcast editorial news meeting, invites public to join in over social networks

Back in 2008, I posted about Neil Harbisson, an artist with complete color blindness who makes paintings like those above using a camera/computer system that translates colors into sounds. In an editorial he’s just written for the BBC News, he mentions that last year he “was attacked by three policemen at a demonstration who thought

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Colorblind painter’s wearable "synesthesia camera" reportedly broken by police

Britain’s Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) seizes domains in similar fashion to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But whereas American authorities’ placeholders are all businesslike neoclassicism, Britain’s look like something a phisher would email to scare you into giving up your PayPal password. The daftest part?

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Britain’s threatening and clueless domain takedown message