I loved the latest episode of Doctor Who. What made it even better was the fantastic use of 3D. It had just enough "wow" moments to make the use of technology worthwhile - without totally overdoing it. I watched the episode live at home on my Panasonic TX-L37ET5B. After the broadcast, I wanted to watch it again. That's where the problems started. First, a quick lesson on how 3D TV broadcasts work. Generally speaking, most 3D TV is Half-Side-By-Side. That means the left and right image…
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In October, I was interviewed in Econsultancy about the BBC's new "responsive" website. I said: The BBC's mobile site is fairly responsive. If you view it on different sized phones and tablets it adapts quite well. But it is an entirely separate site from the main BBC news site. The BBC are doing device detection and redirecting mobile users. It's not a bad strategy per se - but it is not best practice Clicking on a link on the BBC's front page today, lead to this "responsive" experience. …
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Two years ago, a bunch of smart people told the BBC that its plans to build iPlayer for Android on Adobe Flash was nuts. We argued loudly, passionately, deployed logic and reason, and provided specific technical details. Naturally, we were ignored. Sure, Flash was only on a few high end devices now, but the BBC were confident that Flash would be soon be available on all Android devices and our perceived problems would evaporate. Naturally, reality decided to ignore their wishful thinking. …
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Stephen Fry has recently recorded a BBC podcast about the history of the mobile phone. It's a really great series, and I encourage you to listen to it. At one point in episode 4, Stephen sings the Nokia ringtone. So, here it is for your edification, and delight. 🔊 Stephen Fry sings the Nokia Ringtone🎤 edent 💾 Download this audio file. Feel free to set it as your iPhone's ringtone :-) All together now, "Derr-nerr-nerr-nerr Derr-nerr-nerr-nerr Derr-nerr-nerr-nerr Nerr!" …
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What happens to your social media profile when you change jobs? Recently, the BBC's Laura Kunessberg announced she was heading off to ITV. Laura Kuenssberg@ITVLauraKAs you've discovered I will become @ITVLauraK in September! Thanks for all the lovely tweets - Back in Westminster tomorrow❤️ 2💬 86🔁 013:31 - Wed 22 June 2011 Which got me wondering. Terence Eden is on Mastodon@edentWhy doesn't @bbclaurak simply rename her account to @ITVLauraK in September? Or are her followers the BBC's proper…
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It's always a delight to be interviewed by the BBC - even if it is on a subject I know very little about! As part of the Wikimedia Derby Backstage Pass a group of participants were invited around the mothballed Silk Mill Museum. You can hear the full interview on the BBC iPlayer As the iPlayer removes shows after a week, I've liberated the clip of me chatting away. Your browser does not support the audio element. Download the Derby Interview Thanks to Mark Ansell for performing the…
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One of the lovely aspects of QR codes is the variable levels of error correction built in. On even the most basic code you can obscure or deform up to 7% of the code and most readers will still decode it. This leads us in to the amusing territory of "hiding" human readable data in the code. I say "hiding" because we are hiding it from the scanner - not from the human. One of the more famous examples of this is Duncan Robertson's BBC logo. What works particularly well is the fact that the B…
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If you're outside of the UK, you will see adverts on the BBC site. This also happens on the mobile site. Here's a typical example. BBC Advert Intercontinental are a premium brand. No doubt their mobile advertising is really good. Right? First Impression Intercontinental Advert Page 1 We start off with a mobile friendly page. Almost. There are five flaws here. Large image. While visually appealing, consider that not everyone has a fast mobile Internet connection. They may also h…
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Edit! I've uploaded the clip as it's no longer available on iPlayer https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/I-am-the-Cheese-Lord.mp4 A few weeks ago, I blogged about seeing Russell Howard's Good News. I was (only slightly) gutted not to have appeared on the broadcast version of the show. Then, this morning, one of my colleagues stopped me in the lift... Hey! Saw you on TV last night talking about Dorset Blue Vinney. And so he did! You can watch the full episode for the…
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There are many reasons to love the BBC. In my opinion, one of the truly great things they do is offer free tickets to show recordings. Through the BBC tickets site and TVRecordings.com I've seen - for free - The Now Show, HIGNFY, The News Quiz, Mitchell and Webb as well as assorted TV and Radio pilots. Brilliant. An evening of watching some of the biggest names in comedy without paying a penny. The only thing they ask for is patience as they re-record all the bits which went wrong the…
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As Shakespeare said... "[Blog posts are] a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Today Ofcom published the responses it had for its consultation on plans for the BBC to encrypt its HD broadcasts. The blogosphere went nuts! DRM? Not on our watch. Boing Boing mobilised its army of commentators, the BBC published two blog posts which quickly filled up with comments, Facebook statuses were updated and all these links were retweeted until our fingers were worn to …
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There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand statistics and those who don't. ±8. Ever since I took GCSE and A-Level statistics, I've had a healthy appreciation for the way they are presented to the public. I vividly remember my grandmother shouting at the television one night. The news presenter had said "20% of people polled - that's nearly a quarter..." Before she could finish, my grandmother loudly interjected, "Nearly a quarter? It's exactly a fifth!" The way people …
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