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BBC's h2g2 Goes Mobile - Again
zaktheduck writes "According to a recent press release, in anticipation of the new movie and the h2g2 website's sixth birthday, the BBC have relaunched the long-shelved h2g2 Mobile service. The new version of the popular community website allows access to the 7000+ and growing edited guide entries from PDAs, and smartphones. H2g2 had a WAP service back in 2001, aptly named "h2g2 on the Move", but was cancelled when the company faced financial trouble and was purchased by the BBC. Here's a copy of the old promotion page for the service."
I thought the whole of planet Earth had only one entry: Mostly harmless...
Does it have a page on how much the movie sucks?
h2g2 could have been great, but Wikipedia and e2 have it beat both in size and content quality. 7000 entries is nothing.
I'll have to look more closely at this new version to see if it can be parsed more easily.
If the Hitchhiker's Guide wasn't mobile, it wouldn't be much use to a hitchhiker, now would it?
I am officially gone from
Eventually there will be an affordable, portable, wireless device that will allow instantaneous access to local and remote information of the choice of the user, basically a universal reference ebook reader, with several means of input. This is inevitable since such an item would be the ultimate knowledge tool. Cell phone tools, wireless laptops, tablet pcs, pdas, and data watches are all technological stepping stones to an actual, useful, guide to the universe.
I stumbled apon this the other day: incase anyone is looking for the original BBC radio show.
You forgot Vogon takeovers (Brittanica?) and rather violent editors in the office, not to mention executive personel.
And as for comparision with Wikipedia - HHg2g was based on secretaries and legal departament drones, so, of course, the rather colourfull and occasionally politically incorrect (i.e. claiming that Republicans are a political party, while, in fact, everyone knows that they are just Voldemort bystanders) and potentially insulting entries couldn't be possible there.
For example - take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth and say how it compares with "Harmless."
Ha, Punk? So, ya thing Douglas would like it, ya? Bullshit!
Those commies...
The actual entry presented was "Harmless.". "Mostly " was added in the version Ford presented to Arthur, but I really don't recall that it actually made it into updated guide (that shrilly bird, ya know).
Perhaps. But if I don't have roaming compliant operator in the planet where I am, how can I use the H2G2 with my i-mode device ? I think you meant "compact" instead of "mobile", don't I ?
(Sorry my bad French) Je fais parler les Guignols de l'Info. Le pied, quoi.
Final Hitch
Radio 4 to broadcast final Hitchhiker's series.
The eight-part series, produced by Above the Title, will be broadcast from Tuesday 3rd May at 6.30pm.
Following on from last year's radio smash hit, Life, the Universe and Everything, the original cast - Simon Jones, Geoffrey McGivern, Stephen Moore, Mark Wing-Davey and Susan Sheridan - were again reunited to record the series alongside William Franklyn as the Voice of the Book.
Several actors connected with the Hitchhiker's Guide from its other incarnations, both on stage and television, take lead and supporting roles, including Bill Paterson, Sandra Dickinson, Jonathan Pryce, Rula Lenska and David Dixon. Supporting stars include Jane Horrocks, Jackie Mason, June Whitfield, Stephen Fry, Arthur Smith, Saeed Jaffrey, Miriam Margolyes and a surprise Hollywood star guest appearance
Artificial intelligence is the study of how to make real computers act like the ones in the movies.
I know there would have been copyright issues, but I was always surprised no one put together a complete guide recreation - using the entries from the radio shows, tv show, books and computer game - for the Palm or PocketPC platforms. It's really not very many entries, and it would be a cute little novelty application.
Those copyright issues would likely come more into play with the movie coming out, though. The interested parties have more of a stake in protecting their material now that it's going super-mainstream.
Wikitravel is probably closer to The HHGG than Wikipedia, as it's supposed to contain useful stuff about travelling. It's even got a Hitchhiking page! Quote from that page: "Always stay happy - even if people react nastily." On the Mobile access thing: Most of the world doesn't have mobile phone masts... And where will you recharge your phone in Eastern Siberia? At the moment nothing beats a good paper guide book for most of the world (especially if you need to start a camp fire).
With the new breed of VGA PDAs, do we not already have THGTTG in our pockets?
Surfing in true VGA mode on the 4700 means you can look at things like wikipedia on the move anyway as long as you have access to a local wireless LAN and/or a bluetooth phone.
There are ways in which PDAs and the 4700 suck. However in my experience one thing that VGA on the 4700 *does* offer is genuine desktop-like anywhere internet reference.
and subscribers get a free towel.
GET FREE APPLE STUFF!
Is Wikipedia mobile like this? If so does anyone have a link? If so, then we'll have our "Encyclopedia Galactica" and our "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" for real!
I liked this project better when it was called wikipedia
"Arthur doesn't know" by Zaphod and Trillian is my favorite ringtone.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
Adams adapted already existing models of books with poorly-paid stringers to the HHG2G. He didn't invent it. Adams himself mentioned the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to Europe as his inspiration.
Unlike Wikipedia, the HHG was edited by professionals. The lowest-level of professional, to be sure, but people who were paid at least slightly for doing it. And it was edited (poorly) before it was published.
On a more practical note, the HHG seemed to have more specific info than Wikipedia, probably because the HHG is more geared toward travel. It's the difference between looking up the Louvre in an encyclopedia and Fodor's.
The Hitchhiker's Guide Project is more purely an "encyclopedia" modeled on Adams' Guide. And a lot more in need of contributions, without BBC (or Ursa Minor) sponsorship.
--
make install -not war
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
The complete, online version of h2g2 has about 7000 edited entries. Edited does *not* mean the entries were edited for mobile reading, but they were reviewed by the community and (possibly after many changes, this process is called Peer Review) approved as complete and readable.
Those entries constitute the "Edited Guide", where you can expect the entries to be well-written and researched. There are a few hundred thousand other entries in the complete guide, and some of them are very good, too, but most of the time they contain personal opinions, are completely fictional or have simply not been discovered by the h2g2 Scouts.
-- an h2g2 Researcher