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BBC's h2g2 Goes Mobile - Again

Posted by timothy on from the as-well-it-ought dept.

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."

17 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. 7000+ entries?! by CdXiminez · · Score: 5, Funny

    I thought the whole of planet Earth had only one entry: Mostly harmless...

    1. Re:7000+ entries?! by argent · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I thought the whole of planet Earth had only one entry: Mostly harmless...

      That's before the dolphins brought it back from the alternate universe. All of Ford's entries got re-inserted on the next update.

  2. So, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Does it have a page on how much the movie sucks?

    1. Re:So, by oprahwinfree · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Please don't start bashing the movie until it has been released to the public and we've all seen it...THEN you may start the bashing.

  3. Sorry, but no one cares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    h2g2 could have been great, but Wikipedia and e2 have it beat both in size and content quality. 7000 entries is nothing.

    1. Re:Sorry, but no one cares by Ford+Prefect · · Score: 4, Interesting

      h2g2 could have been great, but Wikipedia and e2 have it beat both in size and content quality. 7000 entries is nothing.

      So should I throw away all my reference books and keep just one encyclopaedia?

      --
      Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
    2. Re:Sorry, but no one cares by Tekgno · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Feel free to educate me but I wasn't aware Wikipedia and e2 had readily available mobile access.

    3. Re:Sorry, but no one cares by NumberGod · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Douglas would be happy.

      I think Wikipedia has grown into what Douglas had envisioned.

      A Free encyclopedia, updated by almost anyone who wants to update it.

      In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, The Hitchhiker's Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects.

      First, it is slightly cheaper; and second, it has the words DON'T PANIC inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover.

      Sounds a lot like the guide to me.

    4. Re:Sorry, but no one cares by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 3, Informative

      The link you gave is most certainly NOT a text only portal to wikipedia.

      The page you linked to is a wiki page edited to have no images inside.

      Clicking any of the links takes you to the normal wiki page which may or may not include images.

      Besides, the bloody big wikipedia logo image and other page images are still displayed.

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
    5. Re:Sorry, but no one cares by Mwongozi · · Score: 4, Informative

      That's 7000 entries specially edited for reading on mobile devices. The complete guide has lots more.

    6. Re:Sorry, but no one cares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      7000 is the number of *edited* entries - there are many more unedited entries.

      Having said that, I started out with h2g2, but much prefer Wikipedia, because collaborating on articles with h2g2 is (or at least was) difficult, while with wiki it is easy.

    7. Re:Sorry, but no one cares by ElyseMyers · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I agree, but you have to admit that h2g2 is a lot more fun. honestly, w/ all the buzz that the movie's getting -- i wouldn't be surprised if we saw a spike in membership/registered users w/in the next few weeks. is anyone actually registered w/ them??

  4. Useful for hhgg2xml by Jaffa · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Interesting. This could be useful for my own hhgg2xml converts H2G2 articles into a variety of formats, including XML and TomeRaider - which is useful for carrying it around with you on a PDA without network access.

    I'll have to look more closely at this new version to see if it can be parsed more easily.

  5. hg2g has always been mobile by dkleinsc · · Score: 4, Funny

    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 /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
  6. The original H2G2 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    I stumbled apon this the other day: incase anyone is looking for the original BBC radio show.

  7. you are wrong! Sit! Bad doggie! by KZigurs · · Score: 4, Informative

    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).

  8. May 03 New Radio HHGTTG series begins by Forget4it · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.