Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

BBC Launches APIs

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the unleash-an-avalanche-of-applications dept.

Stefan Magdalinski writes "The BBC is opening up a slew of APIs to its content and applications via a new site, backstage.bbc.co.uk, and actively encouraging users to remix, mashup, and otherwise play with their content to create new applications. Already there's a few cool featured apps, my own BBC News wikipedizing proxy, and a del.icio.us-enabled version of BBC News "Use our stuff to create your stuff" is their slogan. Could a commercial broadcaster ever take a step like this?"

5 of 249 comments (clear)

  1. wait, hold up, what? by TheHonestTruth · · Score: 5, Funny
    I'm confused... it sounds like someone is actually encouraging people to share information. I'll need to read that again. Hold on...

    -truth

    --

    I had a steady B+ in my AI class until I failed the Turing test...

  2. Where's the Monty Pythonizer? by Cr0w+T.+Trollbot · · Score: 5, Funny
    I want an API that turns any webpage into a Monty Python sketch!

    Customer: Excuse me, I would like to complain about this Windows Security Update what I downloaded just yesterday.
    Shopkeeper: Oh yes, a great Windows Update! Beautiful plummage.
    Customer: The plummage don't enter into it! The problem is that this Windows Security Update is dead.
    Shopkeeper: No, it's just resting! It will hop up any minute and dance around destroying viruses.
    Customer: This Windows Security Update would not dance around even if Linus Torvalds himself gave it CPR!

    Crow T. Trollbot

  3. Extract from the Api by Zangief · · Score: 4, Funny

    Stream getMovie(char* movieName)

    getMovie returns a stream of data, if a movie called movieName exists, null otherwise.

    Stream getAd()

    getAd must be called before every call to getMovie. Otherwise, your computer explodes.

    From time to time, a call to getMovie is forwarded to a call to getAd.

  4. Automatic slashdot stories by ganhawk · · Score: 4, Funny

    We should use the API's to generate automatic stories on slashdot.
    Ofcourse, generated stories will be rejected if it does not contain certain keywords or dupes. So I propose combining this with Slashdot random story generator

    --
    Python script to convert photos into "artsy" portraits: http://p2pbridge.sf.net/pyPortrait/
  5. Collaborative Tagging by delete · · Score: 4, Funny

    Interestingly enough, as part of the BBC's new service, they've provided a tagging system (associated with delicious).

    For example, the tags for Malcolm Glazer's takeover of Manchester United football club are currently given as:
    "utd wanker wanker asshat asshat utd beard"

    It's actually a great idea, but perhaps a little more tweaking may be in order.