Slashdot Mirror
BBC Launches APIs
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?"
1. Use our stuff to create your stuff
2. ???
3. Profit!!!!
Terms & Conditions:
4. The BBC may edit, amend or change the BBC Content that appears on the backstage.bbc.co.uk site at any time at its discretion. The BBC also reserves the right to modify or discontinue the backstage.bbc.co.uk site at any time.
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
So what is the possibility that we could be converging on a universal streaming client? I know Microsoft and Real would like to see their systems become the ligua franca of streaming video, but the BBC has the advantage of a huge library of content.
Will content trump market penetration?
"Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
-truth
I had a steady B+ in my AI class until I failed the Turing test...
Sure, some people may bitch about having to pay a TV licence fee, but would this kind of thing ever happen if all broadcasters were only in the game for a profit?
Jolyon
Please read my Canon EOS tech blog at http://www.everyothershot.com
Hopefully for the bbc profit = "wide distribution of knowledge", not that traditional profit = "massive bonuses for executives"
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
...that the Beeb has got it right. In the media business, the focus should be on content generation and the flexibility of form in media. Who cares about market share or sales or ratings, when you are truly focused on creating content and sparking creativity amongst the viewers/readers/listeners, etc... This is why the quality of everything the BBC produces is of the highest caliber. The closest thing we have here in the states is the poorly underfunded PBS and NPR networks. The day that the Republicans decided to rip away government funding from PBS was a dark day indeed and we're still paying for it in every sense of the word. Discovery and TLC don't even come close to what PBS used to be able to offer when it got better governement funding. Kudos to the BBC for showing the rest of the world how good it could be.
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
Could a commercial broadcaster ever take a step like this?
Not likely, but what about PBS doing something similar to what the Beeb is doing? There are other non-commecial broadcasting entities around the world which could do similar things.
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.
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/
Doesn't this violate wikipedia's trademark?
Does this mean that we will have to program in proper English with a stiff upper lip? Will we get a compiler error if we use American slang and/or spelling? As long as we don't have to program in Esperanto...
I do like the comments attached to wikiproxy stating that it underlines links because links are meant to be underlined.
It's all well and good being standing up for these sorts of things, just so long as you adhere to those standards too.
Checking out the authors' website shows an abundance of links that are not underlined. Ah, the irony.
Kicking the BBC is too easy - you really don't come across as all that revolutionary by laughing and pointing at the mistakes they make. So let's give a huge *well done* to those at the BBC who no doubt slayed the dragons and fought tooth and nail to get this out of the door.
Still, nice way to claim some easy credit in all their hard work. Way to bask in the reflected glory!
Obviously too long. It's expired, it's ceased to be...
Are they using OGG or their own codec?
(I recall stories about them developing one)
I've always found the BBC sexy. I used to think it was the accent, but I know I know it's a deeper love.
In Soviet Russia, asses suck this joke.
Be promiscuous. Looks like they're basically planning to take over the news world.
Deleted
Could a commercial broadcaster ever take a step like this?"
As one who work in a commercial news website; nope. We offer simple feeds to private non-commercial sites that wants to have out 10 latest news headlines. But other than that, it would be like handing out gold over to the competition. Besies, we want people to visit our site. Not get all the goodies on other sites.
Now, a state-run actor can do this, because their mraginal loss is approx. zero. We have a state rune broadcaster in Norway and they SUCK. I hate them with a passion, because thei charge the license fee and give us crap back. If there was an option to pay to the BBC and only get BBC programming to my TV, I'd do it in a heartbeat. NRK (the state broadcaster) has so much crap, I don't have the concistence to pay for it. So I don't have a TV.
BBC is cool. they plan to make most of their archives available for the public free. Here we have out of copyright works DRMed in Windows Media DRM and published for a fee by the film board. How retarded is that? Do you want to see a clip from your state broadcaster produced comedy show that YOU financed through license fees? Cough up 5 dollars pr 1/2 hour, scumbag, and take this Media Player DRMed file.
God, I hate them. No wonder they fail misreably in the internet sector, even while having the HUGE advantage f bein a state broadcaster.
you don't need a license if you don't watch TV. even if you have a TV but only use it for watching videos you're fine.
plus it's not just a TV license, it's for radio too.
plus if you were really an "English man" you'd probably realise that it's one word.
Mate, move to Australia and suffer the piss poor excuse they have for TV and radio here. You'd never moan again. I did, and I would willingly sell my first born to be able to access BBC content again
http://www.sydney-webcam.com
Oh do be quiet troll.
The BBC license fee is one of the best investments you'll ever make. Where else can you be ensured of an impartial independent information channel with consistently high quality output imparted through channels so diverse you probably haven't heard of half of them. I'm sure you'll be ecstatic when the entire gamut of television in the United Kingdom runs from the Celebrity Wrestling to Footballer's Wives. Personally I'd prefer to keep programs such as the Power of Nightmares and The Office while supporting high quality radio and fantastic web services. All for £10, or $20 a month.
People like you amaze me.
I had a dream, bright and carefree, but now there's doubt and gravity
It's only when I see comments on Slashdot (this shows the extent of my reading) that I come to appreciate what the BBC does and what my licence fee pays for. I have always been moaning about being forced to watch EastEnders by my wife, which is a realistic a portrayal of London as Friends is of New York.
;)
We do get a lot of American programs here and you start to think that the grass is greener. Then you actually watch an American channel and realise that most of the 40 minute program is made up of adverts. I was amazed the first time I saw an American channel. The titles started and then we went straight into an advert break. What!!. Talk about teasing you. You then watch 10 minutes of the actual program, which isn't bad, then you get the next ad break. You finally watch the last part of the program, which doesn't end with the titles but with another ad break. The titles then come after the ad break!?!
Any hoo. The BBC website is always my first port of call for news, sport etc...; after Slashdot of course
"Why take life seriously, you're not coming out of it alive anyway."
While BBC's announcement is still about offering RSS and RDF feeds, and their APIs are not yet available, their effort is in the right direction.
) .
Do you ever get the feeling that when a site finally puts up an RSS feed, they are saying 'Look, we now have a feed. Have at it folks. That's it on our end. No need to innovate further." In contrast, the BBC is not just giving out more feeds for RSS readers: they are giving components for creating applications.
I work at Serence, a company that for the last three years has been building a platform for deploying personal dashboards written in XML and JavaScript (http://www.serence.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=751
We've been thinking a lot about this question: what is next after RSS?
We think the next step beyond RSS is to create more intelligent clients, and we are trying to make it easier for people to do just that. Users want to have more control over their content. The BBC is realizing something that is counter-intuitive to many companies: give users more control over your content and it will increase adoption because each user can customize their awareness to their needs.
Wow, this may even make the BBC cool again.
Regards,... Fred
Life is NP-Complete
Crow T. Trollbot
Don't you mean Crówt, son of Trollbot, son of Thorgard, son of Geernon, son of Erik from Valdalesc, son of Arval Gristlebeard, son of Harken, who killed
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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.
Round the Horne?
Sir requires http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7. Wednesdays.