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BBC Offers iPhone Version of iPlayer, Accessible to Linux Users Too

Posted by Zonk on from the so-nice-of-them dept.

smallfries writes "After a long battle with Linux users in the UK, the BBC was forced into releasing a flash version of the iPlayer streaming service to fulfill their obligations to license-fee payers. After claiming that development of Linux and Mac versions of the iPlayer would take two years, Auntie Beeb has rushed to support the iPhone. iPhone users 'can be trusted' because their platform is locked down ... so the beeb opened a non-DRM hole in the iPlayer to support them. This was guarded by the extreme security of User Agent strings! Long story short, Linux and Mac users have made their own non-DRM, non-Microsoft platform from firebug and wget. UK users can now watch (and keep) their favorite BBC shows."

2 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Nokia E65 by 2nd+Post! · · Score: 0, Troll

    The iPhone has 3x the CPU your phone does, 2x the resolution, and 4x the storage. Can your phone even play 320x480 mpeg-4 video?

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    GPL Deconstructed
  2. love you long time. by inTheLoo · · Score: 1, Troll

    If it goes like the iplayer's amazing development time, it will be here till we all retire or DRM is finally out of style. BBC, taking time to do IT wrong.

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    No calls now, I'm ...