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BBC Offers iPhone Version of iPlayer, Accessible to Linux Users Too
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."
And how long will this stay?
c++;
in other news, Apple rewards the BBC by suing over their use of the 'i' prefix, on which iApple has an iMonopoly
Worst BBC News Stories
I have a Nolia E65. Can I have an iPlayer for my phone? What makes the iPhone more special than my E65 which can do more out of the box, is smaller and cheaper and isn't crippled?
Can we please stop hearing about the iPhone?
-- Cheers!
...as there are only about 400 Linux users in the UK, this hole won't get abused much.
You'd have to guess that Apple cut a deal with the BBC to corner the market right? If the BBC are actually converting to MP4 there's some pretty explicit support for Quicktime and Apple visible there, so I would imagine some cash or other considerations changed hands. That the implementation opened a door for all Linux users is pretty funny though, I can't expect that will last.
The BBC is much more than a (relatively reputable IMO) news organization -- they've produced some of the best fiction and non-fiction to ever hit the boob tube.
I understand why Apple doesn't support Flash on the iPhone: Because Flash sucks. And I say that even knowing that you love it.
Yeah, it is a great software platform for your Webkinz and your ability to deliver those super-fancy web advertisements that everyone likes. It's also a cool platform for those awesome games, like the one where if you shoot a duck you'll be a winner of a fabulous prize. And the one where you have to choose the right urinal.
For me, believe it or not, I'm not into lousy web games. I don't like three (or more) animated ads on a web page. And I don't like my CPU chugging at 100% just because a crap web site wants to deliver a singing, dancing Flash-based ad to me.
So Apple: Good for you. I agree - Flash is merely a battery killer; a misused web technology that is much more often used for junk than for quality content. On a small-screen platform it would be unbearable. Adobe needs to address these issues before Flash gets ported to the iPhone.
I turned off Flash long ago - I'm surprised more people haven't done so.
Seriously, was there no other source for this news than one which has the headline:
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
That's absolutely retarded. Apple paid off the BBC because they are using MP4? That's not an Apple format, it's a freaking standard! It's supported everywhere, not just in Quicktime.
... and then they built the supercollider.
It's actually easier to do in konq than firefox, put the user agent string in ~/.kde/share/config/kio_httprc against bbc.co.uk and it asks you what to do with the file when you click play.
I'm off to download a weeks worth of In The Night Garden....
As a UK TV license payer I find it entirely unacceptable that the BBC is using our money to further Apple's profits over other companies by releasing only for their mobile handset. We do not pay the BBC to further Apple and Microsoft's profits, whilst I applaud their attempts at getting the content accessible for Linux users it's a half-assed measure at best.
Whilst the iPhone is popular in the US, it's not that popular here in the UK and as such there is not even the excuse that it's got a large majority of the market segment.
The BBC seems too easily influenced by large corporations and frankly, something needs to be done about it because they are accountable to us - the British citizens that pay the license equally and as such we should be treated equally in how we can access our content. If this is not to be the case, we should have the choice of using our TVs but not watching the BBC and hence opt out of the TV license.
the BBC hasn't been a reputable news source to any honest observer for years now ... Of course, the general attitudes and biases of the News org tends to generally filter out to the rest of the organization as well.
A biased comment from a person complaining of a perceived bias in another. LOL.
I do wish all you bias whiners would get a grip and move on to something more productive. It's gotten old and uninteresting, and less funny than a Slashdot meme. Moreover, it suggests that you put whatever critical thinking skill you have in the services of evangelising a knee-jerk political rant, rather than taking the information provided to you in a newspaper, a radio or television broadcast and putting it real use.
As far as news organisations go, I'd put the BBC near the top of the list (where most others in the developed and undeveloped world would put it). For me, it stands right beside papers like The New York Times. Hell, I'd even include NPR and The Wall Street Journal on the same list without batting an eye. I also read the editorials and letters, especially from people whose opinions differ from mine. I'd like to think that it's the issues themselves that are most important, and understanding different perspectives on them is an integral part of making sense of them.
Bias? Maybe. Maybe not. All humans have them, and we're all human. In the end, it's up to the individual to decide what the appropriate action (or in your case, reaction) should be. Here's a tip: there has never been a "story" told, or could be told, in its entirety. Cut some slack to someone trying to present a part of it, especially someone of the caliber of the BBC.
If anyone wants a rough idea of the reliability of that site, they only need to compare its page on the BBC to the one on Fox: http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=4&x_outlet=15. Can't say I was surprised
Anybody using other phones in the UK have paid (in a compulsory fashion mind you) the BBC license fee.
The BBC can't you say "we will support the cool phone, the rest be damned", specially when this phone is not even the market leader!
Somebody in the BBC needs to be called to task. The role of the BBC should be to ensure *all* license payers can access their services, this is best achieved by using open standards.
The BBC playing to the fiddle of MS, Apple or any other company in detriment of the people that actually pays their wages is completely unacceptable.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
um, I know you're trolling, but of course the number of iPhone users will vastly exceed the number of Linux users in their web statistics...
That's the point of the article!
I know it's short on details, but as I understand it, Linux (or other) users will be able to pull DRM-free content by telling their browser to identify itself as an iPhone.
So the real irony might be that if enough people want the content free of DRM, their web logs may eventually show a huge number of 'iPhone users'.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7293988.stm
So, according to bbc news, they have stopped it working.
It works fine still on the iPod..
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