Cute... the volume controller on the iPlayer Beta goes up to 11 (might just be for beta or glastonbury tho, so here's a a screengrab)
PaulPod: June 2008 Archives
They've had a tough ride to get here, but BBC folks who have pushed for openness have turned a corner after this weekend's Mashed. Lots of things to note:
Subtitle data! Available as XML, via BBCRedux project - Article, Links
iPlayer Feeds!
All available, Expiring soon, Most recent, Most popular
And it looks like more PIP APIs are seeping out over the next few weeks.
TV commerce director: "We're very aware about not letting Apple do to TV what they did to the music biz. There's nothing there for record labels now - at the bottom end bands can publish, promote and break themselves; at the top end, established acts can take themselves out of the loop and become their own brand + label + store in one."
Yes, that does indeed sound like another media industry preparing to defend their middle-man cut as their business gets rolled into the internet.
No TV doesn't quite let you make the equivalent of a hit single in your bedroom, and it takes some cash to avoid UGC hell (although cf. Doctor Who 70s-80s for an exception) but tools march ever downwards in price, up in quality. Middle men? Who needs it.
Now this is interesting. Hulu is actively detecting and informing users of ad blocking software that their actions to customise their web experience are not welcome.
Now, the web isn't much like TV and the amount of control any member of the TV audience might have over their experience was pretty limited compared to the web. That is, until Tivo came along - and they got forced into making their 30-second ad skip button a backdoor power-user feature. Might this become the start of an online TV arms race around advertising, and more generally, control of the experience?
