Bbc

A Rarely Unobstructed View of a Solar Eclipse [Space] —

From the new BBC program Wonders of The Solar System, this clip of a solar eclipse over Varanasi is something you really must watch. The view sure beats staring through a pinhole reflection in a cardboard box. [BBC]

Lovefilm Samsung TV streaming: first look! —

We knew Lovefilm online movie streaming was headed to web connected Samsung TVs, but we’ve just got a very first sneak peek at what to expect – and when. Read on for the preview pics!

We couldn’t actually see Lovefilm streaming via the Samsung Internet@TV widget working but we got the next best thing and grabbed a few shots of a demo video showing what the Lovefilm Samsung UI will look like. As you can see, it’s a world away from the Lovefilm Watch Now online service for desktop browsers, with a coverflow like scrolling option, the ability to search by title or actor/director.

Typing the name of a film looks like it will still be a struggle, but the grid for letter selection on the Lovefilm Samsung Internet@TV app is small, and could well be easier to navigate than something like the horrific PS3 on screen keyboard.

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Read our Lovefilm iPhone app review now

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The Lovefilm Samsung Internet@TV service should arrive in April – we’re chasing for the video, more pictures and a proper preview so stay tuned: our Netflix streaming rival has arrived.

Out April | £TBC | Lovefilm and Samsung

Related posts:

1. Samsung Internet@TV adds BBC iPlayer and LOVEFiLM streaming
2. LOVEFiLM TV streaming: more details incoming!
3. Lovefilm iPhone app review

The BBC and linking part 1: users are not an audience —

Ben Goldacre is experiencing understandable frustration with the BBC’s policy on linking to science papers:

Jane Ashley of the website’s health team, says that when they write an article based on scientific research:

“It is our policy to link to the journal rather than the article itself.  This is because sometimes links to articles don’t work or change, and sometimes the journals need people to register or pay.”

In email correspondence defending their policy, Richard Warry, Assistant editor,  Specialist journalism, adds:

“Many papers are available on the web via subscription only, while others give only an Abstract summary. In these instances, the vast majority of our readers would not be able to read the full papers, without paying for access, even if we provided the relevant link.”

This just doesn’t stand up. Here’s why:

• An abstract alone is actually very useful in providing more context than a journal homepage provides
• It also provides useful text that can be used to either find another version of the paper (for example on the author’s or a conference website),
• It provides extra details on the authors, giving you more insight into the research’s reliability and also an avenue should you want to approach them to get hold of the paper.
• Even for the ‘vast majority’ who cannot pay for access to the paper, they will still be taken to the journal homepage anyway.
• Believing that the time spent pasting one link rather than another is better spent on providing “authoritative, accurate and attractive reportage” is a false economy. Authoritative, accurate and attractive coverage relies at least in part in allowing users to point out issues with scientific research or its reporting.
• Catering for a ‘vast majority’ belies a broadcast media mindset that treats users as passive consumers. The minority of users who can access those papers can actually be key contributors to a collaborative journalism process. If you let them.

Linking – and deep linking in particular – are basic elements of online journalism. Why can news organisations still not get this right? More on this to come…

Worldwide poll: 4 of 5 call Internet access a basic human right — A study by BBC World service found that four-fifths of adults around the world believe that Internet access is a fundamental human right.

Solar eclipse —

Feel free to stare directly at this great footage of last summer's solar eclipse, taken in Varanasi, India, as part of the BBC's Wonders of the Solar System series.

I've seen photos and video of solar eclipses before, but it's always just a little breathtaking to watch the moon slip in front of the sun. As physicist Brian Cox says in the video, it's quite the reminder of the fact that we're floating in space.

Sony announces 3D Blu-ray players —

Sony have just announced details on their new BDP-S470 and BDP-S570 Blu-ray players – the company’s first commercially available 3D players.

The entry-level BDP-S470 will be upgradeable to 3D Blu-ray via a software update, however the BDP-S570 will come 3D-ready, straight out of the box.

All you need to do is connect either up to a 3D TV and they’ll deliver full 1080p 3D viewing using Sony’s Active Shutter technology.

Each device can also hook up to the web to access the new Bravia Internet Video service, which features catch-up TV, including the BBC iPlayer. There’s also the ability to stream rented movies via LOVEFiLM – a feature also coming to some Sony Bravia TVs – and the players can access YouTube to boot.

The BDP-S570 also comes with Wi-Fi, while the BDP-S470 uses an ethernet connection, but it can be upgraded to wireless using a Sony USB Wi-Fi dongle.   Plus, a bonus feature of these players is that they can both be controlled by using an iPhone or iPod touch!

Both players will be available from the end of March, but Sony haven’t divulged on price … [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear, News

Tagged: 3D, Sony

Sony announces 3D Blu-ray players originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 9, 2010 at 10:30 am.

BBC licence fee to increase by 2% —

The cost of a colour TV licence is to rise to £145.50 as part of an ongoing six-year deal between the BBC and the government

The cost of the annual BBC colour TV licence fee will increase by 2% to £145.50 per household from 1 April.

Next month's licence fee increase was brought into effect by an order laid before the House of Commons today, which will also see the cost of a black and white TV licence increase by £1 to £49.

This is the fourth year of a six-year licence fee deal between the BBC and the government, which runs to the end of March 2013.

The future of the annual licence fee increase is more uncertain than at any time in the BBC's almost 90-year history, with both Labour and the Conservatives talking about the corporation potentially having to get by with less money.

Last year the Tories took the unusual step of forcing a Commons vote on the annual licence fee increase, arguing that it should be frozen at £139.50.

However, this move was defeated by 334 votes to 156 with the backing of Labour and Lib Dem MPs.

The current six-year licence fee deal, negotiated in 2006, allowed for a 3% annual increase for the first three years, then two years with a 2% boost. The level of the licence fee for the final year, up to the end of March 2013, has yet to be set.

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Is the Web a Fundamental Right? —

Reuters is reporting that a BBC survey reveals that four out of five respondents believe the web is a fundamental right and not just a privilege. 78% of 27,000 respondents in 26 countries said that the web gave them greater freedom. Intriguingly 65 percent were concerned about expressing themselves freely on line. Over half of the respondents felt the Internet should not be regulated in any way.

No matter how you look at this, it shows just how much the web has become a part of our daily lives. So how do you feel about this? Is accessing the web a fundamental right, or is it a privilege?

Freeview HD: 50% of Britain will get World Cup in HD —

Freeview HD boss Ilse Howling has predicted that 50% of all UK homes will be able to watch this summer’s FIFA World Cup in HD when it kicks off in June. Are you gagging to see John Terry in frighteningly sharp detail with Freeview HD?

At the DTG Summit, Howling predicted that not only will half of UK viewers be able to watch the World Cup in HD if they want to but that 90% will have access to Freeview HD by the 2012 London Olympics (also set to be in BBC 3D).

Howling was also very confident about Freeview HD success. She said: “14 of the 15 most watched channels are on Freeview…it took Sky six years to achieve what Freeview has done in two or three.”

Howling claims Freeview is now the main TV receiving device in 10 million homes with 18 million Freeview boxes sold so far.

According to research quoted by Howling, a quarter of homes with Freeview have already expressed an interest in upgrading to Freeview HD.

The amount of interest in Freeview HD is good news for the service which just lost out on Film 4 HD which has gone to Virgin Media.

If you’re thinking about getting Freeview HD in time for the World cup, make you sure you check out our Humax HD Fox T2 Freeview HD box review and the Toshiba HDR5010 Freeview HD recorder.

Out now | £varies | Freeview (via Broadcast Now)

Related posts:

1. picoStick: world’s smallest Freeview tuner
2. Don’t forget: Retune your Freeview box this Wednesday
3. Freeview HD goes live

Lunchtime Lowdown: Steam for Mac, HTC Supersonic and iPad secrets revealed —

Wondering what’s hot in the gadget world right now? We’ve got a round up of all the latest headlines to fill your tum and answer that burning question at the same time, so read on for them all in the lunchtime lowdown!

First up, in mobile, LG finally gave up the goods on its new touchscreen LG Cookie Fresh GS290 phone, while we spied the 4G Android HTC Supersonic on video.

Over in Apple news meanwhile, we got word of the secrets inside iPad app development and what coders need to do to get their babies on iTunes, while the rival HP slate was shown on video, running Flash.

Finally, in gaming, Steam for Mac finally became official, and Portal 2 will be one of the new games arriving for OS X.

Still need more news? You know the place to go: the homepage, stat.

Related posts:

1. iPad, iPhone developer contract secrets revealed
2. Lunchtime Lowdown: BBC iPlayer boxes galore, new Pure radios and Google Chrome Mac secrets
3. Lunchtime Lowdown: Apple iPad fall out, MSI’s tablet rival and Sky 3D

Most Believe Web Is a Fundamental Right, Not a Privilege — Americans might be on the fence about whether or not health care is a right or a privilege, but they seem to be in agreement with the vast majority of the world's population when it comes to the question of Internet access being a fundamental right. An international survey, conducted by the BBC World Service, found that 79-percent of respondents thought that having access to the Web was a basic right.

In addition, more than half of the 27,000 respondents, who were polled in 26 countries, agreed that the Internet should not be subject to any government regulation. From country to country, opinions did differ, though, when it came to the most valued aspect of the Net and the biggest concerns regarding it. Overwhelmingly, the biggest concern in China was censorship, while other nations were more concerned with fraud, offensive content and invasions of privacy. Disturbingly, 84-percent of respondents from Japan were not confident in their ability to "cope" without access to the Internet. Dig in deep with the BBC's findings in this PDF. [From: BBC, Via: Reuters]

Filed under: Web

Most Believe Web Is a Fundamental Right, Not a Privilege originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google prepping search for TV? —

Google is testing its search algorithms for television, it has been revealed, with the trial of a new service in association with the Dish Network

The trial uses a Google search engine inside a set-top box, which helps users to find show on the web.

According to the WSJ, testing has taken place since last year and has been limited to people within Google.

Although unknown in the UK, the Dish Network has 14 million subscribers in the US. It hasn't commented on the trials and neither has Google but set-top box search would certainly be a viable option for Google – considering a similar technology has been employed in new TiVo boxes in the US.

Internet on the big screen

Web-enabled set-top boxes and TVs are becoming more and more present in homes and it with Project Canvas in the UK set to bring IPTV to the masses, some sort of organised search for programmes via a set-top box, which broaches satellite, terrestrial and internet would be more than welcomed.

You only have to look at the primitive search options of Sky's HD boxes to know that this is one are that could be greatly enhanced.

Couple this with Google's close ties with YouTube – which already houses a number of TV shows – and the potential for decent programme search is definitely there.

79 percent of adults believe web access is a 'fundamental right' — The BBC World Service has conducted a poll of more than 27,000 adults across 26 countries to answer one primary question: is internet access a fundamental human right? We can skip right past Finland and Estonia who've already made laws to that effect, and take a look at what the other nations thought. Mexico, Korea and Brazil lead the way here with all having greater than 90 percent agreement, while Pakistan, India and Kenya -- countries with a slightly different perception of what fundamental needs are -- offer the least support, though they're all still above 50 percent in agreement. Other interesting stats include the claim by 85 percent of Japanese internet users and 81 percent in Mexico that they would not be able to "cope without the internet," while 55 percent of Brits and most other European nations believe that the internet should be regulated by governments in at least some way. Ghana and Nigeria are most worried about fraud (ha!), while people in the Philippines see explicit content as the web's biggest threat. Hit the source for more such pearls of wisdom and do let us know what you think in the comments below.

79 percent of adults believe web access is a 'fundamental right' originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Global majority say internet is 'fundamental right' —

A poll by the BBC World Service showed that four out of five adults in 26 countries believe the internet is a right and should never be regulated

Internet access should be a right, says majority —

The majority of users around the world consider access to the Internet to be a right, according to a recent survey conducted for the BBC. The poll of 27,000 adults across 26 countries who use the Internet found that 87 percent felt Internet access should be "the fundamental right of all people." Interestingly, 53 percent of Internet users agreed that "the Internet should never be regulated by any level of government anywhere." You can download the entire report here (pdf). Article

RSS feeds, advertising and selling attention —

Media organisations who only offer partial RSS feeds might be interested to look at a couple of posts from 2 websites with different experiences of monetising their feeds. First, Jason Snell of MacWorld:

“RSS doesn’t generate revenue directly. There are ads in RSS, sure, but they’re cheap and lousy and don’t have remotely the return as ads on web pages.”

Then, John Gruber of Daring Fireball (cached here if you find it as slow as I do):

“The ads in most sponsored RSS feeds are indeed cheap and lousy. The ads in DF’s [Daring Fireball's] RSS feed are neither. They’re priced at a premium, and have attracted (if I do say so myself) premium sponsors.

“If you’ve got a model where revenue is tied only to web page views, switching to full-content RSS feeds will hurt, at least in the short term. The problem, I say, isn’t with full-content RSS feeds, but rather with a business model that hinges solely on web page views. The precious commodity that we, as publishers, have to offer advertisers is the attention of our readers. Web page views are a terribly inaccurate, if not outright misleading, metric for attention. Subscribers to a full-content RSS feed are among the readers paying the most attention, but generate among the least web page views.”

Snell’s response: “What works for [Gruber's one-man] kind of site doesn’t necessarily work for our kind.”

It’s also worth noting the tertiary benefits of full RSS feeds. Offering full RSS feeds makes it more likely a developer is going to create something useful out of it (expensive development time for free), bringing more readers and attention to your advertising or, in the case of the BBC (which may have licensing issues holding it back), fulfilling its public service remit.

Do you or your organisation do anything interesting with your RSS feeds? Are they full or partial? I’d love to know.

(Note, OJB uses the <more> tag to to ensure the homepage isn’t dominated by a single post. Unfortunately, this results in partial RSS feeds. Some day I’ll sort this.)

Watch the internet spread throughout the world, see how Google's suggestions guess what you're thinking, and learn why one web content editor believes ad blocking is a pretty bad idea for keeping quality content alive.

• Mapping the growth of the internet
  Really intriguing graphic that shows the world as it catches onto the web, accompanied by neat infographic explaining the mechanics. [BBC News]
• Exploring Google Suggest
  See how Google branches out its auto-completing suggestions, and learn whole lot more about humanity's searches, at WhatDoYouSuggest.net. [Google Operating System]
• Apple's New Stance On ‘Cookie Cutter' Apps: Add More Features Or Perish
  The App Store is littered with apps that do nothing more than re-publish an RSS feed or recreate a webapp—but not for long. [TechCrunch]
• Statistics for a changing world: Google Public Data Explorer in Labs
  Google takes all the public records they've scanned—employment data, statistics, Census data, and more—and puts it all in one place, with lots of tools for visualizing it. [Official Google Blog]
• Why Ad Blocking is devastating to the sites you love
  Ars Technica's editor in chief lays out his thoughtful, considered case against ad blocking software and browser plug-ins. [Ars Technica]
• Google Buzz, Latitude May Be Integrated, Google Says
  Which makes good sense, really, since Buzz has a much greater shot at success than Latitude, but lacks its more useful geo-location features. [eWeek]

The BBC has released a remarkable film about the killing of three international peace activists by the Israeli army in the occupied Gaza Strip. Documentary evidence provided in the film strongly suggests that the American Rachel Corrie - and two British a —

Internet Access: 79% Say It’s a Right —

A recent survey conducted by the BBC (pdf) found that the vast majority of users around the world consider access to the Internet to be a right. The speed at which Internet access has gone from a privilege, to a luxury, and now to a right is a testament to how transformative it has been.

Across all 26 countries, 79 percent of Internet and non-Internet users said that they felt that Internet access should be “the fundamental right of all people.” When isolated for people who already use the Internet, that number went up to 87 percent.

Almost universally (90 percent), respondents said that the Internet was a good place to learn and almost 80 percent said the Internet brought them greater freedom.

One of the top concerns was the ability to express opinions online safely—overall, respondents were split almost evenly over this issue, and users in South Korea, Germany, France, and Japan held the strongest beliefs that they could not safely express opinions while surfing. Other major areas of concern were fraud (leading at 32 percent) as well as violent or explicit content (27 percent) and threats to privacy (20 percent).

Vast Majority Feel Internet Access is a Right — A survey conducted by the BBC finds that 80 percent of users around the world feel that Internet access is a right, not a privilege.