Microsoft’s much-vaunted Xbox 360 Live TV update rolls out around the globe tomorrow. And there’s a nasty surprise in store for us Brits: BBC iPlayer will be absent from the start, with no launch planned until ‘early 2012’ according to official listings. So, what will you actually be able to watch from the get go? Read on and find out.
When the Apple TV second generation model launched last year, we berated it for a lack of UK services. In particular, BBC iPlayer was a glaring omission, given its appearance on just about every other internet TV, set top box and games console. Now, a year on from launch, it’s finally getting Auntie on-demand – but only if you have an iPad.
The BBC website is one of the most-used in Britain. Now, it’s preparing for a tablet-friendly makeover. The debate rages over on Twitter as to whether it’s a winner or not, with lots of graphics, sliding icons and finger-friendly controls, and less of the old fashioned BBC structure in place. What do you think? Fire it up on your desktop or tablet at beta.bbc.co.uk/#bbchomepage
Our favourite new feature? The analogue clock, with gloriously retro ticking second hand. Navigate away from the page for a few seconds, then head back to see it flick neatly back to the present time. It’s the little things that please us…
Twitter fans will get a kick out of this: The BBC News website just reported on a story involving Twitter and court reporting restrictions in paragraphs of exactly 140 characters. A very special Electricpig hat-tip to Connor Spackman, who undertook the feat. Read it in full at the BBC News site.
The BBC has launched a new version of the iPlayer tailored to TV screens. After unveiling the international iPlayer, Auntie has turned its attentions back to the UK with the remote-control-friendly redesign which is debuting today on the PS3. While iPlayer hit the living room via Virgin Media in 2008, the new design is the first to be specifically geared to TV screens.
Read on for the features you’ll find baked in to the new iPlayer and word from the BBC about when other devices will be able to join the PS3 in the new and improved way of doling out time-shifted telly treats…
The BBC promised an international iPlayer service this year and today it has delivered. The first global iPlayer app is available in 11 European countries today and limited to the iPad. The move is part of a one-year pilot scheme that will expand to include the US, Canada and Australia later this year.
A global iPlayer app subscription costs either €6.99 (£6.14) a month or €49.99 (£44) for a full year, around a third of the cost of an annual UK licence fee. While the app shares the same look and feel as the domestic service, the way it works and the content it includes will be different.
Read on to discover what our European cousins will get for their cash including a major feature British viewers don’t have yet…
It may not be the weather for al fresco dining at the moment, but that’s just as well, as we’ve got your lunchtime lowdown right here instead: grab a sarnie and tuck into all the latest headlines right now.
The BBC is hoping to harness an army of Android phone owners across Britain to build a map of mobile coverage. In a project running for the next month, it aims to map this country’s 3G and 2G data service using an Android app to automatically collect information on hotspots and notspots.
While mobile operators have their own coverage maps, the BBC believes the survey will be the first independent analysis of its kind. Read on for details on how you can take part in the project…