gHacks technology news » bbc http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:43:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Download BBC iPlayer Radio And TV Programmes http://www.ghacks.net/2009/08/29/download-bbc-iplayer-radio-and-tv-programmes/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/08/29/download-bbc-iplayer-radio-and-tv-programmes/#comments Sat, 29 Aug 2009 10:00:07 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=15663 bbc iplayerBBC iPlayer is a popular online service by the BBC that is offering BBC radio and TV programmes on the Internet. The BBC TV programs are limited to users from the United Kingdom only while the radio programs can be accessed by a worldwide audience. BBC iPlayer is in this regard like many of the other TV on the Internet services that limit the viewers based on their IP address. Users from the UK can watch the TV programmes of the past seven days on the website, download and stream HD programmes, access the iPlayer from supported mobile phones and download programmes to the computer system with the help of BBC iPlayer Desktop. BBC iPlayer Desktop is powered by Adobe Air and downloads use a digital rights system.

Users who want to download radio and TV programmes from BBC iPlayer can use the portable software program iDownload to do so. The download manager has been programmed in Java and is accessed in a web browser. The interface provides access to a content search that includes all supported BBC radio and TV programmes.

idownload

Available radio and TV shows are shown and can be marked for download by either double-clicking them or using the download button. All selected TV and radio shows are moved to the Downloads section of the web interface. Users from the United Kingdom can start to download the TV and radio shows right away while users from other countries need to find an anonymous web proxy (or VPN from the UK) to do so.

Download BBC iPlayer TV and Radio programmes can be launched directly from within the web interface. The TV programmes are downloaded as Apple Quicktime files (.mov) and the radio shows as mp3. The iDownload software to download BBC iPlayer programmes is available from the developer’s website.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/08/29/download-bbc-iplayer-radio-and-tv-programmes/feed/ 7 BBC Languages http://www.ghacks.net/2008/06/26/bbc-languages/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/06/26/bbc-languages/#comments Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:16:10 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=5113 BBC Languages is a website by the BBC that is providing language courses for several popular languages such as German, French, Spanish and Chinese. A language portal was constructed for each language that is used as the main hub for that language. From there students can get a quick fix of the selected language which is a great way to learn some phrases in the language. Especially useful if your trip starts the other day and you want to be able to speak some basic phrases at least like saying Hello, asking your way around or ordering a pizza.

Most of the content on the website is audio content which can be downloaded as mp3 files to the local computer and from there on the mp3 player so that you could learn on the trip.

You also find Grammar Tips and interactive games that test your language skills. The quality of the spoken language is excellent but the courses remain pretty basic from what I can tell. I think it’s a great way to get a first impression of a language but one has to use additional courses to fully understand a language.

I personally prefer Mango over BBC Languages.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/06/26/bbc-languages/feed/ 2 Download Media Streams from the BBC http://www.ghacks.net/2007/11/14/download-media-streams-from-the-bbc/ http://www.ghacks.net/2007/11/14/download-media-streams-from-the-bbc/#comments Wed, 14 Nov 2007 07:30:02 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2007/11/14/download-media-streams-from-the-bbc/ A long time reader of Ghacks mailed me yesterday evening asking me if I knew a way to download the multimedia streams from the BBC website. He used dialup to connect on the Internet and it was painfully to watch the streams online and far better and smoother to download them and watch them offline.

He was using Flashgot for this purpose but since the BBC changed their website he was not able to download those streams anymore. I did a quick look at the BBC World website link that he send to me and found an efficient way to download the media streams from there.

It comes down to using Grab++ and Orbit Downloader to download any of the streams mentioned on this website. It does not really matter if you go for the low, medium or high definition content all can be downloaded the same way. Please note that this method is only working for the Real Media streams and not the Windows Media Player streams.

Download Orbit Downloader and install it on your computer. Open the software and click on Tools > Grab++ in the menu to open Grab++.

Grab++ scans the system for multimedia files and will report any that it finds. Once Grab++ is running go to the BBC website and click on a Real Media stream that you would like to download. Grab++ will recognize the stream and display several files that it found. Make sure you select the right one which should be the only one with the extension .asf.

download bbc streams

Check that stream and click on download. This sends the download to Orbit Downloader where it will be downloaded as any other file.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2007/11/14/download-media-streams-from-the-bbc/feed/ 2 BBC Opens up Archives. Looking for Testers http://www.ghacks.net/2007/04/19/bbc-opens-up-archives-looking-for-testers/ http://www.ghacks.net/2007/04/19/bbc-opens-up-archives-looking-for-testers/#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2007 06:10:04 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2007/04/19/bbc-opens-up-archives-looking-for-testers/ If you are living in the United Kingdom, have a broadband Internet connection and are at least 16 years of age you can apply to become a beta tester for the BBC Archive. The BBC is looking for 20000 testers that use the system for a period of six months exploring the vast archive that will be available for download (probably mean streaming). Testers will have to take surveys from time to time to improve the service during the test.

“The pilot is part of the BBC’s plans to eventually offer more than a million hours of TV and radio from its archive. Our audience increasingly want and expect to dictate how, when and where they get our services,” he told the conference.” said BBC’s Future Media boss Ashley Highfield. He said the corporation’s end ambition was “one day enabling any viewer to access any BBC programme ever broadcast via their television”, and highlighted the need to bridge the divide between TV and content with online connections.


The test phase will make available about 1000 hours of content from various TV and radio programs. About 50 hours will be made available to the public to give everyone a sneak peak at what is to come.

I think that this is a great opportunity for everyone living in the UK to get some free TV on your computer and eventually help shape the service into a viewer friendly one. The trial will also be used to determine the line between free and paid content. If you thought everything will be available free you must have been a bit delusional.

Apply at the official BBC Archive site if you like.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2007/04/19/bbc-opens-up-archives-looking-for-testers/feed/ 0 The Best Stories of 2006 That Shouldn’t Have Happened http://www.ghacks.net/2006/12/22/the-best-stories-of-2006-that-shouldn%e2%80%99t-have-happened/ http://www.ghacks.net/2006/12/22/the-best-stories-of-2006-that-shouldn%e2%80%99t-have-happened/#comments Fri, 22 Dec 2006 10:24:06 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2006/12/22/the-best-stories-of-2006-that-shouldn%e2%80%99t-have-happened/ My friend Everton has compiled a list of the best stories of 2006 that should not have happened on his connected internet blog. If you want to read again about the guy who wanted to apply as a cleaner at the BBC but was mistaken for an Apple iTunes expert or the 15 year old Google employee then it is time to pay his excellent site a visit.

I know that this article is a little bit short but the real one is not here but at his website, go there now and enjoy the read.

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