For months you guys have been scraping pages to get unique IDs to compare with iplayer ids, and generally its been too painful for some. However thats about to go away with the iplayer 2.0. Anthony Rose has a complete in-depth review on the internet blog but the bit your most interested in is this...
One thing conspicuously missing from the current iPlayer site is the provision of RSS feeds. For those who want to consume our content via their RSS reader, or who want to create mashups of the iPlayer site - good news - every page has an RSS feed.
You can even subscribe to a feed of an arbitrary search query, allowing you to use third party feed readers to alert you when your favourite programmes arrive
Infused news was created as part of an Internet Computing degree at the University of Hull, Scarborough Campus named "An investigation into the need for user-submitted, multimedia content when delivering news". The aim was to integrate user-submitted, multimedia elements into existing news stories and evaluate whether or not this augmented version of the news not only makes the story more compelling, action provoking and understandable for the user, but to investigate whether the use of multiple sources gives the news story a more balanced, honest and up-to-date view of the news story.
The application takes an rss feed of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ data provided at https://dev.barnesdmd.co.uk/ff/?ffid=2. Keywords are extracted using the Yahoo Term extractor and these are used to retrive data from YouTube and Flickr, the phpFlickr classes were used to acheive this (https://phpflickr.com/).
The mix of media (Imagery, Sound and Video) often enhanced the story being presented. The keywords used often return media isn't relevant due to keywords not being given enough context, or media being tagged incorrectly. If more time or the funding was made available I would look further into utilising Ambient Interface technology so that the application could deliver the information in an engaing way.
³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News Algorithmic Sorter an attempt to try and work out what the British public are finding important. The main ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News website offers a glimpse of what’s popular, but as with all things that’s limited to the audience of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳. While this gives a somewhat true to form view of what people are interested in, I wanted to expand it, and thus came up with the BNAS site. The main site isn’t that impressive as the main focus was on the backend.
The script uses several external APIs from blogging communities, search engines and social networking sites to work out what people are talking about. Then using the last 50 Data from the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ it compiles a list in order of the interest the British public has on the subject. At the time of writing this Lock keepers' cottage sale halted is the least interesting story, and Oil price up despite Saudi pledge the most. It’s not 100%, and sometimes odd results show. The system works like a automated Digg.com.
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That's it, another year, another massive event at Alexandra Palace. I spent yesterday mainly sleeping, one and half hours sleep is not conducive to maximum brain power - and may explain why I genuinely jumped out of my skin when the explosion (which I had organised) went off just three feet behind me during the presentations.
It's fair to say that I'm really happy with the way things went - I have some thoughts about how we can make it better next year - but by a long way the feedback we've been getting is extremely positive. The Guardian spent all weekend there, and blogged like crazy over at , Ewan Spence wrote a nice piece about it over at and the guys went video crazy.
Alan Connor from the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Internet blog has put together a - well worth a look. The photos are all over on flickr - - just over 1000 at last count
The thing that's made it worthwhile for me though is the quality of the hacks that were presented on the Sunday afternoon - we had just under 50 in total - and I can honestly say there wasn't one I thought was a bit lame, and I know the judges felt the same.
The winners this year:
- O'Reilly - Team Bob - Subterranean Homesick News
- Multimap - Twitter on TV
- Lonely Planet - Michael Stillwell - Fire Eagle and the Lonely Planet API
- Guardian - CurrentCostLive - Creating a competition out of home user electiricyt usage
- Channel 4 - Scripting Enabled - Easy ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Audio Search and Slideshare
- Microsoft - Northenders - bablefish + voice synth freeview
- Overall ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Best Hack award went to Northenders, bablfish hack
- ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Best Effort award went to Social Flight Simulator
I was also going to list all the entries - but Mr Bobbie Johnson has done a much better job than me - so go read them
Whilst I remember we had some lost property handed in.... if it's yours, drop me a note and I'll get it returned.
- Green bag/satchel with badges - clothes and a pink pencil case inside
- Black jacket with a red and black Algarve wallet inside
- Black Vango: Exodus 100 Lite L sleeping bag
Finally, thank you, if you came along and built something cool, if you came along and helped us lug bean bags around and build stages, if you came along, ate the free ice-cream and then gave away a prize - without all of you working together we could never have done this. I feel we're on the edge of something special here, and if we can start to bring together the astoundingly amazing people in the UK and across Europe, we'll leave the rest of the world astounded by the coolness of what we do.
The final list of speakers is now live over on the backnetwork
Some amazing people, from the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ (of course), NASA (yes, the people who put a man on the moon), Yahoo!, Lonely Planet, Microsoft, and The Guardian.
Talking about Robots, Social responsibility on the web, Hacking live TV, building your own iPlayer and nanotechnology.
I've just put the final batch of tickets live - so if you're not already signed up - .
Fantastic competition this is.
If you've ever fancied yourself as the next creator of a Dalek - this is the place to start. The cool people at ARM are going to be at Mashed, and as you'll have seen from the last post, there'll be loads of electronic gear on hand - so what's stopping you actually building a full size, fully working, Mashed Monster?
Here's the comp' - before next Wednesday (18th - midnight) email me - matthew.cashmore@bbc.co.uk - your idea for the next ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Sci-Fi Monster that you could build over 24 hours actually at Alexandra Palace - and then present for the audience on the Sunday. We'll choose two ideas and fund (up to £500) you to build them.
That's it - we'll pay you to build a full size, fully working sci-fi monster to present at Mashed.
How cool is that?
We're going to fund two monsters and we'll ask the audience to vote on which is best at Mashed itself - no prize there - it's just for the fun of it - and the glory of course!
We'll be looking for ultimate killing potential, how well it can deal with stairs, and how scary the over-all effect is. Extra credit for not breaking copyright on existing monsters and not mentioning Dr Who at all.
The legal bit.....
Competition Terms & Conditions
- You will receive the money after the Mashed event.
- You must provide receipts in order to claim the money.
- The competition closes on Wednesday 18th June, no entries will be accepted after midnight 18th June.
- ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Staff are not able to enter the competition
- Only entries received via email to matthew.cashmore@bbc.co.uk will be considered.
- Entrants must be UK residents.
- The minimum age to enter is 18.
- The winners will be chosen based on the decision of the Judging panel.
- Prize winners must present their monsters on stage at Mashed 2008 during the presentations
- Prize winners must attend Mashed 2008 to build their monsters
- The Promoter's decision is final in every situation, including any not covered above, and no correspondence will be entered into.
- The Promoter reserves the right, in the event of circumstances arising outside of its control which in its opinion makes it necessary, to cancel or change the competition at any stage.
- Entrants will be deemed to have accepted these rules and to agree to be bound by them when entering this competition. This agreement is covered by the laws of England and Wales.
Last year quite a few people asked for some electronic stuff to play with - so as well as ARM coming along with some cool gear we're also making a bunch of kit available for you to mess with / borrow as you need.
I thought it may be helpful to let you know what that stuff was before you came... so here's the list
- 2 Soldering,station,WTCP50
- 1 Solder,colophony free,95.5% tin,3.8% silver,0.7% copper alloy,96SC,0.5mm,250g
- 2 kinetic,strippers,10-18 AWG,solid
- 10 Eye protection,spectacles,safety,coverspec Eye protections,clear
- 6 BREADBOARD WITH 70 PIECE WIRE KIT
- 6 BREADBOARD, SOLDERLESS
- 12 PCB,Matrix Board,breadboard,SRBP,104x65x1.6mm
- 6 PCB,Matrix Board,breadboard,SRBP,149x114x1.6mm
- 5 IC,transceiver,bus,serial,RS-232,MAX202ECSE+
- 5 IC,Sensor,Hall Effect,proportional output,SS495A1
- 20 Battery,connector,clip,press stud,twin,min,PP3
- 3 AWD,piezo,buzzer,leads,1.5-20V
- 15 IC,op amp,dual,1MHz,low-power,DIP8,LM358N/NOPB
- 8 IC,regulator,voltage,linear,fixed,3.3V,2%,1500mA,LDO,TO220,LM1086CT-3.3/NOPB
- 8 IC,regulator,voltage,linear,fixed,5V,4%,1000mA,TO220,MC7805CT 2.461 Kit,resistor,0.33W,CCR-02
- 1 Magnet,disc,14mm
- 2 Tool,handheld,stripboard,Veroboard,PCB track cutter
- 4 Switch,keypad,EAO,16 key,hex
- 1 Wire,equipment,BS4808 pt2,7/0.2mm,100m,PVC sheath,red/black
- 10 Switch,micro,sub min,SPCO,commercial,roller lever
- 1 Wire,equipment,BS4808 pt2,7/0.2mm,100m,PVC sheath,white/black
- 1 Wire,equipment,BS4808 pt2,7/0.2mm,100m,PVC sheath,yellow/black
- 1 Wire,equipment,BS4808 pt2,7/0.2mm,100m,PVC sheath,pink/black
- 5 Connector,rectangular,multipole,D,straight,tin,plug,9 way
As you would imagine, a mere two weeks before Mashed everything is getting a little crazy around here!
What I can say so far is that the speakers on the Saturday morning are looking fantastic -
- Andy Smith - iPlayer
- Nick Gallon - how to hack the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s TV services
- Audio & Music Interactive - /programmes
- Robotics with Microsoft
There are nine talks in total and I'll release more details as the speakers confirm - there's one very special talk we're just sorting flights out for now - so fingers crossed.
Buses - filling up fast - there's only about 10 seats left on each coach now - although the Newcastle and Sheffield bus is filling up the slowest.... come on guys! I'll announce details on times and locations for pick up as soon as they're confirmed by the bus company - but suffice to say - it'll be EARLY and from the centre of each location.
I'm hoping to send out the first 400 invites for the backnetwork site later today / first thing tomorrow - that site contains all the information you need on everything to do with Mashed - from the speaker list to details of how to get there.
Remember - if you're blogging about mashed - use the tag - mashed08 - and it'll automatically appear in the backnetwork site.
That's about if for now - any questions drop me a line.
PS - Just released another 50 tickets - the last bunch will go live next week.
It's always a pain getting to and from London - and because we know that London isn't the home of every developer and designer in the UK - we're going to run some buses to help get more non-London people at the gig.
We're running three buses - one from Newcastle and Sheffield, one from Manchester and Liverpool and one from Cardiff and Bristol. It's not as extensive as I'd like, and I've concentrated on locations where we have an existing relationship with the developer community.
- the bus ticket is also your entry ticket for Mashed. I would ask however, as I'm expecting the buses to be heavily used, that if you do register for a bus ticket - but then can't make it - that you let me know so I can make it available to somebody else.
If you've already registered, but still want to come on the bus - no problem - grab a bus ticket and tick the 'already registered' box - this will combine your registrations.
On Wednesday evening I'll be at the Meet at 10 feet tall in, yeap you guessed it, Cardiff. Talking about backstage and Mashed, and hopefully answering any questions you may have about either. There's a to sign up on if you'd like to come along.
More news later in the week - just signed a massively cool speaker for the Saturday morning.....
