Roo Reynolds - What’s Next?

Argh. A wasted opportunity for an ARG

Posted by Roo - 06/07/08 at 09:07:25 pm

Considering that season two of Torchwood had an accompanying Alternate Reality Game, I was excited to see what was apparently a mobile phone number prominently featured in the penultimate episode of Dr Who.

It even completely filled the screen for a few moments.

Considering the amount of screen time given to something that was ostensibly Dr Who’s mobile number, it seems more incredible that this wasn’t the beginning of an ARG. It turns out to be one of the telephone numbers reserved by Ofcom for drama purposes.

Bah. What a wasted opportunity. That was a rabbit hole waiting to happen.

BBC + iTunes

Posted by Roo - 21/02/08 at 02:02:26 pm

BBC tech correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones announced a while ago that he is

“too old to Twitter and too mature for Myspace. Some things are best left to the young”

Now he’s talking about the BBC+iTunes deal, saying that

once you’ve handed over your credit card details, buying a programme from iTunes is an awful lot easier and more reliable than hunting it down on the web and trying to suck it into your computer

which is similarly nonsense. The comment thread is pretty interesting, and gives a sense of how strongly people feel about content they rightly love, and want to consume in a way that makes sense to them. Here are snippets from just the first three responses:

1. gillick says …if you buy a program from iTunes then you will only be able to watch it on Apple approved devices. Whereas you can buy the DVD, rip it and then watch it on any device…
2. Daniel Delahoyde says …yet more evidence of the BBC’s commitment to and promotion of DRM and proprietary media players and formats. … Those who want access to the BBC’s content online should not have to pay Apple for the privilege or have to use a Microsoft operating system and media player to view the programmes they want to see.
3. Ewan says …It’s strange that you refer to being “able to pay £1.89 to download and own a programme”, when ownership implies a degree of control that simply doesn’t exist here … This isn’t ownership, it a limited and controlling lend back of something we already paid for…

I can see why the BBC might want to investigate new revenue streams to support their work. They already sell DVDs, and nobody I know has a problem with that. I love the fact I can buy a DVD and watch it wherever and whenever I want. The reason this move is controversial is that, as outlined in the comments above, it’s providing people with less value, not more. I don’t mind if the BBC charges for alternatives to live broadcast. Give me the choice. Give me a way to buy content I love and I’ll take it, but make it easier, not harder, for me to put it on my choice of computer and device. The first stage will be to drop the fallacy that DRM is going to help.

If you’re new to this argument, you might want to go back to what was being said by Cory Doctorow last year (and be sure to read this amazing discussion which broke out on Euan Semple’s blog).

Watchification

Posted by Roo - 21/02/08 at 12:02:26 am

I’ve been helping out as the ‘chief engineer’ at Speechification for a while, and I’m now proud to be joining Russell and Steve in making Watchification happen too.

The aim of the project is reassuringly simple: in the same way that Speechification curates speech radio from around the world, we want to make it easy for people to find the best bits of TV, both old and new. The iPlayer is great, but there’s so much there. Where do you start? Isn’t it nice when friends suggest stuff you might enjoy? Since word-of-mouth is how I discover all of the television I watch, it’s something I appreciate greatly. So we’re trying to do that. Expect it to grow and change as we get used to doing it, and learn what works. We may have some design improvements coming soon, but more on that later.

With my ‘chief engineer’ hat on, I knocked up a nifty little WordPress hack over the weekend, using the Custom Fields GUI plugin as a starting point. I make it easy for contributors to paste a unique ID from iPlayer or YouTube (or Google Video…) which is then extracted so the blog can automatically build the appropriate embed code for iPlayer, YouTube or Google Video, depending on the video source. Realistically, it’s only a little bit easier than copying and pasting an embed code, but capturing the URL (and the editor, the producer, etc) in metadata allows us to have more fun with the data later too. Here’s what it looks like…

If you’re interested enough in television to want to share your favourite bits of it with the world and would like to become a contributor yourself, let me know (roo at rooreynolds dot com).

Thoughts on TV Licensing

Posted by Roo - 14/12/07 at 09:12:08 pm

I recently wrote about the iPlayer, and made a throwaway comment about not having a TV licence, yet enjoying the ability to finally be able to legally watch TV programmes online, on my Mac. It sparked quite a discussion. Nick Reynolds (no relation) of the BBC kindly pointed out the new licence fee page on the BBC site. I didn’t fully appreciate it at the time, but the legislation (of which more in a moment) has indeed changed. The page makes a good job of explaining the new situation:

“You need a TV licence to use any television receiving equipment such as a TV set, set-top box, video or DVD recorder, computer or mobile phone to watch or record TV programmes as they are being shown on TV.”

(This is all only relevant in the UK by the way. Americans *cough*, I mean the 56% of my non-UK visitors (of which only about half are from the US) may feel free to look away now).

I find this interesting. Before 2004, and in older documents, it used to say something more like

A TV Licence provides a legal permission to install or use television receiving equipment in order to receive or record television programme services. ‘Television receiving equipment’ can be a television set, a VCR, a set-top box, a TV-enabled personal computer or any other equipment designed or modified to enable it to receive television programmes.

The change is down to new legislation which came into force on April 1st (honestly) 2004, and was announced in a written ministerial statement by Tessa Jowell on 11th March 2004. More interestingly, the act itself is the Statutory Instrument 2004 No 692. The Communications Act (Television Licensing) Regulations 2004 (which was an update to earlier acts from 1926, 1949 and 2003. Part three, section nine says that “television receiver” means any “apparatus installed or used for the purpose of receiving (whether by means of wireless telegraphy or otherwise) any television programme service, whether or not it is installed or used for any other purpose.”

The thing that broadens it even further is the text in 9.2…

In this regulation, any reference to receiving a television programme service includes a reference to receiving by any means any programme included in that service, where that programme is received at the same time (or virtually the same time) as it is received by members of the public by virtue of its being broadcast or distributed as part of that service.

So when the TV licence talks about using a computer, it no longer only means computers with TV receiving cards in them. Steve Hewlett does a good job of explaining this in a Media FAQ in the Guardian last year.

To cut a very long story short, any device that can receive live TV pictures, whether or not originally designed or intended to do so, must be covered by a licence if you use it for that purpose.

Let’s just take that in for a moment. Watching a live TV broadcast, regardless of whether you do it on your TV, your computer, or even (as Steve points out in that post) your mobile phone, means you must have a TV licence. He goes on to say that

…while the new regulations might have succeeded in redefining the term “television” to mean any device capable of receiving it by any broadcast or quasi-broadcast means, they still define a “television programme service” as essentially a live, real-time broadcast stream…

… while the regulations extend beyond traditional broadcasting to cover internet and mobile live streaming, receiving TV programmes on-demand, or say as part of an internet-based catch-up service, appears not to be covered.

If correct, this would mean if you only watched programmes on demand via new services - such as the BBC’s emerging seven-day catch-up facility, or in any way other than via a live broadcast stream, however delivered, you would not be liable to pay the licence fee even if you used your old-fashioned TV.

All very interesting. So, some observations and questions.

• In the UK, while you (still) don’t need a TV licence to own a TV, you do need a TV licence to watch live broadcasts which originate from the UK, regardless of the equipment used, if they’re simultaneously being broadcast on TV. This would include the live stream of News 24. I think.
• (Currently) I can use iPlayer to watch TV shows without needing a licence, because they’re not being simulcast on the TV. I have not used Channel 4’s 4oD, but I believe the same is true. It’s a download service, not live broadcast, and even the new Flash streaming flavour of iPlayer is video on-demand rather than being “received at the same time (or virtually the same time) as it is received by members of the public by virtue of its being broadcast”. Theoretically, I can continue to watch iPlayer without needing a licence, and only my conscience about supporting the programme makers to trouble me.
• The TV licensing authority can already ask to see my TV, and I can tell them (and eventually show them) that I don’t use it to watch broadcast TV. If I don’t have a licence and I chose not to watch live streamed TV though a browser if it’s offered, will I have to prove that to them too?

Why all this interest in the licence? Well, we got rid of our household TV, video, and PC capture card a few years ago. We’d realised we were watching whatever was on, and not enjoying it any more. It was time to go cold turkey. There was a clearing of the house, and part of the cleansing ritual was to (probably a bit smugly) cancel the licence. If I went through the same process now, I’d probably have kept the licence, because the radio and web content is worth the money, but at the time I didn’t think so.

The thing that really put my off the TV licence was actually the licensing authority themselves. When I cancelled it, and again when we moved house, and again when we bought a TV set (not tuned or even connected to the antenna, but bought in order to more fully enjoy DVDs and the Wii) I was quite disgusted with the regular letters, often very aggressive in tone, demanding we purchase a TV licence, with no expectation that people might not actually watch it. The regular bullying was annoying, and rather hardened my will against the system.

Things are changing. My previous frame of mind was in a previous era, a time in which I wasn’t addicted to the amazing content on Radio 4, and when iPlayer didn’t exist. As the BBC (hopefully) continues to open up ways of me watching content on my terms, of course I’m open minded about paying for services I use. I sometime (rarely) even want to watch live broadcasts, especially things like Wimbledon and the World Cup. What I want is to be able to get content when I want it, and I want to be able to do that on a Mac as well as on Widows.

There’s an interesting loophole at the moment, by which I can watch shows through the on-demand services, as long as I don’t record or watch them from a live broadcast. Personally, I may soon choose to pay for a licence anyway, but I wonder how many people the BBC expects will actually be jumping in the other direction, and cancelling licences so they can use the catch-up services on iPlayer (and 4od) for free.

BBC iPlayer gets (a little bit) better

Posted by Roo - 13/12/07 at 08:12:09 pm

If you really know me, you know two fact about me:

1. I’m quite tall. (at 6′ 4½”)
2. I don’t have a TV license (though I do have a TV, connected to a Wii and a Mac Mini)

The first fact means I don’t mind standing near the back of gigs. The second fact means that my entertainment tends to be digital. I rent and buy DVDs, I download and stream the odd thing here and there, and I was very pleased when the BBC and ITV between them offered video streams of every England matches during the last World Cup.

So, as you may have guessed, I was rather excited when the BBC first started talking about what is now their iPlayer. Sadly, for many of the same reasons as Kyb (and many other people) I was also disappointed with it. Employing DRM, only working on Internet Explorer, only working on Windows, pretty-but-difficult interface, there was lots about it not to like.

Well, there have been some updates today, and things are (a little bit) better.

From the messageboard:

From today we are pleased to announce that streaming is now available on BBC iPlayer. This means that Windows, Mac and Linux users can stream programmes on iPlayer as long as their computer has the latest version of Flash. Another change is that you do not have to register or sign in any more to download programmes, and Windows XP and Vista users will have an improved version of Download Manager (formerly the Library) available to them.

I like:

• The fact that there’s now the ability to stream content thanks to a Flash player. Handy for me, since it works in Firefox (on a Mac, no less) meaning I can watch it on my TV.
• The fact that I don’t have to log in to use it. It just works.
• I like the fact that I don’t even need a TV licence to use it.

I dislike:

• The steaming quality is a bit mixed. Have I Got News for You was ok. The audio for Top Gear was dreadful.
• The fact that many of the programmes are still only available for download, not for streaming. And that of course means I’d still need to be using Windows.

At least for now. Back in October, Ashley Highfield (BBC Director of Future Media and Technology) said

“We need to get the streaming service up and look at the ratio of consumption between the services and then we need to look long and hard at whether we build a download service for Mac and Linux.”

For now, I’m using the iPlayer to stream stuff (and hope other Mac users and Linux users will be using it too), but I’m not holding my breath. For some more background and discussion on the DRM issues, see this excellent post from Andrew Bowden.

Come on BBC. You can do this properly.

The other change that happened today was that ‘Listen Again’ audio on demand service has also all gone black-and-pink, and rebranded itself ‘iPlayer’.

Here’s their explanation, which says we should “watch out for further changes over the coming months”. That’s a relief.

24 Hour TV Marathon

Posted by Roo - 20/08/02 at 01:08:04 am

My name is Roo and this is the longest day of my life

or

How to survive a 24 hour TV marathon

Some friends and I talked for a long time about watching all 24 episodes of the first season of 24, back to back. If you take out the trailers each episode is only 45 minutes long. Rather disappointingly, this means that a 24 marathon is only actually 18 hours of televisual entertainment. To watch all 18 within one day leaves 6 hours of peeing and napping time. An excellent plan. After all, if you’re going to spend 24 hours of your life watching a TV series, you might as well get it all over with in one day. It’s an epic undertaking, and one which, in getting ready to try it, we understood would involve plenty of planning and preparation.

Stage 0: How to watch the series

Ideally, we’d start at midnight and follow Jack Bauer’s longest day in real time. If you have the episodes taped including the adverts then wherever the adverts pause the action you could take a break until you are in sync again. This means stopping every quarter of an hour, but only for about 5 minutes; a rather inflexible schedule. Furthermore, finishing a 24 hour TV marathon at midnight would be much more painful than finishing at say, 8 or 9 pm and getting an early night. We decided to aim to begin our marathon at about 9pm and play the episodes back-to-back, pausing to nap when we get really tired. In this manner we aimed to save up the 24 x 15 minutes for two or three few long breaks, making watching Jack’s 18 hour day within 24 hours perfectly feasible.

Stage 1: Preparation

Friday. 5pm

It’s Friday, so we leave work early. Preparation begins. We hit the supermarket first. A good selection of food is important, and we realised that we’d want lots of liquid. Plenty of carbohydrates would also be important. For the three of us, we purchased

• A packet of mixed-leaf salad
• A bag of sliced carrots
• 4 apples
• 2 grapefruit
• 1 tub of potato salad
• 8 different dips (cheese and chive, Thousand Island, tikka, barbecue, etc)
• 1 large tub of Philadelphia soft cheese spread
• 1 packet of good, thick-sliced ham
• 2 bottles Lemonade
• 2 bottles Apple Tango (1 diet, 1 regular).
• 4 bottles Coca-Cola
• 2 cartons fresh fruit juice
• 4 cans Red Bull
• Plenty of cookies
• 1 loaf crusty bread
• 6 current buns
• 1 pack breadsticks
• 3 tubes Pringles
• 1 pack Kettle chips
• 1 pack Walkers Sensations (Thai sweet chilli flavour. Yummy)
• 8 sausage rolls
• 1 box of cream crackers
• 2 boxes Cadbury’s Fingers
• 1 sack cheap wine gums
• 1 large Toblerone
• 1 pack Extra Strong Mints

Stage 2: Set up

We pick the room in which we want to relax for the next day of our lives. The living room, with its TV, comfortable seating and ample floor space, seems to be the best bet. We set up the room for maximum comfort by turning down the lights, placing a mattress on the floor and bringing in an extra beanbag. The three of us (my wife, kyb and I) now have a wide choice of places to relax.

Friday. 7:50pm

We unpack the shopping. The drinks go straight into the fridge, and most of the food is put straight onto the dining table. One long buffet seems like the best way to eat during this marathon TV session. Managing and controlling your own diet, while not easy, is a great way to stay awake. Large meals take a lot of digestion, leaving you feeling sleepy a while afterwards. Taking on small morsels whenever you feel hungry prevents this problem, plus it’s fun. With the wide variety of foods we’ve got, controlling our sugar levels should be easy.

Stage 3: The marathon

Friday. 8:45 pm
Press play.

9:30 pm
1 episode down, 23 to go. Great stuff. I’ve already seen the first half of the series, so the first few hours are just a recap for me.

Saturday. 1 am
24 is still very exciting. For them it’s 6 am already. That’s ¼ of the way though. We’ve just met Milo at the CTU. He’s the suicide toe guy from 6 Feet Under! We’re all starting to fade. I’ve eaten too much, so I’m bloated and sick feeling. It hasn’t turned into tiredness yet, but I worry that it will do soon. The Red Bull is calling me.

3:30 am
I just finished my first can of Red Bull but the effect was not immediate. Tiredness comes and goes. For the past hour my eyes have been closing. Dry eyes. Perhaps I need more water. I don’t think I’ve slept, but I came pretty close. Just went outside to look at the stars. It’s a clear night. The coldness was refreshing and woke me up. Perhaps the Red Bull is kicking in.

We’ve found we keep changing positions. After every episode it’s good to stand up, walk around and sit or lay down somewhere different. We’ve also noticed that, as nice as Coke is, it’s very sugary. Sugar crash is exactly what you don’t need if you’re trying to stay awake. I’ve moved onto cold water. Others have been sensibly using diet fizzy drinks instead.

4:45 am
The others have been snoozing for a few minutes. They’ve both seen this episode before, so they’re not missing anything. I think it’s time to pause the action at the end of this episode and have a nap.

7:45 am
We slept for 2 hours. We’re still amused by how crazy our marathon is. We keep describing it as ‘epic’. Having woken up and breakfasted (grapefruit). Though tired, we continue at 11am Jack Time.

10:00 am
The past 2 hours have gone by very quickly. We need to get air in our lungs, sun on our skin and infinity in the eyes. We go for a short walk. The morning sunlight reduces our melatonin levels and increases our wakefulness and cheerfulness.

1:30 pm
Lunch. Nice to eat some bread and ham. Refreshing. Not so tired now. We’re now ¾ of the way through the series, and we’ve given up counting the number of dead people. It’s becoming highly exciting. Even captivating.

4:30 pm
Last two episodes. Very tired now. Blinks are becoming increasingly long. We devise a 24 drinking game. Hysterical laughter at every suggestion. Not concentrating hard enough on plot. More Red Bull.

5:15 pm
Wow! End of penultimate episode. Wuh? Big twist. How does this work? What will happen? Suddenly awake and paying attention.

6:00 pm
Finish. Tired. Good series. Looking forward to the sequel. There’s going to be a sequel, right? They can’t just end it there.

Watching 24 within 24 hours turned out to be easy enough. You get 6 hours off after all. We actually only used about half of our allotted break time, so the next 2¾ hours we can relax, satisfied.

The 24 Drinking game

What could be harder than a 24 marathon? A 24 drinking game of course. This beats the Star Wars drinking game hands down. It’s on a different scale. Even a new Star Wars drinking game, with extra rules, for all SIX episodes will not involve as much drinking as the 24 drinking game. Anyone crazy enough to undertake this should be congratulated.

Take a drink whenever…

• you see someone using one of the following three laptops: a Thinkpad, an iMac or a Powerbook
• someone closes a door in someone else’s face
• someone in CTU uses the word “socket”
• Jack flips out and loses his cool
• Nina lies
• someone is killed. (If a plane is blown up, you only need take one drink)
• someone, who looked liked they were dead, turns out to be alive. If later in the story, then do die, then drink again.
• any person, place or thing is described as being “compromised”
• someone in CTU says “line 2″
• someone refers to ’secret’ ‘private’ love triangle between Jack, Nina and Toni
• someone tries to phone someone, and gets voicemail instead.
• someone reassures someone by saying they will “get through this”
• a character suddenly turns out to be untrustworthy and dangerous
• a new character is introduced.. and they have an East European accent
• someone in a governmental agency ‘breaks protocol’ or goes against ‘procedure’ (examples include but are not limited to hacking without a warrant, giving computer access to an unauthorized party, tranquilising a superior, …)
• you notice a continuity error
• anyone uses the word ‘patch’, as in “Patch me through”
• someone mentions “The Balkans”, “Bosnia” or “Kosovo”
• Jack says “Palm Pilot” when he means Handspring Visor
• you see one of the characters sleep, eat or go to the toilet.
• Jack is given, borrows, or otherwise obtains another mobile phone or ear-piece.
• Senator Palmer’s wife uses the word “election”
• any character is handcuffed

NB: I have not attempted this game. We designed it while watching the series to keep ourselves amused. If you try it, make sure you first purchase copious quantities of alcohol. Going shopping half-way through playing this game is not advisable. You’ll look like shit and you’ll be very, very drunk.