The BBC is now available online. The BBC have released some 79 BBC News clips online. This content is under a Creative Commons-like license, however only users in the UK may legally use the service. This is all called the BBC Creative Archive. We can also expect BBC Science and Nature to go online soon too.
Okay, 79 clips isn’t great, but considering it is free, and I’m allowed to make derivative works (as long as I sharealike), I think it is pretty good. However, I think it could be better. I would like to see them release some old shows under this license too, and try to get as much online as possible.
With BBC iMP probably coming next year, the BBC will be even more online. iMP isn’t great though, only going back a week (with that same time limit on DRM). I’m not a beta tester of this service either, unfair!
Still, it’s tough to you Americans and non-Brits who can’t benefit from any of this due to the copyright! That makes me feel better about the iMP…
I’ve switched from MovableType to WordPress today, as I fancied some more templates to use. The transition wasn’t as easy as it should have been, I ran into various problems. Most of these weren’t due to WP itself, but me.
The main, and the only one I haven’t resolved, is the import of comments. This should’ve been done automatically, but as you may have noticed, it wasn’t. I’ve posted a message on the WordPress Support Forum, and you can view it here. If anyone knows how to fix it, please reply either here or there. Ah, they are there, just need approving! Duh!
Other problems included redirecting RSS and Atom feeds, however this was fixed with some simple .htaccess.
I’m still getting use to the template system and I am finding it hard to find where to put my Google adverts. if any other users of WP can tell me, I’d once again really appreciate it.
I am extremely impressed with WP, and the user interface is much nicer than the last time I considered it (1.5.2). Oh, and I love the Ajax and dynamic templates!
And yes, I got chosen as a BlogMad beta tester!
Sponitting? Well, theres his site called sponit and it’s well, how to describe it… I’ll see if I can in this post.
Off their help page:
sponit comes from the word spontaneous or ‘random’.
At sponit, you’ll be able to post pictures and stories into what we like to call “spons”; spons are like snapshots of life.
You don’t need to provide photos, and the stories can be about anything. Mine are just tech tips. The most interesting thing about the site is how these stories are displayed randomly(ish). This really teaches you new things. Now when I said ish, I meant, that spons get rated, and the higher rated ones are displayed more. It’s a bit like blogging, but isn’t, as it isn’t chronological, but random.
The site is very easy to use, with a clean interface, and only a few bugs (it’s in a public beta). The content can be good, but it is also full of cat and dog photos (boring…). I would like to see the ability to categorise spons, and only view spons in certain categories.
So far, I’ve sumbitted 2 spons: Hacking Google Print and The Torrent Jabberwalker. Both of these are high rated, and have received more than a 1000 hits between them. You can comment on spons. My profile is here.
At the moment, the site is very new, just leaving a private beta this week, and it hasn’t yet been abused. However, as this catches on, it’ll only be a matter of time.
As you might know, Mario Kart DS has something called WFC. This is Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, which allows you to play against others over the internet. This will be very straight forward for most, however it was slightly harder for me. Another game with WFC is Tony Hawk’s American SK8Land.
I have a Linksys WAG54G V.2 router, which was running 1.00.19 firmware. My Nintendo DS wouldn’t pick up my WiFi signal, however a Palm & my desktop did. I put the DS next to the router, and it still wouldn’t detect. I then realised it would be the firmware. After a few Googles I discovered off a few forums I needed the 1.00.47 firmware. The problem was, I couldn’t find this firmware anywhere & LinkSys support refused to provide me with it as it is in beta.
So, I decided to trawl around LinkSys’s FTP server and I found the 1.01.15 (UK) firmware in this directory. Luckily, I didn’t require to mess on with QoS or anything as complex as the Tlog’s Pedro Timóteo, as documented here.
Anyhow, the game is great!
On 14th December, Microsoft announced it would use the same symbol for RSS as Mozilla. The symbol you’ll probably know too well: 
. This symbol will represent RSS in Firefox, Internet Explorer 7 and Outlook 12. This is to make people more familiar with RSS. Mozilla and Microsoft are looking for more consistency between their browsers.
Following this example, I’ve added two buttons on my blog, which are in half-banners on the homepage. The reason I’ve added these symbols is so that people are more familiar with feeds. One is orange, and this is for RSS, and one is blue, for Atom. These are pretty clearly labeled and take you to the correct feed. I created the blue button as I decided not to just use the orange button, as everyone deserves the choice to choose what they wish to use. These buttons/banners are CCL so feel free to take them, as long as you follow my license.
Hopefully, this will happen in more blogs soon.
Also, one more Merry Christmas!
