backstage.bbc.co.uk :: Backstage.bbc.co.uk: Ideas

Music in TV Programmes

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:40:48 +0000

Submitted by: Phil Wilson

From the Mailing list,

Personally I'm waiting for the time when we can pause a program and scroll over the items on-screen and it'll tell us what they are and where we can buy them, like when Ed Norton describes his apartment at the beginning of Fight Club.

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Ideas/prototypes repository

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 16:47:53 +0000

Submitted by: Will Sheppard

Is there some kind of organisational structure of prototypes and ideas similar to sourceforge or 43things.com that can create more of a group around specific projects? Could there be?

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BBC clocks as a widget or gadget

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 17:38:59 +0000

Submitted by: Ian Forrester

Following the Clock which was created by the guys at NHK. I thought it would be a really good idea if we did some kind of clock based on the old BBC school clocks which most of remember. Jem actually found a site which has a load of old BBC clocks in Flash form. I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to repurpose one of the clocks or build one using SVG or something else.

Anyone interested in building one?

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A new witty slogan and design for Backstage T-shirts

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 17:39:20 +0000

Submitted by: Ian Forrester
Link: http://backstage.bbc.co.uk

We're considering changing the Fabulous but somewhat bland Backstage T-shirts. Yes they're great schwag but we can certainly do better.

So we thought it would be great if we'd ask you guys what you think is the best T-shirt schwag you've seen or owned and what witty slogan or design should be included to make a even better backstage T-shirt?

Let us know what you think...

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PDA RSS

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 15:45:51 +0000

Submitted by: Kev Swindells

What would be really handy for people like myself with newish mobile phones (or PDAs) that have RSS readers onboard (Sony Ericsson K800i in my case) if for there to be RSS feeds linking to the PDA and Low Resolution pages as well as the "Hi" ones. Ideally these would be included in the regular pages as the normal application/rss links. In the meantime there is a quick demo at http://kswindells.34sp.com/bbc.php/X/Y Where X is "n" for UK News or "s" for Sport and Y is the category - e.g. rugby_league or motorsport__formula_one (the / between motorsport and formula_one is replaced by two underscores) This simply takes the BBC RSS feeds and reparses them for the low res versions. Ideally this would also work for the PDA version but the URLs are structured differently. Source Code: http://kswindells.34sp.com/bbc.phpi

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Weather report on your mobile in the morning

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 15:42:16 +0000

Submitted by: Caterina

Hello, It would be great to have the day's weather (temperature and forecast) sent to my mobile early in the morning as I'm getting ready for work. At the moment I tend to look outside of my 6th floor flat window to see how I should dress for the day (rain, snow, sun, etc). Unfortunately I leave rather early and it's already dark out, so I can't see what the weather is like until I walk out the door and it's too late to change on days when it's raining, for example! Or sometimes it looks nice and sunny, but it's actually rather breezy as well and then I'm cold all day! With this idea, if I received my text message in the morning when I woke up, I could be better prepared for the day.

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what's in radio 4's 8pm slot this week?

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 15:37:57 +0000

Submitted by: Donal Mountain
Link: http://www.dmountain.com/misc/radioschedule.html

A page that tells people what's on in their favourite radio slots this week.

Problem
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My favourite programs are broadcast in BBC Radio 4's Monday-Friday 8pm slot. When I lived in Europe, all I had to do was tune in to Radio 4 at 8pm and chances are I'd hear something good. Super-easy. Now I live in a different time zone that doesn't let me tune in to Radio 4 at 8pm GMT. So I listen via the Radio 4 website. But the concept of 'slots' isn't reflected in the organisation of BBC Radio websites; nowhere on the Radio 4 website is there a link to "listen to the 8pm slot". The audio file is on the website somewhere, but I have to dig around to find it.

Solution
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It envisage a simple search interface where you define your slots and are given a (bookmarkable) search results page that lists this week's programing for those slots, with links to the audio file when available. This would make me happy! I think it would make other people happy too, because radio stations have this concept of 'slots' that isn't replicated in the online world. It would make it easier for people to "tune in" to their favourite slot, at the time that suits them.

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Radio Now and Next in Yahoo Widgets

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 17:05:28 +0000

Submitted by: Neil Good
Link: http://widgets.yahoo.com/gallery/view.php?widget=38008

It is beyond me but could someone do a Yahoo widget for BBC Radio Now and Next.
The URL points to a widget for the five terrestrial TV Channels using puretelly.com data which is perfect.

I have tried various RSS feeds in some RSS readers but it does not seem to work for me.

Some sort of ability to select the radio stations displayed would be a good feature.....

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Global Weather Collection

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 17:01:22 +0000

Submitted by: Marco van Beek

Instead of the BBC sharing its information, how about doing it the other way around. Create an application that will save local weather conditions back to the BBC centre, based on data gathering equipment at the users home/office. For example Maplin used to do a small kit that had a wind speed, wind direction and temperature sensors, that connected to a standard PC, and there are other companies that produce similar hardware. It could become a BBC school project and given that many people now have broadband and computers that stay on for much of the day (eg Media Centre PC's), it could become a really massive & worldwide project, as the only input a local user would need to provide would be a location. Enough sensors within a given location would allow for errors & mistakes.

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Flowers

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 12:00:26 +0000

Submitted by: G. Wilkinson

I'm an ICT Coordinator without the time to develop many ideas. Heres my main ones:
Link up - countryfile - bbc local websites - google maps - gardeners world and add photos of local wild flowers to a google map, with flower information such as name, flowering date, herbal uses e.t.c have a sub group of experts to check details and build up a national database of wildflowers and their distribution. Link up with wildflower charities for the experts - should all be driven by ease of use for public
to add their own photos.

Idea 2 - i'm sure there's been plenty of suggestions like this. But i would like radio shows available as podcasts across the board. i.e any show on any bbc network, The podcast would be signed up rss, bbc can promote email feedback on program as part of the package. This gives you detailed information about your programs and thier reception and the listeners and license payers : accessability to your archived radio content away from a computer! yes why not let the rest of the world have it too, for free?, it would promote your brand in all the right ways!
G.Wilkinson@Valence.kent.sch.uk
ICT Coordinator Valence school

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UK Singles Chart RSS Feed

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 11:58:40 +0000

Submitted by: Simon Croak

Any body else think it would be a good idea for the bbc to have an RSS feed for the UK Singles chart (Top 40) or if any body wants to build an aggregator for the radio 1 webpage to produce a feed???

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Local content for local people

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 11:55:06 +0000

Submitted by: Ryan Morrison
Link: http://www.upyourego.com/wordpress/

I haven't actually got any firm details on this idea yet but just wanted to [git mode] put it in the bath and see if it floats [/end git mode].

In principle every section of every BBC Where I Live site (specifically the England ones) could output an rss feed.

With masses of content on everything from faith events to band profiles would it be possible to combine this with geo positioning to create some kind of rich app giving you information on all sorts of things happening in your location on a map?

Or something along those lines?

Forgot to add (and improved on the idea within seconds of clicking submit).

I mentioned band profiles - one of the biggest parts of a Where I Live site is the Unsigned Band section.

If you could take an RSS feed of the band profiles, the gig reviews and gig previews you could create a really sexy rich app that takes a google map, overlays it with flickr images, the data from the unsigned bands section on the Where I Live site and info on gigs in the area from sites like Radio 1, 6music and other music services - could even take in audio clips of gigs recorded by radio one or the local station.

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Feed of football fixtures by league

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 11:47:03 +0000

Submitted by: Rich Sage

It would be nice if a feed was available to see all the current football fixtures for eg. the upcoming week but based on leagues rather than individual clubs. Currently there doesn't seem to be a feed available for this from the fixtures page, but rather you have to go on a per-club basis...

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good news

Fri, 23 Dec 2005 10:13:34 +0000

Submitted by: hyke weir

i'm pretty fed up with constant BAD NEWS! however there is a simple solution, "GOOD NEWS".
i think that the bbc should dedicate 5 minutes at least to a short news feed at an appropriate time for max audience, showing the days good news. Its very simple and could easily be done on a lopw budget. I'm sure it would givew everyone a lift. please contact me for the full concept.
thankyou.

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News on instant message with Chatbot

Mon, 12 Dec 2005 11:01:27 +0000

Submitted by: Enrico
Link: msnbot@hotmail-ppe.com

I integrated Wordnet, AIML, openNLP parser to write a simple Chatbot at MSN. But the Chatbot just wait for conversation, if I can automatic send some News title when one news happen. This will be more interesting!

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