In April 2006 the BBC ran a competition asking for a new design for the frontpage of their crazy popular website bbc.co.uk. I entered that competition and was one of ten runners up. My design for the site scored me a iPod Nano which I later gave away to a reader. The BBC has finally launched a beta version of the new look front page and its available for the worlds criticism here.
> Quicktime H.264
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> iPod Compatible
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> Watch in Flash
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The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has just flicked the switch on its new software offering ABC Now. Currently only available on PC (with Mac on the way) the desktop client is an audio/video hub for ABC content that allows you to stream and download programs and listen to live radio. And while comparisions are bound to be made to the BBC’s iPlayer this isn’t quite it, not yet at least.
The software is currently pretty basic, and doesn’t offer anything you can’t already get through the ABC’s website. What I find exciting about this is the potential it has. The fact that the ABC is building its own software is great, and its promise to be cross platform is also nice, what it needs though is much more content, much better quality streams and downloads, an integrated media player and library for your downloads, live streaming of ABC television channels, and a huge video back catalogue of every ABC production they have the rights to give away or sell to us.
And while my wish list is probably a bit of a stretch, I think this very first release is a nice start, with a lot of room to grow. Try it out for yourself here.
In related news: The ABC have announced that vodcasts are being downloaded at a rate of 327,000 per week, with over 14 million video downloads so far this year.
> Quicktime H.264
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> iPod Compatible
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When you’ve got one of the best online news services around, the least you can do is promote it. So check out the video above thats been running on the ABC lately, or just start reading, listening and watching the news here.
UPDATE: The ABC served over 5 million downloads last month!
> Quicktime H.264
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> iPod Compatible
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> Watch in Flash
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Its been over a year since the ABC began their trial of video podcasting, and what started out with just two shows has now expanded to over a dozen of the national broadcasters news and entertainment programs.
And while the video is far from DVD or DivX quality, at 8-cents a day I’d say their doing a pretty good job. While the BBC has taken the iPlayer route allowing you to download a DRM protected version of videos that automatically deletes itself, I hope the ABC keep on with the podcasting, keep far away from DRM, improve the video quality and keep adding shows.
The ABC’s enormous archive would probably make for a pretty good for-pay download store, amd I’m sure the ABC are already looking at something like that. For now though, no other network in Australia comes close to the video download offerings of the ABC and I look forward to seeing what they do next.
Back in January I was sent a screenshot of the new abc.net.au/news, and while it was very much still a draft, it gave us some idea of what was coming.
The relaunched site is due to go live tomorrow, and from what I’ve seen its damn good. As you can see from the before and afters above, it is a much needed leap forward and has the most elegant and useful integration of video and audio I have seen on a news site. With simple audio and video flash players that appear and disappear thanks to the magic of ajax, it has Google Maps built right into the articles, which I immediately thought would be useless, until I realised how geographically challeneged I was and actually had no idea where Caloundra was (turns out its in Queensland).
The weather page is a brilliant, and even in fullscreen all the videos are more then enough, they load without any of the buffering that comes with the inconvenient WindowsMedia and RealPlayer formats that most news sites still use.
There is tons more to explore of the new site, but the incredibly simple and useful execution of audio/video and maps really are the top story of this news relaunch.
More screenshots below.. or visit abc.net.au/news sometime Monday.
The folks behind ABC Online have been busy. A new ABC News site is due to go live any day now, and as of this morning there is a new ABC television portal.
With an emphasis on video (in user friendly full screen flash), and more full episode downloads including The Einstein Factor and The New Inventors, the ABC is taking some positive steps towards the promise of TV 2.0. The site encourages you to watch previews of upcoming shows and participate in a newly opened forum.
Check it all out for yourself right here.
The Managing Director of the ABC unvieled a new plan for the national broadcasters digital future yesterday. While I look forward to more video content online and expanded podcasting (apparently the ABC is the “largest creator of podcasting material in the world “) I’m less enthusiastic at the idea of the ABC carrying ads online.
I know there is the obvious argument that it will bring in revenue with very little effort, but I just believe that we are so fortunate to have a commercial-free national broadcaster. To quote Crikey the ABC needs to remain a “non-commercial public meeting space – a town square rather than a shopping mall”, its something other countries aren’t lucky enough to have and I think we should protect it.
The ABC has been talking about relaunching their news site for a while now, and if the above screenshot I recently received in my email is to be believed you could be looking at a draft of the national broadcasters new news frontpage.
Only time will tell I guess.. click the screenshot for a better look.