bbc

BBC programming coming to Netflix in U.K., Ireland

Netflix has signed an important deal as it readies its streaming service for customers in the U.K. and Ireland.

When Netflix launches there early next year, the company will offer access to a wide range of BBC programs, including "Torchwood," "Spooks," "Little Britain," and "Fawlty Towers." Although the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, the BBC content will be offered to Netflix users the day the streaming service launches overseas, the companies said.

Netflix has been signing a host of deals with content providers over the past several weeks, … Read more

Doctor Who gets naked for charity

While it's probably long been the fantasy of nerdy women everywhere, it took a charity to get the shirt off of The Doctor's back.

As part of this year's annual Children in Need Telethon in the U.K., Matt Smith of "Doctor Who" announced that the show will be auctioning off one of The Doctor's familiar tweed and bow-tie costumes, with all proceeds going to the children's charity. Smith announced the auction in character before unveiling a trailer for the "Doctor Who Christmas Special, The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe."

While all sorts of bylaws make it difficult for Americans to tune in to BBC content online for licensing reasons, it would seem the good ole' limping dollar is good over at BBC headquarters. There's nothing in the auction rules that I can see preventing U.S. fans of The Doctor from bidding and buying the costume. Exchange rates would apply, and (with the pound running roughly double the dollar) an American fan would have to dig deep. But, it's a good cause.… Read more

Too few Doctors: 'Who' iPad app truncates the timeline

As "Doctor Who" prepares to celebrate its 50th birthday and cement its status as the longest-running science fiction TV show of all time, Digital agency Brandwidth and BBC Books have released a new high-tech compendium to the show's long run--well, almost.

The $7.49 Doctor Who Encyclopedia for iPad is a high-tech record of the show's heroes, villains, monsters, and stories. The app includes more than 3,000 separate entries written by former Doctor Who script editor Gary Russell, as well as interactive portals for the Doctor, Amy, Rory, River, and other major characters.

Unfortunately, the app ignores the long history of the series, focusing only on the "rebirth" of the show since 2005.… Read more

The 404 912: Where we're trashing your rights (podcast)

Wilson's out sick today, but CNET's Bridget Carey steps up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth and knocks it out of the park with a full story rundown that includes Facebook iPad announcements, the next iPhone's killer app, Google's 13th birthday, camera lens thieves, and more! Did I use that baseball metaphor correctly?

The 404 Digest for Episode 912

Sprint to launch own 4G LTE network in early 2012 (scoop). New Amazon tablet called the Kindle Fire? Facebook's iPad app launching with new iPhone, report says. Apple holding iPhone 5 event on October 4. iPhone 5 to offer 1GB RAM and voice control? Facebook: We do track logged-out users, but trust us. Spotify users steamed over Facebook requirement. Google doodles into its teenage years. Canadian throws 4,800 messages in a bottle, gets 3,100 responses back. Doritos creator Arch West takes his cheesy legacy to the grave. Crafty thieves go for the lens rather than the camera body. Follow Bridget Carey on Twitter. Bathroom-break video of the day: A fat cat struggles to lose her weight.

Episode 912 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Gearheads go cute with 'My Little Top Gear'

The East Coast gets hit by an earthquake. Steve Jobs resigns. They're doing a sequel to "Green Lantern." But, we can all take comfort in the fact that someone did a video mashup of "My Little Pony" and the car show "Top Gear."

The BBC's long-running show mixed with the animated pink-laden, toy-hyping "My Little Pony" gives new meaning to "horsepower" (and reminds us that some people have too much time on their hands).… Read more

Youngest old man returns in 'Doctor Who'

The world's longest-running sci-fi series, "Doctor Who," will return this weekend with the youngest actor yet continuing his portrayal of one of the oldest characters in modern fiction.

The BBC series will turn 48 this fall, while Matt Smith will soon celebrate 29. The Doctor himself is more than 900 years old

"A lot was made of me being the youngest actor in the part," said Smith, who started portraying The Doctor last year. "Actually, I think that's worked to my favor because I think there's a sort of interesting contradiction of having a young face and old soul."

During a recent event previewing the return of "Doctor Who" this Saturday on the BBC in the U.K. and BBC America in the U.S., Smith discussed how starring in one of the world's biggest nerd-centric cult shows affects his existence in time and space. … Read more

3DS price drop

RIM releases the "more social" BlackBerry Messenger 6 service to share apps, the BBC launches a paid version of its iPlayer service for the iPad, and Nintendo dramatically drops the price of its 3DS handheld game device after lackluster sales.

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded:

Nintendo loses money, drops 3DS price RIM releases BlackBerry Messenger 6.0 Verizon and AmEx partner on mobile payments Google Page Speed Service Sprint and LightSquared sign pact BBC iPlayer goes global Subscribe: iTunes (MP3) | iTunes (320x180) | iTunes (HD) | RSS (MP3) | RSS (320x180) | RSS HD

BBC tech tool aces annoying tennis grunters

It's right up there with the sound of nails clawing a chalk board. Scratch that. It's far worse.

Each year, it seems, the on-court shrieks and grunting of professional tennis players gets louder and louder with seemingly no solution in sight. But now technology is coming to the rescue in what fed-up tennis fans will surely welcome as a hopeful harbinger.

The BBC has announced a downloadable noise reduction product it calls Wimbledon Net Mix that will let people listening to the Wimbledon tennis tourney control the decibel levels from the match. (It was co-developed with German technology institute Fraunhofer.)

In a statement, the Beeb, which described the technology as an "experiment," said listeners will be able to "adjust the commentary level relative to the sound of the court: the crowd, base-line grunting and ball. For technical reasons the experiment will only be available during live coverage of matches from Center Court. The player may need manual configuration within some corporate firewalls."

The tool is currently only available for BBC Radio 5 Live transmissions, but it may be introduced to other broadcasting platforms if successful. … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1387: The lol j/k defense (podcast)

Will Courtney Love's lawyers argue that Twitter is just so fun and awesome that she can't be held responsible for defamatory crazy talk she types on it? If so, we're about to go crazy on Twitter. Also, Apple and News Corp may have pushed back their launch date for the Daily, BBC says no to Smart TV fragmentation, and why can't Samsung just give us our dang Froyo already? --Molly

BBC's iPlayer heading overseas on the iPad

The BBC is planning to offer a subscription-based service to iPad owners outside the U.K.

The initiative is being led by BBC Worldwide, the BBC's commercial arm and is expected to pilot first in the U.S. as the Global iPlayer app next year. Currently, one must be in the U.K. to access the BBC iPlayer's content, which includes both radio and television shows.

Luke Bradley-Jones, managing director of BBC.com, said this week in London that Apple's tablet "provides such potential to develop a truly interactive video-on-demand service." There is also the … Read more