New BBC Homepage Is Live! [BBC]

Yesterday evening I went through one of the things I do most often on my laptop/netbook/tablet/desktop/smartphone: I visited the BBC website to browse the news/sport/iPlayer content of the day. In this particular instance I was on my laptop (which is happily running Linux Mint 12). Low and behold the BBC Homepage has switched to the new interface!

The New BBC Homepage (First Page)

I like the new BBC Homepage on www.bbc.co.uk . The top bar remains static, with links to the main sections of the website (News, Sport, Weather, iPlayer, TV, Radio, More...). The bar beneath the top one is static as well, but contains an analogue clock, the date and weather snapshot (you can personalise this feed for wherever you are by simply entering your postcode). Below the two static bars at the top, content from the website is displayed as tiles with snapshot previews and easy to read symbols of the type of content contained within the tile. This user interface is in many ways similar to the Windows Phone 7 Metro UI (tiles). I like it!

The lower section of the New BBC Homepage

If you scroll down on the webpage you are presented with sections (tiles) specifically for the iPlayer, popular content on the website and a fuller selection of sections of the website. The website is designed as a 3x2 panel canvas so you can click on one of the large arrows at the right or left of the page to scroll through the content. The 3x2 panels are on a loop so once you click right from the 3rd panel you go back to the first one. The lower panels of the homepage are all populated by the same content as the first bottom one.

The New BBC Homepage (Second Page)

The lower section of the New BBC Homepage (it's the same throughout)

The New BBC Homepage (Third Page)

As I have said in the past, I really like what the BBC have done with their website homepage. The new design is clean, sleek and magazine like. I love using the new website on my Archos 80 G9, the new design is particularly well suited for touch interface devices. Using the service and browsing the content easier and more intuitive. Well done to everyone involved in the redesign. I'm happy to see my TV License money being spent on improving the BBC services I receive.

As usual, feel free to leave comments and/or questions below or on the Google Plus link. Let me know how you get on with the new BBC Homepage.

How To Install SopCast Player on Ubuntu

SopCast is a simple, free way to broadcast video and audio or watch the video and listen to radio on the Internet.

If you would like to set up the SopCast Player in Ubuntu to watch live streams, the instructions on how to do so are as follows:

Step One

Make sure your Ubuntu machine is switched on, connected to the Internet and that you have the administrative password (and rights) to the computer. [This may sound stupid, but it always helps to avoid comments that get classed as spam on the post]

Open a Terminal window. This can usually be found in "Accessories"

Step Two

Copy and paste (or type) the following command into the terminal prompt, and then press enter.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jason-scheunemann/ppa

You will be prompted to enter your administrator password, do so and the repository will be added.

Step Three

Copy and paste (or type) the following command into the terminal prompt, and then press enter.

sudo apt-get update

This will update the source list. You may be prompted to enter your administrator password again, if so do it.


Step Four


Copy and paste (or type) the following command into the terminal prompt, and then press enter.

wget http://sopcast-player.googlecode.com/files/sp-auth_3.0.1_i386.deb

This will download sp-auth, a package the SopCast Player needs to work.


Step Five


Copy and paste (or type) the following command into the terminal prompt, and then press enter.


sudo dpkg -i sp-auth_3.0.1_i386.deb


This will install sp-auth, the package the SopCast Player needs to work. Again, if your are prompted for your administrator password, enter it.

Step Six

Copy and paste (or type) the following command into the terminal prompt, and then press enter.

sudo apt-get install sopcast-player

This should install the SopCast Player. If you are prompted to enter your administrator password do so. If you are prompted to confirm the download and install do so.

Step Seven

Reboot your computer and then look for the SopCast Player in the Multimedia menu. It all should be ready to use.

Thanks to SopCast, Jason Scheunemann and everyone using SopCast.


Please leave comments and let me know how you get on.