Things the BBC should do but don't #1: iCal TV
.
I’ve become a big fan of iCal on the Mac. iCal has got a the fine balance of �features vs. simplicity� about right, so suddenly my life is colour coded.
I’ve got 9 calendars in it (hence the colour coding). Personal stuff, Birthdays (linked to the Address Book), Coursework tasks and deadlines, Lecture schedules, University events, Work, Gigs, integration with Backpack and finally �Television�.
I’m terrible at remembering to watch TV. I get deeply into reading miscellany on the internet that the time just passes by. So I’ve started adding the schedules into iCal. OK, that’s �schedule� singular, since the only programme I care enough to watch at the moment is Danny Wallace’s fantastic �How to start your own country�.
Now (to the point), the thought occurs that this system would be far better if the BBC, Radio Times or someone has a service whereby I could browse the TV listings for all the channels I have access too, tick a check-box next to the programmes I want to watch and then have it generate an iCalendar to subscribe to in iCal. Voil�, TV listings synchronised with iCal. This will then implicitly synchronise with my phone and someday a neural implant (probably called the �iMind� or following the current Apple love of super-heroes: �Pinky�).
Links
To share this entry, or reference it in commentary of your own, link to the following:
- Permalink: https://benward.uk/blog/ical_tv
- Shortlink: https://bnwrd.me/1SgyXA
You can file issues or provide corrections: View Source on Github. Contributor credits.
Comments
Previously, I hosted responses and commentary from readers directly on this site, but have decided not to any more. All previous comments and pingbacks are included here, but to post further responses, please refer me to a post on your own blog or other network. See instructions and recommendations of ways to do this.
It seems you’re on the same wavelength as the BBC, Ben! They recently announced an initiative to get people to come up with innovative ways of accessing TV listings. You ought to put your idea forward. BBC News has the details.
Indeed, the BBC’s backstage project does provide a fantastic opportunity to provide things like this. I don’t think I’ve got the knowledge to do this myself, but will certainly propose it to their ideas pile.
Actually, this is the sort of thing that embedded hCalendar Microformat mark-up into the listings pages could be beneficial towards, too.
I do live the possibilities of technology.
Came across this when googling “iCal TV”. Actually doing something like this for Swedish TV listings (from XMLTV sources): http://henrik.nyh.se/blog/2006/07/27/icaltv-ical-reminders-for-favorite-tv-shows-through-xmltv/
That solution could probably be adapted for other listings and other platforms (though I won’t do it :p).