CBC News on the iPhone
If you were one of the suckers people like me who lined up at 4:00 a.m. just to buy a cell phone last Friday, you are probably still stroking the glistening plastic of your new iPhone.
If you can tear yourself away from Super Monkey Ball for just a moment, you may be interested to learn that CBCnews.ca has just launched a special web site for iPhone users. Just point the Safari browser on your phone to cbc.ca/iphone and you can get the lastest news from CBC.
iPhone users have always been able to see the CBCnews web site, but it’s just been a minature display of the regular site desktop users see.
If, on the other hand, you’re a rational person and didn’t spend nearly $3,000 over a mandatory locked-in three year plan, you can see access CBCnews.ca on your cell phone by pointing your phone’s browser to m.cbc.ca.
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I think the rational people own an iPod touch.
Anyway, the iPod/iPhone site looks really good, but there’s no way to access the regional news feeds.
You can also just go to http://www.cbc.ca in either your iTouch or iPhone and you will be redirected to http://www.cbc.ca/iphone/ automatically.
Sitting at Dundas Square, thrilled with my new iPhone.
Works fine on my Nokia as well.
I’m personally holding off on the iPhone for a year or two in the hope that:
1) They’ll get the bugs worked out
2) The phones will be better
3) They will cost less
4) The plans will be better
(Pretty safe bet all 4 will happen)
Wonder if Apple paid for that version of the site? No? Free advertising?
Hooray!
The regional news section is at the bottom of the page – get scrolling.
What will it take for the CBC to wake up?
When I type in cbc.ca/video on my iPhone I’m presented with a black page.
Is this an example of how “with it” the CBC I.T. dept. is?
I can listen to radio stations from around the world, but not CBC Vancouver or Toronto.
I get the impression that the CBC is treating all these technological breakthroughs and advancements as if they were a passing fad.
You can pull bloggers together from across the country for a live hour of trivia, but nowhere is the CBC holding a conference about its own future, and the future of delivering programming in the age of total connectivity.
Do you think that people aren’t interested? That the CBC should never lead but always follow?
Did the people at the TBC learn nothing from the passions expressed about jPod?
Did the phrase “global village” go right over their heads, even though it’s been on the table for more than forty years?
Is there a shortage of money? Or just of ideas?
Today’s CBC doesn’t seem to want to take risks, especially when it comes to free expression. And yet they’re in the business of free expression.
They can’t acknowledge that standards are changing, that you need to come up with better content, and better ways of delivering that content.
The CBC is going nowhere on both counts.
I’m not going to get an iPhone until it can access the streaming media from cbc.ca — for instance, the radio feeds, or last night’s National, for instance. Those come through great on my Treo 700p, and I just tested a Treo 800w and was able to hear and see CBC’s audio and video streams just fine.
The problem is that the iPhone can’t decode Windows Media files (plus it can’t do rtsp:// connections, either), so since streaming media is the only way I can access most of the CBC’s non-Web content down here in California, I’ll just have to wait until either a) Apple—or a third party—provides support for WMA and WMV (not likely, I’m guessing—see the Flash foot-dragging), or b) the CBC makes feeds available in some sort of QuickTime format that plays nice with the iPhone. AOL managed to do that with a bunch of CBS radio stations here in the States, so it is doable.
…Although I’m sure it’d cost some extra $$$ to do that, so I’m not holding my breath anytime soon. But it would be nice!
Of course, I could just wait six months or so and see what Google’s Android platform has to offer… Technology marches on, etc.
Be careful with that strategy Justin. Thos four things will always be happening. You will always find better, less expensive technology immediately after purchasing something. If you like it and want it, might as well jump in with both feet.
I was going to suggest trying the OGG stream, but it appears it’s not supported either. (I suppose that’s what you expect from a soup-to-nuts media platform.)
I also am waiting to see what Android ends up doing – the iPhone’s too locked down for my liking. Not to mention the whole Rogers cash grab situation.
Doesn’t the premise of getting CBC news on your iphone contradict the study (next story) that new media or technology will not overtake traditional broadcasters?
The CBC has seen its numbers decline steadily since, well, since “the restructuring” was implemented and it’s not likely that podcasting or iphones or new technology and accessibility will change that precipitous trend.