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Using the schedule and programme data, this prototype allows a user to locate programmes which are similar to one another and presents this in an easy to understand and interactive visual form.

At present, the algorithm for determining similarity is pretty rudimentary, simply comparing the genres of each programme. In the future, a more intelligent system could be put in place which could consider identifying comparable keywords in the synopses and also the target audience for the programmes, based on the time of day at which they are broadcast. Also, for now, it just searches ´óÏó´«Ã½ One, Two, Three and Four; but there is no reason that the user couldn't have the option to choose which services to include.

Comments and suggestions are very welcome.

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A mobile phone application for road traffic news. The user is presented with information based on the UK road system (e.g. the current problems on the A10). The user can determine which roads they are interested in, to avoid unnecessary information being sent to the mobile.

TravelSync uses a custom server in order to optimise the ´óÏó´«Ã½ feed and reduce network traffic. This is to reduce the cost of bandwidth and improve network performance when using mobile devices.

The client is simple to use and designed to be as portable as Java/J2ME (MIDP1) will allow. The next steps include taking advantage of MIDP2 features.

I built the application because I wanted a cheap, quick and reliable means of accessing traffic news whilst on the move. In car navigation systems are too expensive, the radio is too infrequent and unreliable.

Given more resource....

1) Build a more sophisticated user interface using (e.g) speech.
2) Develop a 'push' facility so the mobile automatically receives updates.
3) Integrate GPS for traffic news base on location.
4) Develop the capability for other queries (e.g. What's up in Cambridge?) [Perhaps a simple interface back to ´óÏó´«Ã½ Mobile here]
5) Anything else that comes from user feedback

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Don’t forget to get your entries in for the by the end of today (Monday 3rd October 2005). Don’t worry - we’ll accept entries right up until 23:59!

Just submit your work via the .

Finally, please do submit whatever you’ve got – even if it’s not finished. The ideas and the concepts you have worked on are perhaps more important than the overall quality of the final product. Don’t forget it’s just a prototype we’re looking for - not a market-ready proposition!

Best of luck!

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Why not have links to Google Earth from news stories, the weather etc? I know there are real-time Weather forecasts available already but they tend to be radar overlays of rain or dodgy graphics - not an isobar in sight :0)

If I had the time and money I would put myself on a course which would give me the technical skills to actually build any ideas I had...

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Built using the Microsoft .Net Framework, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Schedule has been designed to be compatible with all devices running the latest Microsoft Operating System with .Net capabilities. This means that you can view an entire 7 day ´óÏó´«Ã½ schedule on XDAs, PDAs, mobile phones and of course a standard desktop or laptop PC. The dynamic interface allows you to view the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Schedule in the same way on any device, even with a screen resolution as low as 320 x 240.

This is the base version of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Schedule on which all other features can be built. With more time I would look at adding the following features:

> Allow users to click on a programme (in the programme listing) to see
> more information about that programme and links its website. There can
> also be an internal media player to allow explanations of the
> programme through audio and or video

Settings to allow for local area, ensuring the user sees information related to their area, eg local channels etc.

> Setting to allow user to add 'favorite' programmes and to add alarms
> so that they will be alerted when a chosen programme is about to
> start, these can be set to be one-offs, daily, weekly or continuous
> depending on the nature of the programme

> 'Whats on now' option in channel listing which displays what is on at
> the current moment in time. This could also be expanded so that
> hovering over the icon in the system tray will show this information

Currently ´óÏó´«Ã½ Schedule stands as a good computer based schedule viewer. However, with the time to make improvements ´óÏó´«Ã½ Schedule could be made into a fully integrated solution allowing people to plan what they want to watch and/or listen to without worrying about missing a programme.

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A Flash file which, when downloaded and run locally, either in a browser window or in a stand-alone Flash player, can be used as a TV guide, allowing search by genre, channel, or keyword, or viewing in the standard grid, with programs listed by time, for any date in the next two weeks.

It also pulls in working relevant ads (usually!) from Google, although this functionality needs some work - particularly when using the grid view.

It could do with some decent design to make it somewhat more visually appealing, and also seems to have problems getting data through some corporate firewalls. However, if this is the case, it suggests the user redirects their browser to a webpage which does pretty much the same job. (And again, needs design work!)

Ideally, later versions of the Flash movie will allow registration for email alerts of forthcoming programmes of interest.

It's about an 80k download, so there's no excuse not to give it a try. When new versions or updates are released, you'll be notified by a message in the bottom right of the Flash movie.

Oh - yes, why did I build it..? I got sick of not knowing what was on TV because my Daughter (1 year old on Saturday) had tried to eat the Guardian Guide again...

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Offline Traffic News takes the data provided by the travel TPEG feeds and converts this to a map overlay suitable for use in common sat nav systems, such as TomTom.

[Note from Backstage Team: We have been unable to test this as we do not have any SatNav software to hand. Let us know if you have used this successfuly!]

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While I was on Work Experience, I used the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Desktop Ticker and I quite liked it, but found it had disappeared off the interenet when I got home. So I built my own version, which also has sport headlines, On This Day facts, GMail checking and eBay searching built in, as well as the ability to add any feed you like - sort of like a one stop shop. I built it using Game Maker (www.gamemaker.nl), as it is simple enough to use, but with DLLs can be made to be extremely powerful, and it also has good graphics functions, which make displaying the results easier. In the future, I would like to add a directory of feeds which can be remotely updated and the ability to get five day weather forecasts off the ´óÏó´«Ã½ by postcode location.

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An instant messaging bot that you can query to get information on the 7-day ´óÏó´«Ã½ TV schedules, and ask for programme reminders via SMS (sent 15 minutes before the start of the programme you're interested).

Improvements: lots possible, including smoother navigation and additional 3rd party integrations (essentially anything with a web API). Also, could be expanded to non-TV channels, but have for simplicity's sake limited it to TV.

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We’ve decided to extend the deadline for the to Monday 3rd October 2005. If you aren’t a member of the (and haven’t been following the discussion), read on to find out more:

Extended entry date
It sounds like many of you have (quite understandably) been enjoying the sunny weather and taking a break away from your screens... which has made Monday’s deadline for the competition pretty difficult to meet.

I’m therefore pleased to announce that we will be extending the competition to Monday 3rd October 2005.

TV-Anytime format
A number of people have also told us that they have found the TV-Anytime feeds we have been providing a wee bit too difficult to parse and include into their competition entries.

There is an open source Java parser for TV-Anytime but I’m aware many of you are not building your prototypes in Java. With this in mind, I'd like to extend the competition to include any other third-party UK TV listings data you would like to use in your prototype, not just our ´óÏó´«Ã½ TV-Anytime feed.

Competition scope
Don’t forget your entry can present TV programme data in any way you like. We're aware that the value to you of the traditional TV schedule is rapidly decreasing in an ever more "on demand" world - and part of the his competition is to begin to think about how individual programme information can be presented and promoted in a schedule-less environment.

We really do want to see all of the ideas have. And just to reiterate here some (but not all) of the areas of innovation you might want to look at:

Combine schedules with web services:

• Such as del.icio.us, technorati, etc
• Open up each programme to external annotation

Focus on genres:

• Such as all films, comedies, etc
• Signed or subtitled programming
• Vertical searching by genre

Introduce a social element to a schedule or channel:

• Bookmark programmes
• Rating/voting
• Collaborative filtering

Alert, client-push, etc:

• SMS
• Email broadcasts
• Desktop reminders

Integrate the data with existing ´óÏó´«Ã½ feeds or external sources:

• Such as IMDB
• Wikipedia
• Google Video, Yahoo Video

Create new ways of tagging programmes:

• Align with existing tagged web-based content

So to confirm: you've now got until Monday 3rd October 2005, you can use any TV listings source you like and we are interested in any ideas you have - not just EPGs!

Finally, we'd be happy to send the winner a desktop computer of same value instead of a rackmount server, if that's what they want (we'll ask the winner). And don't forget we've also still have a couple of USB MP3 players for two runners up.

Good luck with your entries
Ben

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