Archive: 2008-06
Obfuscation is no protection
It may surprise some readers, but I don’t actually have a bad relationship with anyone at the BBC. I had an interesting and cordial conversation with someone from the iPlayer team (not the implementation part) at Mashed last weekend. I think a lot of people there are aware of the futility of trying to lock down content that’s simultaneously being digitally broadcast in the clear.
Better WiFi reconnection with Wicd
The default WiFi network connection tool on Ubuntu/Xubuntu is NetworkManager, which does a pretty poor job. I’ve been using Wicd as a replacement for about six months, and it’s a lot better, despite a few significant bugs (that have now been fixed in the codebase, if not in the currently released version).
Local shipwreck
I live near what’s left of the Surrey Docks, part of which is now a marina. There are a number of houseboats there, along with other craft repurposed for habitation—a WW2-era US Navy boat, for example—and I’ve often thought that there’s a certain attraction to that kind of accommodation. It doesn’t hold quite the same appeal any longer. This is what I saw as I came home tonight:
iPlayer update: Resume functionality is back
My sleeplessness is your gain. Thanks to Paul G’s useful research (reported in the comments of a previous post), we now know that it’s not really necessary to leap around in the file.
Implementing RTMP in Ruby
I’ve spent my time at Mashed this weekend working on an implementation of Adobe’s proprietary RTMP protocol. This is used by many Flash streaming implementations; being able to replicate it means that we can begin to use streaming content in our own ways. That will open up a huge amount of online media.
We found the flowerpot!
The constantly-changing XOR encryption on the iPlayer downloads turned out to be a red herring. The Beebhack team—it’s definitely a team effort now—has been hard at work finding the real secret that lets the iPhone download working video. And, as of last night, it’s been cracked. Downloads are back!
Terrorists stole my brain
I went to Barcelona for a short four-day break the other weekend, mainly because it was cheaper to visit than almost anywhere within the UK. You’d never guess that fuel is expensive and flying is bad for the environment, would you?
More changes to the iPlayer
As of last night or so, the Beeb are now using a slightly different XOR scheme to encrypt programmes. The offsets and the pattern are different.
iPlayer Downloader project page
In order to make it easier for everyone to keep track of updates, I’ve made a project page for iplayer-dl, the GUI, and my general iPlayer downloading efforts. I’ll continue to blog updates, but it should make finding the current status a bit easier.
Faster decryption for iPlayer downloads
I’ve managed to make a decent improvement to the code that performs the iPlayer XOR decryption. It’s not as fast as it could be in C, but it’s a lot better than it was.
iPlayer downloading fixes and enhancements
There’s new stuff for GUI and command-line users alike.
BBC iPlayer countermeasures prove futile yet again
I left a conundrum behind last week, shortly before I left for a long weekend in Barcelona. (It was very nice, by the way, thank you.) I’m delighted to see that others have been hard at work in my absence, defeating the Beeb’s latest iPlayer countermeasure.
Advantage BBC
Although my downloader and various other people’s efforts are still working to download programmes from the iPlayer, the files we now get back won’t actually play on anything.
iPlayer downloads for the masses
Last round on the Underground
If nothing else, last night showed that it’s possible to raise an army via Facebook. Boris has banned drinking on the Tube from 1st June, and thousands of people turned up for the last ever Circle Line party—well, the last with alcohol, anyway.
