WiiPG

A while back, some of my colleagues in the Navigation team at BBC R&D wrote a nifty Java-based EPG called "Genome", which demonstrates some new ideas for interacting with TV schedules. Then, back in February, some (different) colleagues and I joined the Wiimote hacking bandwagon and wrote a GlovePIE script to use the Wiimote as an inteface to it. It got reported on the backstage.bbc.co.uk blog, which I recommend for anyone who might be reading this one, incidentally. We have since spent a lunchtime filming how the whole thing works, and you can view it, in glorious wobbly-focus web-quality video, below.



Personally I don't think that this is intrinsically an impressive hack, especially since the bit that took all the effort was creating the EPG in the first place, not the superficial (but undeniable) coolness of being able to control it by waving your arms around (the bit that impresses most people is the brief bit of gesture recognition half-way through - tilting the Wiimote left and right to zoom in and out of the EPG's "grid" display of the schedule). The thing I like about it is the same thing that excites every hacker who picks up a Wiimote though - the potential. If you have access to a Wiimote and a PC with a Bluetooth adaptor, start playing already!
  • Posted: 29/06/07 06:19PM
  • Category: BBC

Write reply

This item is closed, it's not possible to add new comments to it or to vote on it

Comments must be approved before being published. Thank you!