Hulu Desktop arrives on Linux

Montezuma: I get BBC 1-4 and BBC World from my Dutch cable provider. I love BBC 3 and 4. Good shows, good comedy and a ton of Doctor Who :-)

Sander, The bbc must have a higher opinion of the Dutch than Americans because all we get is dumbed down trashy BBC America (aside from BBC World which I watch all the time).

Probably not so much the BBC having a high opinion of the Dutch as my Dutch cable provider is willing to pay the BBC :-)

Interesting because here in the US lots of people are willing to pay a lot of money to PBS which is of a similar quality to the BBC. I would have thought therefore that there should be a market for BBC1-4.

There probably is a market, but likely the networks aren't seeing it (kinda like Linux and OEMs actually, just to provide a tail back to FOSS).

Probably Sander is paying more to his cable provider than I do (and I have old fashioned analog TV), because if you have the cheapest cable subscription you only receive BBC 1 & 2. No problem though, TopGear can also be watched at Dutch / Belgian TV a year later, and some of the documentaries are also broadcasted on ZDF - synchronized in German of course.

You are correct Hans. I pay about 8 or 9 euro a month for standard cable with 30 channels (among which are BBC 1 and 2) and then I pay 7 euro a month extra for some 60 more channels and 100 extra radio stations. That extra package has BBC 3, 4, SciFi, 13th street and more.

Doesn't Hulu stream video over the internet? Why do I need a 'Hulu desktop' when I already have a browser to watch their content in?

Browsing their website, it says that the desktop gives a lean-back experience that can be controlled with six buttons.

I'm not sure what a lean-back experience is and I don't think I used more than six buttons when I watched some of the content on their website....

Checked again, I used one button on my mouse.

Does Hulu desktop allow you to watch content off-line? Does it reduce the commercials?

Is a lean-back experience (what ever that is) that important?

Here you only get BBC America if you order the very expensive digital cable with HD. We passed. BBC World News and some other BBC programming is available on PBS.

I use hulu fairly regularly, but I also function best with some kind of background noise going. Typically I use the pop out function, pin the little viewer to my desktop at a top layer so its always there and then get on with whatever I was doing. Typically either doing IRC support or researching the next thing I am supposed to be documenting.

A desktop ... no thanks, it already fills the roll I want it to.

Caitlyn, In the NY Metro area they offer both BBC World (24/7 unlike PBS which is nice) and BBC America as part of a fairly standard package. I must say though that Sander is paying a lot less than me for a lot more which is annoying ;-) Why they can;t sell it for a few bucks a month on the internet is beyond me.

Quoting:Why they can;t sell it for a few bucks a month on the internet is beyond me.

It looks like that is exactly what the BBC is planning to do with iPlayer international.

Quoting:BBC World News and some other BBC programming is available on PBS.

And Parliament on occasion on C-SPAN. Good for entertainment value... ;-)

C-SPAN2 also picks up Arutz HaKnesset (the Knesset Channel) from Israel late at night when a major speech is scheduled. I watched the speeches by Prime Minister Netanyahu and opposition leader Livni at the opening of the winter session on Monday. The translater wasn't great so I wish they had the original Hebrew sound and subtitles but I'll settle for having something rather than nothing.

BTW, the Prime Minister was heckled once or twice and Tzipi Livni was heckled mercilessly, to the point that the Speaker of the Knesset had two MKs removed from the chamber. If folks think what happens in the British Parliament or the one outburst during President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress are bad they really need to watch the Knesset in action. The British are positively mild by comparison.

I've found that watching democracy in action from any country is a bit like watching sausage being made. The process is ugly but the results are tastier than any alternative I've seen. It really doesn't seem to matter if the left, center or right are in charge or what country you look at.

Quoting:I must say though that Sander is paying a lot less than me for a lot more which is annoying ;-)

Same here, and I'm only 50 miles away (I pay €16,25 a month). I'm doing something wrong probably.

Quoting:If folks think what happens in the British Parliament or the one outburst during President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress are bad they really need to watch the Knesset in action.

Or the fist-fights that break out in South Korea's legislature.

Quoting:I've found that watching democracy in action from any country is a bit like watching sausage being made. The process is ugly but the results are tastier than any alternative I've seen.

Uh.... Treyf?

You can make kosher sausage if you use kosher ingredients. Sausage does not equate to pork. My gtrandfather was a kosher butcher who most certainly made sausage to sell in his shop. Later in life he worked at a very fine restaurant in New York City that wasn't kosher so maybe he had to deal with pork there. I don't know.

BTW, the local Whole Foods sells fish sausage (various kinds), vegetarian sausage, chicken sausage, turkey sausage, etc...

In the last year or two where I've been involved in a couple of FLOSS development projects I have noticed that their development process is a lot like making sausage as well.

Sander, No my understanding is that they will be selling BBC America and BBC World in the US unfortunately. Do you have any information contradicting this?

Quoting:I have noticed that their development process is a lot like making sausage as well.

Hmm, and was the result just as tasty?

@Hans: In one case, maybe. In the other case, no, it seems it will never come to fruition.