BBC may slash online output by half

Times are tough at the BBC, which is mulling over suggestions offered by director general Mark Thompson to cut its web output by half and cutting down 25% of its online staff and budget. Other suggestions included in Thompson's strategic review of the BBC's practices are shutting down digital radio stations BBC 6Music and the Asian Network, capping spending on sports at £300m (RM1.54 billion) a year, cutting the £100m foreign film and TV show acquisitions budget by 25%, and selling off BBC Magazine.

According to the British newspaper The Times, the proposed cuts would save the broadcasting station – which is funded by the British public through licensing fees – by £600m, which would then be reinvested in UK-originated content. The proposal was also made with the assumption that licence fees would be frozen in 2013 – a threat the opposition Conservative party have promised to make true should they win the next General Elections.

However, The Guardian understands that no final decisions have been made, with talks ongoing between the BBC executive board, led by the director general, and the BBC Trust — the corporation's governance and regulatory body, which will have to sign off on the changes.

The Guardian added: “A source close to the BBC Trust said today that the strategic review is still 'at the stage of discussions' and that no one at the corporation knows exactly what the outcome will be on services and spending priorities, because this has not been agreed.”

The newspaper added that the review will likely be discussed by the BBC Trust at its next monthly meeting in March.

Apple bars (almost) all sexy programmes from its App Store

Apple Inc came under fire last week when, without warning, it began to purge programmes that contained sexually related material from its iTunes App Store. An estimated 5,000 to 6,000 applications were removed as part of its censorship exercise, which took place after customers voiced their concerns over the degrading or objectionable material contained in the apps.

"It came to the point where we were getting customer complaints from women who found the content getting too degrading and objectionable, as well as parents who were upset with what their kids were able to see," said Apple's head of worldwide product marketing Philip Schiller in an interview with the New York Times.

However, Apple's latest move is marred by accusations of favouritism towards established and well-known publishers. For example, Apple has not removed Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit 2010 application, which clearly violates Apple's new standards.

When asked about the Sports Illustrated app, Schiller said Apple took the source and intent of an app into consideration. "The difference is this is a well-known company with previously published material available broadly in a well-accepted format," he said.

The arbitrary nature of Apple's effort to censor its app store has caused many developers to wonder about the viability of building a business model around Apple's App Store.

“First Apple relaxes restrictions, and developers understandably rush in to make sales. Then, Apple yanks the rug out from under them, while allowing established media brands to continue to profit from sexually oriented material,” wrote Houston Chronicle technology correspondent Dwight Silverman.

Silverman added: “At best, this is bungling on a grand scale. At worst, it's self-serving hypocrisy. If Apple is going to be a gatekeeper for what amounts to an information revolution - and the app phenomenon is exactly that - it needs to get its act together, and quickly.”

Viral video of the week: A lesson in Augmented Reality by Recognizr

So how can augmented reality applications help improve the way you connect with people? Recognizr, an Augmented Reality Identification application developed by TAT Cascades, shows how powerful computer vision and 3D graphics can be captured by a device as small as your mobile phone:

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