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The secret lives of Apple developers
Apple used its strongest Attenborough voice to poke a little fun at its 2018 WWDC attendees on Monday. The keynote's opening video called back to last year's mega-hit BBC documentary series Planet Earth II and provides the viewing public, for perhaps the first time, a look into the migratory and social habits of the elusive Developer tritorapsis. Nature is a cruel and unforgiving mistress, to be sure, but not nearly as cruel as Apple's PR department is in this promotional video.
The best movies and music to give as gifts
Not everything in our holiday gift guide is a gadget, per se. We know that media, including physical media, make good gifts, so made sure to include a few DVDs, plus some manga and a vinyl record, to boot. Depending on your loved one's taste, you'll want to buy them Blade Runner: The Final Cut in 4K, Spider-Man: Homecoming (also in 4K) or Planet Earth II -- another great way to make the most out of a UHD TV. For the binge-watcher in your life, you might consider scooping up the soundtrack to Netflix's Stranger Things, available in several volumes. And, for that person in your life who loves graphic novels, we recommend the hardcover version of Ghost in the Shell, volumes 1, 2 and 3.
BBC iPlayer to host a ton of TV box sets this Christmas
Nippy mornings and early sunsets. The British winter is here, bringing with it the perfect weather for TV bingeing. For many, that means Netflix, Now TV and Amazon Video, however this year the BBC is embracing the box set culture too. A huge collection of programming will soon return to iPlayer, including the first three seasons of Peaky Blinders, the Tom Hardy drama Taboo and the Golden Globe-winning Wolf Hall. The BBC is also adding crime hit Line of Duty, Happy Valley and a bunch of modern Sherlock, including season three, four and the 2016 special, The Abominable Bride.
Netflix and Amazon leave the BAFTA TV awards empty-handed
What should have been a night to remember became one to forget for Netflix yesterday. The company started the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) TV awards with six nominations — five for The Crown and one for Stranger Things — but walked away with nothing. Amazon and Transparent had a similarly poor evening, losing to The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story in the international category.
'Planet Earth II' on 4K Blu-ray will make you want a new TV
Planet Earth II looks so good on 4K Blu-ray that it completely justifies the existence of the doomed disc format. The original Planet Earth sold most consumers on the benefits of Blu-ray and HD video in 2007. It was like peering through a pristine window for the first time, after being stuck with muddy standard definition video for decades. This version of Planet Earth II, on the other hand, is like stepping through that window and into a whole new world of clarity.
Nature documentary 'Planet Earth II' is coming to Snapchat
Planet Earth II was probably the BBC's best piece of TV programming last year. The documentary series captured and, more importantly, explained the natural world with nuanced narration and breathtaking cinematography. Now, the show is coming to Snapchat. A deal between Snap Inc and the British broadcaster will see a modified version released through the social network. It'll have six episodes and, of course, be optimized for vertical viewing. Snap says the series will also use "binaural recording," a dual-microphone setup that's meant to imitate 3D stereo sound. It's not clear exactly how long each episode will be, however.
BBC tests 4K iPlayer with 'Planet Earth II'
For four glorious minutes, Brits will be able to watch Planet Earth II in 4K. The broadcaster is releasing some "experimental footage" in the ultra HD resolution today, which viewers can watch until "early next year" on a small number of Panasonic TVs. It's a short clip, featuring a frog in a luscious jungle and a jaguar stalking its prey. The new footage also uses Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG), a form of High Dynamic Range (HDR) which promises sharper and more colourful images. The BBC says the test clip is an "early but important step" towards offering 4K full-time on iPlayer.
New BBC app highlights the best of David Attenborough
On Sir David Attenborough's 90th birthday earlier this year, the BBC announced it was developing a mobile app to showcase the veteran presenter's huge body of work. "Attenborough's Story of Life" is finally available to download for iOS and Android today, and features more than 1,000 curated clips from the 40-plus BBC shows Attenborough has been involved in over the past 60 years. Best of all, it's available worldwide for free, so while Brits are enjoying fresh weekly installments of 4K nature porn courtesy of Planet Earth II, the new app means everyone else can get their Attenborough fix too.
Nature documentary 'Planet Earth II' looks absolutely stunning
For people who love showing off their high-end A/V gear, documentaries from BBC Earth are about as good as it gets for infinitely rewatchable reference material. But the clock ticks ever forward and some of those older releases don't look quite as good anymore thanks to screen sizes getting dramatically bigger and pixel counts higher. But now we have our first glimpse at the shot-in-4K Planet Earth II by way of a trailer from BBC One.
