The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures: How to Hack Your Home | Hacker News Reader

The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures: How to Hack Your Home

rigb.org

15 pointsneilellis9 comments

It's a bit sad that the Christmas Lectures have been relegated to BBC4, they used to have a pretty prominent position in the Christmas schedule.

Channels and schedules aren't really that relevant any more, though. They'll be available on iPlayer, which is probably all that matters.

I think you get more casual viewers when something is on a prime channel.

People who might not normally watch something with the word 'lecture' in it would just skip over it in iPlayer might continue watching it if they run into it as it's being broadcast and something interesting is happening.

> I think you get more casual viewers when something is on a prime channel.

This is how I first came across them as a child.

The television channels have wider reach. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_One#Availability_outside_...: "BBC One is [...] available on cable and IPTV in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Liechtenstein"

iPlayer is more restricted.

It is (though it might be an encouragement to sample the joy that is BBC Four), but the bigger sadness is that they're down to 3 lecures. I used to attend in person as a kid, back in the days when there were five hour long lectures, allowing the presenter real space to explore their subject in depth. 3 hours is still a good run, but I hanker for what once was!

Honestly, the Internet of Things is a design proposition rather than a scientific one. Are there any algorithms or crucial technical innovations that are specific to IoT? The totally underwhelming range of hacks that have emerged from the Arduino (etc.) maker scene makes me really skeptical that this is an important area for really valuable innovations. Design has more to do with phenomenology than technology, and probably always will.

The RI is apparently not in great shape anyway, although I have heard little since this: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/6964971/Susan-Greenf...

I remember these as a kid, lectures from some professor guy (usually a guy) and people in brown coats pushing in some bizarre experiment. It told me it was ok, even a career, to be fiddling with stuff, wiring bits up or setting fire to it, just experimenting. It was aimed at kids, amazingly had kids in the audience and did not talk down or try to "entertain" them.

It is something I would like to see put on after a real crowd puller - such as doctor who, almost a perfect companion show in fact.

My son asked me yesterday to read a (kids) encyclopaedia of science with him because he wanted to learn. It was a great moment. Every kid has those moments, and Even TV has a duty to support them.

An internet of things lecture seems like its more suited for a lightning talk at a hackathon.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com