The ttuttle.net blog

NBC Viiv/Centrino-only content doesn't work on Linux

NBC is screwing over Linux users.

Some of their websites, including the one for Saturday Night Live, offer a link to this page, where "Select NBC Universal shows are now available for download on Intel(R) Viiv(TM) technology and Intel(R) Centrino(TM) mobile technology based-PCs for a limited time in the United States." Nothing is stated about browser and operating system requirements.

I'm running Firefox on Linux, and when I clicked on the Next button, I got a cryptic JavaScript error, "mediacontrol is not defined":

If I dismiss it, a graphic load on that page about downloading an ActiveX control, and then I am redirected to an "error" page full of random Unicode characters:

Now, as a Linux user I am used to often being shut out of websites or software because my platform is not supported. I usually just look for an alternative, or decide, sour-grapes-style, that if they didn't support Linux, then their content probably wasn't worth it anyway.

But NBC doesn't say what operating systems they support! They probably assumed that "Intel(R) Centrino(TM) mobile technology based-PCs" only ran Windows. Well, straight from the horse's mouth (Intel), we have it that "Linux will run on any Intel chipset-based platform including laptop PCs with the Intel Core Duo processor, Mobile Intel 945 Express Chipset family and Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection." (found here) and that, more importantly, "Intel Centrino mobile technology supports the following operating systems...All Linux distributions supporting kernel version 2.6.8 or later" (found here).

So NBC... I live in the United States, and I have a Centrino laptop... where are my videos?

(I've sent an email to the NBC webmaster about this, and if I get a reply, I'll post it here.)

P.S.: Kudos to Intel. Your Linux support means I can have working power management, wireless, and good-enough 3D graphics on Linux, and get 8 hours of battery life. Try that with Vista!

TellMe Easter Egg Update

I sent an email to TellMe. They've since removed the egg. :-( Probably something about copyright issues, I'd bet.

I asked them, by email, if they could at least indulge my curiosity and explain the significance of the egg. The person who answered my email didn't know the answer:

We're curious :) We put something in a few months ago for our employees, so it's probably that. As long as it doesn't negatively affect our recognition for regular Tellme services that people are trying to get to, we'll probably keep it in.

I explained that the misrecognition that lead me to it was over an extremely bad VoIP connection, and that it wasn't a big deal. I also asked if they could put it back so everyone wouldn't think I was nuts. ;-)

"Festivus" Easter Egg in TellMe (1-800-555-TELL)

Back when they were just starting out, Tellme Networks, Inc, the company responsible for a large portion of the speech recognition-enabled phone systems in use today, started a service where you could call 1-800-555-TELL and get news, weather, stock quotes, and other stuff by just speaking.

One night, I was calling 800-555-TELL to try out my new VoIP connection from Vitelity.net, and it made a significant recognition mistake.

I had spoken "blackjack", hoping to play their voice-enabled blackjack game. Instead, the system thought I said "Festivus", and sent me to a category that none of the menus listed, and that I never knew existed. It played the following quote from Seinfeld:

Frank: ...I haven't celebrated Festivus in years! What is your interest?

Kramer: Well, just tell me everything, huh?

Frank: Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. I reach for the last one they had--but so did another man. As I rained blows opon him, I realized there had to be another way!

Kramer: What happened to the doll?

Frank: It was destroyed. But out of that, a new holiday was born. "A Festivus for the rest of us!"

I was delighted to find this easter egg, and ecstatic when Google told me I was probably the first one to discover it. You can try it yourself: just call 1-800-555-8355, wait for the "Main Menu" prompt (you can interrupt the listing of categories) and say "Festivus".