pbs

Fanhattan adds popular new services

TV and movie fans: one of the best streaming media and entertainment discovery apps for iOS just got better with three new content providers.

Fanhattan for iOS (download for iPhone or iPad) already let you discover and watch TV and movies on your iOS device from many popular services including Netflix, Hulu Plus, iTunes, Vudu, and ABC. Starting today, Fanhattan has added a wealth of new content from PBS, Crackle, and Lifetime.

The Fanhattan App offers a great layout for entertainment discovery. To get started, you choose between TV or Movies on the home screen. From there, Fanhattan offers several ways to dig in to your favorite shows, letting you swipe to browse related content like reviews from Metacritic, trailers, actor and crew bios, and much more.… Read more

Steve Jobs in PBS doc: You can change the world

How can you fit the life of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs into a one-hour special? PBS takes on that feat with the documentary "One Last Thing," which airs tonight.

The special provides a broad look at Jobs' business career and personality based on interviews with those who knew him, though mostly retreads ground covered in various Jobs biographies. CNET was able to view a copy of the special ahead of its broadcast at 10 p.m. ET (10 p.m. PT, as well).

Of note is a "never-before broadcast interview" with Jobs from 1994, two … Read more

PBS to air Steve Jobs documentary Nov. 2

PBS next week will air a one-hour special on the life and career of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs that features interviews and footage with Jobs, along with anecdotes from those who knew him.

The special, which airs Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET, is named "One Last Thing" in honor of Jobs' trademark catch phrase, used when unveiling surprise products and software news at the end of the company's events. (He also frequently use "one more thing.")

"From the vast complexity of time and space to the genius of a man who put … Read more

PBS chief on child education platforms (podcast)

PBS has long provided programming for children along with "viewers like you." It's famous programs, such as "Sesame Street" and "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," reach millions of children each day. But like other media companies, PBS is also on the Web and mobile devices, providing videos, songs, and learning games for kids to use at home and school.

The extensive classroom material the nonprofit broadcaster provides includes this lesson on explorer Henry Hudson, aimed at grades 3 through 12.

I recently spent an afternoon at PBS headquarters in Arlington, Va., where, in addition to … Read more

Ken Burns documentary to debut on iPhone, iPad

PBS is debuting the first episode of a new Ken Burns documentary on its iPhone and iPad apps ahead of the actual launch of the series on TV.

"Prohibition," a documentary about the country's move to outlaw alcohol in the 1920s, will premiere tomorrow on the PBS app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. The free app offers streaming access to both previews and full episodes of notable PBS shows, as well as a schedule guide.

Created by filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, "Prohibition" will then segue to TV screens, with the first episode … Read more

Kids' rubber band instrument plays Bach, nets prize

A lot of kids would see rubbers bands as weapons to be flung at the back of their classmates' heads. Not Paul Poulos, Kalin Ngo, and Robert Schill.

The students from Westlake High School in Westlake, Ohio, attached rubber bands to wood boxes to create a musical instrument that plays real live music. And not Justin Bieber, either. Bach's "J'esu, Joy of Man's Desiring."

Their DIY instrument so impressed the judges of the Design Squad Nation's Big Build Contest that it netted them first prize in the competition. The contest, sponsored by the PBS competition series, challenged teams of 'tweens and teens, led by an adult mentor, to super-size one of the 40 Design Squad hands-on projects found online.

As with last year's contest--which focused on the green inventions and yielded projects like a kids' commuter bike and a temporary shelter for disaster victims--this year's devices showed some serious inventor moxie. The two runners-up and nine finalists created a confetti-launching trebuchet; a solar-powered hot tub; a bamboo sailboat with a tarp for the sail; an electromagnetic crane; and an entire living room made out of recycled cardboard, to name just a handful.

For the grand-prize-winning contraption, called String Thing, the inventors attached rubber band "strings" to handmade plywood "sound boxes" that amplify the strains of the strummed rubber bands in much the same way a guitar works. Nine separate sections hold nine strings, and each string is tuned to a different note based on markers that hold the string down. Though the bands are lined up to play the Bach composition in the video below, the instrument is totally customizable by moving the markers on the strings. … Read more

LulzSec hackers attack Senate site

The hacking group known as LulzSec hit its latest target over the weekend: the U.S. Senate.

In an attack confirmed to the media by a Senate representative, LulzSec broke into the Senate's Web site and was able to gain access to the server's directory and file structure, the contents of which the group published on its own site.

In response, the government initiated a security review but so far has determined that network security was not compromised and that no user information was breached.

"The intruder did not gain access into the Senate computer network and … Read more

Best of Buzz Out Loud 4: Week of 5-30-11 Hackers, dangerous cell phones and worms from hell (Podcast)

This week on our roundup of best BOL moments, Lockheed and PBS join the roster of recent victims as hackers motives expand, World Health Organization says cell phones may cause cancer and 'Worms From Hell' unearth possibilities for extraterrestrial life.

Buzz Out Loud 1479: At Area 51, Tupac is still alive (Podcast)

Hackers are targeting everything from defense contractors (for obvious reasons) to PBS (for slightly less obvious reasons related to their journalistic integrity), and frankly, we were sad to hear that Tupac actually isn't alive somewhere in New Zealand. Also, my report from Area 51, what Apple will deliver at WWDC, and the best Lady Gaga/KFC chicken Photoshop we've ever seen. --Molly

The 404 831: Where Tupac Shakur will not cameo in 'The Hangover 3' (podcast)

We're back from the holiday weekend and we all had a good time--until "The Hangover 2" happened. The movie itself wasn't as awful as expected, so tune into a spoiler-free review on today's episode before you rush out and give Zach Galifianakis another $14 bucks.

The 404 Digest for Episode 831

PBS Hacked, claims 'Tupac alive' in New Zealand. " Literally Unbelievable" is a blog dedicated to Facebook posts that don't know The Onion is satirical. It's official: iOS 5, OS X Lion, and iCloud. Jeff show and tell: LightDims.

Episode 831 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more