Internet Movie Database for Handheld Devices
Tom Sheppard
It's been a long time since I posted an announcement to Usenet. I
usually just post updates to my subscriber list.
If you're interested in getting a FREE (and ad free) lightweight version
of the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) on your handheld gadget, read on.
The IMDb's main site can be found at:
http://www.IMDb.com/
My web site is at:
http://www.magma.ca/~sheppard/IMDb/
This is a non-commercial site that I support just as a hobby. I am not
affiliated with the IMDb in any way although they have given me special
permission to use their data.
From my site you can choose the platform that interests you. I currently
support:
- Newton eBooks.
- Palm eBooks and a PQA/WCA interface to the live IMDb.
- iPod contact file.
- HTML archives for Psions and PocketPCs.
- Web interface for any web enabled handheld device.
The web interface has been tested on many cell phones with or without
WAP, the BlackBerry, Danger HipTop, Palms, Pocket PCs, cell phone/PDA
hybrids and others I don't know about. :-)
The web interface is great for people on the move with wireless access
who want to get information on any of the 365,000 movies or millions of
people listed in the IMDb. You can search by Title, Name or Character
and view the Top 250 movies. You can also view the current movies and
read entertainment news. All this in seconds.
For each movie you can view the country, MPAA rating, user rating from
1-10, number of user votes, ranking within the Top 250, genre, director,
writers, plot and full cast and crew. Most of these fields are optional
so that you can select just the information that interests you.
Give it a try. It's free. The only catch is that, if you're a movie
buff, it can be addictive.
...Tom
--
Remove 'spammenot.' prior to emailing.
PLM
This is exactly the kind of site I'm looking for :-) Unfortunately, when I
download the 2.55mb 24-month Zip archive, WinZip always tells me the file is
corrupt. :-(
PLM
"Tom Sheppard" <shep...@spammenot.magma.ca> wrote in message
news:sheppard-DE0318...@nntp.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com...
Tom Sheppard
"PLM" <nos...@zarkware.com> wrote:
> Unfortunately, when I
> download the 2.55mb 24-month Zip archive, WinZip always tells me the file is
> corrupt.
I don't use WinZip but Aladdin's StuffIt on Mac OS X to zip the archive.
I can unzip it fine under X.
Ironically, when I just tested the decompression with StuffIt on Win2K
it complained about the archive too. However, if you just let it
proceed, the decompression seems to work.
I'll investigate further and see if I can clean that up since it should
work more transparently.
Thanks for the report.
Mauricio Freitas
ages now and it's worth its content!
--
Mauricio Freitas
Handhelds, mobile: http://www.geekzone.co.nz or
http://www.bluetoothguide.com
Bluetooth guides: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=449
"Tom Sheppard" <shep...@spammenot.magma.ca> wrote in message
news:sheppard-DE0318...@nntp.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com...
PLM
If it helps, I was able to download the smaller version with a subset of the
large file, and WinZip read it just fine and was able to decompress it.
I have tried the large file with both WinZip and, on Windows XP, with the
built-in Zip-file handling (which treats zip files like a folder, and uses
the Windows Explorer interface for browsing and manipulating the files in
the zip). Neither of these techniques was able to work with the bigger
version of the file, but both techniques worked fine with the smaller file.
Thanks so much again for doing all of that work. The IMDB database is an
invaluable resource, and adding some of its functionality to my PDA is just
great!!
Appreciatively yours,
PLM
"Tom Sheppard" <shep...@spammenot.magma.ca> wrote in message
news:sheppard-FCACB5...@nntp.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com...
Tom Sheppard
"PLM" <nos...@zarkware.com> wrote:
> If it helps, I was able to download the smaller version with a subset of the
> large file, and WinZip read it just fine and was able to decompress it.
>
> I have tried the large file with both WinZip and, on Windows XP, with the
> built-in Zip-file handling (which treats zip files like a folder, and uses
> the Windows Explorer interface for browsing and manipulating the files in
> the zip). Neither of these techniques was able to work with the bigger
> version of the file, but both techniques worked fine with the smaller file.
I recompressed the HTML archive and reposted it. It checks out OK now
with StuffIt on Win2K. I don't know why the first archive appeared
corrupted since I do the same things every week. I just drag and drop
the folder on the StuffIt DropZip application and it does the rest.
I hate computers.
Bob Jones
> If you're interested in getting a FREE (and ad free) lightweight version
> of the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) on your handheld gadget, read on.
With "Bowling for Columbine" listed at number 4 in your "modified" top
250, I am not sure how valid the rest of your database can be! You
may like the movie, but this one doesn't even show up on IMDB's top
250 at all so how can it even be listed here in your top 250?
Otherwise, thanks for the effort.
Bob
Michael Kaluza
>> version of the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) on your
>> handheld gadget, read on.
>
> With "Bowling for Columbine" listed at number 4 in your "modified" top
> 250, I am not sure how valid the rest of your database can be!
Well, Bowling for Columbine is rated 8.8.
Topmovie #4 (Schindlers Liste) is rated 8.7, so Bowling for Columbine
should be at its place.
Perhaps this is just the result of different waging techniques ("
Weighted Average Ratings
IMDb publishes weighted vote averages rather than raw data averages."
http://us.imdb.com/ratings_explained).
Bye,
Michael, Köln ~^^
Arch Crippledick
Just wish someone would do it for www.allmusic.com , far too much java
on this site that Web Pro can't handle.
P
Tom Sheppard
qho...@yahoo.com (Bob Jones) wrote:
> With "Bowling for Columbine" listed at number 4 in your "modified" top
> 250, I am not sure how valid the rest of your database can be!
Don't confuse the modified Top 250 I use for the eBooks with how valid
the other data is. All other data is right from the IMDb, including
ratings and votes. I don't change the data, I just present it.
My "modified" Top 250 is done out of necessity for the eBooks and HTML
archives because I limit the scope of countries to just Canada, the US,
the UK and Australia. The IMDb draws from all countries. If I used the
IMDb's Top 250 I would have a sparse list for the eBooks.
I don't have access to all the IMDb's internal raw votes, so I cannot
recalculate using their method for just the four countries I've chosen
to arrive at similar rankings. As a result, I just find the Top 250
movies from those four countries and sort them by rating, vote
distribution and votes.
The IMDb has the concept of "regular" voters. The votes you see for
their Top 250 are a subset of all the votes for the movie. I don't have
access to the list of regular voters or what movies they voted on so I
can only rely on the total votes.
For more information see:
http://www.magma.ca/~sheppard/IMDb/My%20Top%20250.html
This is the best I can come up with using the information available and
still maintain a full list of 250 movies for the eBook subsets. I'm open
to constructive suggestions.
The web and Palm PQA interface is accessing the live IMDb so the Top 250
list you see there is identical to the IMDb's.
Tom Sheppard
> With "Bowling for Columbine" listed at number 4 in your "modified" top
> 250, I am not sure how valid the rest of your database can be! You
> may like the movie, but
I should also have clarified in my previous reply that the modified Top
250 movies has nothing to do with what I like or don't like. It's a
simple mathematical sortiing of the Top 250 movies made in the four
countries.
Bob Jones
> In article <1790501a.03071...@posting.google.com>,
> Don't confuse the modified Top 250 I use for the eBooks with how valid
> the other data is. All other data is right from the IMDb, including
> ratings and votes. I don't change the data, I just present it.
>
> My "modified" Top 250 is done out of necessity for the eBooks and HTML
> archives because I limit the scope of countries to just Canada, the US,
> the UK and Australia. The IMDb draws from all countries. If I used the
> IMDb's Top 250 I would have a sparse list for the eBooks.
>
> I don't have access to all the IMDb's internal raw votes, so I cannot
> recalculate using their method for just the four countries I've chosen
> to arrive at similar rankings. As a result, I just find the Top 250
> movies from those four countries and sort them by rating, vote
> distribution and votes.
>
> The IMDb has the concept of "regular" voters. The votes you see for
> their Top 250 are a subset of all the votes for the movie. I don't have
> access to the list of regular voters or what movies they voted on so I
> can only rely on the total votes.
> This is the best I can come up with using the information available and
> still maintain a full list of 250 movies for the eBook subsets. I'm open
> to constructive suggestions.
>
> The web and Palm PQA interface is accessing the live IMDb so the Top 250
> list you see there is identical to the IMDb's.
>
> ...Tom
Oh. Ok. Fair enough. I understand your methodology better and agree
that you have done what you can with the data supplied.
Thanks for the explanation!
Bob