Streaming on the iPad and iPhone - Lots of Options, Still Not Enough.

Online TV isn't  à la carte, but it sure is getting close. Even though I do pay for cable (Comcast) I still subscribe to several other online streaming services. I don't know why - I like having the option I guess. I've always been somewhat of a collector of TV stuff. I used to save the TV Guide every week when I was a little kid. I did have other books, but I liked having a stack 4 feet tall by the end of the year. But I digress.

My Monthly Subscriptions:

• Comcast Cable w/ HBO
• Netflix
• Hulu Plus
• Dish Network w/ Starz, HBO, and Cinemax
• TiVo
  

These alone provide tens of thousands of choices.

On top of that, I have apps that allow streaming from NBC, HBO GO, Cinemax GO, Epix, EyeTV, TNT, PBS, TBS, NBC, TWIT, Encore, Starz, MoviePlex, XFINITY (similar to offerings on Dish), Crackle, and a couple more.

To bring some of it under control, I use the AOL TV and Fanhattan apps on the iPad. They don't list whats on on all of these services, but they hit some of the majors - at least enough to give me a show to watch and easy access to it.

With all of these services I bet you think I'm a movie junkie or TV show junkie. I used to be when I was younger, but now I'm pretty happy to watch ESPN and The Peoples Court. And little sprinkling of Survivor, Modern Family, Fear Factor, How Stuffs Made, Big Bang Theory, and ESPN U.

Unfortunately at this time ESPN isn't streaming to my iPhone or iPad since I am a Comcast customer - this is only for a select few cable companies. The good news is that Comcast is on the list and should be offering some live streaming (at least with Disney owned networks) soon.

Hopefully Comcast will make some headway with agreements for streaming all or most of their channels within your own home, and essentially my iPad or iPhone will become a second television set. Cox Cable, Time Warner Cable, Verizon FIOS and others are already doing this. Since Comcast is behind the curve on this one, to make up for their lack of in-home streaming I currently use an EyeTV device and application to make this happen, but it's just 'ok', and doesn't provide me with the higher quality streams I would like or my premium digital channels.

Another issue is that not all of these services (I'm talking to you HULU Plus) make ALL of their content available to the app. I missed Fear Factor the other night and immediately went to Hulu Plus to watch it on my iPad. What? Streaming ONLY on the WEB (and they don't mean the iPad web)! How dare you Hulu.  I quickly resolved this issue by launching the NBC App on my iPad, and sure enough, I was able to stream it just fine. I wish all of these licensing issues and power struggles would go away. A guy can dream.

The good news is that while these services may not be providing an elegant all in one solution, they are providing something. Take for example Showtime or The Movie Channel -- I haven't seen any such offerings from them. They have an app on the App store, but it seems to be merely promotional, only offering 'clips'. This is why they are second tier channels -- and will continue to be until they get with the program (er...so to speak).

So, to recap -- I subscribe to too much TV which I don't have the time to watch. That's really the main reason I do - convenience. I want it when I want it, no matter where I am. If I can fit in an episode of Modern Family while I'm waiting for my wife in the car -- that's exactly why I pay this subscription convenience fee. Several of my online friends seem to be cutting the cord - and that is exactly why all of  the cable companies are making you stay subscribed so that you can have access to their streaming content.  No pay - no shows. I am going to cut the cord this summer -- at least for cable TV and read an iBook.

Update on Friday, January 13, 2012 at 11:43PM by jcost

I found an app that does offer Showtime streaming -- it's called the Showtime Anytime app for iPad, released January 10th,  and they also offer web access. 

I haven't tried it yet, since I don't have a Showtime subscription, however, they seem to be using Azuki Systems for delivery. 

Print from your iPad, iPod, and iPhone on your Mac - for FREE

Printing from your iOS device can be a little mysterious. If you have a version of iOS that supports 'AirPrint', you've seen the 'Print' button. However, you click it and no printers show up. Well, thanks to a nice little exclusive agreement with HP, only select HP printers get the privilege of being able to be printed on. Apple really blew this one for the consumer.

No worries though.. some third party apps will let you use YOUR printer as long as your Mac is up and running and you have a printer(s) connected to it. .

First up is Printopia, from Ecamm. This is a great app offering more than just printing to all of your printers, it can also print a file to PDF, send it to your Dropbox, Evernote, or your Mac. You simply install the $20 app and it goes into your Mac's control panel and is instantly working. It's a breeze. I wasn't able to fully test it since my 7 day trial expired before I could write the review. Still, a good option, and I've read glowing reviews about it. Sadly, they didn't respond to my NFR request, so I couldn't give it a  good look. Originally version 1 of the App was $10. Version 2 upped the price to $20.

If FREE is more your style, and you only want to print to your printer, then all you need is AirPrint Activator from Netputing.com. This is a cool little app that will enable a Mac with OSX 10.6.5+ and iTunes 10.1+ feature to print to your printers that are connected to your Mac. Install this little app and you can print to any of your available printers.

Works great, and it's FREE. Just be sure to install the proper version for your OS. AirPrint Activator 2 (beta) is for OSX 10.5, 10.6 and 10.7 (Lion).

iOS 5 Revealed at WWDC 2011

Apple has seeded the first beta version to developers. With over 200 new features for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, this is the biggest upgrade Apple has provided to iOS users thus far. There are many articles showcasing all of the new features, but I will just touch on a few that I think are the game changers.

Notification Center

No longer will we have those single alert pop-ups plaguing us as we go about our day. Now with a quick downward swipe you can pull down the notification center and see everything in one convenient location. For example, when you have a new email, a pending calendar appointment, text message, voice mail, etc, it will all be available in the notification center. Swipe the one you want to address and it opens the proper application for you to respond to the notification. Android phones have long had this, but functionally it's fairly useful and visually it is ugly at best (at least on my Samsung Galaxy S). Of course Apple can and will do it better.

In App notifications are unobtrusive and simply do a quick little notification in the top of the screen. Unobtrusive and elegant.

The lock screen is  more useful as well. It will show notifications and  will allow you to quickly get to your voicemails, emails, and other notifications as well. It's about time Apple made use of this wasted real estate. I shouldn't have to unlock, click the phone button, click the voicemail button to check a VM. With iOS 5, I simply swipe on the voicemail notification and it launches it. Thats the way it SHOULD be.

For more in-depth, check this Macworld article.

Twitter Integration

Apple has made their move into social. With Twitter integration, they now offer a single sign-on and that will work across all of your Twitter apps. Since it's a system wide integration, you can now tweet directly from Safari, Photos, Camera, YouTube, and Google Maps. Twitter handles will also work in your Contact list, so it makes it really easy to send out a tweet. For those concerned with Privacy, you have to manually add your location to the tweet to have it show your coordinates. I wonder if you tweet from the Camera app if it removes the coordinates if you don't have 'Add Location' selected. That's something that potentially could be cause for concern.

One small 500 Million user problem though. NO FACEBOOK integration. Geez.

Wi-Fi Sync

If you've been reading this site long, you know I've LOOONG be hoping for some Wi-Fi Sync. The Zune has had it forever. That's right -- even the ZUNE had it. Well, now all of our iOS devices have it too, at least when you are plugged into a power source. Each time you connect your phone to a power source it automatically backs up your device and syncs it with any new content. Apple has been unclear on whether or not this will sync podcasts. If not, wireless syncing will be only partially done in my opinion. Podcasts are the main reason I sync on a daily basis.

iMessage

If you are familiar with Blackberry's service, Blackberry Messenger, it's essentially the same. iOS devices can send text, pictures, and videos directly to each other, all without the need for SMS. It works over Wi-Fi or 3G and I bet the cell carriers are quite upset about it. Many people will now drop or at least lower their text messaging plan. If you primarily text people with iOS devices, this is a no brainer. Sure, I'll keep a 250 message plan on my iPhone just for the times I need to text or receive a text from someone with a non iOS device.

Some of the cool features of iMessage are 'read' receipts. If you are parent, this is FANTASTIC. You can setup delivery receipts, read receipts, see when someone is typing a response, and all of it is encrypted over the network. This is going to be the preferred way to send messages in our household from now on.

When?

iOS 5 is awesome. The bad news is that it isn't coming until the Fall. While developers get to work with it now, they are also the guinea pigs that are making it better for us. Not only are they creating compatible apps for iOS 5, but as they use it day to day they are finding bugs and submitting that data to Apple. If you are the adventurous type, sign up for the Apple iOS Developer program and then you can download iOS 5 before it's released.

For more coverage check out Macworld.

Adobe CEO: iPad's Days are Numbered - via Mac Observer

Stop the presses!! Somebody call Steve Jobs and tell him to bail!

Due to the surge of Tablets coming into the market place that support Flash, Adobe's CEO thinks that Apple's iPad days are numbered. 

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/adobe_ceo_ipads_days_are_numbered/

iPad 2 is Here!

iPad 2 is here. Well, almost. Yesterday,  I followed along with the Apple Keynote by listening to Leo Laporte's Twit Live stream. Leo didn't have an audio stream of the actual keynote, but his narration was enough to satisfy me as I was driving. As an aside, my AT&T iPhone was on the 'E' edge network most of the time and couldn't keep up with the stream, so I had to use my Verizon Android phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot since it was receiving 3G and used my iPhone 4 to listen to the stream. Regardless, I was able to keep a consistent connection until I could get back into AT&T 3G coverage.

The keynote was as expected, with a couple of surprises. The iPad 2 does have a dual-core processor now with graphics up to 9 times faster than the previous version. It comes with dual cameras as expected. It's also thinner and slightly lighter. It's actually thinner than the iPhone 4 which really has me intrigued. 

Apple has designed a 'Smart Cover' for the new iPad 2 that attaches magnetically. This actually is pretty cool, even at the $39 price.  See the demo video here. 

The iPad 2 launch day is March 11, 2011 at 5PM. Pre-orders will be accepted at the same time stores open with the product. I'm pretty sure this is by design. They aren't taking chances with having lackluster lines like the Verizon iPhone 4 had. That would be embarrasing.