Airplay mirroring : With or without an Apple TV.
Jan 17The Apple TV. If you haven’t had a chance to get your hands on the totally jailbreakable ‘Version 2’ of Steve Job’s unfinished “hobby” project.. the chances are you have an Apple Tv 3. And to be quite honest : If you live in a land that does not offer TV⁻Show rentals through the iTunes store .. the Apple TV is about as useless as swimming trunks in the desert. This totally battened down version of Apple’s entertainment hockey puck does not have a lot to offer aside from being able to stream the Knightwise.com podcast STRAIGHT to your living room. This alone would validate the purchase of said device .. but we would like something more.
Enter ‘airplay mirroring’ : The ability to playback the contents of your iPad screen on your TV. Of course Apple would not be apple if they didn’t ‘narrow down’ the list of devices that would be able to do this. Not because it wasn’t technically feasible . just because they want you to buy a new i-Device. If you have a more recent Mac you might be able to do it to, IF you are running Mountain Lion.. So what if you don’t ? Lets go for a few alternatives.
You don’t have a ‘recent’ version of Mountain Lion : “Beamer”.
Lets say you are NOT sporting the latest version of Mountain lion on your mac ? What if you STILL want to stream your movies ? Enter ” Beamer” A 12 dollar application that lets you do just that .. from any mac. Find them at beamer-app.com and chuck those “My little pony” video’s to the big screen. Unfortunately there is no PC version of this app.. so you will still need a mac.
You have Ios devices .. but no Apple TV : “XBMC.”
So what if you have a mac .. but no Apple TV ? Well as long as you have ‘a’ device hooked up to your tv that is capable of running XBMC, you are in luck : XBMC acts as an ‘airplay endpoint’ , enabling you to stream ‘Carebears’ from your iPad to your living room pc.
Links :
So what do YOU use to get content to your Television set ? Tell us in the comments section.
Related Posts
The history of Siri and the ultimate guide to start talking to her.
Dec 29With the holidays coming up, some of you might have had their first or second IOS device snuggled in under the tree. Aside from making the Apple shareholders hilariously happy with the overpriced profit margin, you might ALSO enjoy your new purchase of an iPad or an iPhone. If you have a device thats any newer then the last iPhone4S (This includes the iPad mini and the ‘not the latest-but-the-one-before-that-one ipad and the new ipad) it will come with Siri. This ‘personal assistant’ that you can talk to and ask things. In the beginning Siri is a gimmick. Something you use (like Google Now) to try out a couple of times, but chances are, unless you really make an effort, you will probably not use Siri to its full potential. This has to do with the way human behaviour has a hard time keeping up with changing technology. So to get you beyond the ‘Gimmick’ factor we have found a great tutorial on how to make SIRI work for you.
In “The ultimate Siri Guide” Rene Richie explains you in a couple of pointers how to use Siri in your daily life. Remembering the different commands is one thing, reminding yourself to start USING them is another thing. Its going to take a little brain and behaviour hacking to start ‘talking’ to your phone instead of typing on it. Although the former is more natural then the latter, we still find it hard because we have been texting on a numerical keyboard far longer then we have been talking to machines. Give it a try, but remember Siri uses your data connection to analyse your voice. (Unlike Android, where the processing of your voice commands also works offline)
As you hear Siri talk, you might be surprised that this is the voice of a Belgian woman. According to voice technology expert and inventer Jo Lernaut (who was the chairman of the Belgian company Lernaut & Hauspie ) their voice technology has been licenced by both Apple and Microsoft and the SIRI voicefiles where recorded in Belgium by one of their employees. You can find out more about that little detail HERE and watch the (Flemish) interview with Jo Lernaut here.
Links : the ultimate Siri Guide. – Interview with Jo Lernout. – the link between Lernout & Hauspie and Siri.
Meanwhile at the big bang theory .. Raj meets a “different” Siri.
So : Do YOU talk to your phone or do you still think its awkward ? Tell us in the comments section.
Related Posts
iPad Mini or Nexus 7, The frustrating luxury of choice.
Dec 27The upside of being a Slider is the fact that you can choose. You can choose between different products and it is never a question of “OR”, it is always a matter of “And”. But sometimes that freedom of choice comes at a perilous risk : The risk of choice. While in some countries people are starving, It is a horrible first world problem to have, I know. But perhaps it will bring some solace to you on the crossroads of what tablet to get for the upcoming year.
For the last three months I have been a privileged owner of a Nexus 7 and I must say, I enjoy the device very much. Being trendy and virtually unknown by the general public here in Belgium, the Nexus 7 (Currently the 32 gigabyte version) is available at 245 euro’s. But sightings of the device are rare since most consumers either slip into the Samsung universe and go for the low end Galaxy Tab 2 instead OR go towards the Apple universe and pick up an iPad mini instead.
Since I got the Nexus 7 way before the iPad mini was launched, I was never faced with the peril of choice. Deciding between the excellent quality, high end specs and low price of the Nexus and the virtually non-existent competition was a doozie to say the least. Samsung tablets at that time were overpriced and their ‘brighter colors’ where (and are ) nothing more then pumped up contrast and saturation levels that make a everything look like something from a holiday catalog Using my tablet to read eBooks rather then play games or watch nude supermodels, I was very happy with both the form factor AND the subdued enthusiasm of the Nexus 7’s color scheme.
A couple of weeks later my wife sold her iPad2 just in time to get her hands on a new iPad mini. I remember being disappointed at Apple when they announced the pricing schemes of the new iPad mini’s, pointing out that they where a 100 dollars above a competitive market price and that they had brought zero innovation to the market (and it would be downhill for Apple from now on). I still stand by the latter statement, but the empty shelves in the stores do point out that , even at a high price point, apple’s iPad mini IS a raging success.
As a slider I have the privilege of switching between my 64 gig iPad 3 (the not-the-new-but-the-one-before-that-one ipad) and can only say that when it comes to screen quality. While using my wifes iPad Mini I found a similar quality in brightness and crispness of images. Sure, it is no retina display, but on a 7 inch screen I don’t think you notice. The single handed grip I have around the back of my Nexus 7 could however not be acquired, I need the hands of a stone mason for that. But the iPad mini does have something to offer too. As the low growls of my better half started to turn into angry snarls, it was time to give her back her beloved device and go back to my Nexus. And then I was struck by doubt… Would I perhaps ALSO like an iPad mini ?
Like a man torn between two lovers, I started to doubt my initial fondness of the Google Nexus 7 and wonder what life would be like with an iPad Mini. This was the dawn of an internal struggle I have been wrestling with for the last few weeks. Would I like to have an iPad mini instead. When it comes to size and form factor : Nothing can beat the Nexus 7. Its a little thicker then the “Kate Moss” iPad Mini, but the fact you can just “grab it” with one hand, or set down your thumb on the bezel while reading is a big plus. The screen however is not as high in quality then the iPad mini when it comes to color quality and contrast. The 1280X800 resolution on the Nexus 7 is higher then the iPad mini, offering up a higher PPI (pixels per inch) that DOES help when you are reading books. The downside of my current Nexus is however that it is a 8 gigabyte version, and something in my brain keeps telling me that’s a bad thing. When lustfully ogling the iPad Mini’s in the store I do lick my lips at the 32 gigabyte version because, (in my mind) it would be able to hold down my book and movie collection for those rare moments that i’m offline. It WOULD flawlessly sync with our massive iTunes collection so I also would have music on the go. It WOULD be able to give me access to some online magazines in the “newsstand” app. .. and then it hit me : My longing was not for the device per se, it was for the content.
And that is where I stand today. A little torn between the iPad mini and my Google Nexus. My geek brain telling me that both have their ups and downs, that neither is the winner in this fight. One offers the flexibility of Android (Being able to arrange your home screen into something that does not resemble an icon-concentration camp) The other ties in with the Apple content eco-sphere (Who am I kidding, it ties in with my locked in iTunes music collection) One has storage, the other has a great form factor .. I am slowly losing it out here. My credit card angrily points at my iPad 3 on the kitchen table and tells me I cannot seriously consider buying ANOTHER device just like it (only smaller). The little kid inside me yells “ I want it mommy .. i want it ! ! ! “
As I listen to myself argue I find that it is becoming more and more about the types of content you can consume on your device. About the freedoms you have and the ones you need to give up. About what you do with your device and not about what device you have. The only solution I can currently think of requires both devices and a roll of double sided duck-tape so I can stick them together. Ipad Mini on one side, Nexus on the other.. A true sliders tablet. Because if your philosophy is “ Its not about this OR that” .. it means its gonna be “This AND that” 🙂
Related Posts
Let mail work for you (instead of the other way around) with Mailbox.
Dec 26Great tip from friend of the show @moonenmoonen : A mail client that does not dictate your life by pushing messages in your face constantly. We all know how we sometimes can becomes slaves of our own inboxes. On the IOS and Android side of things the email clients are mostly horribly “Basic” They do what they do best : Annoy the friggin frack out of you and have you quicky reply to an email … while you are on one knee, proposing to your girlfriend. How about an email app that DOESN’T do that. How about one with “procrastination” as a built in functionality ? Want it ? Love it … then wait for it ! Mailbox IS coming to IOS pretty soon but we will have to be a little patient.
Links : Mailbox
What is YOUR favorite email client on your portable device (and why ?) Tell us in the comments section.
Related Posts
Turn Plex into the heart of your media consumption setup.
Dec 17If there is one thing I love, then it’s performing acts of Blasphemy 🙂 Strickly technological blasphemy of course. The kind that makes operating system makers, virtual shopkeepers and DRM overlords grasp the few stray hairs on their balding heads and cry out “Blasphemy” into the digital night. To be frank : I love it to make tech do things it wasn’t supposed to.
With our Mac Mini as a central mediahub in our house, it holds all the movies and TV shows that I love to watch, and hidden deeply behind the magical fairy dust that is the Itunes library, lie hidden all my songs. Locked away in a proprietary cloud of pixy poo.
Around the house we have several devices lying around depicting both the Cupertinian Apple, The green android goblin or boast a bold penguin. The owners of these devices have long ago banished the television from its monopolistical rule of the entertainment empire. These masters would like to consume any content, anywhere on any device. Wether this be Android, IOS, Linux or even Windows .. They would like to watch and listen to anything, anywhere .. and if possible, pickup on one device where they left of on the other.
I have done a podcast about these shenanigans once before (Remember KC0057 : Cross platform Streaming ) where I used a combination of XBMC and DLNA to get things where I wanted them to go. However technology is always on the move and there is always something better on the horizon.
Today I have been playing around with Plex. A central media hub that takes all of the content you have at your disposal (Audio or video) and “streams” that towards any connected device in the house. (Tablets, Phones and embedded devices) Aside from being the red-light district for your home media with the “plex server” It also offers a great front end to “consume” that media on whatever desktop (or media center pc) you are using. If you ever feel the urge to crawl out from under your desk and enter the big airy meeting room with the high ceiling (Referred by some as “outside”) Plex even lets you connect back home so you can continue to enjoy whatever you have been watching before you were forced out of your house.
So far I”ve enjoyed flawless transcoding and streaming of some of my favorite TV shows and ‘backed up’ movies to both my Tablets (Android and IOS) and am currently enjoying some music streamed from my itunes library .. on my Android tablet. Can you spell Blasphemy ? No ? thats ok .. you can just SCREAM it ! :p
The Plex server app is ‘Slider friendly’ and available for Windows, Linux, OSX and some “embedded NAS” devices. The clients will put you back a couple of bucks (about 5 or 10 depending of what you choose) on your mobile device .. but the quality and convenience is totally worth it.
In a couple of words. Download and install the Plex server, run the configuration wizzard ( Click yes yes yes and point it towards your media) Put the mobile apps on your portable devices and let them auto discover your Plex server .. Run to the bathroom and don’t come out until you have watched the entire series of Friends .. from your tablet or smartphone.
Never mind the family members who command the black monolith downstairs to consume whatever dribble they like to watch .. Get Plex and turn any device into your personal media station.
Links : PLEX.
So have YOU played with plex ? Share your experiences or questions in the comments.
