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Wednesday
Sep082010

VLC for the iPad!

DateWednesday, September 8, 2010 at 8:43PM | Print ArticlePrint Article

I received word yesterday that the world famous VLC media player is header for the iPad as early as next week!

For those who don't know, VLC is a free, open-source media player from VideoLAN which is currently available for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, GNU, BeOS and BSD. It's main strength is it's ability to play just about any video format, without the need to install additional codecs.

As VLC is open-source the development team at Applidium have taken the code and ported it to the iPad. They have released the following statement:

"You wish you could play a video file on your iPad, no matter its format? So did we. That’s why we ported the famous VLC Media Player to the iPad.

Very soon, you’ll be able to download VLC for free on the AppStore. Supporting nearly every video format.

Info: The application is currently being reviewed by Apple for acceptance on the AppStore."

As long as they have done a good job porting VLC's functionality and Apple don't decide to reject the app (always a possibility) then we could be on to a real winner (any video format played straight from your iPad). To get ready for the launch Applidium are offering to give five lucky people a sneak peek of VLC for iPad, to be in for a change of winning, simply follow Applidium on Twitter. For more information on VLC and the iPad port, I suggest you head over to VideoLAN and Applidium.

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Saturday
Sep042010

Think different.

DateSaturday, September 4, 2010 at 3:03PM | Print ArticlePrint Article

Forget the Mac, iPod, iPhone & iPad. This is the reason why I have followed Apple for the past decade!

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Thursday
Sep022010

Samsung Galaxy Tab

DateThursday, September 2, 2010 at 1:38PM | Print ArticlePrint Article

When Apple released the iPad back in May I fully expected to see a surge of Android and Windows 7 devices hit the market. We did initially see a few unique products, such as the JooJoo, Dell Mini 5 and HP Slate, however each of these products failed to deliver a compelling alternative to the iPad. It has now been four months and finally we may have a real competitor with the release of the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab is part of the Galaxy mobile line, that is running Google Android 2.2. It is a 7-inch device that Samsung believe will offer a better overall experience then the iPad, as a result product executive Hankil Yoon states "the company expects to ship 10 million Galaxy Tabs and grab a third of the global tablet market by next year." This is certainly a bold statement, let's take a closer look at the device and find out what it has to offer.

The front of the Galaxy Tab (see below) is very similar to the iPad, with a black bezel on all sides to esnure your fingers do not interfere with the touch screen. The screen is 7-inch with a resolution of 1024x600 (compared to the iPad's 9.7-inch with a resolution of 1024x768). The result of the smaller screen and high resolution results in an impressive pixel density, which should look great when displaying text. The Galaxy Tab also has four touch sensitive buttons and a front facing 1.3 megapixel camera that can be used for video chat.

The back of the Galaxy Tab has a 3 megapixel camera with flash. Although currently available in white it is believed that different carriers will offer a range of different colours.

The full specification of the Samsung Galaxy Tab can be seen below:

  • Android 2.2 running TouchWiz 3.0
  • 7-inch TFT LCD with 1024 x 600 resolution (WSVGA)
  • Weighs 380 grams
  • 1GHz Cortex A8 processor
  • 16GB or 32GB internal storage
  • microSD expansion for up to 32GB additional storage
  • Front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera and rear 3 megapixel camera with flash
  • 4,000mAh battery
  • 3G data / voice (including speakerphone and Bluetooth for phone calls)
  • 5GHz dual-band 802.11n WiFi
  • Full HD (1080p) video playback
  • There's a 30-pin dock connector on the bottom that allows for HDMI, USB, and docking accessories.

In terms of looks and hardware specification the Samsung Galaxy Tab does not disappoint. Bundle this with the versatile Google Android Marketplace and we could be on to a real winner. The only concerns I have at the moment are related to price, battery life and how the Samsung TouchWiz user interface optimises the Android operating system to work with a larger screen size. I will also be interested to see how older Android applications work on the device, as well as the uptake of new "tablet specific" applications. This could be a potential stumbling block as developers will need to cater for multiple Android tablets on the market, instead of a single platform like with the iPad. To get a feel for the device check out the Samsung advertisement below:

For details on how to get your hands on a Samsung Galaxy Tab head over to the UK website.

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Wednesday
Sep012010

Introducing Plex/Nine

DateWednesday, September 1, 2010 at 8:48PM | Print ArticlePrint Article

In the same week that Apple introduced the new "streaming only" AppleTV, another popular media centre also reached a major milestone, which in my opinion is far more exciting then the Apple announcement.

Plex is a fantastic media centre application available for Intel based Mac's, which has been specifically designed to deliver a wide array of media to your HDTV. It's significant stregth over other platforms, such as AppleTV, is it's incredible support for just about every media file available, whether that be from locally stored content, network shares, Internet streaming or third party plugins (such as BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Netflix, etc).

Plex was originally based on the super versatile XBMC core, however with the release of Plex/Nine (v0.9.0.21) yesterday, there has been a major overhaul which focused on offering more efficient media cateloging and playback, as well as opening the door to new features such as the iOS application for over the air streaming (and transcoding) to your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

The Plex development team are very excited about the release of Plex/Nine, however as the majority of the changes for this release happened "under the hood" the team have done their best to summarise why this release is so important - "The Road to Plex/Nine".

Some of the chages that your will notice with Plex/Nine are GPU-accelerated video decoding for smoother 1080p video playback and a new Media Manager, which sits outside of the main Plex application and continuously monitors your media folders. As a result you can can easily add new videos, photos, music, and other content to your media database without even entering Plex.

The images below give you a feel for Plex, however if you head over to www.geek.com, they have an excellent preview of both the main application and the new iOS app.

Once Plex has launched you have direct access to all your media, either via direct storage, network shares or the Internet. Simply select an option from the main menu to get started. 

Out of the box Plax comes ready to connect to hundreds of Internet media stations. These are all pre-configured and ready to go, meaning it simply a case of picking the ones that interest you.

No matter what media you are browsing in Plex, it is always displayed in an attractive, easy to use format, that is perfectly scaled for your HDTV. It even integrates with your Apple remote.

New in Plex/Nine is the ability to manage your media outside of the main application, from the Mac OS X menu bar. This simplifies the process of adding new media and ensures that when you first load Plex it is automatically ready to go.

Now you have seem some of what Plex/Nine has to offer I suggest you head over to their download page and check it out for yourself. Especially as the main Mac OS X application is 100% free!

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Wednesday
Sep012010

New iOS, iPod's, iTunes and AppleTV

DateWednesday, September 1, 2010 at 7:00PM | Print ArticlePrint Article

I don't think I need to say much about the media event that Apple held earlier this evening as I'm sure that any true TECH geek will have watched the event live. However, for those that missed it, the following new Apple products were announced:

iOS 4.1 for iPhone and iPod Touch - The new version will be available as a free download for all iPhone, and iPod Touch owners on September 8th. It includes bug fixes for the proximity sensor and apparently significantly improves performance on the iPhone 3G (let's hope so). It also brings a couple of new features, firstly High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos and Game Centre that was previously announced as part of the iOS 4.0 launch a few months ago. If you are an Apple iOS developer your can download the final GM build now.

iOS 4.2 for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad - We also got a sneak peek at iOS 4.2 which is set to be released in November and this time it's all about the iPad. This free upgrade will finally bring all the features of iOS 4.x to the iPad, but also include wireless printing and the ability to stream content wirelessly to other Apple devices (such as the newly released AppleTV). For more information check out Apple's iOS 4.2 preview page.

New iPod Shuffle, Nano and Touch - The least suprising part of the event was the release of the new iPod range. The most significant change went to the iPod Nano which is now approximately the same shape (and size) as the shuffle, but includes a tiny (square) touch screen.

Apple also brought the iPod Touch up to the iPhone 4's specification, with the A4 architecture, retina display and camera support for FaceTime. Head over to Apple's iPod section for all the details.

iTunes 10 - The new release of iTunes for Mac and Windows includes an updated user interface (see below) and the launch of a new service called Ping. Ping is Apple's answer to social networking for music lovers. It allows you to follow your favourite bands, buy music and concert tickets and network with other fans. Think FaceBook for music, right inside iTunes. This has been a long rumored new feature, so it is nice to see it finally released to the public.

New AppleTV - Even though Apple are still calling the AppleTV a hobby, it looks like they are finally taking it a bit more seriously. The new version is a complete re-think, that focuses on streamed and rented content from the iTunes store. The device itself is now Apple A4 powered and is a quarter of the size of the original AppleTV.

 

It includes a HDMI out (although only 720p playback), digital optical out, ethernet port and 802.11n wireless. The AppleTV software has also been overhauled (probably now a version of iOS) focusing on renting movies and TV from iTunes and steaming media from your other Apple products. The device itself looks good, but due to the lack of offline content support, I don't think the hardcore media community will find a lot of use for it (unless we can install boxee somehow). On the plus side it is available for $99 in the US, but as always we get stung for £99 in the UK (approximately $150 US).

For more information and a hands on preview with each of the new products I suggest you head over to Engadget.

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