Author: jamesclay

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iStream?

In the past I have used numerous streaming services such as Qik, Ustream and more recently Justin.tv

One of the (recent) downsides of these free services is that the advertising has enroached so much into the stream, including pre-roll advertising, that as a tool for the informal streaming of conferences and events, it is just not worth the bother.

So you can imagine my interest in the recent Cult of Mac report that in a rumoured possible revamp of MobileMe, Apple are working on a live streaming service along the lines of Ustream.

Now the question is, will this be an advertising supported feature (with iAds) or will it be free of adverts. Remember that Apple have that big server farm, so have the technical capability to deliver a smooth service. Facetime is already with us on the Mac, so in many ways we already have the technology in place. A streaming service would allow you to “Facetime” to lots of people, and not just one person.

Of course this is just a rumour and there are always lots of Apple rumours.

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Live BBC TV on the iPad

Okay so there is one feature of the iPlayer iPad App that “could” make it worth downloading (remember it is free anyhow) and that is it allows you to live stream the BBC channels to your iPad. Now if you do this, you will need a TV Licence. You can watch all the (SD) BBC Freeview channels.

It was also pointed out to me that as the BBC iPlayer App is an App it currently doesn’t support VGA-Out as many other video apps do. You can do VGA-Out with the web version.

Thanks to Carol Walker (@weedog) for these.

Neither the App or the web version of iPlayer support AirPlay which is what you would use to stream content to your Apple TV. Now that would be useful especially as BBC iPlayer is not native on the Apple TV (and in the UK it should be). Of course if we could put Apps on the Apple TV then we could put this BBC App on the Apple TV! Sometimes I wish life was a little easier and simpler.


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iPlayer on my iPad


The BBC have released an App for the iPad for BBC iPlayer. I have now used it a few times and to be honest, it’s just okay. I think it is better than the website version of iPlayer on the iPad and it seems to be a little more stable. A bit easier to go back to a video you have paused for example.

Navigation is slightly different to the website version you get on the iPad, but not much really too different.

This is the iPad App.

This is iPlayer on the iPad browser.

So my next question is why?

Why on earth did the BBC spend time and money on an app for the iPad if it adds virtually nothing to the experience that you get from using the website on the iPad?

So is the content different from what you get on the web on the iPad? As you know from my previous post what you see on the iPad is never the full iPlayer experience, and from what I can see on the App the availability is the same as you get via the web on the iPad, ie less than what you get in a full web browser on your computer.

So can you download content for offline viewing? Like when you are on a train? Something you can do on your computer. Well no, you have to have a decent internet connection to watch BBC iPlayer.

In the end I can’t see what the app adds that viewing on the iPlayer on Safari doesn’t have already, apart from “favourites”. What’s the point of that as most content disappears in under seven days anyway…

Hopefully this is version one.

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Nowhere near my limit

I wrote earlier about how I nearly reached my broadband limit in December. In January what with no snow, no school holidays and a bit of travelling here and there, I was nowhere near my limit. Well under, about 50% of my December traffic.

So back to normal.

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Windows on my iPad via Parallels 6

After dismissing the nag screen once again, I decided that I would upgrade my Parallels installation to version 6.

I generally don’t have problems with Parallels on my Mac, but thought that the performance improvements would be nice. I also want to try out the iPhone/iPad App and see if that would allow me to access a Java application that I need to use for work.

It was pretty easy to set up, requiring a login of my Parallels account on both the Mac and the iPad. And though Windows 7 is not designed for a touch interface, at least if needed I can access Windows through my iPad!

The key test will be over wifi outside my home network and over 3G. In the olden days in my previous job, I would VPN into my office network and use Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection to connect to my office PC when I was out on the road with my (then) PowerBook. Use to do that to find old e-mails and files. Also used the VPN so I could watch BBC News on the website when I was on a trip to Finland.

Now I have a fast broadband connection at home I hope that I will find less latency problems that I had with the VPN and RDC method.

One side effect of the installation was finding out the number of virtual machines on my iMac. More than I thought I had, so a fair few were culled.

Will use it a little more and see what improvements there are with version 6.


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Not available On iPad or my TV!

I do like BBC iPlayer and I like how it allows me to watch BBC programmes when and where I want to…

Well nearly…

There are still a fair few programmes that are only available through a traditional web browser and are not available via my iPad, my TV (which has BBC iPlayer access built in) or to download.

So for example on my iPhone there are only three films available to watch.

However via my web browser I can see six films including National Treasure: Book of Secrets which isn’t available on the iPhone.

The reason is not technical, but a rights issue. Most new BBC programmes are available in many different ways via BBC iPlayer, this is because the BBC has secured the rights to do this from the production company (that makes the programme) and (probably) the talent in the programme.

Older programmes that are repeated were made at a time when BBC iPlayer was either not technically viable or wasn’t even a consideration or who would know what was possible in the future… so such rights would not have been secured.

With films such as National Treasure: Book of Secrets when the BBC “buys” the film for showing on their channel, they don’t necessarily also buy the rights for mobile distribution or download. This means that the film is only available via the web browser. Some films won’t even be available via iPlayer.

So the solution? Well unless I go and buy the film or programme in iTunes, I will either have to watch it when it is broadcast, on my computer or record it.

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Where are my Comic Life Styles?




Comic Life is a great app for creating comics very simply, quickly and uses a drag and drop interface.

I recently upgraded my Mac version of Comic Life to version 2 and one “change” was starting to annoy me.

In version 1 when you created a title you could then select from a drop down list and choose from a variety of styles (the deluxe version had many more than the “free” version that came with many Macs and I how I was introduced to Comic Life.

Plasq were in the Mac App Store from day one with Comic Life 2 and though I could have upgraded to 2 (as I have version 1) I decided to purchase and install Comic Life 2 via the Mac App Store. I mainly did this as it was much easier and quicker than trying to upgrade, I wanted updates to be easier and also I could in future install on other Macs as you can with apps from the Mac App Store.

With version two though when I started to use it I was very disappointed to find that the variety of styles you got with version 1 appeared to be missing in version 2!

I did try and search the FAQ, help and support without much success. I looked through the menus, and though there was a way of importing styles…

I had no idea what file I would be looking for or where I would get such a file.

After pretending to ignore the problem… I decided that there must be a way and after a recent update and still seeing no styles I decided to search and dig a little deeper and possibly even post to the Plasq forum.

In the forum though I did find a reference to styles in Magiq, that said.

When you start Comic Life Magiq – make sure you choose the Deluxe Styles template from the Template chooser. Otherwise you will just end up with a blank template with no styles.

Hmm….

Tried that with the Template Chooser and yes there are lots of styles in there….

Now the next question is how do you export those styles for use in other templates?

Well that was answered by the help in the end.

Choose Format->Import Styles.... A file browsing sheet appears. Locate and select the comic that has the styles you wish to import and click "Import." The styles are added to your comic.

In other words you import an actual comic you’ve created to add the styles to your new comic.

All starts to make sense now…

Okay back to creating comics.

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Wasn’t Gingerbread…

So there was me thinking I was due an update to Android 2.3 for my Google Nexus One, otherwise known as Gingerbread…

However no it wasn’t.

It was only an update to 2.2.2

Disappointed, well not really, I can wait…

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Gingerbread for the Nexus One

Well my Google Nexus One told me today that a system update was available. I couldn’t upgrade as I was only on a GPRS connection and really you should be on wifi or a decent 3G connection, no really you should be on wifi!

I am assuming and hoping it is Gingerbread, or Android 2.3. Looking at the new features, this is no Froyo, but I am looking forward to an improved copy and paste experience.

Gingerbread 2.3 now provides support for NFC Near-field communications, however I don’t think the Nexus One hardware actually supports this.

So not many huge changes, but will be interesting to see the performance improvements.