Microsoft isn’t expected to officially release its new Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system to consumers, via new handsets, until October. But the developer tools for WP7 went final this week, and they’ve been showing off apps built for the new mobile platform left and right. The folks behind the Seesmic social networking client for Facebook and … Read more
Roku may be responding to competition from Sony and others (rumors of a refreshed Apple TV/iTV with Netflix streaming) with a decent price drop on their popular streamer boxes: Roku SD Player is now $59 (was $79) Roku HD Player is now $69 (was $99) Roku HD-XR Player is now $99 (was $129) Add to … Read more
Now that Netflix has finally brought their streaming video experience to the iPhone, it seems like a Hulu Plus versus Netflix client comparison is in order (via my 3GS). We’ll save the content selection and video quality comparison for another day, but some quickly comparable metrics are related to app launch time and battery usage. … Read more
While Netflix shifts their focus to online streaming, Comcast (?!) and Blockbuster have teamed to provide DVDs By Mail — a soon-to-be-archaic method of content distribution and quintuply befuddling given Comcast’s large data conduit into millions of customer’s homes. I assume DVDs By Mail is primarily a marketing arrangement on Comcast’s end and potentially good for … Read more
So, when the WD TV Live Plus (~$120) was announced I made arrangements with Western Digital to take a look at a review loaner. As it turns out, my buddy Tom couldn’t wait and picked up a unit which he reviewed here. Overall, he came away relatively pleased with media streamer’s local media playback capabilities … Read more
While I still don’t come close to the Comcast bandwidth cap of of 250 GB per month, I’ve noticed a significant increase in my household’s broadband usage since Roku pushed out their new Netflix UI. The new interface makes it easy to browse content by genre, and, most critically, allows users to play any selection … Read more
We knew the E3 annual gaming conference would bring the announcement of Microsoft’s Project Natal, rebranded as Kinect, but few of us were expecting a refreshed Xbox 360 console. After years of unfulfilled Xbox 306 “Slim” rumors, perhaps we just gave up on the idea. But, MS has delivered. The new Xbox 360 form factor is available … Read more
At Apple’s developer conference, Netflix announced that a mobile app for iPhone will be available this summer. Like the iPad Netflix app, the iPhone version will let you manage your Netflix queue and stream video directly to your mobile device. The Netflix iPhone app will feature adaptive bitrate streaming, which basically means it will try … Read more