Posts Tagged
tv
One of the things I was most excited/curious about when I got my Nexus 7 was multimedia. How would the experience be for watching videos and using it for various media functions? My friend assured me that it was fantastic, but to be honest I was a little skeptical because a 7″ screen seemed a little small. Boy was I wrong! Watching videos and reading look great on it and it’s comfortable to hold in one hand to boot.
In honor of that, here are ten multimedia apps I’ve enjoyed using on my Nexus 7.
I’m a movie and TV show fanatic. I could sit on my couch all day long and watch one show after another. In fact, I do that whenever I get a chance. For a couch potato, the problem these days isn’t the availability of content, on the contrary, there’s an abundance of scripted and original material. The problem arises when I try to find a new show or movie to watch. Discoverability is so broken, that valuable time is wasted searching for new content. Recommendations are confined to lists, which are very Web 1.0 and don’t take into account my personal taste and interests.
Enter GetGlue who have been hard at work for a few years now, trying to recommend entertainment based on what users already like and dislike. After doing a commendable job with their web and iOS apps, GetGlue brought their expertise in suggestions and check-ins to Android users.
When we last looked at Google TV, I was smitten with a product that I really enjoyed, but that wasn’t catching on. It was okay according to most reviewers, but needed a lot of improvement.
After updating my TV to the latest and greatest, I can say that Google (once again) did a really nice job on the product.
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I imagine my arrival at the pearly gates will be a grumpy one. Not because I’ll be displeased at my own demise; with advances in modern medicine I’ll probably dodge coffins past 100 and be mighty proud of myself for achieving such a span. I’ll be ticked off because I’m missing my favourite shows while St. Peter (or whoever mans the post) and I have the obligatory chat. You see the idiot box and I are good old pals, even if we get on each other’s nerves once in a while.
Keeping track of what shows you want to watch, and their various series, seasons and episodes, can get annoying. ‘What episode is this?’, ‘When’s the finale?’ and ‘What time does ‘House’ start at?’ are questions that pass through my mind regularly. If only there was one of those new-fangled apps I hear so much about…
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When I was in college, I took a media tech class where we watched a video that talked about the next step for TV: total integration with the Internet. The simulated screens and videos they created showed a seamless experience where you could be watching the Food Network and simultaneously look up the recipe the host is using, or watching a movie and going to IMDB to get the name of that actress who looks familiar. It looked pretty cool, but I thought it was pretty far off; boy was I wrong. When Google TV was announced last year, I knew that everything we talked about in that media tech class was just around the corner. Google TV has revolutionized the way we can watch TV.
TV is one of the best forms of entertainment in the USA and around the world. Talk to just about anyone, and they can give you their weekly TV schedule (mine includes 30 Rock, Community, Modern Family, Mr. Sunshine, and a few guilty pleasures). If you watch a lot of TV shows, they can become tough to manage — when is the next new episode on, did the show’s airing time/date change, is there a special viewing on, etc. Luckily, there are several Android apps that can handle these questions and much more.
At last, a little over 3 years after BBC iPlayer launched on Christmas Day 2007, the official application is now available for Android. BBC iPlayer has received much appreciation in the media industry by allowing people to watch and listen to their favourite TV shows and Radio stations for a period of a week after being first aired, sparking its competitors to follow suit, and consequently creating a much better experience for their viewers to watch shows when and how they want.
Today we will be looking at the first official app that will allow users to kick back and catch up on their favourite BBC shows on their Android device. With a motto of “Making the unmissable, unmissable” it has a lot to live up to, and we will be testing whether it was worth the wait, or if it is just another flimsy app.
Note: This app requires Froyo (Android 2.2) with Flash installed and will only work on WiFi, not 3G. It is also currently only available for use in the UK.
