Apple TV vs. Google TV

I reviewed Google TV last year, and though the Android 3.1 update this Fall has brought with it the Android Marketplace and better UI, the Google TV still falls short in my opinion.

I recently picked up an Apple TV for the ability to mirror my iPad 2 on it. Due to an issue I'll be buying a new TV later this year.

Both devices have their shortcomings, both are far from perfect. Overall I will say that the Apple TV is my preferred box of choice. One thing I used Google TV for a lot, was Podcasts. Apple has a larger selection of Podcasts, and all the ones I watched on GTV are also available on ATV. And yes, I realize that you can manually add podcasts to GTV that don't show up in their Podcast list, but it's more of a hassle. Especially when those Podcasts are listed on the Apple TV Podcast list. Also Apple TV makes it easier to watch movies I have stored on my computer. Just throw a movie into iTunes, and it plays on Apple TV. I'm not talking about just movies you buy on iTunes, I'm talking about DVDs that you rip to your hard drive. To do this on Google TV, I have to put the movies on a USB hard drive (or flash drive) and load up Media Player on GTV. And even then, there is a chance GTV will choke on the video and not play properly.

Now if you do buy movies from iTunes for some reason, well those only play on Apple TV. I bought one of the first movies to appear in the iTunes Store, just to test out the quality. After I found out the dreaded DRM prevented me from burning to a DVD, I stopped buying from iTunes. It just doesn't make sense, buy the DVD and rip a digital copy yourself. Luckily a lot of movies these days come with digital copies, so you don't have to rip as much as you used to.

ATTENTION MOVIE STUDIOS:
Speaking of digital copies, UltraViolate is a horrible piece of shit. STOP IT MOVIE STUDIOS! If you want to include a digital copy, make it a REAL digital copy. You used to include codes that worked in iTunes (for iPods, etc.) or Windows Media Center (for Zune). Just continue doing that, people still had a choice (iPod or Zune), but now you took that choice away. People MUST use your crappy software to play the UltraViolate movies. And you have to create TWO different accounts just to watch the UltraViolate movies on your computer.

What I don't like about Netflix

Originally the model for Netflix was DVDs in the mail for a flat fee per month, similar to how it is now with streaming. But here's the kicker, as a bonus you were able to stream some of the movies for FREE over the Internet.

Then Netflix decided to make a business out of streaming, and for $2 extra you could get DVDs in the mail.

Then Netflix decided to charge you a 60% price hike, going from $10/month to $16/month to get streaming plus DVDs.

Then they announced Qwikster as a way to "make people less pissed." However, it just made people more pissed.

Then they dropped the Qwikster idea, but are keeping the 60% price hike.

Oh well, their streaming content was very limited anyway. I used Netflix for a while, and was not impressed at all. Needless to say, I don't use their service anymore. Their lackluster collection of streaming content left a bad taste in my mouth.

New UI for Google iOS app

The Google iOS app has received a new UI tht makes it look more like the website than the previous version did. He Google app is a universal binary that runs on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

Citizen Kane on Blu-ray

I recently acquired Citizen Kane on Blu-ray, which was released only a couple of months ago. Loaded with a ton more bonus material than the DVD, watch this video of my explaining what you get in the box.

Apple TV, older sets beware!

Do not buy an Apple TV if your set is older than 6 years. That is how old mine is, and Apple TV decided it was too old to behave correctly. I am stuck with a 480p image, if I try to manually change it the screen goes blank. Other devices, such as my Google TV, blu-ray player, and cable box all receive the full 1080i single. However, I can't even get the meager 720p that the Apple TV is limited to. I bought the Apple TV mainly for iPad 2 mirroring, however look how awful this picture looks.

I am disapointed in Apple's ability to get a simple thing like resolution on older sets correct. Especially when every other box I connect works just fine.

Flipboard is coming to the iPhone soon

I have spoken of Flipboard before, and it is my favorite app on the iPad. Now it will be coming to the iPhone in the not-to-distant future. The app was updated Thursday, and in the changelog is the following:

Flipboard Accounts. Create an account to access your Flipboard on a shared iPad or on the upcoming release of Flipboard for iPhone.

The bolding was added by me for emphasis. This is great news for anyone who likes to read their news on the go, and enter areas where an iPad is too large to follow. And with the inclusion of this new syncing account, your Flipboard will be the same no matter which iOS device you decide to read it on.

If you have multiple iPads, you can give it a try right now. (or just wait for the iPhone version to be released)

iOS 5.0.1 is here

Today there was a minor update to iOS 5, and as Steve Jobs promised, the Over-The-Air (OTA) delta software updates work quite well. Unfortunately, I was hoping for some kind of notification of the update, which there was no sign of. At least with the old way, when you plugged your iDevice into your computer to sync, iTunes would notify you of an update. But now that syncing to iTunes (or iCloud, if you choose) is done wirelessly, there is no notification of such an update to the software. I found out after reading about it on other blogs.

In no time at all, I successfully updated all my iDevices wirelessly. If you haven't done so yet, grab the update. Just go to Settings -> General -> Software Update then choose to download the update. You will need a battery of at least 50% before it will let you install however. I had to plug my iPad 2 in, as it only had 33% battery. After plugging it into a power source, I was able to install.

Flash is dead on Mobile

Today Adobe announced that they will be stopping development of the Flash plug-in for mobile devices, in favor is HTML5. This will hopefully get more web developers to design their websites with HTML5 instead of Flash. Somewhat of a victory to people (like me) that absolutely hate Flash. Flash is a huge resource hog, it slows systems down, causes them to overheat, and can even crash a computer. I hated it back when it was called Macromedia Flash, and I hate it even more now. For those too young to remember, the company Macromedia created Flash and later bought by Adobe.

The reason I say it's only somewhat of a victory, is that Flash is still being developed for the desktop/laptop computer. Also Adobe said they will still support current mobile devices that already have Flash installed on them. This gives web developers little incentive to redesign their sites to remove Flash, but hopefully in the next few years as more and more people browse the web with their mobile device instead of a computer, maybe then we will finally be able to browse a Flash-free Internet.