Hulu Desktop - Expanding Online Media

When Hulu launched its services, I was an instant fan. Finally, I thought, a way to watch some of the shows that I've missed on TV or just other shows I might not normally watch and I can do it on my computer! Of course, for me, this all played into a greater scheme of mine, to be able to watch as much TV on my computer by connecting it to my TV using HDMI.

At the time, this plan went down the tube due to overly restrictive bandwidth policies by my ISP so I had to abandon my plan at the time and just fork out the money for DirecTV. In hindsight, I don't regret it because there's plenty of content still you can find online.

The last year or so I've played around with the Boxee software and I've tinkered with the idea of getting a good computer set up to use as a content player for my TV. Boxee seemed like the perfect candidate, until Hulu pulled their support. At that point I could see my dreams go down the toilet.

In the last few days or so, it become apparent why Hulu pulled their support. They wanted to do their own Boxee thing. They released the Hulu Desktop through their brand new Hulu Labs. Talk about coincidence. One good idea leads someone else to copy it? I can't say but I figured I should at least check it out.

The Hulu Desktop software is less than 1MB in size and uses Flash. It actually reminds quite a bit of Boxee, which is so ironic. The question of course is if it does the same thing any better.

Hulu Desktop (HD), like I said, has pretty much the same interface as Boxee. You can easily use a remote or just they keyboard to navigate around between the different categories. You can easily find the shows you're looking for, based on categories, channels and so on. The picture quality is the same as Hulu itself and it looks like the content is too (although I think the HD content is missing).

The player is not that different from the browser version but it does have a cool preview pane that you can use to find a specific scene in a show that you'd like to skip to. So, let's say for example that you're looking for a super funny scene in a movie, you point your mouse pointer at the place where you think it might be and you'll see a small preview window pop up and play that section of the show in the window. If it's the right one, you click on it and you're taken there. Of course, you'll have to watch the ads if they come in the way. However, this is definitely a cool feature that I wish all online streaming video sites would implement.

The navigation takes a bit getting used to. It's not as intuitive as Boxee is, for example. I'm still not quite happy with it but I guess over time you'll get used to it.

Overall, I think it's a very capable player that will be a perfect fit if you're watching Hulu on a TV or just want quicker access to the content since the content browser is pretty efficient.

If you're a Linux user, at this point you'll have to wait. There is no Linux version. I tried to install Hulu Desktop using Wine on Ubuntu 9.04 and had some success. In fact, it installed fine and it starts fine, it just doesn't play any video. For some reason, it appears it can't find the Internet connection. Of course, I'm sure some smart guy will figure that one out before long too. Until then, VirtualBox and Windows works although playback isn't as smooth. So, those of us with Linux, for now I think we're stuck with the browser version.

Ubuntu 9.04 on XPS 1530

Having installed Ubuntu 9.04 from scratch onto my Dell XPS 1530, the question that first came to mind was if anything is different and works better? I remember I had some minor but very irritating bugs when I first installed 8.04 on this same computer. So, let's do a quick overview of some of the issues I had back then.

1. Eject Button - the eject button did not work on 8.04 and unfortunately, it does not on a fresh install of 9.04 either. Bummer. I'll have to fix that one again.
2. Touchpad - fortunately, the touchpad worked right out of the box this time around. No need for a fix.
3. The Nvidia driver - this one still had to be enabled but that was no big deal.
4. Touchbad take 2 - the touchpad still is a bit too sensitive...when typing it jumps all over the place sometimes...annoying annoying, will have to look for a fix for that one.
   

Other things that work, that I have tried:

• built-in camera - seems to work without problems, at least in Skype.
• mic - the mic works although the volume is pretty low. I'll have to look into this one.
• HDMI output - works once the secondary screen is detected in NVIDIA X Server Settings (found under System>Administration). The sound is a bit uneven though. MP3's will play fine while Flash videos play in the computer speakers instead of through my TV. Will have to work on that one too.

I'll be adding more info as I come across and use it, naturally.

For now, doing a fresh install has been a good experience and I'm glad I did it, if nothing else only to get rid of Windows Vista. I still have access to Vista but it's through VirtualBox for now.

Liberated from Windows!

This last year, I have progressively been moving away from Windows and I have embraced Ubuntu. I've been stuck with Windows for many reasons, specifically because some things I just can't do on Ubuntu yet.

This past week, I finally started experimenting with VirtualBox and I've discovered salvation from the Windows empire...or at least something like it.

I discovered that with VirtualBox, I can run the software I need to while not having to boot into Windows every single time I need to do it. So, today I made the decision that my laptop is being liberated from Windows once and for all (with the exception of VirtualBox).

Ubuntu 9.04 will be installed fresh!

Mobile Video Streaming

In our world of instant access to everything, now and then we see news clips where someone somewhere managed to record something regarding a newsworthy event, such as a plane crash, a cool car, silly cat or whatever. In some of these cases, the clips end up on the news.

Last night, as I was just browsing for cool PPC apps, I stumbled over the Qik application.

What is Qik, you ask?

Qik is an application that when loaded on your phone, be it a PocketPC, Blackberry etc., will allow you to share videos from your phone. The kicker is you can do it live! So, essentially, your phone becomes a live recording device and the content is viewable to anyone has access to your feed. Like the punchline of the site is, "See what happens."

Here's how it works. First, you register on the website with a username and password. If you want to you can tie your Facebook account to Qik for easy uploading of your videos. Pretty neat. You then download the application to your phone, start it and hit "Stream" and you're suddenly live on the Qik website.

Is that awesome or what?

A quick test I did last night seems to indicate that there is about a 5 second delay from recording to website broadcast but that's not bad. It's a live webcam on your phone.

So, what are the potential applications? I can see a few interesting things, like capturing noteworthy events as they happen, whatever they might be, recording on the go. Either way, it's a pretty cool application.

Check out my feed at http://www.qik.com/2tall although I'm not sure when there will ever be anything there.