Plex's main menu on an iPad

Plex is a media center application for Mac based on XBMC. The latest version, called Plex/Nine for the Mac was released this week, and in addition to the desktop software there’s also a new iOS app. The mobile app promises to act as a remote control for your desktop as well as a way to watch your videos. Since all the organization is done on the Plex desktop software, the iOS app doesn’t have to do much other than stream content.

First, I ran the Plex/Nine software on a Mac Pro using a library of under 100GB. The Plex Media Manager, when first loaded, goes online to get metadata about your collection so you can find movies or TV shows by director, year, genre, and more. It took about an hour to grab all the data for the library.

While the desktop software for Plex is free, the Plex iPad app costs $4.99. The interface is very basic – there are no left and right panes here. There is just one list that lets you navigate your videos, music, and other plugins. You can connect to multiple Plex libraries – so if you have files on different machines, you can access them all via the Plex app. Unfortunately, the iOS app does not create a master library, but if you can remember where your files are, you ought to be fine. It would also have been nice to see more controls on the iPad’s larger screen, instead of a single pane, but that is a minor quibble.

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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. And, actually, launch time wouldn’t have been on my radar… except that Netflix comes up surprisingly slowly.

Launch Speed

On average and while on WiFi, from a cold start the Hulu app fully loads it’s first screen in about 5 seconds as opposed to the ~8s Netflix requires. On my 3G connection, Hulu came up in about 10 seconds, whereas Netflix took 18 seconds… or more. Ouch. Of course, your connections and coverage will differ from mine but the relative comparison stands: Hulu launches significantly faster.

Winner: Hulu Plus

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Netflix launched an iPad app months ago that lets users stream movies and TV shows over WiFi or 3G connections. Now you can do the same on an iPhone or iPod touch.

The app has been redesigned to fit smaller screens. The app is divided into Home, Genres, Search, and Instant Queue tabs. From the Home screen you can see a list of popular content and a link to resume the last video you were watching.

Genres lets you browse by… you know, genre, to see TV shows, documentaries, horror flicks, comedies, drama, and so forth. When you actually click on a category, you’re presented with thumbnail images of movies, along with titles, release dates, run times, MPAA ratings, and user ratings. My one complaint is that Netflix goes out of its way to make sure there’s enough space for the thumbnail images — which means that there’s only room for about 3 titles per screen. You might have to spend a lot of time scrolling if you’re in a browsing mood.

Fortunately there’s also a search tab which shows you far more titles at once — at least on your initial search screen. Once you dig down into your results, you get the same layout as the genre tab.

If you don’t feel like browsing or searching on a mobile device, you can always just hit the Instant Queue tab, where you’ll see a list of titles you’ve added to your queue using the desktop version of Netflix. You can also add videos to your queue from the movie/episode detail pages.

As for video quality, it looks pretty good on my iPod touch with a 480 x 360 pixel display, streaming over a WiFi connection. I suspect videos might not look quite as good if you’re using the Netflix app over 3G with a higher resolution device such as the iPad or iPhone 4, but that’s just a hunch since I don’t have the means to test that theory.

This morning I spent a few minutes watching a Futurama movie and the beginning of Serenity, and both looked great. My only complaint is that the iPod touch speaker isn’t really loud enough to make watching movies on the small screen enjoyable without a decent set of headphones. But that has nothing to do with the Netflix app.

When I exited a video to do something else and then tapped on the video again later, it picked up right where I left off, which was a nice touch.

The Netflix app for iOS is available as a free download from the App Store, but you’ll need a Netflix account, starting at $8.99 per month in order to watch videos.

Update: As the folks at Business Insider point out, the new Netflix app doesn’t yet support fast app switching on iOS, and there’s no way to search the Netflix DVD library or manage your DVD queue.

You can check out more pictures of the app in action after the break.

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StumbleUpon is either a great way to find new and interesting things on the internet or a great way to waste time on the internet, depending on how you look at it. The service lets you hit a “Stumble” button to visit not-quite-random web pages.

The not-quite part comes in when you register for a StumbleUpon account and install the company’s toolbar which lets you give pages a thumbs up or down, submit links, and befriend other StumbleUpon users. In other words, StumbleUpon has all the tools to make a pretty good guess about what kind of content you’re likely to enjoy, whether it’s silly cat videos or computer coding tutorials.

Now you can get your little piece of random on the go as well. StumbleUpon launched iPhone and Android apps today. I took the iPhone version for a spin, and it works a lot like the desktop version. You hit the Stumble button and away you go. But the mobile app has been formatted for the small screen. Sort of.

The good news is that the home screen is awfully handy. It gives you a list of items you might want to stumble through, including topics you’ve already said your interested in and types of content that are good for viewing on a mobile device including photos, videos, and news.

On the down side, the StumbleUpon app has persistent toolbars that hang out on the top and bottom of every page. While this makes it easy to share links with your contacts, give pages the thumbs up or down, or see what comments other users have left, it leaves less space for actually viewing content. That might not be a problem if you have an iPhone 4 with a retina display. But on an old fashioned iPhone 3GS or iPod touch, the StumbleUpon app takes up a substantial amount of the screen real estate with buttons that you don’t need to press all the time.

It’s also odd that while you can read comments left by others, you can’t submit comments from the mobile app.

You can grab the free StumbleUpon app for iOS from the iTunes App Store. There’s also a free version for Android available in the Android Market.

You can check out a few more screenshots after the break.

via TechCrunch

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Vevo is a music video site backed by Universal Music Group and Sony Music and the Abu Dhabi Media Company, with additional content from other labels including EMI, CBS, Walt Disney, and others. Today the company launched an iOS app that lets you stream music videos to an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.

When you first launch the app you’re greeted by a slideshow with a few featured artists and songs. You can click on any to start playing the video — although it takes a moment for videos to load, even over a WiFi connection and so you’ll quickly become acquainted with the little music trivia screen that pops up while you wait. If you decide you’d rather go back, you’ll still have to wait for the video to load. Tapping on the trivia screen does nothing. You have to wait for the video to start playing before you can get a “done” button.

You can also tap the Videos tab to see additional featured music videos, categorized by “Top,” “Premieres,” and “New.” Selecting any video from this screen should start it playing.

When a song is finished, or when you hit the “done” button, you’ll see a page which lets you download the song you just played from iTunes, share a video, add the song to your playlist, or replay the video. You can also find comments and related videos.

Next to the “Videos” tab is an “Artists” tab, which seems mostly useless. I searched for several artists by name, and selected several artists from the featured lists. I couldn’t get a single video to play. But I got plenty of links to purchase content from iTunes.

There’s also a “Nearby Videos” feature which is kind of neat, but kind of silly. It shows you which Vevo videos are being watched by people near your geographical location. I was mildly shocked to find out that I’m surrounded by Justin Bieber fans.

Vevo for iOS is available as a free download from the App Store. You can find more screenshots after the break.

Update: A spokesperson for Vevo tells me the company is “doing some stream tuning” and that all the videos should be able to play later today.

Update 2: Yup, it looks like Vevo has worked out the kinks and now all the videos stream properly.

via Mashable

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Ahead of Monsoon Multimedia actually shipping the Vulkano “God Box” later this month, their free iPhone/iPad client has landed in Apple’s app storefront. Vulkano is the successor to Monsoon’s Slingbox-esque HAVA. It allows you to stream live and pre-recorded TV over the internet to a computer or mobile device after plugging a piece of hardware into your home theater setup.  I suspect the new Vulkano Mobile app (v1.2.101) is an enhanced version of HAVA Mobile (v1.1.28) to now support the iPad and iOS4.

While I don’t yet have a Vulkano in my possession, I do have access to a pair of remote units (connected to DISH ViP 211 satellite receivers) for the purposes of testing the iPhone software. Once locked onto a television channel, video quality looked very good… And I enjoyed some arena football from the NFL Network last night, despite a max app resolution of 320×240 (equivalent to Sling’s current solution). However, initial buffering and issuing remote commands seemed quite slow.

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As expected, the folks at PlayOn have developed an app for the iPhone and other mobile devices. What’s surprising is that it’s not a native app, but a web-based app, which means you can use it on the iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, Google Android, or any other device with an HTML5-capable browser. Update: It looks like I got a bit carried away. While you can use an Android device to access the PlayOn mobile interface, it doesn’t appear to be able to stream video on Android phones or tablets.

Basically, Apple was dragging its feet on approving the iOS app, so VentureBeat reports that PlayOn decided to release a web app instead.

Here’s how it works. You download and install the Playon client on a Windows PC. Then you fire up a web browser on your mobile device and visit m.playon.tv. As long as you’re connected to your home WiFi network, you should see a list of computers with PlayOn installed. Check the one you want, and you should be able to stream web video to your mobile device from Hulu, CBS, Comedy Central, and other online video sources.

PlayOn uses your host computer to grab the web video and stream it to your mobile device, which is why the web app only works when you’re connected to your home network. PlayOn can also stream video from your PC to a video game console or other device in your house, making it a useful app for bringing web video to your TV without setting up a computer in the living room.

In order to use the new mobile streaming service you’ll need to have the latest version of PlayOn intalled. If you’re a new customer and want all the bells and whistles, you’ll need to pony up $39.99 for the first year and $19.99 per year after that (or $79.99 for a one-time fee). That will provide you with premium access to content from Comedy Central, Spike, and other sources.

If you’re an existing PlayOn customer who just paid a cheaper one-time fee, you can still use PlayOn Basic. This gives you access to Hulu, CBS, and some other channels, but not premium content such as The Daily Show and Colbert Report. One thing that’s not obvious is that existing users can’t upgrade using a patch. Instead you have to download the full installer, enter your name and email address, and hold your breath. If all goes right, your PlayOn Basic license should be transferred, allowing you to get your web video fix anywhere… in your house.

There’s also a 14 day free trial available.

You can find some more screenshots after the break.

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Apple pushed out an updated version of iBooks this week. The app now features PDF improvements and the ability to double-tap an image within a book to get a better look. But the biggest change is probably that iBooks 1.1.1 supports audio and video content in digital books.

Existing iBooks users will probably be prompted to download the update automatically, or you can download the latest version of iBooks for free from the App Store.

While the audio and video capabilities are pretty nifty, they’re not unique. Amazon added similar capabilities to its iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch apps a few weeks ago.

Trying to find something to do this weekend? How about tonight? Goby can help. The app offers up information about all sorts of activities from dining to attending live music concerts to visiting museums or hiking trails. And thanks to the magic of geolocation, Goby will automatically find stuff near you — wherever you are.

Scan to download

Goby covers every city, town, and region in the US, which means that you can find things to do near home or when you’re on the road. You can view results on a map, find phone numbers, and share activities through Twitter, Facebook, and email.

As with most apps of this sort, I’ve found that Goby is pretty good — but not perfect. For instance, when I searched for vegetarian restaurants, the closest it found to my home is 0.5 miles away — even though I live just a two minute walk from an excellent vegetarian sandwich shop. Your results may vary.

The app is available as a free download for the iPhone and iPod touch, and Goby recently launched a fee app for Google ANdroid as well. You can download it by scanning the barcode to the right.