Slingbox for Android speculation

I don’t own a Slingbox, but I probably would if they had an Android-based app for viewing content like the one they have for the iPhone or the Blackberry. Watching my own TV content on my Android phone screen sounds great to me, and it apparently sounds good to the new hordes of Android users coming online as well. Run a search for “android” on the Sling Community site, and you’ll see the following results (among others like them):

SlingPlayer on Android? Vote here! “How’s it going? I have the HTC Droid Eris. How about getting the SlingPlayer client on our Android phones? Please go to the link below and vote on getting the SlingPlayer mobile software for our…”

HTC hero . Android “Have sling develloped a player for android ? had it on an N95 for three years worked great.would be nice if sling could devellop something . The android operating system has been out for some…”

SlingPlayer Mobile for Android Still a Possibility “Since the G1 launched last year, the Android faithful have been clamoring for a SlingPlayer app to run on their Google-iscious handets. Now that a slew of new Android players are hitting the market, like…”

The rants come angry and often in discussions like “SlingPlayer Mobile on Android?” In fact, four of the threads on the front page of Sling Community’s “New, Rumors, and Gossip” forum are questions about Android. How can something that seems so obvious to everyone else escape the notice of Sling Media?

Speculation time. I don’t think that Sling Media is unaware of Android’s current market share. It turns out that Sling Media plans to be at CES in January, and one of the most reasonable things they could do there is announce support for what is now the world’s fastest growing cell phone OS (and 2nd overall in the global Smartphone market). Again, this is just a guess on my part, and I have no evidence supporting this notion whatsoever. I made a few calls to the Sling folks, but they wouldn’t answer me. The only other thing that I can think of that would prevent a company from choosing to earn more money is a pre-existing agreement with someone else. Perhaps a certain fruity company?

In any case, this may be a situation that resolves itself when another competitor shows up first. Orb has a competing solution, but they lack a simple set-top box to make it work (you have to permanently attach a PC to do the streaming). Maybe they have something in the works. I sure hope so, because like lots of others, I want to be able to watch my TV content on my Android phone.

Read More!

Issuu delivers your favorite magazines direct to an Android device

In light of all the ereader news that’s been floating through the Android atmosphere in recent weeks, I thought I’d take the time to highligh Issuu Mobile, a new ereader app that will “revolutionze the way people read on phones” according to its creators. Lofty words of priase, but does the app live up to those words? No, not yet, but I will say that this app is very well put together and a cool way to read magazines.

Issu features an “EasyRead” technology that enhances the reading experience on mobile phones without sacrificing the design elements that set magazines apart. The app intuitively formats text to make articles friendlier to the mobile platform. Publishers upload a .pdf copy of their content to the Issu website, which automatically creates the EasyRead version of the magazine. Readers can then read articles from their favorite mags and maintain the basic integrity of the design created for print.

Android is the first platform to get Issuu, and a BETA version of the application is available in the Market. Features include

• The ability to read 1 million magazines, newspapers, and catalogs
• Subscribe to publishers to be notified of new issues
• Sync with a personal Issuu.com library
• Social features to track what friends comment on, publish, and bookmark

But why tell you when I can just show you?

Read More!