Think of the Myka ION as a nettop built for your HDTV. The little media streamer utilizes an 1.6 GHz Intel Atom 330 CPU and an NVIDIA ION GPU to provide your TV with quality high-definition content. Actually, the Myka ION is more computer than dedicated media playback device, which is good thing. Well, a Linux-powered computer with Boxee and XBMC installed, that is. Read More
Apple TV update 2.3.1 came out last week – my Apple TV suddenly reset itself on Sunday and blew away my Boxee/XBMC installation – but fear not: it’s easy to fix. You just reinstall the patchstick!
For those of you who have ATV and don’t use XBMC, you’re missing out. The program plays AVIs natively so you can just upload, via SCP, to a folder and your videos appear right on the menu. Great stuff.
Here’s how:
Hulu didn’t make any friends this week when the NBC-owned site succumbed to the pressure of content owners and had the content pulled from Boxee. Alec Baldwin wasn’t kidding when he said the company was evil. Anyway, thanks to the hacking of some disgruntle geeks, you can now get access back on both Boxee and XBMC. Read More
Supposedly TiVo is using an online survey to test users’ responses to a new interface. That’s a screen shot from it up there.
Most interesting to me, as a non-TiVo user, is that BMW ad along the top of the screen. It’s not intrusive at all, which is what makes it effective. It sort of hides right in there.
Not for nothing, but it also reminds me of Aeon, the skin for XBMC.
We’ve touched on it before, but to recap: Back in the day when modding your Xbox was a criterion of geekdom, Xbox Media Center was king. Pictures, videos, file streaming, skinning, application launching, script support – you name it, and Xbox Media Center could probably get it done. With its awesome codec support and surprisingly vast functionality, it quickly built up a significant following of fans. Over time, efforts began to bring the application to other platforms, and the project dropped the Xbox association from the name to be redubbed as the XBMC Media Center.
After a few months of public alpha, Team-XBMC yesterday released a Beta version of the application for Mac OS X (Leopard and Tiger), Windows, and Linux in preparation for the stable ‘Atlantis’ release.
I just wanted to remind my fellow Mac users that they really ought to be using Plex to play back all their movies. (And I do mean movies—a quick clip here and there, you’re best served by VLC or mplayer.) A new version, 0.5.15, was released two days ago, and includes all the usual bug fixes that you’d expect. What’s unexpected, though, is the complete revamp of the application’s branding: new logo, splash screen, default skin, etc. (Again, I recommend the skin Aeon, though it’s a bit of a pain to set up.)
In conclusion, Plex is neat. Use it.
The media hub once known as Xbox Media Player, then Xbox Media Center, then XBMC, then ported to Intel-based Macs and called OSXBMC is now known as Plex. The name change was announced at the weekend, while many of you were celebrating your country’s independence.
As explained on the application’s official Web site:
The one name that stuck was Plex. I like it because it evokes “cineplex” and the suffix means “comprising a number of parts” which the application certain does. In mathematics, you use the suffix to mean “ten to the power of the number” (e.g. oneplex = 10).
And look how great Plex can be…
Formerly named Xbox Media Center, XBMC made the original Xbox useful long past its sell-by date, and it’s now been ported over to Mac OS X. Well, it’s been available for OS X for some time now, but yet another beta was released a few hours ago. That latest version, 0.5b8, can be found here.
Now, you ask yourself, “Just why would I use XBMC on my Mac?”
Because it’s great. Is that reason enough?
Let’s say you have a Mac mini or MacBook tucked away somewhere—why not put it to good use? XBMC will transform your Mac into a dedicated home theater PC. And unlike the Xbox1 version, the Mac version isn’t running on underpowered hardware, meaning you can watch HD rips at your leisure.
Imagine Front Row, but without the codec limitations.
My advice would be to play around with it this weekend for a bit. What else are you doing?
