Looks like I’m completely ready, how about you?
I’m currently using Comcast’s 6to4 gateway.
Yesterday Microsoft finally pulled back the curtain just a little to give the world a peek at the touch interface for Windows V.Next.
The “Start” Screen is “swipable” and apparently every app on your system will appear as a tile. I like this concept a lot (and hope that there is an easy way to search for apps if there are hundred’s installed to avoid scrolling through an ungainly number of pages (thinking of my iPad…). The “snap” feature appears to allow two apps to switch focus (but only two) which is cool for a tablet interface, but I am not sure if that works for me on a desktop/laptop used for mainstream work with multiple apps open all the time. I guess we will find out in time. But for a tablet format, I vote YES.
In some ways, the interface reminds me of Windows Media Center. But speaking of WMC, while this first demo touched on Pictures and Videos, I didn’t see any TV functionality in the screens that quickly scrolled by in the presentation. There are a lot of missing pieces, and I hope Microsoft reveals info soon.
It had to happen, and I’m glad it did. Thomas Pleasance has produced a nifty add-on for Windows Media Center that allows AirPlay from an iPad to Windows Media Center. It is currently at beta 1 stage and is documented to work only with videos (and YouTube) on the IOS device.
You’ll need to install Dot NET 3.5 if it isn’t already present, Bonjour from http://support.apple.com/kb/DL999 and finally the app from his home page.
After running the install (it is a little quirky, see the comments posted on his page), I was indeed able to stream from my iPad to Windows Media Center. I fired up Videos on my iPad and selected Avatar (which I ripped from my owned BD Ray movie).
I touched the AirPlay icon to display AirPlay enabled devices
and sure enough, I could select Windows Media Center!
Both the iPad and the WMC machine were on 802.11n 5GHz wireless and it didn’t take long at all for the movie to start to stream on WMC.
Interestingly enough, I could drag the timeline with a mouse and playback started instantly from that point. I didn’t have any video or audio issues at all.
Even though the app is not currently supposed to work with Photos on the iPad, I tried a slide show, as I see that as a more important application for me than videos. I was able to manually move between 5 or 6 photos before WMC froze, but the potential is there.
I’m all for a universal ecosystem of smart, connected devices, and I love seeing apps like this one. I’m not seeing the app show up in the Extra Libraries (it IS registered) so I don’t know if the app can send content FROM MCE to an iPad (but I would really like to see that since that would have more real world use for me).
Kudos to Thomas Pleasance for these first steps!
There is a great sound bite from the 1997 movie Contact, where young Ellie and her dad discuss the possibilities of life “out there”:
Young Ellie: Dad, do you think there’s people on other planets?
Ted Arroway: I don’t know, Sparks. But I guess I’d say if it is just us… seems like an awful waste of space
Contact, while science fiction, and was inspired by the research using the SETI Allen Telescope Array, was about real “possibilities”. I watch the movie every so often and wonder why we stopped moon missions and stayed home, content to orbit our own plant. And I had a small measure of satisfaction that at least we were using technology to identify other worlds that could support life. And now all of that is on hold.
When I think about the fact that all SETI needs to fund the Allen array until new funding (hopefully) kicks in around 2013 is five million dollars, I have to wonder why no one has stepped up to the plate to offer a helping hand. You know, people like Richard Branson, who has funded Virgin Galactic, and who has demonstrated an interest in the world beyond our small little rock.
So, for the next couple of years, at least, if ET decides to call us, he’ll either get no answer or a busy signal, with no opportunity to leave us voice mail.