Paul McCartney is celebrating the release of Kisses On The Bottom, which came out Tuesday, February 7, with a free live-streaming concert on February. 8, 2012. The event is being held at Capital Studios in Los Angeles and will be available to one and all via iTune.

Kisses On The Bottom is a collection of music McCartney grew up listening to plus two new songs — My Valentine and Only Our Hearts composed by the former Beatle himself with some help from Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder.

For the album, McCartney also got help from Tommy LiPuma and Diana Krall, whose band who will also be on hand for the live-streaming event. You can hear McCartney speak more about the album in the video below.

Source – Guitar World; More Info: iTunes

Celebrities have tendency to bubble up across CES, but it’s not often one of them is an honest-to-goodness exhibitor. Seth Green, the most excellent comedian behind Robot Chicken and a big player in Family Guy, used CES 2012 to announce his investment and advisory role with an app called Shodogg. It’s a pretty simple HTML5 app which lets you quickly share mobile videos to your PC, tablet, Google TV, or just about any other web-enabled device. They’re aiming to launch a native iPhone app in March, and given the heavy “platform agnostic” angle, you can expect this on Android sometime soon.

Sharing streaming video can be tricky if the source doesn’t want to play nice, and even when they do, DLNA is still farm from perfect. Though there’s definitely room for an app like Shodogg, I think the biggest thing about it is that Seth Green is involved. Call me shallow. It’s just good to see smart celebrities getting entrepreneurial. Who knows, maybe if more of them focus on app development, the next generation of programmers could enjoy some amount of social prestige.

You can find out more about Shodogg over here, or jump right in and sign up for the alpha.

AllThingsD reports that Netflix (and Blockbuster) will be required to wait twice as long, or a full 56 days after DVDs hit retail shelves, before offering Warner Brothers content under a new distribution agreement.

The move is part of Hollywood’s ongoing campaign to bolster flagging DVD sales, and sources tell me the new deal is supposed to be announced at next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Warner Brothers executives have already talked publicly about extending the current window.

Redbox was also included in the initial report, however their parent company Coinstar has made a statement indicating they haven’t yet entered into a new contract with Warner Brothers. They are, however, set to renegotiate their contract at the end of January, but have publicly stated they’d look for “workarounds” if studios attempt to double the time window.

While studios may think this type of dumbassery forces people to buy more DVDs, it only forces them to hate the circumvent the customer-hostile studios. Hollywood is once again on the wrong side of history and common sense. Rapid availability and fair pricing is what boosts sales. iTunes taught that to music studios ravaged by Napster and the like a decade ago. Steve Jobs told them at the time their competition was free-as-in-file-sharing. Is Hollywood really this intent on making the recording labels seem like geniuses by comparison?

Here’s once again hoping the old-guard gets replaced soon.

Source: All Things Digital

My most used apps of 2011 include an endless list of Twitter apps, ‘video streaming apps’, and of course, the default apps like Safari, Mail, Messages and YouTube. When I do download apps from the App Store, I immediately store them into folders: “Games, Utilities, Utilities 2″. However, there are a select few apps that live outside of folders, because I use them so often. Here are the top 5 that I’ve used this year.

Twittelator Neue

I’ve used a few Twitter apps this year. I used Tweetbot, TweetTime, Tweetings, but most of the time I ended up reverting back to the official Twitter app, but when Twitter updated their iPhone app to #dickapp, I went on a search for another Twitter client. That’s when I found Twittelator Neue. Its gorgeous and was made for iOS5. Its got most of the features you’d expect from a Twitter app and is definitely the app that I will be using in the foreseeable future. So what if it doesn’t have push support yet? It’s so pretty!

$1.99 – App Store Link

BBC iPlayer

The iPlayer app is on both the iPhone and the iPad, however I love them both for different reasons. The iPad version is my No.1 source for my BBC content. Its easy to navigate and lets you save a list of favourites, so I never miss a show. Its so convenient for watching my favourite BBC shows in bed before I go to sleep. The iPhone version wins me over because it has 3G support and live channels, so I can watch TV, while I’m out and on the go.

FREE – App Store Link

Tiny Tower

Tiny Tower is an annoyingly addictive game. I’m constantly checking my tower and improving it. It’s almost become part of my everyday routine. ‘Wake Up, Have Breakfast, Play Tiny Tower’. It’s an endless game, as there is no limit to how tall your tower can go, so I’ll be playing this for many more years to come.

FREE – App Store Link

Wikipanion

When I need to look something up on wikipedia, I always use Wikipanion, not just because it’s a full featured, easy to navigate wikipedia app, but because it has multiple wikia support, which is great for viewing topic-specific wikis as well as the standard wikipedia.

FREE – App Store Link

Checkbook HD

I like keeping a close eye on my money, however, My bank doesn’t have an app (yes, I should leave them.). Checkbook HD, allows me to keep a close eye on all my spendings offline, so I can see at a glance how much money I have at any given time. I’ve got multiple accounts, and the app adds up all my money to tell me how much I have altogether. Time to save for next Christmas.

$0.99 – App Store Link

OnLive, the cloud-based videogame streaming company that lets you play console-quality games on devices that would otherwise slow to a crawl under such pressure, has finally introduced the service to the iPad.

OnLive, Inc., the pioneer of cloud gaming, announced that it is bringing console-class gaming to tablets and phones with the revolutionary OnLive app for tablet and mobile platforms. The latest, top-tier, high-performance games-previously limited to only consoles and computers-will be available for instant play via the free OnLive app on over 500 million mobile devices over Wi-Fi or mobile networks in the US and UK.

OnLive will also be bringing the service to Android tablets and other devices like the Kindle Fire so gamers can play in tablet form no matter which platform they prefer. The service is rather groundbreaking and will come with more than 25 titles that support touchscreen-based controls including L.A. Noire from Rockstar, with an additional 150 games to play when paired with their universal wireless controller which sells for $49.99.

With OnLive coming to tablets, this makes gaming much more accessible for those who don’t have consoles like the Playstation 3 or Xbox360 and other high-end computer setups. OnLive launched the OnLive Viewer app for the iPad around this time last year before showing off full gameplay on the iPad at E3. It’s good to see they’ve come through on their promise.

With HD console-quality gaming now available on the iPhone and iPad, it makes you wonder if this will have any direct impact on console sales given the fact that over 250 million iOS devices are currently floating around out there. What do you think?

The App currently works on the iPad, with support for the iPhone said to be coming in the near future. OnLive is expected to hit the App Store shortly and we’ll update with a link once it does!

Source: WSJ

Spotify is working on an iPad app and it should be available very soon. Spotify, for those that don’t know is a music streaming service that offers a subscription service for mobile devices with features like playlist sync for offline listening.  Spotify Managing Director Chris Maples told Pocket-Lint that it is making an iPad app a priority and it is absolutely in the pipeline.

“We launched recently on Virgin Media’s TiVo platform and our fundamental philosophy is anytime, anywhere,” he said. “Consumers make no differentiation between devices and we want our service to be available on any device that people want it on.”

Source: Pocket-lint

Apple has removed Big Fish Games subscription based iPad gaming app from the App Store without any explanation. We reported yesterday that the app was the first to allow in-app subscriptions where for a monthly fee users could play a range of Big Fish games. The games were stored and streamed from a data center belonging to Big Fish.

“We were notified that the app was removed,” said Paul Thelen, founder of Big Fish, a game publisher in Seattle. The app had been available since Nov. 18, he said. “We’re trying to follow up with Apple to try to figure out what happened.” Thelen said he was surprised by the move because Big Fish had worked with Apple for several weeks to ensure that it met the requirements for recurring monthly charges made through the App Store.

Source: Bloomberg

Netflix is currently revamping its Netflix iPad app to bring it into line with its just updated apps on other platforms. The new update will include a complete redesign of the user interface.

The new design is much more immersive and provides greater focus on the growing number of titles in the Netflix catalog. In fact, the new interface displays twice as many movies and TV shows as before, enabling you to discover even more titles you’ll love. Also, we’ve taken greater advantage of the tablet’s unique features, inviting you to swipe through rows of titles featuring larger artwork.

Source: The Netflix Blog

Since Apple just recently launched their iTunes Match service for users in the United States, you might be curious how to subscribe? Luckily, subscribing to iTunes Match is just about as easy as making an App Store or iTunes music purchase. Once you’re all paid up — it’s $24.99 a year — and set up, you’ll be able to access an online version of your iTunes library via iCloud from devices such as your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and AppleTV without physically having a computer to stream from.

1. First launch iTunes on your computer and make sure you are running iTunes version 10.5.1 or higher.

2. Next you should see an iTunes Match section under Store in the left hand pane. Select it. (If you don’t see this, you can alternately go to the iTunes Store homepage and select iTunes Match from the Quick Links section on the right. This option was missing for me at first and then magically appeared… weird.)

3. Next you’ll need to click Subscribe to iTunes Match for $24.99. You’ll be asked to input your iTunes password. (You’ll only see the not taking subscriptions message when the servers are slammed. If you get this, just try subscribing later.)

4. Next click iTunes Match in the sidebar just like you did to purchase it and you should now see an option to add your computer. Do so by clicking the Add this Computer button.

5. iTunes will begin Step 1: Gathering information about your iTunes library. In this step Apple scans all your songs to see what’s in your library.
6. In Step 2: Matching your music to songs in the iTunes Store, Apple compares your library to the massive iTunes Catalog. Anything that already exists in the iTunes Catalog is immediately made available to you in standard iTunes format — 256Kbps AAC with metadata and album art.
8. Step 3: Uploading artwork and remaining songs takes any other music in your library — anything Apple couldn’t match with the iTunes Catalog — and uploads it to Apple’s servers so it will still be available to you from the cloud (albeit in its original format, if that format was worse than iTunes standard.)
9. That’s it, you’re all set up.

Troubleshooting iTunes Match

A few things you’ll want to pay special attention to:

• iTunes Match can only handle 25,000 songs. If your library is bigger than that, iTunes will refuse to match it. About all you can do right now is create a new iTunes library on the same computer with a subset of your songs — no more than 25,000 — and use that library to set up iTunes Match. (Just make sure you don’t copy your music into new folders, leave it in its existing folders or you’ll waste a lot of disk space.)
• iTunes Match isn’t currently doing a great job actually matching a lot of songs. It could be an issue with metadata, if the song information is really different between the iTunes Catalog copy and your local copy. You could try updating the metadata on your local copies before going through iTunes Match, but it can take a lot of time and results may still vary. (Anything iTunes doesn’t match gets uploaded to Apple’s servers, so you still have access to it, but in its original form, not the iTunes Catalog copy in 256Kbps AAC with “official” metadata)

That’s it! iTunes Match should be happily processing, matching, and uploading your library. In the meantime, let us know how the setup went for you, and if you have any issues, jump into our iTunes Match Forum and get some help!

• iTunes Match Forum thread

Apple has released iTunes 10.5.1 beta 3 to developers which includes stability and performance improvements for iTunes Match. Developers must update to iTunes 10.5.1 beta 3 if they want to continue using the service.

The iTunes beta update comes hot on the heels of Apple deleting developer’s iTunes Match libraries again. All of these things should add up to a launch of iTunes Match sooner rather than later. Apple originally stated a released date of October but that has come and gone.

iTunes Match will eventually cost $24.99 a year  and will allow a subscriber to store all of their music in iCloud; not just music purchased through iTunes.

Source: TUAW

Apple has informed its iOS developers that it intends to reset iTunes Match beta accounts on Thursday October 27. Apple states that this is intended to improve “overall quality and reliability” of the service. Resetting iCloud data is nothing new as it has happened a few times during the iOS 5 and iCloud betas.

iTunes Match was announced as part of iCloud and is Apple’s version of a music locker service. For $24.99 a year, iTunes Match will scan your desktop iTunes library, give you a 256-bit AAC version of every song it finds there that’s included in the 20 million strong iTunes catalog, and let you upload any songs (at the original quality) that aren’t.

It still appears that the service will be US only at launch due to licensing deals. Hopefully Apple is working hard to resolve these issues; then the reality of cutting the cord can be fully realized by everyone. Apple did say at the “Let’s Talk iPhone” event that iTunes Match would be available at the end of this month; so it is expected right around now!

Source: AppleInsider

DIRECTV has updated its iPad app and it now offers the ability to use your iPad as a portable TV. Before you get too excited, it can only work within the walls of your own home and does not offer any form of remote viewing access to your content. Of course it does a lot more than just in home streaming to the iPad. It also lets you search, record and control all your DIRECTV content from home or when you are away.

The latest update also adds a few other new features:-

• Turn your iPad into a portable TV and watch your favorite shows in any room of your home. Quickly scroll through a list of channels available to watch on your iPad with a dedicated “Live TV Streaming” Module.
• Get tips in the help section to guide you through features in the app.
• Set parental controls to block live TV channels viewed on the iPad.
• Change start and end times to add padding to a program when setting a recording.

[App Store Link]

A TiPb reader informed us that he was able to stream a 50 min. long concert this morning via iTunes Match, but now he’s being told to connect to Wi-Fi to play anything that long.

Both iTunes and the App Store have a 20MB limit on 3G downloads, however iTunes lets you stream content on 3G that go over 20MB, like podcasts. While there’s been some debate on whether iTunes Match would ultimately be downloading, streaming, or some hybrid of both, it appears it could fall under similar or the same 3G streaming restrictions regardless.

It’s still early days for iTunes Match and settings might be getting flipped back and forth a bit, so we’ll wait for things to settle down before we do anything other than inch towards conclusions.

Anyone else hitting 3G walls when using iTunes Match?

LOVEFiLM, owned by Amazon, is the UK equivalent of Netflix and it has at long last released an app which allows you to stream content directly to your iPad. Previously all you could do was manage your DVD and Blu-ray rental queue.

Watch films instantly as part of your LOVEFiLM membership, and browse the UK’s largest selection of DVDs and Blu-rays.

• Stream films instantly (wifi only)
• Watch trailers
• Rate movies
• Read user reviews
• Add, remove and prioritise DVD rental titles
• Browse the UK’s widest selection of DVDs & Blu-rays
• Browse by genre, new releases, most popular and coming soon
• Customise your search results to return only the formats you’re interested in

[App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Just two months after hitting the US in an invite-only beta, Spotify is now open to to the public and is offering users 6 months worth of unlimited streaming under the free account.

Stream millions of tracks from thousands of albums and artists to your iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Take your existing Spotify playlists with you on the go – listen to them during your commute, in the gym or on a flight. With ‘Offline mode’ you can listen even when no connection is available. Wirelessly sync your local files to your phone to merge your catalogue with ours, no cables required! Download and get started directly from your mobile.

• Instant access to over 15 million tracks
• Stream online
• Listen offline – no mobile connection needed
• Share music with your friends
• Star your favourite tracks
• Wirelessly sync your own MP3s to your iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad
• Create and sync playlists
• Send the tracks you listen to direct to Last.fm & Facebook

Spotify is on a role right now, as just yesterday they partnered up with Facebook to allow free streaming on the social network from user profiles at no cost.

I’ve been in the invite-only beta since it launched in the US and have been loving it, although I can’t see myself spending the money for a premium account just yet given my loyalty to iTunes and iCloud. Spotify is still one of the best online streaming music providers out there, however, so give it a try and let us know how you like the service!

Spotify is available for Free for iPhone and requires a free Spotify account. There are also premium and unlimited accounts available starting at $4.99 per month.

[App Store Link] [Spotify]

When I hear the word Kazaa it conjures up images from the past of peer-peer file sharing.  Now the company behind Kazaa, Atrinsic, Inc has released a totally legal iPhone music streaming app to challenge Spotify etc.

With Kazaa you can use your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch to listen to unlimited, on-demand music everywhere. Play any of our millions of songs as much as you like, make your own playlists, listen to artist stations and discover new music that you love. Sync songs, albums and playlists to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch and listen even when you’re offline. Search and find any song, album or artist, and start listening immediately.

• Access millions and millions of songs
• All the music you love – and new music to be discovered – at your fingertips
• Sync and play music even when you are offline
• Build and save playlists
• New music added every week

[App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Looks like iTunes Match is no longer downstreaming — streamloading? — or whatever weird blend of marketing, legalspeak, and technology led users to see stream-like behavior where Apple claimed there was none. Now with the just released iOS 5 beta 7 it downloads, plays while downloading, but stays on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch after it has downloaded for repeat local playback.

And yes, that may mean you now have to manually manage storage on your device by deleting older downloads to make room for new ones, then deleting the new ones to make room for re-downloading the old ones again, as you so wish. Just like App Store apps work today.

If iTunes Match stays this way through release, does it clear up the confusion or just make things more complicated for Rene’s mom?

[Insanely Great Mac via MacRumors]

Apple released iTunes Match, their iCloud-powered music locker service, into beta yesterday and immediately — and rightly — it’s been Zapruder-ed by every eyeball online, especially when it comes to whether it downloads music, streams it, or both. And confusion and conflation have followed.

Sure, technically there’s a difference between downloading a song to your local iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Mac or Windows PC and playing, and streaming that song directly to your device from iCloud. But many downloads will start playing before they finish and most streams will cache locally to prevent hiccups due to the ever present irregularity of internet connections. The lines are blurry, and made even blurrier by the music industry who wants to nickel and dime Apple, and consumers, at every turn.

(It’s fair to say that if the music industry acted 20 years ago the way they act now, CDs would have been licensed per-player. You want to play that CD you bought in your car and in your living room? Pay us again! You want to play it in your bedroom? PAY US!)

As it stands, Apple technologically and no doubt contractually doesn’t want anyone to know or care about whether or not iTunes Match downloads or streams from iCloud. The same way Apple doesn’t discuss things like RAM, my guess is they’re not going to specify exact behavior for iTunes Match.

You’ll hit “play”, Apple will take care of managing the local/iCloud relationship. Just like they don’t think my mom should have to worry about file systems on iPad, they probably don’t think she should have to figure out download vs. stream. It should just work.

Once iTunes Match is stable and out of beta, no doubt every geek and their packet sniffer will pour over it, parsing out every nuance of the stream vs. download behavior, and keep us updated when Apple tweaks it and makes changes to it going forward.

Meanwhile my mom won’t worry about whether or not she’s synced the Lion King Musical soundtrack, or how many GBs she has left. She’ll just hit play and listen.

(Or she would if they released the damn thing in Canada.)

Whatever changes Apple has been making to the iTunes Store back end lately seems to have caused iTunes app on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad to stream some podcasts as music samples, rather than handing them off to the built-in media player like they’re supposed to.

We’ve tested and everything seems fine and working properly for all of our TiPb podcasts like iPhone Live or iPad Live, or ZENandTECH, Superfunctional, or Iterate, or any of the Mobile Nations podcasts for that matter.

However, shows on other networks like 5by5 and TWiT do seem to be experiencing the problem, and it’s annoying to say the least. So what can be done?

First, huge props to Rene — whatever he’s doing to edit and upload our podcasts seems to be immune to this annoying iTunes bug. Second, iTunes on iPhone and iPad is an app wrapper around online content, so Apple can change things any time, without having to give you a new version of iOS to update to, or giving you a choice to update (yeah, pretty much my nightmare scenario). Fortunately, this also means they can fix bugs any time as well. So here’s where we stand:

Bug symptoms

• You click on a podcast in the iTunes app on the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad
• Instead of the media player coming up and your podcast playing, the little square music sample player pops up
• This means you don’t get full play/pause and other controls, you don’t get the timeline, and you can’t resume where you left off later

Bug fixes

• Download your podcasts instead of streaming them (you’ll need to be on Wi-Fi if they’re over 20 MB)
• Sync your podcasts over from iTunes desktop
• Get a podcatcher app from the App Store and use that to stream
• Wait for Apple to update

Seth and Rene have mentioned Instacast App Store link and Pocket Casts App Store link on past shows, but if you have a favorite podcatcher app you could recommend, please do so in the comments. Also, if you’ve found any other workaround, please let us know!

[Thanks Len!]

around with it — like they have been recently for downloads and category pages — y

Add Walmart’s VUDU streaming video service to the growing list of content companies creating HTML5 web apps for iPad to neatly step around Apple’s revenue sharing requirements.

Beginning today, iPad users can go to VUDU.com and browse through VUDU’s entertainment content library, which includes more than 20,000 blockbusters, Hollywood classics, independent films and TV episodes, then rent or purchase and watch them instantly. For one touch access to VUDU, customers can add a VUDU icon to their iPad desktops by clicking the “Add to Home Screen” button when on VUDU.com.

No word yet on whether or not it works with AirPlay, and as our commenters repeatedly — and rightly — point out, if you do “Add to Home Screen” you don’t get multitasking background support, so it’s not yet an ideal solution.

Still, Apple and Steve Jobs have repeatedly said that HTML5 is iOS’ second great development platform. Nice to see more and more companies calling them on it.

Will you do the VUDU that you do over web app for iPad?

[VUDU.com]

Boxee, one of the many contenders for the media center crown, has just released a new app that lets you stream music, video, and photos from your social networks like Facebook and Twitter, and from your Windows or Mac PC, straight to your iPad.

It also lets you “watch later”, which sounds like Instapaper for videos, and will send content via AirPlay to your Apple TV. Looks like Boxee aims to be your one stop content app.

Details and screenshots after the break!

[Free - App Store link]

Boxee for iPad brings videos from Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and your computer all onto your ipad so you can find and watch new videos or favorites on the train, in bed, on the couch, on the john, during boring conversation, on the patio, from the roof deck, in an abandoned bunker, on the side of a mountain….

SOCIAL: Never miss a hilarious or inspiring new video from your friends again. Boxee connects to your social life and delivers every video your friends share on Facebook, Twitter, Buzz, and Tumblr to your iPad. Return the favor and share favorites with two taps. Boxee brings video sharing to the iPad in a way that’s simple and unique.

WATCH LATER: Each day, we’re bombarded by video from everywhere. Collect them in one place and save them for later with Boxee. Queue YouTube videos, TED talks, and, well, whatever you want to watch on your iPad, whenever you want. Your commute just got its own video playlist.

MEDIA STREAMING: Stop wasting hours converting and syncing videos to your iPad. Boxee streams videos, music, and photos from your PC/Mac to your iPad over WiFi. You pick the video, we handle the rest — no cables or wires necessary.

SEND TO BOXEE BOX: Watching video on your iPad and want it on the big screen? Send videos straight to your TV via a Boxee Box so everyone in your living room can enjoy. Now you can go back to playing Angry Birds on the iPad while you watch : )

iTunes Replay is the rumored name of the rumored Apple subscription video streaming service rumored to compete with the likes of Netflix. Apple Insider reported on the rumors a while back, and now App Advice hears it might be coming soon.

There’s talk you’ll be able to stream content purchased as far back as January of 2009. We’re not sure what will happen to content purchased before that. There’s also talks of certain content only being available for re-downloaded five times. This lines up with Apple traditionally allowing 5 computers to be authorized to play purchased content under one iTunes account. If true, iTunes Replay would basically just extend what Apple is currently offering for re-downloading content via iCloud.

It should also be interesting to see if iTunes Match content will be integrated into iTunes Replay. If we can simply stream a lot of our content, it will free up precious storage space on our devices.

App Advice

Right after Apple added TV Show stream purchases and Vimeo video to Apple TV, our writer at large, Chad Garrett, spotted TV Shows in the Cloud today on his iPhone. It seems Apple has pulled the trigger on TV Show re-downloads, much as they’ve always allowed for apps and previously announced for music. It’s limited to TV Shows (no movies), and to the US for now, but it’s nice to see Apple adding functionality to iCloud so quickly — even before the formal launch this fall.

Are you seeing TV shows under your purchased content in iTunes.app?

Update: Not all shows yet, apparently. Perhaps some networks haven’t (yet) agreed to be part of the service?

Peter Kafka over at All Things Digital reports that Apple has yet another hurdle to overcome before iTunes cloud streaming can become a reality — getting music publishers to sign off. Although Apple has been negotiating and finalizing deals with the music labels, including Sony now, that’s apparently not enough.

While Apple came to terms with Warner Music and EMI Music weeks ago, and has now struck a deal with Sony Music, industry sources tell me the company doesn’t have agreements with the labels’ associated publishing companies–Warner/Chappell, EMI Music Publishing and Sony/ATV. The deal Apple is about to sign with Universal also won’t include publishing, I’m told.

Kafka explains how labels and publishers alike both receive compensation from digital sales, which is why Apple needs to take additional steps for securing deals with publishers before going live.

According to the report, this additional obstacle shouldn’t have any real impact on Apple rolling out their cloud streaming service — which is suspected to be announced at WWDC alongside iOS 5 — because labels and publishers are essentially on the same page. Apple simply started negotiations with the labels first because those agreements were considered to be the more difficult arrangements to secure over publisher contracts.

Do you think Apple will have any trouble getting publishers to agree? And do you find who owns which rights to what music and how it can be sold or streamed as confusing as we do?

[AllThingsD]

CNET is reporting that Apple has finalized an agreement with EMI Music for their upcoming cloud music service, and as previously suspected, is also on the verge of hammering out deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment.

Apple has signed a cloud-music licensing agreement with EMI Music and is very near to completing deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, multiple music industry sources told CNET.

This would not only let them compete with Amazon’s Cloud Drive and Google’s new Music Beta services, but could give them significant advantages, such as making any content in the iTunes catalog instantly available without requiring time consuming uploads first.

On the negative side, it could also mean users are restricted to iTunes-only content, unlike Google and Amazon which allow users to pretty much upload anything.

Apple is probably going to unveil iOS 5 at WWDC in June, and with this news it seems more and more likely they’ll be letting the world know of their streaming music plans at the event now that the deals are starting to fall into place.

How do you think this will impact Amazon and Google once Apple brings iTunes music streaming to the masses? Sound off in the comments!

[CNET]

According to a report by GigaOM, Apple could be shelling out around $4.5 million to buy the domain name iCloud.com, potentially for the long rumored music locker/streaming service. The icloud domain was recently owned by another company that used the name for an online storage service. It has just re-branded its service to CloudMe.

When you visit icloud.com it currently redirects to the new domain cloudme.com but shows a banner informing customers of its re-brand from icloud to cloudme!

My source, who is familiar with the company, says that Xcerion has sold the domain to Apple for about $4.5 million. Xcerion hasn’t responded to my queries as yet. At the time of writing, the Whois database showed Xcerion as the owner of iCloud.

Then again, Apple was rumored to be going with iSlate almost up until iPad launched, so is this all part of the name game or are all the bits are starting to fall into place?

[GigaOM]

Reuters is reporting that Apple has now completed work on its rumored online music storage and streaming service. Reuters also claim that Google is working on a similar service but its plans have stalled; Apple will beat it to the launch. The source of this new information is cited as “several people familiar with both companies’ plans”.

Apple’s plans will allow iTunes customers to store their songs on a remote server, and then access them from wherever they have an Internet connection, said two of these people who asked not to be named as the talks are still confidential.

More importantly, do you think that this is this the future for iTunes? Are you excited by the prospect of an online music storage and streaming service from Apple? Let us know in the comments!

[Reuters]

Forgot to download the latest episode of one of your favorite podcasts before leaving the big bandwidth of Wi-Fi and curious how to get your fix over 3G? Well, TiPb makes sure our iPhone Live! and iPad Live! podcasts are under 20MB so you can download them over 3G anyway, but for longer podcasts you don’t have worry either — you can stream them. We’ll show you how after the break!

Don’t ask us why — we chalk it up to carrier craziness — but even though you can’t download over 20MB on 3G you can stream as much data as your cap (or lack of cap!) allows. Here’s how to stream on iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad:

1. Launch iTunes app
2. Tap Search
3. Type in some keywords for the podcast you want
4. Tap the one you want
5. Find the episode you want and tap the title (not the Free button!)

That’s it, the QuickTime X player will launch and it will start streaming your podcast. It will even work in the background if you change apps, and you can access the controls as well:

1. Double click the Home button to bring up the Fast App Switcher
2. Swipe from left to right to get to the music control widgets
3. Tap the control you want, adjust volume, or tap the iTunes icon to jump back to the app

So there you have it, podcasts on the go for free. When/if you’re ready to graduate you can try out a podcatcher app. But if you just need something in case of a commute or road-trip emergency, iTunes has got you covered.

Have any other podcast tips, let us know in the comments!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Time Warner Cable issued a press release today announcing they have filed a request for declaratory judgement related to its recent TWCable TV app debacle, which forced them to remove a number of channels from the iPad app last week.

We’re at an impasse with a handful of network owners, and we need an impartial third party to referee the situation and confirm that our interpretation is correct. We thought the most efficient way to settle this would be to go before a judge and ask for a decision that, while noncombative, would establish the rights that we bargained for.

TWCable is taking a non-aggressive approach to the matter by requesting a judge step in and make a fair decision based on the facts. They believe they’re well within their rights to stream content from Viacom (and other content owners) to an iPad located within the viewer’s home under current agreements.

Viacom, on the other hand, isn’t taking things lightly and has fired back with some pretty strong language, stating that Time Warner “blatantly grabbed the rights that their competitors have negotiated in good faith to obtain” and has now filed a lawsuit against the cable provider.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out given the gaping differences between new media and old media these days, but we’re hoping a judge declares Time Warner Cable is in the right, don’t you? Sound off in the comments below!

[TWCableUntangled via Engadget]

Cult of Mac is following up on the iPhone nano rumors from Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal saying Apple will make the low price points by getting rid of all onboard storage. No NAND Flash storage, no big price tag. Apple would get around this by streaming everything from an iTunes.com/MobileMe cloud just like Apple TV 2 does today.

However, Apple TV 2 still has 8GB of NAND Flash storage to hold the OS and apps and cache the content. Sure streaming media could make up for lower storage levels but no storage? What about camera roll and apps? Would Apple let me stream Infinity Blade from the cloud? Would I even want to?

It sounds far fetched. However, an 8GB iPhone nano using components from the huge iPhone 3G/iPhone 3GS production runs of the last few years, augmented by cloud storage could be super cheap and super sweet.

What do you think?

[Cult of Mac]

Beginning February 15, Last.fm will require a subscription to stream music to your iPhone and it will be ad-free. Here’s what Last.fm’s VP of production, Matthew Hawn had to say:

On the Last.fm website an ad-supported, free-to-listeners model is what supports our online radio services in the US, UK and Germany. In other markets and on emerging mobile and home entertainment devices, it is not practical for us to deliver an ad supported radio experience, but instead, we will migrate to what we believe is the highest quality, lowest cost ad-free music service in the world.

Interestingly, streaming to mobile apps and on home entertainment devices will become an ad-free, subscriber-only feature with the exception of Windows Phone 7 and Xbox users. The ad-supported model will also still be available on the desktop app.

A Last.fm subscription is reasonably priced at $3 per month. You can sign up here.

For the cost of a fancy coffee, a Last.fm monthly subscription allows you to listen to radio across all platforms, on all your devices, and without commercial interruptions.

Any Last.fm listeners planning to subscribe?

[wpcentral]

The long overdue BBC iPlayer app will be released on Thursday according to a BBC engineer. Geoff Marshall, an Interactive Operations engineer for the BBC, responsible for the iPlayer services, broke the news via his twitter stream. He also went on to say, “It will take advantage of the higher-res screen that iPad2 has got.” “HD content will look good.” Now we don’t know if this is inside knowledge about iPad 2 or just a guess but it is interesting all the same.

The app will only be available for the iPad and streaming will be WiFi only. If you are on a 3G connection you will just be able to browse content. The app will be available in the UK only at launch however the service will launch in the United States in June / July as a paid subscription service.

BBC iPlayer lets you catch up with programmes from the BBC from the past seven days that you may have missed or want to watch again. iPlayer is accessible now via iOS devices through the mobile web version but the iPad app should make it a much nicer experience. We will let you know as soon as the app is available.

[Twitter]

Curious how to watch our podcasts, iPhone Live and iPad Live on your iPhone and iPad? If you come here to TiPb.com on your iOS device you’ll likely realize we’re trapped in little, unsupported Flash boxes. However, there is a way to see and hear at least some of the show while mobile. We’ll tell you how after the break!

We use Ustream to stream our iPhone Live! and iPad Live! podcasts and they use Flash on the browser end, which is not supported by Apple and iOS. However Ustream has made an app that will let you watch the hosts video and everyone’s audio. Here’s how it works:

1. Download the Ustream Viewing Application [Free - iTunes Link]
2. Wait until about 9pm ET on Wednesday (iPhone Live) or Sunday (iPad Live).
3. Launch the Ustream Viewing app.
4. Search for “Mobile Nations” (both shows use that name for the broadcast).
5. There might be several results, look for the one that actually says iPhone Live and tap on it.
6. Wait for the stream to buffer.
7. Watch along with us!

Unfortunately you can’t watch everyone at once and we’re using a different chat program at the moment, so you can’t watch and chat but we’re working on solving both those problems. In the meantime you can still keep up with both iPhone Live and iPad live on the go with your iPhone or iPod touch, or with your feet up on iPad!

Bonus Tip: You can also try watching via http://www.imore.com/live/ with the Skyfire Flash-transcoding browser but we’ve had mixed results at best. [$2.99 - iTunes link]

If you have any questions or any other Ustream tips to share with us please leave them in the comments!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

A new survey by DirecTV could indicate a future new addition for their NFL Sunday Ticket service, including Apple TV.

NFL Sunday ticket already streams to PCs and mobile devices even if you don’t have DirecTV. The survey indicates the addition of other platforms to the list of supported devices and also indicates a possible different pricing scheme depending on how you would want to subscribe to the service.

Nothing is final as of yet but surveys such as this have proven to be fairly accurate in the past at showing new features that are fixing to roll out. Would you be more up to spend the money on NFL Sunday Ticket if you could watch it on your Apple TV if you don’t have DirecTV? Tell us your take on this service possibly coming to Apple TV next year in the comments section.

[ Engadget ]

Air Video, a fantastic app that can transcode and stream video content from your Windows PC or Mac straight to your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, has just been updated to include support for multitasking and Retina display. 

Your Windows PC or Mac needs a small piece of software installed to communicate with your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad but once setup you can stream native iOS video content (MP4 and M4V) instantly to your device (rather than having to sync it over first via iTunes). Air Video will convert non-supported video formats (AVI, MKV, etc) and either store them for later viewing or stream them on the fly so you can watch now rather than waiting for later.

This is done with one click on your iOS device; no other software is needed for the conversion. You can also setup specific folders for the converted videos to be stored in and choose what order they appear on your device.

Air Video is an excellent app that gives me instant access to over 2TB of media on my Windows Home Server. Do you use it? Let us know what you think in the comments!

[$2.99 - iTunes Link]

Skyfire for iPhone is a web browsing application that converts Adobe Flash to HTML5/H.264 so you can view it on iPhone or iPad touch. Seeing as Apple chose not to implement Flash into iOS, a lot of videos on the web still can’t be watched on an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. Skyfire steps in to try and bridge this gap and while it’s a nice feature to have, but not always the best experience.

iTunes Link

While having access to Flash content may be useful to some, the overall process can be daunting. A lot of times, I found that the app would take a while to convert the content. If you are on wifi, the process seems to be a bit smoother, but on 3G it was definitely noticeable. I will give them a little bit of a break here seeing as they sold a ridiculous amount of copies and had to pull it due to their servers being overwhelmed. This may be part of the reason streaming is taking a while.

Either way – in my experience, once the content did stream, it seemed to be quite choppy and broken up. I’m hoping this is something that will get better as Skyfire adds more server bandwidth. A lot of the times I noticed the audio streamed pretty quickly but the video portion would struggle to keep up with the audio or fall behind. Seeing as viewing Flash content is the main feature of the app, I’m really hoping we see major improvements in the near future.

As for the rest of the app, I actually quite enjoyed using it as a browser. Settings will give you an option to browse privately, which is nice. It also gives you the option of desktop or iPhone mode. To me, this is much easier than having to toggle individual sites from mobile to desktop view. It will save you a bit of time and you can just switch with two clicks instead of searching a site to figure out how to toggle mobile views on or off.

Sharing is also easy within Skyfire – you simply click the little plus symbol in the bottom right corner of the screen and you can share directly through Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail. There is also a feature called Facebook Quickview which allows you to view your Facebook profile and stream from within Skyfire. It’s a nice feature but not something I really see a need for. I’ve never been a fan of the Facebook for iPhone app so I suppose having access to the mobile or desktop site in one click may come in handy here and there. It’s still not something I see myself personally using very often.

Skyfire also has a feature that allows you to search for video and content on any term you choose. When you click the search icon, it brings up suggestions of what you may search for based on the page you’re currently viewing as well. This is an extremely neat feature but sometimes it would throw out weird suggestions that had nothing to do with the site you’re browsing. If this feature is refined a bit more, I could see it becoming something I’d use frequently.

Bookmarks can also be added just like they can in Safari, so you should feel right at home if you’ve become accustomed to using bookmarks in Safari. It would be nice if your already existing bookmarks from Safari could be imported into Skyfire. Other than that, the overall browsing experience is great. I’m just not sure the main selling feature of the app is quite up to par yet.

Pros

• Great overall browsing experience
• Adds a bit more functionality than Safari currently offers
• Toggling between desktop and mobile mode is easy and more convenient than switching on individual sites

Cons

• Flash to HTML5 converting to streaming process can be quite daunting and slow at times
• Audio and video do not always sync up after streaming to HTML5
• Experienced a few crashes on 3G while trying to convert and stream video
• Search suggestions can be a bit off at times

Audiopress for iPhone is an amazing little app that will let you aggregate all of your podcasts, live radio, and pretty much any news audio into one easy to use app.  It also allows for background audio so you can start playing a podcast within the app, close it out, and continue browsing or doing whatever you’d like while it streams in the background.  Podcasts can quickly start taking up a lot of space on your device if you’re bad about deleting them (which I am), so streaming them may be a much better option for those of you who’d like to save space on your device.  Hit the jump for more info and a promo video!

[iTunes Link]

Just like you can create categories for your RSS feeds, you can create playlists within Audiopress. If you want your tech streams separate, you can create one for that and another for business or whatever other categories that interest you. One feature I particularly liked is when you go to listen to a podcast, it also shows you a list of previous podcasts from that feed.

You can also choose to search categories within Audiopress and find new podcasts and radio streams to listen to. I found a couple that looked interesting to me that I’ve become a regular listener. Before Audiopress, I’m not sure I would have ever taken the time to dig through iTunes or online radio streams to find more podcasts. So for those of you looking for something to get you more into podcasting or if you need help finding more content to listen to, this may be a good choice for you.

The app also supports Facebook integration, so if you’ve got a Facebook account, you can skip the sign-up and just link your Facebook account instead.

Pros

• Facebook integration makes signing up easy

• Search and suggestions have quite a few sources to choose from for an app being so new to the App Store

• Podcasts show all previous episodes as well, making it easy for catching up on episodes you have have missed

• Playlists are extremely easy to make and build

Cons

• An iPad version would be welcome

• AudioArticles not available (yet)

YouTube Link

When Apple needed land for their $1 billion dollar data center the farmers who owned it decided they needed $1.7 million to sell. Not bad considering they bought it for $6,000 just 34 years ago.

“They told us to put a price on it and we did,” said Kathy Fulbright, 62, seated on a brown leather sofa in the living room of the home she and her husband built with the proceeds. The 49-acre property boasts a 4,200-square-foot house with a Jacuzzi in the master bathroom, as well as a manmade pond stocked with bass and catfish.

Other farmers in the area are apparently sizing up supercars should Google or Microsoft decide they simply must move into the neighborhood as well.

Apple meanwhile aims to finish the data center, dubbed “Project Dolphin” this year and we aim to keep speculating on just what they may use it for. iTunes.com streaming media to iPhone and iPad tops the list, followed by amped up MobileMe services, remote backups, and everything else that comes with massive investment in cloud infrastructure.

Now excuse us as we try to lock up all the rest of that land, Scooby Doo villain-like, and wait for our Apple-bucks payoff…!

[Bloomberg]

The Netflix app for iPhone received a nice little update last night that includes video out support. Yes, this means you are now able to use your iPhone 4 or iPod touch 4 to send any streaming video content available on Netflix directly to your TV.

While jailbreakers have been able to take advantage of this feature for quite some time now, it’s nice to finally have it “officially” supported.

If you’ve tried it out, let us know how it works for you.

UPDATE: for those asking how to get the video from iPhone to your TV, you need a pair of Apple AV cables or similar for that.

[iTunes]

The new Apple TV is famously streaming-only but with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad you can still choose between downloading certain types of media to your local device or streaming them straight from the internet.

This pertains mostly to audio and video podcasts either in the iTunes Store app or right inside Safari from a direct, iOS-friendly link, but it struck me when reviewing Apple TV (2010) just how little I actually download any more.

A year ago I subscribed to tons of podcasts in iTunes and synced them over to my iPhone and original Apple TV. Today I sync almost nothing. I haven’d downloaded a podcast in months.

When I see in RSS or Twitter a new episode of a podcast I listen to or watch is available, I just hit the link and start streaming, and iOS 4‘s background music API is solid enough that I seldom have to worry about downloading it. It mostly — though not always — remembers my place when I come back to it the next day or even the next week and just keeps right on streaming.

Sure, it uses 3G data and depending on your plan and network reliability that might be a deal-breaker but for me, not having to remember to sync content over and being able to pull something up and just listen on demand is killer.

How about you, do you still download or sync podcasts onto your iPhone or iPad?

Netflix has made its very first foreign expansion by introducing their service of streaming video content into Canada. The service is now available and will cost you $7.99 per month.

This is great news for those of you in Canada as you will not be left out in the cold when Apple TV starts to ship (any day now). The company confirmed that not only will it support Apple TV but Apple’s iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch will also be compatible with the streaming service in conjunction with the appropriate Netflix application.

If you live in Canada and were not going to make the Apple TV purchase, does this change your mind?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

The music subscription-based Napster application is now available in the App Store to use on your iPhone or iPod touch. Last year the application seemed to be ready to go but due to apparent high licensing fees it was never released. The app made it’s debut last night and gives you the capability to save songs, albums and playlists for offline playback and also tosses in music recommendations for your listening pleasure.

While the application is free to download, there is a $10 a month fee attached to the Napster plus mobile subscription to use on your iOS device. With so many subscription-based music services already available do you think Apple has been thinking twice about introducing their own service or are they taking their time developing something much bigger and better?

[iTunes link - free]

Netflix streaming from iPad or iPhone to your TV via iOS 4.2 AirPlay? That’s what Mark Gurman is showing off.

We connected some speakers to an Airport Express and the audio from the Netflix film wirelessly streamed and played perfectly with absolutely no hiccups. When the new Apple TV launches, you’ll be able to wirelessly stream both the video and audio to your television set; that’s right, I said television.

Now if only they let Hulu Plus do that…

[9to5Mac]

If rumors are to be believed, the next Apple TV is going to adopt the iPhone OS, eschew local drives for cloud storage, and hit a $99 price point.

TiPb’s been wondering out loud about putting the iPhone OS on the Apple TV for a while now, so obviously we’re excited to hear that may be on the table. Sure, figuring out how to translate the current multitouch input methods of the iPad and iPhone to something that works on a 60″ from 10′ away but having Safari and apps and games on the platform will be more than worth the effort.

I typically stream to my current Apple TV and never use the hard drive on the machine, so the idea of streaming from iTunes.com or whatever cloud-solution Apple eventually rolls out is compelling. Obviously it will require some local storage to cache data for a smooth user experience, and users should be able to keep a copy of the things they buy if they so choose (sorry Hollywood).

$99 price? That starts to be mainstream… or would if it could replace DVR boxes and set top boxes. As it is, sitting on top of another box (or several) still makes it a tad complex for average users. Cable and satellite providers won’t be giving up control of their content or experience any time soon, however, so at least cheap mitigates that for now.

And no, it’s reportedly been in the pipeline for a while so it’s not a response to Google TV — though the sudden leak of information about it certainly might be…

UPDATE: Daring Fireball pegs the codename for this next generation Apple TV as K66.

Want one?

[Engadget, Daring Fireball]

You say you just picked up a new iPad and wanted to sit back and watch your favorite episode of Lost or perhaps a blockbuster movie? If you are a Netflix member you can do just that with the official Netflix iPad application! [iTunes Link - Free]

All you have to do is download the Netflix app from the App Store and you can instantly watch TV shows and movies directly on your iPad. Once you start the app you will be taken to the Netflix website that seems to be optimized for iPad and you will enter in your password and username and everything will be familiar. If you start to watch a movie from your computer or TV and want to resume it on your iPad, you can. Even better is that since the app uses the web interface you have the ability to manage your que or make any account adjustments directly from your iPad.

I’ve been playing around with it for a while now and must say it is very snappy with no lag in the UI and the video content streams flawlessly. This is a must have for all Netflix users out there!

Screenshots after the break!

CNET is reporting that Apple is planning to unveil their iTunes music streaming service at least by the third quarter of this year. After Apple acquired Lala back in December, it was rumored that the company was entertaining the idea of a streaming music service that would allow users to back-up and access their music library from any device with internet connectivity.

“Music industry sources told CNET this week Apple has informed label managers that a streaming music service is unlikely to be ready before the third quarter. It will be a disappointment for iTunes fans who have been speculating as to when Apple might use music site Lala–which Apple acquired in December–for its streaming expertise to launch a cloud-based music service.”

This is definitely disappointing to hear and if you are looking for even more bad news CNET is also reporting that Apple “hasn’t done much” with video content for iPad either with the exception of sending iPads to certain movie executives. But we’re not greedy, we’d be happy with Hulu and Netflix streaming…

[Via CNET]

Apple’s iTunes News is back with another helpful reminder, this time on the two different types of sharing that now exist in iTunes 9 — share libraries and Home Sharing.

Sharing libraries via streaming:

You can enable it on the Sharing tab in the Preferences panel, which will allow your computer to look for the libraries others are sharing and let you choose whether to share your whole library or just selected items and playlists. When Sharing is turned on, shared libraries on your local network appear in the Shared section of the iTunes window’s left-hand column. You can play the content that appears there as if it were on your own computer.

Home Sharing:

lets the users of up to five computers on a home network copy over music or any other item they’d like to have in their own library. Then they can then enjoy it even if your computer is no longer on the network, and they can sync it to their own devices. To turn it on, use Turn On Home Sharing in the Advanced menu on each of the computers, and use the same active iTunes account to activate each one. Copying is then a simple matter of dragging from a shared library and dropping into your own.

I’ve enabled Home Sharing but I tend to just stream from shared libraries. It just feels quicker to me when I’m looking for something. Which do you use and why?

(Air Video for iPhone Forum Review by msbaylor. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

I was quite surprised when I found Air Video for iPhone [$2.99 - iTunes link] was available in the App Store and was even more blown away with what is said it could do.

• Video Streaming: Watch videos from your computer, over the air via WiFi or 3G, on your iPhone or iPod touch. No need to sync with iTunes or transfer files.

• Live Conversion: Convert video from a non-iPhone friendly container like AVI or MKV, or codec like XviD or DivX while you’re watching. No need to convert-first, watch-later.

But would it live up to it?

Besides downloading the iPhone App, you’ll need to download the program for your computer (for PC & Mac OS X 10.4+). Neither app/program will work without the other. The iPhone app is basically a front end (UI) to the computer program.

The app has four main views – the server list, the file list, the file details view & and the queue view.

Installing the software and setup on my Vista computer was a breeze. The main thing here is to make sure you select what folders you want to have access to. Also there is an option to use “Internet access” which is an important option to have checked to really make this app scream! I even connected one of my NAS (Network Accessible Storage) drives to the app.

Switching back to the app, once you have everything on you Mac/PC setup, you will need to setup your iPhone app. Which, the two devices must be on the same Wifi network the first time for that the app can detect your PC/Mac

Again setting up the iPhone local and Internet connection are easy to setup. At one point I had an issue where I couldn’t get one of the servers to show up under local network & I had to enter my IP manually to get it to work.

The flow of the program is easy to navigate – you have your servers, then your file listings. You also have the option to set a password for your server to keep other out.

It seemed no matter what type of file I had, I was always able to see a screenshot next to the name whether it was converted or not.

In viewing details about the video, if it’s not in iPhone readable format, the app can either convert it for you (you can go about other things & come back to it later) or you can use the “LIVE conversion.”

When the videos convert, you’ll be left with a duplicate video file on your computer – the converted file, which is nonce to keep around other than being capable of streaming the video. Another thing you can do is add the video to iTunes and even to an optional playlist.

One of the things that really caught me by surprise was the extensive compression & ratio settings. You can even create multiple presets (ones for Edge & 3G connections) and set a default preset.

I never had an issue once I figured out the right conversion I wanted to use (the medium default preset worked out well for me to start with). I even made different conversion presets depending on what type of connection I thought I’d have.

Lastly, that other thing that caught me off guard was that the app has the ability to stream files remotely (via 3G/Edge) rather than just your local Wifi. Imagine instead of waiting tediously for a video to download from the Internet, you can leave your computer, check you iPhone, convert it and view it on-the-go!

Conclusion

Overall, this is absolutely an amazing concept & app, I surprised Apple/AT&T didn’t block this one. On a side note, I’d have to say – if you need a video converter & you “happen” to have an iPod touch or iPhone, for 3 bucks to have a well created video converter is a steal!

Pros:

• Great interface
• Live conversion of videos
• Add multiple servers
• Compression settings galore
• Select audio streams
• Create compression presets
• Conversions are very good

Cons:

• Remote server can be tricky to set up as Port forwarding doesn’t work on all networks
• Smaller, less resourceful computers, will not be able to run the software.

TiPb Review Rating

Streaming music has gotten pretty popular among iPhone owners and today we’d like to introduce you to one more option, Lala.

Lala gives you the ability to listen to any song for free one time. If you happen to like the song you pay $0.10 for unlimited listening. And at $0.10 per “Web Song” you can pretty much purchase a full album for a single dollar. That may not convince all of you but Lala has one more trick up it’s sleeve — you can upload your entire music library from your computer to the cloud for you to stream back to your iPhone, completely free. Lose you data connection for some reason? No worries as Lala uses caching to save your music. Exactly how much is cached is not known just yet but it’s a nice feature regardless.

This is definitely an app worth taking a closer look at when it hits the App Store. It should be free to download and you can expect to see it available within the next few weeks.

[Via TechCrunch]

The HP MediaSmart Server iStream app [Free - iTunes link] allows iPhone and iPod touch users to stream media from an EX485 or EX487 HP MediaSmart Home Server.

Supported media includes photos, music, and video (though HP says DRM’d video might not stream properly). Part of a much more impressive server package, Engadget has the details:

Dual Core processor, 2GB of RAM and up to four 2TB drives [...] The new EX490 and EX495 can handle up to 7TB of internal storage and up to 17TB pairing up internal drives with external hanger-ons. More interesting, however, are the new software capabilities built on top of Windows Home Server. Mac users now get admin features, media collection and bare metal recovery over Time Machine, and the servers have a built-in video converter for collecting and converting videos for a specific device.

They function as iTunes servers, with the Celeron bound EX490 starting at $549 for 1TB, the dual-core EX495 starting at $699 for 1.5TB.

By contrast, while Apple’s own Time Capsule has been rumored to be getting iPhone streaming functionality, nothing has thus far appeared.

If you try out HP’s streaming app, let us know how it works for you!

Rhapsody [free - iTunes Link] is now available in the iTunes App Store. It was less than a month ago that we told you about the submission of RealNetwork’s Rhapsody iPhone app, well Apple may have been scared straight by the FCC because it’s been approved and is now available as a free download.

Now don’t don’t forget there is a $15/month subscription fee you must dish out if you want all of that music streaming goodness over AT&T’s data network or Wi-Fi. Sorry folks, no off-line access like Spotify here.

In a strange twist of fate, PreCentral.net tells us Palm has rejected their first App Catalog app, NaNPlayer, a (superior according to PC) replacement for the built-in Pre music player. Why did they do this? The developer used an undocumented API and that violates the SDK agreement. Sound familiar, iPhone users? Will Palm now get the same grief Apple does?

Sound off in the comments!

Lars Ulrich rejoice, Napster will NOT be heading into Apple’s coveted App Store any time soon. Strange considering they once toyed with our emotions by mentioning an iPhone app was in the works? Sadly, unlike Spotify, it is just not going to happen anytime in the near future. Did Apple reject it? No, so do not go ditching your iPhone for a Android or RIM device just yet — Napster have scrapped apps for those devices as well.

One of the most common questions Napster receives is, �When will you offer an iPhone app?� Well, Napster has created an iPhone application that allows subscribers to stream music on-demand to their iPhone�including personal playlists, albums and radio stations. You can imagine the company is also looking at streaming applications for several other mobile platforms as well (Blackberry, Android). However, due to the high licensing fees for streaming to a mobile phone, Napster has not yet submitted the iPhone app to Apple for approval or attempted to bring the application to market.

Now let’s think about this for a moment, they put their iPhone application on hold due to “high licensing fees”. If Spotify and Rhapsody can pull it off why can’t Napster? Maybe it’s due to the fact those companies charge $10.00 more a month for their service perhaps.

Whatever the case may be, would you be willing for fork over some extra cash to get Napster on your iPhone?

[Via MediaMemo]

Apple went ahead and gave the green flag for the music streaming service Spotify, whose biggest selling point is the fact you can create playlists in a free desktop app, and then listen to those playlists via your iPhone at any point in time, with or without a data connection. Apple told the developer:

�The current status as of right now is it�s been approved, and we hope to add the app to the more than 65,000 apps on the app store very soon, We�ve been in constant communication working with the developer and have already notified Spotify that the app will be in the app store very soon.�

The good news is Apple approving this application for iPhone owners. The bad news being it is currently only available in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Britain, France and Spain. The weird news is that we still don’t see it actually in the App Store in those countries?

Spotify’s popularity has grown to over 2 million subscribers in Britain and they hope to have their service available here in the US before the end of the year. Perhaps this approved iPhone app will help things move along quicker. Music lovers can only hope.

Would any of our readers be ready to lay down their hard earned money for a service such as Spotify?

[Via Wired]

Still searching for that perfect online music streaming application for your iPhone? Spotify may be exactly what you are looking for.

Spotify is a online streaming music service that gives you access to over-the-air streaming of their entire music library, as well as playlist access. Where this application has a leg up on the competition is that you’ll be able to cache playlists locally on your iPhone while in WiFi areas so that you’ll be able to play them back at any time without any data connection. Spotify will be available as a free app download but will only be available to premium customers who pay £9.99 a month for the service.

Now comes the disappointing part of the story — Spotify is not available here in the United States or Canada due to licensing restrictions. Sorry folks, we will have to make do with Pandora, Pocket Tunes, etc…

How many of you, our valued readers, think Apple will let this one slip into the App Store? Will it get rejected for “duplicating functionality”? Or will it mysteriously disappear into the abyss like so many applications before it?

[Thanks to icebike & Sam for the tip!]

It was only one day ago that TiPb asked, where is the official Sirius XM iPhone application? Well it seems like our question has, for the most part, been answered.

“The SIRIUS XM app will deliver an expanded programming lineup that includes SIRIUS XM’s exclusive sports talk, news, comedy, and 100% commercial free music channel, as well as new talk, comedy, and music showcase channels.”

Turns out the application will be free but — and that’s a big but — there will be subscription fees. You can either have a stand alone streaming subscription which is $13.00 a month or have a normal subscription with an additional $3.00 a month fee tacked onto what you are already paying. There is still no word on when the application will be released but our guess is you will see it around the time iPhone OS 3.0 drops this summer.

So there you have it folks… Excited? Disappointed? Let us know what you are thinking in the comments!

[Via BusinessInsider]

MacRumors has come across an Apple job listing for someone with:

excellent understanding and knowledge of processor architecture, specifically ARM and its vector unit NEON. Additional Intel SSE or PowerPC AltiVec is also very helpful. Being able to use processor micro-architecture to write and deliver fast routines is an essential attribute.

Neon, they remind us, is the brand name for the ARMv7 Cortex, the next-generation of the processor Apple uses in the current iPhone and iPod touch.

What’s not yet clear is whether Apple will tap the multi-core potential of the ARMv7 Cortex to really shift multimedia performance into the mobile stratosphere. However, another tantalizing glimpse into the iPhone’s potential future is revealed in a second job listing, this one for an engineer with:

Experience developing embedded image and video processing solutions. Experience developing embedded image and video analysis solutions. Experience working on real-time media and networking applications (WiFi and cellular networks).

Of course, we won’t keep our fingers crossed too hard for those iTunes Replay, personalized podcast streaming, or remote DVR access patents Apple has teases us with in the past…

No, SlingPlayer Mobile is still not available in the App Store. Are any of our readers getting sick of hearing about SlingPlayer for iPhone and the numerous reasons/rumors on the applications delays in making it’s debut in the App Store?

Well maybe, just maybe we have a bit of good news for you today. Sling has recently updated their web page to give the iPhone world a little more insight on the status of their SlingPlayer Mobile.

“The team has been working hard to bring the SlingPlayer Mobile experience to the iPhone and iPod Touch. We’ve submitted the first release of our application to the iPhone App Store. We are in close contact with our partners at Apple and are optimistic that it will be approved soon. We hope the wait won’t be much longer.”

They “hope” [emphasis ours]? That’s not a very confident word. We don’t know about you, but TiPb will believe it when we see it.

[Via Sling]

Rumor is that Hulu is working on a application that will be available in the App Store sometime in the near future. Silicon Alley Insider has learned about it from a “plugged-in industry executive” and it is said that the application itself will be as slick as Hulu’s website and it will work on 3G as well as WiFi. Judging from the popularity of Hulu and their really cool commercials, this app could be a huge hit.

This app coming to the App Store may seem a bit hard to believe at the moment based on the whole ordeal with SlingPlayer. Although, there are other apps within the App Store, such as i.TV, that actually stream video, granted the quality is poor. But full length TV shows and movies? Unfortunately, whatever is holding up SlingPlayer from becoming available still remains a mystery. Whatever the case may be, what are the chances of this Hulu app seeing the light of day? And what are the chances AT&T will really let it stream over 3G?

[Via Silicon Alley Insider]

Well it is official, Sirius XM will be streaming it’s satellite radio content sometime this spring according to CNBC. This announcement has come very quickly after Nicemac announced they were closing shop and this is exactly what we predicted was going on from the first time StarPlayr was “not accepted” by Apple. Mel Karmazin, chief executive of New York-based Sirius said:

“It behooves us to consider every possible way to grow our subscriber base.”

Good idea Mel, unfortunately no other details have emerged as to price or an exact date they plan to roll this out. So all of you Howard fans out there can finally breath easily, you will soon be able to stream Sirius XM content right on your beloved iPhones.

Bobba Booey to ya’ll!

[Via CNBC. Thanks to Mike for the tip.]

CBS aims to find out the answer to that very question when it puts a new, March Madness-centric iPhone WiFi streaming app up on the App Store. Will free competition from TV, PC, Mac — and pretty much every other platform out there — along with no cell access to video (audio only on 3G and EDGE) make the price tag too high? Or will rabid college hoops fans who can’t put their iPhone’s down swallow the costs and the radio tether?

Apple Insider says:

The video streams themselves won’t be relegated to “alternate view” camera angles that have become customary for other sporting events. Instead, CBS said it will deliver full broadcasts and play-by-play in sync with their network television broadcasts, which of course will include commercial breaks.

Yeah, commercials. Oh, and it expires on April 6th. So, what answer do you think CBS will get? Will you be watching on your iPhone?

You really have to love Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of South Park:

“We’re always in favor of people downloading. It’s how a lot of people see the show. And it’s never hurt us. We’ve done nothing but be successful with the show. How could you ever get mad about somebody who wants to see your stuff?”

Well Apple drops the ball yet again with the official South Park app in the App store… and yet again a 3rd party picks up the slack. South Park Mobile is available via Cydia and if you are not jailbroken, check out www.southparkmobile.net on your iPhone. What this app allows you to do is stream full episodes of South Park for your viewing pleasure right on your iPhone. Every single episode, from every single season is available for you to stream. Keep in mind this is not something official from Mr. Stone and Mr. Parker but it’s the best we currently have available to us.

*You must be on firmware 2.2+ in order for this Jailbreak App to work.

[Thanks to Jaun for the tip!]