Erstellt am: 5. 10. 2009 - 11:00 Uhr
Today's Webtip: Boxee
More webtip stuff:
On Twitter
The Podcast
I loooooove me some XBMC. It's a perfect example of why hacking is great, commercial product developers aren't and corporate interests will combine to help keep mediocrity triumphant.
Because the Xbox Media Center made that ancient hunk of plastic a truly useful bit of kit. Not only that, bought it did it with a functionality and style that no current commercial offerings are coming even close to providing.
The Good
XBMC.ORG
AppleTV? Nice, smooth, but with limited codec support and a brain that can't cope with true HD. In other words, it's got the looks, but none of the brains a current cross platform install of XBMC (yes, it's not just for Xbox anymore) could offer.
Multi Media Hard drives? Well, they have some nice connections, tend to run linux, and can push out a full HD image while sipping saft. But that's about it. Expanding their functionality usually involves firmware hacks. And those niggling little things like user interface and useability? Well, let's just say most of them would make a fishnet wearing greybeard in birkenstocks look good.
Ugly doesn't even begin to cover it.
The Bad
unknown
So, XBMC and its relatives remain at the top of the pile. But they still keep on reaching for the skies. Boxee for example, has taken XBMC to the Social (no, not THAT social, the one we actually all hang out at). You can basically track your media consumption, share it with friends and receive recommendations based on you and your friends habits. You can expand it with some interesting apps, giving you access to all kinds of fabulous, free, and legal online offerings (open university is go, and yes, you can haz cheeseburger).
And it don't look too shabby either.
The Boxee
boxee.com
It might not have the angular good looks of Plex or the Aeon Skin, but its rounded icons and swooshing and sliding should make most modern net denizens feel right at home. And finally, just like its older sister, Boxee is available for Linux, Macintosh and Windows machines.
Get it while you can, before the economics of artificial scarcity get all heavy on it.