stream

Need a "30 Rock" fix? How about some "Friday Night Lights?" Forget paying Apple two bucks for every iTunes download: Just stream the shows to your iPhone or iPod Touch instead.

No, the rumored Hulu app hasn't arrived yet. But if you point your mobile browser to m.nbc.com, you'll find you can watch full episodes of more than a dozen NBC shows. Free!

(Interestingly, the mobile CBS site (iphone.cbs.com) can stream video in the iPhone-friendly QuickTime format as well, but for the moment, you'll find only clips and recaps, … Read more

Well, this is helpful. On Friday evening I noticed that my Facebook home page was displaying a "Show (number) new posts" alert after I left the site open for a while and some of my friends have posted new status messages, links, or what-have-you. This is something that had been notably missing when Facebook debuted its redesigned, "stream"-focused home page this spring.

It looks like this went live earlier this week, per Facebook's official blog, but it doesn't appear to have rolled out on everyone's accounts immediately (I tend to leave a … Read more

Free, on-demand streaming music is a rising tide: since the start of 2009, I've covered relatively new services like Spotify and Just Hear It, and there are plenty of established players like MySpace Music, Imeem, and Grooveshark.

Instead of trying to stop the tide, Sony Music has wisely embraced it: starting today, the company will introduce streaming music players on the Web sites of its most popular artists, including popsters like Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, and Jacko himself. It makes perfect business sense: instead of letting some third party like Imeem sell advertisements against high-demand music, Sony can sell … Read more

Like most folks, I'm eagerly awaiting the Hulu app that's rumored to be heading to the iPhone. (I need my daily "Daily Show" fix!)

Of course, if and when it lands, it'll require a live Internet connection to stream content--and those are still pretty hard to come by in places like airplanes and underground government bunkers (sorry, I've been watching a lot of "Chuck"). That's why I'm using Replay Media Catcher to record shows off Fancast, not unlike a DVR records from cable.

Before you ask, no, RMC doesn't … Read more

Update 4:15 p.m. PDT: Two clarifications. First, Remote Media Streaming is not limited to music--you can also stream video and pictures. I focused on music because that's the main topic of this blog. Second, you are required to associate a Windows Live ID (which used to be called Passport) with each computer whose library you want to share, and each computer you want to be able to access that library. I assume Microsoft took this step to avoid complaints or possible litigation from content owners.

Like many people, I have a music library that's way too large to fit on my iPhone. (Yo, Apple! Can we please get a 64GB model already?) Fortunately, I can still listen to every track I own thanks to Simplify Music 2.0 (formerly Simplify Media).

The app streams tunes from your PC by way of a music-server program that's available for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. Download it, install it, then choose the folders you want it to scan, monitor, and queue. (Alas, the program can't stream DRM-protected iTunes purchases, so it's time to move everything to iTunes Plus.)… Read more

A post on the Facebook developer blog announces the big application program interface (API) update from the social network that was first reported on Sunday night, which it's calling the Open Stream API.

It's the first major implementation of an emerging (read: brand new) open standard called Activity Streams, on which Facebook has been collaborating with developers for the past few months. Basically, what it means is that third-party developers will have access to a feed of all content posted to news feeds--notes, photos, videos, links, "likes" and comments, and activity from other applications built on … Read more

One of the least appreciated conveniences MP3 players have given us is the capability to fit a library of audiobooks in our pocket. For those with vision impairment or blindness, the ease of instantly downloading digital audiobooks is especially liberating, compared with the days of CDs and cassettes. Unfortunately, most MP3 players simply aren't designed with accessibility in mind, keeping the convenience of digital audiobooks out of reach for those who would most appreciate it.

The HumanWare VictorReader Stream digital-audio player isn't particularly slim, attractive, or affordable ($349), but its unique design is made specifically for the needs of blind and vision-impaired users. The device is laid out similarly to a large mobile phone, complete with a spacious numerical keypad and dedicated volume buttons on the side. A numerical keypad may seem like an odd choice of navigation for a portable audio player, but in its defense, few other interfaces are as instantly and universally recognizable to the touch. The tricky part is remembering exactly what each key represents. For instance, repeatedly pressing the number one will cycle you though the Stream's main menu categories, each announced over your headphones or the internal speaker in a pleasant synthetic voice.

Below the keypad are basic playback controls (Play, Pause, Reverse, and Skip), each differentiated by the shape of its key. You'll also find an oval-shaped key above the play button that advances the built-in sleep timer in increments of 15 minutes, in case you have a tendency to doze off while listening to books.… Read more

In the live-streaming wars, mobile service Qik has a new weapon in its arsenal: integration with Facebook's video player.

Thanks to Facebook Connect, Qik members can now automatically upload their videos to Facebook, set their status messages to link to the video on Qik when they start live-streaming, and have the update show up in their news feeds. Windows Mobile smartphone users (non-touchscreen) can also selectively upload Qik videos to Facebook, an extra feature that the company hopes to roll out to other devices soon.

You can't use Qik to live-stream videos directly on Facebook, at least not … Read more