Placeshifter Extraordinaire

Slingbox can liberate your TV experience — by placeshifting, i.e. allowing you to stream your own TV to any remote location. Reviewed here, the Slingbox Pro HD is a device that you connect to your existing set top box, and through the internet, it can stream live TV to you, no matter where you are. 
    The device is an intermediate between your set top box and your TV. In other words, instead of connecting your set top box directly to the TV, you connect it to the Slingbox. Then the Slingbox’s video output is connected to the TV. In normal mode, it just passes the video through to the TV. But when switched on, it can pass through and transmit the video stream simultaneously, to remote Sling Player software (either on a PC, Android devices, iPhone or iPad). You will need to create a Sling username and password. Thereafter, the same user name and password will be required to connect to your Slingbox through the network. 
    So what could be the use case? You could be outside India, itching to watch the latest episode of your favorite TV drama or a live cricket match. From office, you can connect and watch live TV on your computer, watch pre-recorded videos or set new recordings (applicable to personal video recorders only). At home, you can simply watch TV on a computer in another room, if the TV room is not available. What it doesn't do however, is let you watch another channel while someone is already watching TV. The channel being streamed is the same one that will display on the TV, should the TV be switched on. 
    Some users may run into hurdles with the setup process. First, you need to properly connect it to your set top box and to your internet modem. Then you need to download the Sling Player software (or web browser plug-in) and tell it what set top box you're using — so that you can send remote commands. And finally, it needs to be configured for internet viewing, which might involve some mucking about with the IP settings. If you get stuck, there's always Sling Media's live chat. Also, the electronic programme guide (EPG) was missing at the time of review — but since ours was an early unit, given for review way before the actual launch, this will hopefully be sorted now. 
    In certain ways, the device is downright impressive. For example, we tested it with a Tata Sky + (PVR) box. The Sling Player software lists TataSky as one of the manufacturers of PVRs and supports all their variants (including the latest TataSky + HD box). Once you select the appropriate box during the setup, the player downloads the infrared remote commands and a perfect on-screen replica of the actual remote control. (The onscreen remote looks superb, but is only available on the PC — the pricey $29.99 apps just have regular on-screen buttons). 
    There's nothing else quite like it. Apart from the actual usefulness you could derive, it's also great to show off your technical prowess to unsuspecting folk, who will no doubt gawk in amazement when you remotely turn on your home set top box, stream TV and even change channels. The Pro HD is for those who need HD video transmission, but for standard definition viewing, you can also go for the Slingbox 120 ( 7,999). 
Slingbox Pro HD Price: 14,999 Features 
Supports all types of set top boxes, DVRs, PVRs and DVD players HD 1080i streaming using component Works with PC or MAC PROS: One-of-a-kind device, wow factorCONS: Complex setup, no HDMI

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Free Download

•Vsee 
Vsee offers a variety of features for collaboration over video calls. It offers application sharing, desktop sharing, file sharing and even remote camera control. Once the video call is initiated, you can send files across by simple drag and drop on the contact’s video window. It even provides a real-time pen tool for highlighting or notifying and allows control for various applications to be shared with the selected person during the call. VSee currently offers upto 10-way video calling alongside desktop/application sharing. It is currently only available for Windows (a MAC version is promised soon). 
Download it from www.vsee.com 

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App Review

•Showyou for iOS 
Showyou is a free app for iOS devices which allows you to discover new videos using your social network. When you first start the app, it’ll ask you to connect with either your Facebook or Twitter account (you have to sign to grant the app access to your stream – your password is not shared with the developers). Once you do this, the Showyou Grid comes up, with a bunch of videos being shared around your network. You can invite friends, comment on videos or follow friends. The only slight issue is that the video thumbnails are not always sharp. At least it’s quicker than browsing through the ‘most viewed’ or commented videos on YouTube.

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Quick Tip

•Splashup Why pay for expensive photo editing and manipulation software when you can get the same functionality for free? Splashup (w w w . s p l a s h u p . c o m), offers an online image editor that is fast, easy-to-use and completely free. Just head to the website and launch the editor — no registration is required. You can load images from your computer, or sign in to various online services like Picasa, Facebook and Flickr and pull photographs from there.

•Enhance Gtalk Video Quality 
If you make a video call in Gmail, by default, the video appears in a small chat window. If you pop-out the chat window, the window size increases just a bit to 400 x 200 pixels. Essentially, Gtalk does not use the full capability of your webcam, which may be 2MP or more. A recent Gmail Labs addition can help. Sign in to Gmail and go to settings and click on Labs. Now, scroll down to the feature that says “Video chat Enhancement” and enable it. Once you save changes, Gmail will reload and now when you initiate a video call, you’ll notice that the video size is now doubled (700 x 400 pixels) with a noticeable improvement in the quality as well. For this to work, both parties should enable the feature.

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BlackBerry & The Tablet Game

The hotly-anticipated BlackBerry PlayBook launches tomorrow in the US, with an India launch expected in about a month. But does this new-fangled, QNX-powered device really trump the boatload of Android tablets and more importantly, can it hold a candle to the might of the Apple iPad? Let’s try and shed some light

The year 2011 
is turning out 
to be the Year of 
the iPad Clone: 
every company and its brother is rushing one to market. But I'm sorry. I'm not going to review every one of the 85 tablets that will arrive this year; it's only April, and I've already got tablet fatigue. 
The BlackBerry tablet, though, seems worth a look. The tech world's been hyperventilating over this thing. It's called the PlayBook, and it's a seven-inch touch-screen tablet ($500, $600, and $700 for the 16, 32 and 64-gigabyte models). 
The iPad, of course, is a 10-incher, but seven has its virtues. It's much easier to hold with one hand, for example. In principle, you ought to be able to slip the PlayBook into the breast pocket of a jacket – but incredibly, the PlayBook is about half an inch too wide. Whoever muffed that design spec should be barred from the launch party. 
THE PLAYBOOK’S VIRTUES The PlayBook looks and feels great: hard rubberized back, brilliant, super-responsive multitouch screen, solid heft (about 420 grams). Its software is based on an operating system called QNX, which Research In Motion, the BlackBerry's maker, bought for its industrial stability. (“It runs nuclear power plants,” says a product manager without a trace of current-events irony.) 
Nor is QNX the only other company that lent a hand. Palm and Apple were also involved, although they didn't know it. The PlayBook software is crawling with borrowed ideas. For example, to remove or rea r r a n g e 
    apps, you hold 
    your finger down on one 
    app icon until all icons begin to pulse (hello, iPad!). And to close a program, you swipe your finger upward from the bottom bezel to turn all app windows into "cards," and then flick one upward off the screen (hello, Palm Pre!). 
There are no buttons on the front at all, and the top edge has only On, Play/Pause and volume keys. Instead, you navigate by swiping your finger from the black border, which seems unduly wide, into the screen itself. Swiping upward reveals your app icons (and turns your apps into “cards”). Swiping left or right cycles among open multitasking apps. And swiping down reveals an app's toolbar, if it has one. 
Unfortunately, there's no way of knowing beforehand if a toolbar exists, so you often swipe futilely and feel silly. Similarly, if app icons completely fill the home screen, you can swipe upward to reveal more — but you won't know if there are more until you swipe, because no scrollbar appears beforehand to let you know there's more below the screen. 
VIS-A-VIS THE COMPETITION The PlayBook does three impressive things that its rivals — the iPad and the Android tablets — can only dream about. First, with a special HDMI cable (not included), you can hook it up to a TV or projector, which is great for PowerPoint presentations. (Apparently they still do those in corporations.) 
The iPad does that, but the TV image is identical to the iPad's screen image. The PlayBook, however, can show two different things. On the TV, the audience sees your slides; on the PlayBook, you get to see the traditional PowerPoint cheat sheet of notes and slide thumbnails. 
The second cool feature has to do with loading the tablet with your music, photos and music. Unfortunately, there's no iTunes-like software to do this automatically. You have to drag files manually from your computer into the PlayBook's folders (Music, Photos and so on). But once you've set up this process using a USB cable, you can do it thereafter over Wi-Fi — wirelessly. The PlayBook can even accept such wireless transfers when it's in sleep mode, sitting in your purse or briefcase across the room. 
BLACKBERRY BRIDGE - AN ODDITY Finally, there's a wild, wireless Bluetooth connection feature called BlackBerry Bridge. In this setup, the PlayBook acts as a giant viewing window onto the contents of a BlackBerry phone. Whatever e-mail, calendar, address book and instant messages are on the BlackBerry now show up on the PlayBook's much roomier screen — on a live, encrypted two-way link. (Another advantage of pairing the PlayBook with a BlackBerry: The tablet can get online using the BlackBerry's cellular connection.) 
BlackBerry Bridge is supposed to appeal to the corporate network administrators who are R.I.M.'s bread and butter, because they can deploy PlayBooks without having to worry about security breaches. Everything they've worked so hard to secure on your BlackBerry —e-mail, calendar and so on — stays there. It only appears to be on the PlayBook. 
But, are you sitting down? At the moment, BlackBerry Bridge is the only way to do e-mail, calendar, address book and BlackBerry Messenger on the PlayBook. The PlayBook does not have e-mail, calendar or address book apps of its own. You read that right. R.I.M. has just shipped a BlackBerry product that cannot do e-mail. It must be skating season in hell. (R.I.M. says that those missing apps will come this summer.) 
What you do get are built-in versions of Documents to Go, for creating and editing Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. And you get a nice Web browser that plays Flash videos online, which the iPad still can't do. The PlayBook's front and back cameras (3 and 5 megapixels) can record stabilized stills and highdefinition video. 
Unfortunately, there's no video chatting app, as with Android tablets and the iPad. Similarly, the tablet has GPS, but without turn-by-turn navigation software, it's not good for much other than the built-in Bing Maps app. And that's just the beginning. For now, the PlayBook's motto might be, “There's no app for that.” No existing apps run on this all-new operating system, not even BlackBerry phone apps. (R.I.M. says an emulator that will run BlackBerry apps will come later this year.) So the company has decided to start from scratch with an all-new app store for the PlayBook. The company says that it has 3,000 submissions already, in part because it offered a free PlayBook to anyone who'd write an app. But they won't be revealed until next week. (Reviewers were shown only a skeletal store with a few dozen lame apps in it.) 
You should also be aware that this PlayBook is Wi-Fi only. You don't have the option to get online via a cellular network, as you can with the rivals from Apple, Motorola and Samsung. 
VERDICT TIME The PlayBook, then, is convenient, fast and coherently designed. But in its current half-baked form, it seems almost silly to try to assess it, let alone buy it. Remember, the primary competition is an iPad — the same price, but much thinner, much bigger screen and a library of 3,00,000 apps. In that light, does it make sense to buy a fledgling tablet with no built-in email or calendar, no cellular connection, no videochat, Skype, no Notes app, no GPS app, no videochat, no Pandora radio and no Angry Birds? You should also know that even now, just before the PlayBook goes on sale in the US on April 19, the software is buggy and still undergoing feverish daily revision. And the allimportant BlackBerry Bridge feature is still in beta testing. It’s missing important features, like the ability to view e-mail file attachments or click a link in an e-mail. 
If all of this gets fixed, the apps arrive, and the PlayBook can survive this year's onslaught of rival tablets, then it may one day wind up in the pantheon of greats. For now, there are too many features that live only in R.I.M.'s playbook — and not enough in its PlayBook.

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