No movie joy on your new iPad?

I good client of mine just called. He gave his wife an iPad for Christmas but the streaming video feature dosen't work. Althought it works fine on his desktop PC, everytime he starts a Netflix movie in the iPad it goes a for few seconds and then stalls, stutters etc.

This is a classic example of a wireless router that isn't up to the task. All wireless routers are not created equal. Streaming media, especially video is much tougher on a router than viewing a webpage as everything has to happen in real time. The cheap consumer routers that you find in most stores and the free routers that the cable company provides are basic routers intended mostly for email and web browsing.

Routers designed for the small office/home office (SOHO) market are much better. They will not only have greater wi-fi signal range throughout your home but they will be fast enough to allow you to stream videos to your iPad etc without stuttering and delay.

I will be upgrading my client's router this week. If you have a similar issue, let me know...

Apple TV for Christmas

CB says:

Thanks for suggesting I should get Apple TV. I got it for Christmas and quickly set it up. It's a neat little media streamer! Have you had a good experience with Netflix on it?

JV says:

Streaming Netflix on most devices usually works fine. The problem is that their streaming content is lame compared to what you can get from them on disk. Looking through their streaminig offerings I can never find anything I actually want to watch.

A good additional feature of the Apple TV is that you can now play music from your system and control it via your iPhone in the kitchen etc. You can select songs, change the volume and such using an iPhone app called "Remote". I think AirPlay will do that too but I haven't played with that yet.

Another alternative if you just have a stereo is to use an Airport Express. Hook it up to your stereo and use your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad to control and send your iTunes library to your stereo via the Remote app. The Airport Express is wireless so the computer running iTunes can be elsewhere in the house (assuming you have wi-fi). - John

Waste not want not...

There recently was an article in the NY Times about the wide variety of things that can be rented these days. Apparently you can even rent toys for toddlers. You get a new toy every month until they are 4 years old (after that most kids start growing too attached to let them go). What a great idea. We all have so much stuff that sits around most of the time waiting for its occasional day in the sun. Lets hear it for more efficient use of all our resources - and the sense of community it will inevitably bring...

What I want to accomplish with all this.

In a word - help.

I want to help people find things that are useful and interesting to them. As is my vocation, I will provide a lot of stuff on how to use electronics to better enjoy your home. However, I am funny. Really. So there will be some humor and plain old human interest stuff too.

Enjoy and Merry Christmas !