I don’t have cable, and my TV signal sucks, so I’ve been streaming video podcasts and downloaded TV shows to my Xbox360 using TVersity.  TVersity works great for streaming but getting content is a different matter - for TV shows you’re basically stuck with torrents and the wifi bandwidth they suck up kills the streaming.

Hulu is an interesting service, providing free network-sanctioned, ad supported streaming of recent and classic TV shows online for free, but so far I’d given it a miss because watching TV shows at my PC doesn’t appeal.

The final piece of the puzzle fell into place via a tip off from this week’s dl.tv - the PlayOn application sits on your computer and serves up Hulu streams to the Xbox360.

The good:

• Lots of TV shows and a few movies too
• Ads are kept to a minimum (usually one 30 second ad per break)
• Decent video quality

The bad:

• Lots of awful content (including the hilariously awful Germano-Canadian sci-fail Total Recall 2070)
• Difficult to navigate through the crap with the Xbox360 interface (hopefully the fall update fixes that).
• Netflix streaming doesn’t seem to work
• Uses lots of bandwith on your local network
• Application will cost $30 when the beta expires

It’s an interesting idea that’s fairly well executed - maybe one day PlayOn and Hulu will morph into a complete IPTV solution.

Web app HopStop (via LifeHacker) allows you to access public transport directions directly from your phone.  It’s currently available for some of the major metropolitan areas in the US and based on my tests in Chicago it works pretty well.

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The idea of online backup is to avoid losing all your digital media when your house burns down, or more realistically someone breaks in and nicks your beloved puter. I’m going to go against the herd and say that IDrive is a better solution than Mozy for keeping your precious photos and stolen music safe.

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Music blog aggregator The Hype Machine and social music tracker last.fm have joined forces to allow you to record the songs you listen to with Hype Machines radio player to your last.fm profile.

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