Tablets and Free TV

With the growing number of tablets out be it an iPad or one of the many hundreds of Android tablets TV on a tablet is hot.

You can find many apps that stream live TV from all over the world. These apps with a good WIFI connection look amazing on tablets. On my iPad I have installed apps from Netflix, Global TV(Canada Only) and City TV(Canada Only). There are also apps for watching YouTube and Vevo for music videos. These apps have provided hours of free entertainment. The nice thing is that most of the apps are free.

As new devices like the BlackBerry Playbook with support for Flash, more of us will be consuming television shows and movies on tablets.
With prices getting lower and more selection of tablets on the market we will see more consumers getting a daily dose of content on these devices.

In a future post I will be testing a low end tablet and seeing how far I can go to make it a great media tablet on a budget. There are a few brands under $150 that can handle my media tablet ambitions. The tablet that seems to be getting great reviews for the price is the Coby tablet. If I can pick one up I will use this as my test subject for a media tablet.
Are you using a tablet for media consumption?

Watching Sports without Cable Television

Many sports fans are a little reluctant to cancel their cable subscription, thinking they will not be able to catch any sports without cable. It is true you might get less choice when it come to sports, but there is more than enough alternative choices to keep any sports fan happy. Here are a few choices for getting sports without a cable subscription.

Football - Watch games being aired over the air on local stations and networks using free high definition antenna. You can get college and professional football and bowl game coverage. Not sure if NFL games stream live online as they have sold the rights to big media companies.

NBA - You can watch streaming NBA games with a subscription online. The service has been added to Apple TV 2 in the US still not an option for Canadians. You might find some games on free network television.

Major League Baseball like the NBA you can also watch online streamed games with an Apple TV2 or Roku box. You will need a paid subscription.

Hockey The NHL also offers a streaming service for computers or the Boxee Box. You can also find many games through local station with an HD antenna.

There are many choices for getting streaming sports online along with over the air broadcasts. If you are a diehard sports fan it might take a little experimenting with different online service to find the right mix of sports. As I am not a sports fanatic what I can get for free is more than enough for what I want to watch.

Podcasts Great Source For Free Content

When people think of podcasts they think of low quality programs made by people talking into a web cam. This is not the case its true there are many homemade podcasts and many are very informative and I love watching them, but there are many podcasts from major content providers.

One show I missed when I gave up cable was Mad Money with Jim Kramer as it turns out the full show is available as a podcast. There are many shows that put out a podcast some are full versions of the show others are just highlights, either way it free content. When I want to catch up on the daily news I find the podcast from the major networks or my local station. It’s all there I can take the news with me or watch it on my Apple TV. A few weeks ago I had a friend over and was playing news podcast my friend thought I was watching the live broadcast. The quality is very good some podcast are available in HD.

You can find podcast b y downloading the free iTunes program for Mac or PC or you can watch on your HDTV with the Apple TV2 box. There is so much content available as podcasts that you will have more TV to watch then time. The nice thing about podcasts is that you will see show that perhaps you would never have found on cable. Many podcast cater to certain tastes and genres. Start exploring the selection on iTunes and you will quickly be hooked to podcasts.

Note:

Podcast can be watched on many different formats. The most popular format to watch podcast would be on home computers and iPod or iPhone. You can also watch podcasts on iPad and other tablets. There are also many streaming boxes like Apple TV2 and Boxee Box that let you watch podcasts on you big screen TV.

What I am watching through podcasts:

Digg Nation
Mad Money
City Pulse News
CBS News
TMZ
CNN
Geek Beat