Turning my iPod Touch into a mini AppleTV (sort of)

Sometimes, when I'm caught up on my TiVo viewing and there's nothing on TV*, I will watch TV shows that I have converted for my AppleTV just for these lulls. The problem is that most of these lulls occur when I am in the kitchen, cooking or washing what seems like a ridiculous amount of dishes (no dishwasher here) for 1.5 people.

Now, while I have rigged my TiVo and DVD player to broadcast concurrently to my main TV and kitchen TV, my AppleTV will only play on my main TV (partly due to the fact that my TiVo and DVD are both standard definition while my AppleTV is designed for HD and my poor kitchen TV is old school). I use my AppleTV to watch movies and TV series that are mostly stored on my Mac (since my AppleTV is too small to hold all the media).

My solution, it turns out, is my iPod Touch. Since I can't fit my whole video library on it and there's no predicting what my capricious TV mood might be, I found a way to stream my media via WiFi from my Mac to my iTouch. Even though my media has been converted for AppleTV in mind (640x480 or 720x480) it streams and plays perfectly.

(I found instructions for setting up web sharing and how to access movies on iPhone/iPod Touch here: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/stream-your-entire-itunes-library-to-your-iphone-over-the-internet-mac-only/)

Then it occurred to me that I could finally put the $50-iPod-to-composite-video cable I purchased for my iPod Nano to good use. (Purchased back when the economy was good and money was flowing like Kool Aid at a summer party).

It worked! I was streaming video from my Mac, to my iTouch to my retro-CRT TV. Some limitations:

• Doesn't remember where you are if you stop the movie and return later.
• Clunky interface.
• Movie stops when iPod goes to sleep/locks if that is turned on.

I wish Apple would put the AppleTV/Front Row app on the iPhone/iTouch so I wouldn't have to use this workaround, but for now, this will do.

I discovered two things that will help me get a better interface for this system.

• PHP Directory Lister—A php file that will format the directory a little nicer than the default, but this file needs to go into each directory. http://greg-j.com/phpdl/
• iWebKit—a set of templates to create a web site that looks like an iPhone app. I have set up a home page for my media, but more work needed on my end to getting it all set up. http://iwebkit.net

Here are some screen shots.

The default directory view:

The enhanced directory view using the php file:

And my custom home page created using the iWebKit template. This page is set up, but not quite completely functional or finished yet.

*And if I am caught up on all my podcasts my NPR listening.

Idea for Amazon Kindle's authors and overlords

Amazon recently surreptitiously removed the book 1984 from user's Kindles. (Or, as the thought police might say, it was never loaded on the said user's Kindles.) This revealed Amazon's ability to remove or update content on user's Kindles.

There are several ideas I thought of that authors might take advantage of this. I will admit that I don't have a Kindle, so some of these things might already be in place. I don't know.

1. Change the plot of a book over time, so a second reading will give a slightly different version of the book.

For example, there could be a Nancy Drew and the Case of the Missing iPod, where in the first version, Nancy would discover clues like a red shoe, a Diet Coke can, boot prints on a dusty staircase and the overheard conversation of a local spinster. These clues would lead her to a certain culprit.

However, a year later the book would be updated. While maintaining the main structure, action, dialog and plot, clues would change. There would still be the red shoe and the Diet Coke, but no footprints on the stairs, but rather a broken window with a torn piece of fabric. And the spinster's conversation will have changed. These altered clues would lead Nancy to a different culprit.

How cool would it be, as a kid, to re-read a book where things are the same, but oh so slightly different?

Perhaps not even a mystery, but maybe a teen romance novel that reveals how things would have ended if the protagonists had made different choices. Like those old "Choose Your Adventure" books, where the story changes based on the reader's choices, but this would be controlled by the author.

2. Release a book in serial form.

Remember the old days where books like Dicken's David Copperfield were first published in serial form in newspapers before being published as a complete novel? (Nah, neither do I. I am old, but not that old.)

Well, imagine if the next Harry Potter book were released one chapter at a time over many weeks? Kids would be talking about it, anticipating the next chapter. No one would have to rush to the end to beat a friend from leaking the ending. It would create such a buzz. (Not that Harry Potter needs any more buzz.)

Or, for a book group, where everyone is really reading at the same pace and no one knows what's coming up.

I suppose this would work best for a book/author that already has an established fan base.

Wonder if these ideas sound interesting to anyone, or just me.

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I must admit, I don't have a Kindle; I have never read a Nancy Drew book, nor Harry Potter, nor a Choose Your Adventure book; and I have never participated in a book group. I have, however, read 1984.