My biggest problem with accumulating hours of video content on my mac is the inability to watch those shows on the TV.

The obvious solution is the AppleTV but it has its own set of imperfections – everything has to be played via iTunes, which is problematic because it means having to encode hours of video content to the right format just so iTunes can manage it. Also, the newer AppleTV isn’t available in Singapore yet.

So I’m stuck watching videos on my 15-inch laptop screen which isn’t the most ideal way to consume media especially when I have a 50-inch TV sitting in my living room.

Enter McTiVia. This device’s main selling point is the ability to wirelessly bring everything on your Mac to your TV. (That’s what it says on the box).

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Sparrow is a elegantly designed app that shows great potential to replace the built-in Mail app in Mac OS X.

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Yeps that is the new iPad 2 on my bay window. To be precise, the 16GB WiFi, White iPad 2. And nope I did not go get hammered by the Sim Lim Sq profiteers with their heavily marked-up iPad 2 prices.

Fortunate for us, we had a friend who was right in the US on the day of the launch and bless him for queueing 2 hours to get us the iPad. Thanks Mel!

So how is the new iPad 2?

As some of you might remember – I have the iPad back in May last year and after using it sparingly (will talk about this later…) over the last 10 months, how does the next generation compare with the original?

Well, the 33% shaving of the iPad’s weight, though might not sound much, but when carried, did feel more comfortable on the hands. Add to that the tapered corners makes the iPad 2 sits more snugged on your palms.

With the White model, if you have been using the iPad, you might feel that the screen had grown smaller. Though that is not true as the screen remains the same – just that having the white frame around the screen makes it seems more constrained.

The other obvious difference is the appearance of the pair of cameras on the iPad 2. As mentioned in almost every other tech publications, the rear camera might be good with the 720p HD videos, but snap a photo and you will be appalled by its quality, especially if you have been happily Instagraming on your iPhone 4.

Early benchmarks have shown the the new A5 dual-core chips are slower than the A4 on the original iPad. But with the dual cores, apps do run snappier on the iPad 2. But that doesn’t mean the original iPad is slow. At least not yet. Most apps that you run on the iPad will still start and run like new. But with developers updating their apps or writing new ones that will utilise the dual cores on the A5, you will start to observe the differences grow.

Oh – the Smart Cover? It is such a joy to use. Once attached, you can use it as a stand like how Apple showed you, but it also works well as a grip when you are holding it with one hand. I just hope Apple did not patent the Smart Cover design and companies can incorporate the smart folding design with their existing cases.

So it comes back to the one question – should I buy?

If you already own an iPad – my honest opinion is no. Keep it and wait till the next iPad to come out. Yes iPad 2 is lighter and has a camera and faster, for at least a year, those improvements are marginal. Plus there is no improvement in the screen even though the graphic prowess has increased.

If you don’t own one – don’t wait. If you are comparing with other tablets – don’t bother. At this point of time, there is no competition with the iPads. If you are looking for a gadget that will fit into the post-PC lifestyle, then please be at the front of the queue when iPad 2 is launched.

When will it be coming?

The perennial question with such launch is – when is the iPad 2 coming? Honestly we don’t know. Such questions to our Apple contacts will only be responded with the same answer – “we don’t know”. With the unfortunate situation happening in Japan, we might expect a longer delay than expected. But please, don’t fall into the trap and give a hand and a foot for those selling it at exorbitant prices.

Go look and ask around friends and families who might be coming back from the US to help get a set from Apple Store there. Taking into consideration the current weak US$, the 16GB WiFi model selling at US$499 can be bought with S$650 (not taking into consideration tax/shipping etc). So be prudent and not be conned.

Do you want to have a look?

If we organise an impromptu viewing, will anyone be interested? Let us know in the comments below and if responds is good, we will try to arrange a short viewing sometime during the last week of March – as I am on my annual leave.

About the sparingly …

As with all good husband, the sparking new iPad 2, has become my wife’s favourite gadget now. She’s been using the original iPad and the iPad 2′s weight loss is a welcome feature for her.

Some photos of the iPad 2…

Here are some photos of the iPad 2, the Smart Cover in action and some comparison shots between the original iPad and iPhone 4.

Feel free to drop us any questions on the iPad 2 and we will try to answer them.

Ever find yourself in the middle of somewhere with a sudden urge to go watch a movie? In days gone by, for that to happen, you will need either newspaper and a phone (really many days gone by) or a computer to find out where and when the movie is screening and then book online.

With the iPhone, we can skip the newspaper and the computer to find the movie details, and if lucky, you can try booking via the Mobile Safari.

With Showtimezz (yes it is with TWO “z”) from d–buzz, you can have your cake and eat it. It is a simple app with simple objectives – get you the movie screening time and place and lets you book it, all within the app.

Function wise, Showtimezz is as simple as it comes. Upon starting the app, you will get to see the available movies for today. Click on the movie poster art opens up Youtube with the movie trailer for you to select and view. Click on Showtime Information and it will load up all available cinemas that are showing that movie on that day. It gives you the address and also the options of the screening time. Click on the screening time and it will open up to the ticket booking page of that selected time for you to select your seats and book the tickets. So within two clicks, you can get to book your tickets. Easy.

Need to buy tickets for movies 2 days in advance, no problem. Just click on the date button on the top, you will get the options to select dates. Note most cinema operators will allow you to book 2 days in advance, except Eng Wah.

The app works as it advertised. But the app needs some refinement to make it a better app. At least for me.

First it needs a favorite-list. I am quite picky on where I watch my movies – specifically cinemas with comfy seats. So if they can implement a way to set my favorite list of cinemas, I’d give it a 4 stars.

Lastly, give me some more details about the movie. I’d prefer to read about the movie synopsis rather than watch the trailer. With sites like IMDB or themoviedb.org – they can get those details and have them available on the app.

Other than those, I think this is one app I’d have on my iPhone anytime. Oh did I mentioned that Showtimezz is free?

Local app developers buUuk updated their WeatherLah app to include CrowdCast – their way of crowd sourcing the latest weather forecast. Basically we just go to the CrowdCast tab, and choose whether it is raining or not. Simple. Get enough input and you have a fair idea of the actual weather condition at that part of the island.

This is definitely much more accurate than any weather gauge. Only thing is people must actively run the app to do that. So if you want to know the weather, and want to contribute – just do a CrowdCast every time it rains with your WeatherLah app! For all you know, the next time you step out of your house, you won’t be come wet … lah!

Besides CrowdCast, WeatherLah allows you to set rain warning alerts at towns which you can select, and if you don’t mind some background location work, you can even configure it to notify you if the area you had just moved is going to rain. Nifty especially whenever monsoon strikes. There is also an alert for PSI which will be useful whenever our southern neighbour decides to burn their forest. Lastly there is also a twitter tab that shows tweets from @NEAsg and @weatherlah for some twitter weather alerts.

I have seen many weather apps in the App Store and many are decked out with such detailed meteorological information like wind direction, humility blah blah blah. All I need to know is whether the place I am going is raining, or not. And that’s where WeatherLah hits the spot. It is well designed and tells you the weather as it is. Add in CrowdCast – we have a winner!

update 2 version 1.2.1 which was released today seems to fix the bugs below.

update The current version (v 1.2) seems to have some problems:

• at the Alert Settings tab, I wasn’t able to save the setting to switch on Heavy Rain alert and Quiet Time
• a bigger probem seems to be that the Background Location checking of weather status can’t be switch off once you switch it on, even if you “force quit” the app. The only way you can switch the Background Location feature off is when you delete the app. So if you do have the app, I suggest NOT to toggle the option to run Background Location check till they fix this
• One other possible bug is if you are listening to music with the iPod app, when you switch to WeatherLah, it stops the music. No reason why it should.

Have informed the BuUuk guys about these and I will update when I hear more from the developers.

Read more about how they came about this simple but clever idea of CrowdCasting our weather at Navjot Pawera’s blog

• download WeatherLah for free from iTunes

Here are some screen shots to see what a nicely created app this is.

As my office shift further away from my home, the daily commute stretched from 45mins to almost an hour or more. To make it more bearable, I will try to catch up on some old movies and TV shows I get from DVDs. However, these can take hours to sync if you have a lot of them in your computer. Or if you have movies on different formats – avi, MKV or DivX and don’t want to convert for your iOS device?

Air Video by In Method is one app that can make that possible. At US$2.99 – this is one solution for those who wants their videos anytime and anywhere.

Air Video lets you watch most of the DRM-free format available (see the supported list here) – except those you buy from Apple – over WiFi or 3G. All you need is to install their free Air Video server (Mac or Windows), configure the various folders with all your video files and activate the server, you are done!

If you want to watch it outside your LAN, you can configure the Remote Access function and take note of the server PIN number which you use to connect to the server. For that to work, your home network needs to have UPnP or NAT-PMP protocols running.

Next is to install the Air Video app on your iOS device – this works universally on both iPhone and iPad. To configure, you just need to add the computer running the server software. Like me, I set up both my server in LAN and also added the server PIN number when I access it outside.

To watch, you just need to connect to the server, and select the videos you want to watch. If it is in a format that can be watch directly with iOS device, it will let you stream. If not, you need the server to convert the file first before watching it. If you have a decently good machine, you can stream the video with LIVE CONVERSION - which converts and streams the video as you watch.

My set up at home is a 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini connected via Starhub’s MaxOnline Express plan. As you can see in the screen grab below, the quality of the streaming is pretty good – both on WiFi or on the Singtel 3G network (disclaimer – haven’t try it on the move).

If you are one video junkie – this app is a must-have in your iOS app list! If unsure, try it with their FREE version that limits the number of videos displayed. Let us know if this work for you!

• read more about Air Video
• purchase Air Video or download the free version