‘Secret’ update adds Netflix remote controls to your smartphone

Too lazy to use a PlayStation 3 controller? Now thanks to an unheralded update, you can control the console's Netflix app via your phone.

An update recently hit the iOS and Android iterations of the Netflix app that seemed to simply offer stability improvements and boosts to the program’s overall functionality. That’s always welcome, but this particular update also included a new feature for the app that, for whatever reason, the developers at Netflix completely failed to mention: Specifically, this update allows users to control the PlayStation 3′s Netflix app from the comfort of their mobile phone of choice.

Here’s how it works: Assuming you have all the necessary hardware (a PlayStation 3, iOS or Android phone, and a wireless, Internet-enabled network), you simply start the Netflix app on your mobile phone as well as the PS3 version of the app, select a video on your phone, then choose whether you’d rather watch the program on your handheld or on the PlayStation 3. Obviously this only works as long as the two devices are connected by the same wireless network, but assuming you can manage that it’s quite simple to use your iPhone or Android device as a makeshift remote control.

More crucially, it’s also far more practical than using the PlayStation 3′s Netflix app as it was originally designed. Though the home console iterations of Netflix are functional and allow you to watch the service’s many streaming programs on your local HDTV, they lack truly robust search and account management functions. The iOS/Android app however, is far more akin to the PC/Mac version of Netflix and makes searching through the company’s thousands of movies and TV shows as simple as swiping your finger or tapping out a few characters to prompt a text search.

The video embedded at the bottom of this post comes courtesy of Engadget, and since the developers of the Netflix app made no mention of this new feature in any of the update’s official documentation, it is the first anyone heard of the extra functionality. As you can see in the clip, it’s very simple, and seems like the kind of thing Netflix would want to promote, so we really can’t come up with any solid reason why it was such a stealthy addition. So far we’ve heard no reports of instability in this new feature causing massive issues with people attempting to watch their favorite shows, so while we enjoy the newly communicative relationship between our phones and PlayStation 3s, we’ll have to continue wondering why Netflix never mentioned this aspect of the update.

Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/secret-update-adds-netflix-remote-controls-to-your-smartphone/

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New iPod touch to get GPS, FaceTime HD camera, new colors: analyst

Apple will release a new iPod touch with built-in GPS, a 5-megapixel front camera, and game controller functionality, says analyst.

Oft-quoted market analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities released early this morning a list of “expectations” for Apple’s rumored iPod touch update. Some of Kuo’s predictions are thing’s we’ve heard before — but he has a couple of new ideas that, if real, would easily make this the best iPod touch yet.

First up, Kuo believes the new iPod touch will come in a rainbow of new colors, much like the iPod nano and iPod shuffle do now. He also expects the screen to grow to 4 inches, while its thickness will shrink to between 6 and 6.5 mm, and the weight will drop to below 100 grams. The iPod touch will also come with the A5 system-on-chip, says Kuo, and will (of course) have the smaller dock connector we’ve all been hearing so much about.

That’s all stuff that, more or less, has been tossed around before. It’s the next bits that are new.

According to Kuo the new iPod touch will have built-in GPS. His thinking is that having additional devices able to connect and integrate with the new Apple Maps app, which will debut in iOS 6, will add support to Maps. The odd part about all this is that the iPod touch does not have a 3G/4G baseband processor, which his where the GPS is located in iPhones and 3G/4G iPads. But it’s possible that Apple will allow the iPod touch to cache Maps data whenever it connects to Wi-Fi. It could work — but we’re going to keep our skeptical hat on for this one.

Another Kuo prediction is the addition of a 5-megapixel FaceTime HD camera on the front of the new iPod touch. This would be a major upgrade, and one that seems to us quite likely.

Finally, Kuo believes the new iPod touch will work like a handheld game controller that can connect to a Mac or iPad. As with the FaceTime HD camera update, this rumor isn’t a hard one to swallow.

Kuo also says that the 4th generation iPod touch will be discontinued. But according to 9to5Mac, this estimate is “wrong,” and the device will actually be upgraded to include 16GB of storage.

So there you have it — add new, thinner, faster iPod touch with GPS, better front camera, and gamer controller-like functionality to your list of rumors to look for when Apple takes the stage in just a couple hours.

Check back with Digital Trends at 10a.m. PT/1p.m. ET for the latest from Apple’s big announcement.

Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/new-ipod-touch-to-get-gps-facetime-hd-camera-new-colors-analyst/

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