Hasta La Gadget!

Hulu’s Kids Lock has already been implemented on Android, and now it’s time for the children-tailored, itty-bitty feature to make its way to iOS — well, at least to the iPad. It’s rather simple, really: Kids Lock essentially comes in the form of a virtual button on the app, allowing parents — or whoever’s in charge — to easily secure their tiny loved ones into the Hulu Kids experience. Meanwhile, getting back to the TV shows and movies watched by the bosses of the house is fairly uncomplicated — all there’s to do is enter the account password and bam, all is golden and everyone can go back to watching Parenthood. Aside from Kids Lock, v2.7 doesn’t add too much more, save for a few bugs being fixed and some backend enhancements to make Hulu’s iOS application more stable overall.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, Software, HD

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Source: Hulu Plus (iTunes)

This week kicks off with a slew of set-top box news: Dish is shipping its Hopper with Sling DVR, the TiVo Mini DVR is available on Suddenlink and Roku’s next media streamer just hit the FCC. Moving onto more modern concerns, second screen apps for events like the Super Bowl, the NBA All-Star game and the Grammys along with more conventional contenders like GetGlue are all over are mobile devices, but are we getting any use out of them? Press play to find out which ones we’re happy with and much more.

Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh (@bjdraw), Richard Lawler (@rjcc)

Producer: James Trew (@itstrew)

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Brits who shop enough at Tesco to be on a first name basis with the clerks may soon have a reward that doesn’t require leaving home. The UK retail chain is currently testing Clubcard TV, a web-based movie and TV streaming hub that would be a free perk of Clubcard membership. As it exists in beta form, the Blinkbox-derived service won’t have Lovefilm or Netflix quaking in their boots: there’s a limited slate of mostly family-oriented fare, and Tesco’s notion of TV streaming involves the video output on a laptop. While neither is an issue as long as the trial is limited to staff, we hope there’s a richer platform by the time Clubcard TV is open to anyone with a lot of grocery shopping in mind.

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Via: The Telegraph

Source: Clubcard TV

Regular season pro hoops action takes this weekend off for the All-Star Game, while NHL action is in full swing. Reality TV fans have new season of long running series Survivor and The Amazing Race to look forward to, and a new Bond is coming home on Blu-ray. Look below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames.

NBA All-Star Weekend
Celebs, up and coming players, and the league’s top stars (as voted by fans and coaches) collide this weekend in Houston for the 2013 NBA All-Star Game. As always, there’s some conflict about who is most qualified to play, and the usual controversy about whether or not the dunk contest will be any good this year. We’ll be keeping an eye on the Rising Stars game Friday night to see which first or second year players are the best, and the second half of the ASG itself to see if Dwyane Wade hits Kobe in the face (again).
(All weekend, ESPN / TNT)

Skyfall
James Bond is back, in a nicely shot entry in the series. This flick has a slightly different angle as Bond, M and the rest of the agents find themselves under attack directly, but as usual Daniel Craig is up to the task.
($19.99 on Amazon)

State of the Union
Clear your Tuesday night schedule on several networks, as the President takes the stage for the first State of the Union Address of his second term in office. Regardless of your affiliation or even interest in politics, it does provide a good opportunity to compare/contrast the quality of each network’s feed.
(February 12th, 9PM)

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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We’ve clearly crossed a psychological barrier to digital media adoption when major content providers are going online-first on a regular basis. The BBC, despite its sometimes stuffy image, is revealing that it’s just as eager to break with tradition: it’s been given the go-ahead for a trial that will offer content on iPlayer before it appears on TV. The year-long test will offer up to 40 hours of regular BBC shows in advance, with no TV license fee required. While the selection of shows isn’t yet public, the offering should be a bolder experiment than usual in showing whether or not iPlayer can serve as more than a catch-up tool or repository for exclusives. Let’s hope it does — we’d like to see online services treated as first-class citizens.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

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Source: BBC