Hasta La Gadget!

TV on the iPad: Fantastic idea or foolish folly? I lean towards the former, but then I don’t own a TV set and so much of my life is now contained in my iPad that the only paper books I buy are fancy hardbacks, like The Making of The Empire Strikes Back (you should get it). To bring live TV onto your tablet (or iPhone or iPod Touch) you will need Buffalo’s Little Tele i.

The dongle, with its own loop antenna, slots into the dock port and works with the 1Seg service. This is a digital broadcasting service available in Japan,Chile, Brazil, Peru and Argentina, and already works in those countries with many compatible phones.

The Little Tele i works in combo with an iApp, so you can enjoy a variety of non-skippable programming at a herky-jerky 15-frames-per-second, and has its own battery which will power it for up to 2.5-hours. It will cost ¥10,600, or $127 when it goes on sale in December.

Clearly this isn’t the solution for anyone in the U.S or Europe, which is a shame as the iPad (and presumably other upcoming tablets) is perfect for streaming a bit of background junk once in a while. Until Elgato comes up with a standalone EyeTV for the iPad, there’s another, free, way to get your fix. Filmon.com, visited from an iOS device, lets you watch local, live TV re-streamed to the browser, no app required. Neat.

Buffalo Little Tele i [Buffalo via OhGizmo]

See Also:

• Retro TV-Shaped iPad Box Will Terrify Children
• Tizi Brings Live TV to iPad
• Wooden Charging Dock Makes iPad Look Like a TV From Mad Men …