By Richard V. Burckhardt

The free Netflix iPad app allows you to watching streaming movies or TV shows from the Netflix catalog anywhere you have an Internet connection.

I have been using my iPhone as a pocket TV for a couple of years and now that the iPad is here, mobile TV has come to a new level thanks to those wonderful apps, some free, some paid.

Here’s a rundown of some of the great iPad apps that let you take your TV wherever you have an Internet connection.

iTunes – Naturally this is included with the iPad. You can purchase or rent TV shows and movies and watch them through the Video app (also included). The videos look outstanding on the iPad screen. Yes, my first post iPad movie purchase was the JJ Abrams Star Trek. There is a reason it is used in the iPad promotions. It looks GREAT on the iPad screen! Free

YouTube – Again, this app is included with the iPad and the videos look great. Unfortunately, the YouTube app is just a viewer. It appears that you still have to go to the web site in a browser to favorite videos or share them. Even more unfortunate, you can’t access the new TV show and movie content that YouTube is now offering. They are in Flash. Get with it Google! Free

Netflix – This is my absolute favorite iPad app! I can stream available Netflix videos with terrific video clarity. Just imagine having video on demand wherever you can connect, something we only dreamed of a short time ago. Alas, the app isn’t perfect. You can play videos in your queue or browse through the catalog for stuff to play, but you still have to go to the site with your web browser to add content to your queue. Free

ABC Player – Very nice app for playing recent ABC programming. Now that Lost is gone, hope you like reality programming (I hate it myself). CBS and NBC have yet to offer such an app, but see below for other ways to get those networks on your iPad (or iPhone/iPod Touch). Free

TVU Player – Think of this as worldwide wireless basic cable. There are a zillion foreign language channels that won’t be of interest to those of us who are monolingual, but I have tagged about 35 English language channels as favorites (USA, UK, Canada). These are mostly old movies and TV shows. As I write this you can get CBS, ABC, PBS, CW and some local TV channels, too, but not NBC. Some of my favorites include CBNS TV which plays lots of old (and some new) science fiction programming, including Star Trek and Space 1999. If you miss MTV the way it used to be, check out Broccoli TV, which plays 80s music videos. Alas, the news channels are limited. Sky News offers international news and there are some local news feeds, but no CNN or MSNBC. However, channels are added frequently. Did I mention that after you buy the app, the programming is free? There is a free version of the app to try it out, but that is all it is good for. You really have to buy the full version of the app to use the service.

My one complaint with this app is the lack of language filtering. I’m really only interested in English language programming, but there’s no way to just see English channels. You can select one country at a time to check for interesting channels, but that’s time consuming. Maybe in the next version… For more information, see http://www.tvunetworks.com.

I’d love to see this service added as an Internet widget in connected flat screen TVs in the future. The picture quality varies per channel, however, and some might not be watchable on a larger screen. For the current iPad, most look fine. $4.99

OrbLive – If you have a PC or Mac with a compatible TV tuner card, you can use this app to connect your iPad (or iPhone/iPod Touch) to your home TV service. I have only tried it with basic cable, but it’s supposed to work with a cable box and, I assume, an antenna as well. Here’s how it works. You go to http://www.orb.com and sign up for a free account. On your PC or Mac, you download and install the free Orb application. You run through the setup for your particular TV signal (cable, antenna). The wizard will walk you through it. Then you install the Orb app on your iPad. Wherever you have an Internet connection, you can watch whatever is on your cable (or antenna) service from home on your iPad. I’ve been doing this for years, first on my laptop (through a browser), then iPhone and now on my iPad. And, this is another way to get those pesky networks that aren’t currently supporting the iPad (listen up NBC). The iPhone app actually works quite well on the iPad as it is in double pixel mode (not zoomed) on that platform. You can also watch CNN, MSNBC and other cable channels not offered in the apps above. As with the TVU Player, there is a free version of this app called OrbLive Free, but it is limited and is really only good for testing to see if it will work for you. $9.99

Joost – This app offers lots of trailers, old cartoons, TV shows and some odds and ends. There’s actually quite a bit of content, but mostly clips. Free

Let’s see, what’s missing? Boxee, of course! There’s no current Boxee iPad app for watching vids, but apparently one is coming.

One thing that is needed for the iPad is a landscape oriented charging stand (needed for use with keyboards too). The videos just look better in that orientation (and the current Orb app ONLY shows video in landscape mode). Until I find such a thing, I use the iPad cover that Apple offers. It can be set to stand in landscape view.

Of course, there’s always velcro!

This article is an original post from The Web Optimist – SEO in The Desert.

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I was furious to think that a company that pushes the hell out of their bundled one-stop package would allow itself to be put in this position (Like they’d have a redundant backup of some kind). All of their customers in the area were without these services. It’s bad enough to have TV down, but if you bundle your services with one company, EVERYTHING goes down in an outage. No TV, no Internet and no telephone.

I currently get high speed Internet and TV from Time Warner. I don’t use their phone service. My VOIP is through Packet 8, but without Internet, I was without my telephone, too.

So, I got to thinking. Like investing, it is probably a good idea to diversify your communications services.

Yes, you might save a few bucks with a bundle, but you run the risk of being without all telecom services in an outage such as what my area went through (and it was not the first time).

So, I’m looking at breaking up these services. I’d like one source for Internet, another for television programming and one for telephone. I am fortunate enough to be in an area where I can get an alternative to all of these (not so fortunate to have fiber optics like Fios yet, though). It could be a mixture of basic cable from Time Warner, DirecTV for premiums, DSL and cell phone service (using VOIP as a backup rather than primary service) or other mashups.

Whatever, I am determined not to let any company put me into the position of having NO service because of a single outage. For me, the teensy savings offered with such a bundle is not worth the potential inconvience or frustration.

Rant over.

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An interesting Internet-only TV channel has stepped in to fill the void. Available through TVU Networks, the strangely named BroccoliTV shows 80s videos non-stop (I’m watching The B-52s Love Shack video as I write this). It’s free. You can either watch through your browser (I could only get it to work with Internet Explorer, not Firefox) or you can download their viewing software.

TVU Networks offers a lot of other Internet video viewing, including a few cable channels like Sci-Fi Channel and Comedy Central. Most channels work great, but some could stand for better compression as they came through jerky, even on my 130 Mbps connection.

Cool! Hot in the City and White Wedding by Billy Idol!

I miss the VJs, though!

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