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Something to Watch: Online

For those of you running the Xfinity App from Comcast on your Apple devices, you should have been prodded about a week ago to upgrade the App, which now lets you watch Video On Demand directly on the iPad. The same functionality for the Xfinity Android App should be released any time now. The video appears to currently be limited to the Premium Channels, like HBO and Showtime, but more networks will be coming soon.

Despite the earlier report that only the first episode was going to be streamed in the US Fractale is still becoming available at Funimation each week. I am glad they resolved that issue, but it lead to the creation of an excellent explanation of Territorial Rights on the Funimation blog page that is easy to understand and actually makes sense.

Right Stuff and Nozomie have started streaming The Third: The Girl With the Blue Eye. Think Tank Girl, but the tank (named Bogie) has a serious attitude problem, so they make a great team.

Over on the Syfy Video page you can watch full episodes of Being Human (the US version), Sanctuary, and the full first season of Riese: Kingdom Falling.

RoboCop App

MGM came up with a new RoboCop App for the iPhone and iPad. It started life as a Soundboard, but since they have been done to death (and MGM had already released a free RoboCop Soundboard App, so they needed a reason to get people to pay 99 cents for this one) they threw in some extra stuff. They added some video clips, in a logical extension of the soundboard, but that obviously was not enough. So they added the RoboMouth, a visual lip set you could hold in front of your mouth while it did some favorite Murphy quotes; that became the RoboFace for the iPad. Finally, they added audio input and processing, so you could speak your own quotes and have them delivered in a RoboCop-like monotone. Nothing fancy here, but a nice App none the less.

A Christmas Carol and Blackadder’s App; Season’s Greetings!

I hope the holidays find you happy and with loved ones. I wanted to remind everyone that Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol will actually air in the US on Christmas day, mere hours after it airs in the UK. BBC America made that promise about Torchwood for the last miniseries, but failed to follow through with it. Hopefully this time they will do better. I should also mention they will roll out season 4 of Primeval on New Years Day, so there are good things to look forward to on TV this holiday season. In addition, I also wanted to let you know that the new Blackadder Soundboard App By BBC Worldwide is now available to install on your iDevice. With a ton of the best Blackadder quotes, including some from Blackadder’s Christmas Carol and Blackadder Rides Again, this one is just in time for some holiday fun (and at 99 cents it is not overpriced).

New Scientist-Fiction, iPirate App

It’s that time of year again; this week New Scientist has their Science Fiction Special on the newsstands. In honor of that they have posted Sci-Fi: The Fiction of Now. They have Flash Fiction from Steven Baxter, Nicola Griffith, Ken MacLeod, Ian McDonald, Paul McAuley, Ian Watson, and more. The also have book reviews on some favorite authors, as well as their usual collection of cutting-edge science news. And in honor of Talk Like A Pirate Day, there is now a Pirate Talk App that looks like silly fun.