Angry Puppy

In Tuesday’s vlog, we talked about using the Apple TV and Xbox 360 to watch downloaded shows and movies. There have been a few related news stories since then:

iTunes, which feeds content to the Apple TV, now offers TV shows in the Canadian store, a service previously available only in the US and the UK. You can find a mix of local shows and south-of-the-border content, including South Park and The Sarah Silverman Program.

If any US viewers want to see what they’re missing, just use the dropdown at the bottom of the iTunes home screen to switch your country. The interface for TV shows is not as slick as the US version - it looks more like what you see when browsing your own music in list view.

This brings up a general iTunes tip. You can’t purchase content from another country’s store (they know where your credit card is based), but you can browse and subscribe to foreign podcasts. This could be a useful tool to those studying foreign languages. Unfortunately, the only non-Western-European option is Japanese. If any of our Japanese-speaking readers find podcast gems in there, be sure to let us know.

Meanwhile, the Xbox live video store has also become available in Canada and several European countries: the UK, France, Germany and Ireland. The currency is still Microsoft points, a complaint that got edited out of this week’s vlog.

More news bites:

The Apple TV was ranked the second worst gadget of the year by Popular Mechanics. I don’t agree that it’s the second worst, but it is my number one most disappointing. Few devices this year had such potential but fell so short.

Apple TV Source reports a rumor that the maligned device might get an update in 2008, including the addition of an LCD screen. I’d much rather have a software update for what Steve Jobs himself has called a “hobby” project. With the ability to purchase directly from the Apple TV (bypassing iTunes) and the addition of a rental service, Apple TV would find a permanent place in my home theater setup. As it stands, I mostly use the iTunes playlist / iPhoto slideshow combo at parties to give my guests something to look at other than my cramped apartment.

The latest Xbox 360 dashboard update gave users support for DivX and xVid encoded files. Gizmodo reported this week that the PS3 should also have DivX support “soon”. The PS3, unlike the Xbox 360, is expected not only to play back DivX encoded files, but also to allow developers to use the compression format for in-game cutscenes.