It's all geek to us

Xfinity app shares what channel you’re watching (Video)

Michael Gaines | May 13, 2010 | 1 comment

My mom sometimes calls me and says “put on AMC”. It’s great that we’re on the same cable system but I don’t always know what channel it is that my mom wants me to change to, or why (and don’t ask my why she doesn’t just tell me the channel number…moms and tech don’t always mix). Xfinity just announced their new app for the iPad which will allow you to connect to your friends, share what you’re watching with them, and have the app on their end change the channel for them. For yourself, you can browse your cable system’s lineup and pair your account with your cable box so that you can change channels with the app, and record shows as well. It’s more than just a big remote, it now creates a social connection with your friends and what you’re watching.

What it doesn’t yet do is share content with your friends, or allow you to watch what you recorded on your Comcast DVR (no word if it works on a Comcast-enabled TiVo Series 3). If it did that, you’d have a killer app right there which would compete directly with Hulu and Slingbox. I would hope that Comcast puts this functionality in their app soon because I’d love to be able to watch one thing downstairs while the kids are watching something upstairs.

The next step would be to work with other social networks like Twitter and Facebook and integrate channel sharing into them so that one tweet or Facebook update could bring in thousands of potential viewers; at least for that time zone.

Tags: app, channel, comcast, delomni, iPad, remote, share, Social Media, xfinity

Category: Entertainment, Technology

About the Author: Michael Gaines started being a geek at a very young age. Starting with tape recorders and TI calculators, he was armed with the tools to be creative with electronics long before most people knew what a modem was. His parents were teachers which gave him the the rare super power of teaching people how to understand the devices they're using. In college, he was a DJ at the school's radio station, and tech editor of the college newspaper. His fondness for spreading his knowledge throughout the universe has spread to the internet where he works on two podcasts: Geekistry, World Of Warcast. Until humans can reach past Earth, he currently resides in New Jersey, writing and podcasting about the many things that help teach how things work.