"These are a few of my favorite things" #3 - AirPlay + Apple TV etc.

So this isn't one thing, but instead a system of interconnected gizmos:

At the heart of the system is the Apple TV, which can stream content from Netflix, Hulu, and dowload TV shows and movies from iTunes. But more importantly, it can receive content from your iPhone, iPad, and Mac (assuming that Mac is relatively new, running OS 10.8 "Mountain Lion") via Airplay and play it back on your TV. This means that anything that's on your Apple phone, tablet, or computer can be easily sent to a large display.* Also in the mix is my Denon receiver, which is also Airplay enabled, along with a series of Airport Express units connected to speakers in each room. So music from any of these devices can be piped directly into the stereo or any room in the house. Along with a big music library and Spotify subscription, this means you can listen to whatever you want, wherever you want.

*I can report that AirPlay is awesome for teaching (especially seminar classes) since you can project PDFs to the overhead projector in a classroom...

New iPad + Apple TV

As an early adopter of the original iPad two years ago, I was interested in the announcements of the new iPad (i.e., iPad 3) and updated Apple TV. The Apple TV is interesting to me, not because I stream a lot of movies to our television (although the interface for movies and music looks like an improvement over our Mac Mini running directly to our TV), but because of its ability to take video from an iPad (and Mac, if I'm understanding some third party software) and wirelessly display it on a bigger screen. To me, this is the future of lectures (at college). No more laptops running to the project thru a VGA cable. Instead, being untethered and able to broadcast the lecture wirelessly to the projector. How cool would that be?

The new iPad is attractive because of its improved display, faster data connection, and the growing number of photo editing apps (although I'm disappointed it didn't get more memory...128GB would have been awesome). I've started traveling without a laptop recently (to conferences, and also on our 10-day trip to Hawaii last year), and I'm interested in being able to keep things light while on the go but still being able to process and post photos. I'm thinking that the iPad, along with a Hyperdrive, will be a good system for my upcoming trip to Europe.