media

We're not too familiar with the AT&T U-verse cable TV and high speed internet service, but we imagine it's a lot like the more prominent Verizon FiOS.

The good news for U-verse subscribers is that you'll have the ability to stream your media content right from your Mediaroom DVR box (we're assuming that you have one of course). That's because Microsoft and AT&T will have a mobile client on or near launch that will support AT&T's system for Windows Phone 7, which should make many media-hungry folks quite pleased.

Exact details and features are not known at this time as it is expected that AT&T will have their own custom version of the software, setup to their requirements.

That AT&T "premier carrier for WP7" thing is starting to make a little more sense. So who's going to be watching "Jersey Shore" on the way to work in the morning, eh? Eh?

[via iStartedSomething & MobileCrunch]

For those who don't know, the Zune Marketplace went offline today and users were only given a few hours notice. As of this writing, they're still offline (6pm) and it could take all night before they're done.

But done doing what? That's the cryptic part here as there was no pre-announcement, but as ZDNet did some digging, they found out that Microsoft is arranging a marriage between Bing and Zune.

In fact, you can kind of see it working now. Go to Bing.com, search for your favorite band and you'll get a bunch of info on them plus songs which can be played (see the little 'play' button?). Of course it doesn't stream right now and instead you get the image to the right, but we think by late tonight it'll be a different story.

Nice to see Microsoft taking Zune to the next level and putting these two services together, it just makes sense. To what extent though these features overlap remains to be seen. It would be nice to have a Bing search launch my Zune software and add it directly to my Zune HD or, come November, my Xbox and Windows Phone 7.

One of the more interesting and useful apps in development for Windows Phone 7 is "My MediaCenter Remote" which integrates with the Windows Media Center (an under-rated features of Windows 7). Well, it's useful if you don't want to splurge $10 for a physical remote, ya cheapskate.

The latest version by dgaust is near beta, although like other developers he's anxiously awaiting a physical device to actually run it on. The features so far completed are as follows:

• View and play Recorded TV - done
• View and play back tv stored by myTV - done
• View music, and create album playlists - done
• Remote control media centre - done

What's left is tweaking up some of the graphics, which are a bit dull or just missing at this point (placeholders). Overall though, considering we are still six months from the release of WP7, it's nice to know we should have some advanced media center functionality right out the gate. But we can't help but wish this could actually stream our content instead of just being a remote for it.

Check out the full video of the program's UI in action after the break

For those fed up with the glacial movement of Pandora on the Windows phone platform, a new alternative has hit the streets: Slacker Radio.

Showing up on various forums, the .cab and service is actually very, very polished. It is the official version, but SlackerRadio themselves have not published it on their site yet.

No compromises here as you get album images, lyrics, band bio, reviews and a wide selection of music to choose from.  Audio quality is also extremely good, trouncing Pandora's 64kb stream. Plus they got that whole "let me power off the screen without disrupting the stream" thing. 

Two negative's we've noticed: landscape support is not there and we've had a few songs cut out towards the end for some reason (not uncommon with Pandora either). 

Of course, there is the free "basic" version which limits you to something like 6-skips per hour while the program steers you towards the "full" version with upgrade notices in parts.  Likewise, you don't get all those lyric bonuses in the free version.

If you want the subscription, it's $4.99 per month (on a month-to-month basis) or $3.99 a month on a 12-month plan (billed monthly). You can also try out the subscription for 7 days for free.  We suppose if streaming is your thing it's not a bad deal: the quality of the product is quite top notch. If you just like streaming your own music (as opposed to the jukebox, random streaming), give nanoGroove a shot.

Grab the file at XDA or scan the MS Tag below to automatically download it.

Edit: Whoops!  And just as fast Slacker Radio has remotely pulled the plug. The app currently doesn't work and we have to wait for the fine folks at Slacker Radio to drop this app "officially".  Sigh. [Here's their official reasoning]

This is kind of a tease since I know of no way to actually access this (it appears to be a closed 'beta'), but word is the Microsoft is testing out their new "Mobile Media" tool for your desktop and Windows Mobile device.

Fire up IE6 or higher (no Firefox) and go here to take a gander: http://mmportal.moonport.com/

Basically, it's like Orb. For those of you who don't know what that means, it means that this is a two client system: one has to run on the desktop (and ergo you have to have your computer on, wasting electricity) the other for your WM device (Standard or Pro).

You can then stream your media content (video, music, pictures) but you are not able to actually download the content. Hooray for copyright protection?

Anyways, if MS ever gets around to building all of this into WM7, that would be sort of sweet. Until then, this seems like an interesting yet hardly groundbreaking development. Still, we like to see MS work this sort of technology and services, so keep it up guys.

If anyone can figure out how to sign up for the beta, drop us a note in the comments.

via Solsie