I have a serious love/hate relationship with Hulu. I fell in love with this online video service because of its great selection of TV shows (including stuff from Fox, NBC, and Comedy Central, among others), classic movies and interviews/clips. But I hate the ongoing battle between Hulu and Boxee, my video-viewing software of choice these days for the Mac. (If you have no idea what Boxee is, check out Noah's video review of it here.)
The on-again/off-again relationship between the two has stirred up drama that rivals the best telenovela. When it works, watching Hulu through Boxee is sweet ? really, truly good enough to make me consider chucking my actual TV. But Hulu's content partners decided they didn't want people watching on anything but a traditional web browser.
They felt that the Boxee interface, which is controllable via Apple remote or iPhone, is way too much like real TV. And they really, really don't like that. So they keep trying to block it, and Boxee counters by delving into all crazy kinds of work-arounds to satisfy its fanbase, who's hooked on Hulu. (Seriously. There's even a Twitterfeed that lets followers know on any given day if Hulu's working on Boxee or not.)
What does that have to with cell phones? Well, word on the street is that Hulu is developing an iPhone app that will launch in a few months.
I have mixed emotions over this one. Mobile Hulu? And it could potentially be available on Apple's next handset? AWESOME. The prospect of accessing all that delicious content on a new iPhone makes me feel all tingly. And yet a disquiet follows my soul: What the heck happened to ?we don't like people viewing our content on anything but a web browser,? etc, etc? Why did I jump through hoops, spending entire afternoons trying to figure out the Boxee workarounds?
Bewildered, enraged, excited ? yep, I?m feeling all that right now. And I somehow feel like a sucker because I know that I?ll be one of the first to grab this from the App Store when it comes out, even if I have to pay for it. But rumor has it that this app is amazing, so I?m willing to line the pockets of the guys who ruined a few of my weekends just to see if it's true.
