So it was a good Christmas... being horrendously ill a few days after aside.
On the iPad, i've opted for the WiFi only version - for two reasons:
- It's cheaper
- I don't want to pay for a second data plan (again, cheaper).
I'm rarely going to need to be browsing the internet on my phone and iPad at the same time. I say rarely but actually I can't think of a single example of when I would need this. It's even more unlikely that I'll need to do this whilst on the move. So... I've gone for the WiFi only option and am using the Portable hotspot feature on my Samsung Galaxy SIII when out and about. I've set it to only allow authorised devices so it's safe and that way I have only one data plan and an iPad that can connect to the internet on the move! Sorted.
I also wanted to be able to take advantage of AirPlay but without spending £99 on an Apple TV. I will admit I am tempted with an Apple TV (maybe a birthday present...) for the full integration of iTunes (specifically the store) and also because it's the only device that supports AirPlay mirroring at the moment...
However, I didn't want to just jump in and buy an Apple TV, so I decided to use Raspberry Pi, which a few weeks ago, I'd setup as a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) Server.
I've installed Raspbmc, the image which has XBMC pre-installed.
And here's the result:
XBMC running nicely from the Pi.
Remote controlled via the iPad mini...
Run any video app, such as YouTube and select AirPlay
So that's video sorted... but what about playing any Audio that I want to in my living room...
Open Spotify on the iPad (or any audio application) and choose to AirPlay
And voila, My TV is playing my Spotify playlist, via the iPad. This leaves me the ability to use the iPad and is completely wireless.
Beautiful.
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