Apple Thoughts: Streaming Video to PlayOn Your iDevice via Windows

"PlayOn, a program that takes content from streaming video sites like Hulu and displays them on game consoles such as the Xbox 360 or PS3, is coming to the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad."

A somewhat convoluted way of getting streaming videos onto your mobile iDevice, PlayOn runs on an iDevice, and its software talks to "host" software running on a Windows PC or Windows on a Mac with BootCamp or Parallels (no mention of VMWare Fusion or VirtualBox). PlayOn acts as a remote control device back to Windows, and the PC software manages content formatting for the mobile device. WiFi is necessary for the content transfer. Current limitations:

• A Windows PC or virtual instance is required, with PlayOn software running. No plans for a native OS X (or Linux) version.

• Devices must all be on the same WiFi network.

• Cost. A free "lite" version can play back only local media on the Windows system and network, plus Pandora streaming radio content. PlayOn Premium costs $39.99 for the first year, and $19.99 for subsequent years. To contrast, HuluPlus costs $120 per year.

PlayOn has a growing list of third-party plugins ( link ), so if you're interested in viewing streaming video (today) on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, PlayOn may be worth trying.