At CES 2010, we found another rather interesting tidbit coming down the pipeline. Your Next App could very well be a remote control for your TV, as long as you own a Vizio.

The above picture, captured by Engadget at the CES, shows off this upcoming iPhone remote control. Yet there’s no additional accessory required, from what we can tell. How can this be possible then? Turns out most new Vizios are coming packed with WiFi accessibility; thus the remote controls makes sure that it connects to the same network and presto, you’re connected wirelessly to your TV!

Clicking on the link below will take you to a video taken at CES that shows a couple parts of the remote. As far as I can tell, it seems like a rather basic version and is likely still in development stages. So we may still be a couple months away from seeing the real deal. Still, keep holding your breath, Vizio owners — the iPhone is about to become a whole lot cooler for you. Ready to have something new to show off to your Blackberry friends?

via Engadget

Few apps have successfully offered internet TV for the iPhone. In fact, I could probably count them all on my fingers. Some apps are now having success in enabling live TV streaming or uploading, such as UStream or Qik, but that’s about the extent of TV on the iPhone beyond YouTube.

That’s where Stay Tuned is trying to make its debut. Developed by Codefurious, Stay Tuned will start off by offering one single channel live, and expand channels and features later down the road. Here’s the full explanation on the Stay Tuned official website:

The internet has a lot of great video content: video blogs, game and movie trailers, video podcasts, machinima, fan films, internet tv shows and webseries. All this great content, and yet viewers have to track it all down themselves. That’s where we come in.

The Stay Tuned iPhone app will be a single part of a much larger endeavor. We at Codefurious are developing a broadcasting system designed specifically to help viewers watch great internet content. The initial format will be much the same as traditional TV, with a single channel available at launch. And we will expand features and channel selection from there.

Like how this sounds? We can’t do this without your support and feedback. Please follow us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/codefurious) or post questions and feedback in our forums.

Look for us in the iTunes App Store soon!

So of course I’m intrigued, but the information on this particular channel being offered is extremely vague. What kind of internet content will this channel have? Will the app catch on if the general public doesn’t get to choose what they watch? Hopefully we’ll get answers soon.

So, then, doesn’t it make sense to be watching your favorite TV show with your iPhone in front of you, checking out what other people have to say about it?

Take one of my favorite TV shows, Lost, as an example. During most episodes I’m constantly updating my Twitter stream to see what little “Easter Eggs” other people have caught, in order to enhance my understanding of what’s going on in the show.

The TV Chatter iPhone app will capitalize on that need, blending TV and social networking together. Twitter is just one example, but TV is quickly becoming a popular social outlet through many different platforms online.

One thing the app will do is show a twitter stream based on your TV show of choice and let the stream scroll down the screen for you at your own pace. You can stop the stream at any time to reply or retweet.

While we haven’t seen the app in its entirety, check out this video demonstrating a few features and why it could be such a great TV-watching experience.

The TV Chatter iPhone app has been submitted to Apple and is now waiting approval. No price has yet been set.

By no means is this a guarantee that Apple will actually approve the app, but this is a very positive note for any iPhone user who wants to view full-length TV shows and/or movies from networks like NBC and Fox.

There is no way of telling if or when the app will make its way officially on the App Store, but we are all keeping our fingers crossed. Apps such as Hulu certainly can turn an already quite useful device into so much more.

Video streaming is already available in other apps, such as TV.com — owned by CBS — and Joost. But Hulu is creating a lot of buzz simply because of how much more content is accessible via Hulu, versus the other services out there. TV.com only does CBS shows, and only in chunks (they don’t stream the entire show), and Joost just doesn’t have a lot of premium content that most TV viewers watch on a regular basis.

Hulu will be able to stream video over both WiFi and 3G connections.

How will Hulu’s iPhone app affect you? If you don’t currently use an iPhone will it be enough to persuade you to get one? Or will it not make a difference at all? Sound off in the comments.

via BusinessInsider