Hulu’s Desktop Wants You to Keep Internet TV Out of the Living Room

Lonnie Lazar ()

Hulu’s newly released Desktop application may or may not put Boxee on the ropes, but it could end up being the best thing that ever happened to the Mac mini.

Released Thursday by the popular television content aggregator whose major partners also happen to be some of the biggest Hollywood content producers, Hulu Desktop signals a major move away from the “online only” model that once served as a thin veneer of protection against the ire of cable companies that pay good money to get content from Hulu’s partners.

Still trying to have it both ways, Hulu issued comical Terms of Service with the desktop product that purport to prevent users from using the software on “Prohibited Devices,” to whit:

“You may not download, install or use the Hulu Software on any device other than a Personal Computer including without limitation digital media receiver devices (such as Apple TV), mobile devices (such as a cell phone device, mobile handheld device or a PDA), network devices or CE devices (collectively “Prohibited Devices”).”

In the real world, however, don’t be surprised to see news of an AppleTV hack by this weekend (if not before); and Mac mini users who employ that device’s excellent media server capabilities with a connection to plasma screens in their living rooms should be sitting pretty, too.

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Will you use Hulu Desktop or stick with your web browser? Will you keep the content on your computer screen or take it into the living room? Let us know in comments below.

7 comments »

About the author

Lonnie Lazar

Lonnie Lazar is a writer-musician-web designer-attorney. He writes about Apple for Cult of Mac and Mac|Life, and about VoIP and telecommunications for Voxilla. Follow Lonnie on Twitter @LonnieLazar, join the Cult of Mac on Facebook, and find Lonnie's photos on Flickr.

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Posted in AppleTV, Media, News, Top stories |

  • CaryMG

    Hulu schmooloo ….
    All of these gimmicky “InterWeb OnDemand Content Delivery Solutions” are CRAP.

    Apple — make a TV.
    Not “Apple TV” — who needs that when you can get a HDMI cable from Radio Shack & just plug it in ?
    No — what I mean is a HiD TV set with a CPU/RAM/SDD/GPU/OS X built into it.
    A 50-inch iMac, if you will.
    There are some out already but aren’t well known/well recieved by Johnny Gadgetbuyer.
    It’s an obvious “solution”.

  • Lucas

    forget an apple tv hack. that thing is a waste anyway.

    get a mac mini, which has more storage space etc anyway, use your tv as the ‘monitor’

    then you get your itunes via front row, hulu via their desktop, netflix streaming and tv.com

    and even those old shows and movies on youtube.

  • ItsGene

    Love how they have taken it upon themselves to label AppleTV as a digital media receiver device — since it’s just a headless Mac running Front Row. By that logic, any computer is really a digital media receiver device these days.
    It just shows the desperate logic of media companies who can no longer qualify and control the viewing of their content. The first company that understands this and drops this nonsense is going to be the big winner in the marketplace.

  • http://keepinitrealyo.blogspot.com piker62

    I ain’t downloading this… them Hulu guys are aliens.

  • Andrew

    I just don’t get it. Not everyone uses cable for their Internet access. Nor does cable carry on-demand access to every show it carries. Hulu fits both niches perfectly. BUT, I can’t watch it on my living room TV. Makes no sense.

    So I use PlayOn, which mostly works. But I do wish Hulu would partner directly with xbox live, or the Roku people, just like Netflix.

  • firesign

    there are already rumors of hulu coming to the xbox 360.

  • YodaMac

    I’ll stick with my AppleTV and Boxee. I still get Hulu that way if I really want it.

    But I am NOT going to start watching TV on my computer anytime soon.

    And I DONT want a keyboard and mouse in my living room.

    Just a comfy couch and a simple remote. :)