NextGuide has released an update to its iPad application that now gives its users access to over 18,000 television clips from Hulu. Calling it NextGuide Clips, it allows users to easily watch part of an episode without needing a Hulu subscription.
Considered a smart TV guide, NextGuide is an iOS application that learns what you like to watch and shares with you when its airing and also displays similar shows you might want to watch. By looking through user’s profiles and interests, the app can make recommendations that you might find interesting. If you like Law & Order, for example, it might display Criminal Minds or CSI: New York as possible shows.
The application works with live television, Netflix, Hulu Plus, iTunes, and Amazon Instant Video. Shows that a user enjoys can also be shared through social media and recently was integrated with the Dijit Remote.
Prior to today, app users were only able to view static content about a particular show. But now, with the inclusion of more than 18,000 clips, users can watch them right from within the app alongside their favorite shows. So if you are a friend of NBC’s 30 Rock, you could not only see a synopsis of the episode and other show information, but watch short clips streamed within the app.
NextGuide users will find that this is free to all users. Shows that are streamed include popular titles like Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, Family Guy, The Simpsons, X Factor, MasterChef, and Movie Trailers. And it’s not just limited to television — movie clips are also included. If there are multiple clips, they can be added into a single playlist.
The app is using Hulu’s API to bring in all these TV and movie clips through its use of Hulu’s API, that it says involved a fully customized integration effort, something that NextGuide believes has never been done before in the industry.
Other updates in the app includes support for AppleTV. Through AirPlay, NextGuide can have movies and TV shows played right on your TV or monitor. Users will also find an optimized setup experience where it now takes only three steps to get going, compared to the ten steps previously. Lastly, the search functionality has been improved so that it now has autofill capabilities — when a user starts to type anything, the app will predict possible matches automatically.
Photo credit: OLIVIER LABAN-MATTEI/AFP/Getty Images
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