Tutorial on How to Create a Media Centre With as Little as £25

We’ve looked at how you can use almost any gadget to make your TV into a smart TV, but today we’re looking at how you can use the very cheapest one to get top notch online video playing right back on the big screen in your living room: the humble £25 Raspberry Pi. And it couldn’t be easier – read on to find out how it’s done.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been running a series of gadget tutorials, showing you how to pull off useful tech tricks like adding voice control to your car, or hooking up your game controller to your smartphone. Now, we’re bringing you smart TV skills on the smallest budget possible. Here’s how it’s done.

Get a Raspberry Pi

First thing’s first, you’ll need one of these clever little computers made in the UK. You can order them from here – it’s the £25.92 Model B version you want, as the cheaper Model A lacks an internet connection. If you’re feeling flush, you can even order a case for it – some of the £5.99 numbers over at ModMyPi are excellent. When you’re done, it’s time to get to work.

Prep the Pi and the software

To make the Raspberry Pi into a media centre, we’re going to use XBMC, the free, superb suite for almost every device under the sun – including the Pi. Head over to the Raspbmc website, and you can download a special version built specifically for it. When it’s done, plug in an 8GB or higher SD card to your Mac or PC, and run the installer – it’ll do the rest.

Now, it’s time to set up your Pi. Before turning it on, plug it into your router with an Ethernet cable, and when it’s ready put the SD card in. Then give the Pi power by plugging in a micro USB charger (like you use for your phone). It’ll start installing Raspbmc, so just leave it to do its thing.

Finetune everything

Now you’re ready to start tweaking XBMC to your heart’s content – which is what XBMC is all about, really. When it’s booted up, just plug in a USB keyboard and mouse (One of these remotes, such as the Xbox DVD remote, will also work nicely) and dive in. If you don’t like the skin, you can change it. Regardless, you should hit up Settings>>System>>Video Output and switch to 720p resolution so everything plays nice (though your TV is probably full HD, the Raspberry Pi can only muster 720p visuals, which is still pretty sharp).

Open up your media

Now it’s time to start playing. If you like, you can plonk videos, pictures and music files onto a USB stick and start playing them on your TV, or you can stream them from your computer. Just go to Videos, Picture or Music, then File>>Add File and pick a connected computer with a shared folder to get them from. XBMC does its best to pull down cover art and meta-data for everything, so it’ll look like one well-stocked, easy to use library.

Take it further

The beauty of XBMC is in its add-ons. Hit the list and you can find plug-ins to connect up all sorts of internet video repositories, like YouTube and Vimeo. They’re not in the main list, but dig a little deeper, and you can even add all the major UK catch-up services to your Raspberry Pi – just follow the steps here and you’ll soon be in on-demand heaven.

Unfortunately, the one thing you won’t be able to add so easily is Netflix due to DRM restrictions on Linux (The software the Raspberry Pi runs – the cheapest and best Netflix option remains the £49.99 Roku LT). But hey, you’ve just saved anything from £25 to several hundred, and added internet video to your TV. Not bad, eh?

Got any other tips for making a super cheap media centre? Share them in the comments below! [Source]

You can follow me on Twitter, add me to your circles on Google+ or Subscribe to me on facebook or YouTube. You can also check my website and blog to keep yourself updated with what is happening in the ever changing world of technology

Evasi0n Jailbreak Not Done Yet, it Can Still Jailbreak iOS 6.1.2

The release of iOS 6.1.2 may have fixed the Exchange calendar bug that was eating batteries like tapeworm, but it looks as though it still hasn’t prevented the Evasi0n tool from offering an untethered jailbreak. Seasoned jailbreak guru and Evad3rs member Planetbeing has tweeted the good news that his iPhone 5 is jailbreakable on iOS 6.1.2, and although he has yet to test other devices, it’s unlikely they’ll throw up any nasty surprises. This means that, pending a little more investigation of course, you can update to iOS 6.1.2 and re-jailbreak to enjoy the perks of an untethered jailbreak on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

@Planetbeing: Not yet able to test all devices, but it’s looking good for 6.1.2. iPad mini wi-fi and iPhone 5 are still jailbreakable.

This is most certainly a rarity. Usually, whenever a jailbreak is released, Apple works to deliver an update to prevent it, and the next iOS release is thus unjailbreakable. However, a couple of timely bugs have emerged which, from a PR point of view, are a tad more pressing, and following on from the release of Evasi0n 1.3 to jailbreak the iPhone 4S-only iOS 6.1.1, it’s likely a similar update will arrive for Evasi0n to work with iOS 6.1.2.

Although iOS 6.1.3, 6.1.4 (or perhaps even iOS 6.2 considering the number of issues still in need of a resolution) will eventually put an end to the jailbreaking fanfare, it looks like we’re safe for a while, and once a member of Evad3rs has given the all-clear, users will be free to update to iOS 6.1.2.

In fact, even if you haven’t had any issues with the Exchange, it’s better to update and run on the latest version, seeing as it’s jailbreakable anyway. While maintaining an exploitable firmware version is always advisable if you’re a regular Cydia user, this way you can reap the benefits of the bug fixes while also still enjoying those treasured tweaks.

Provided Planetbeing doesn’t encounter a stumbling blocks, it’s likely Evasi0n jailbreak iOS 6 tool will be updated soon for 6.1.2, and we’ll be sure to let you guys know when that moment arrives. Until then, stick with your current jailbroken version of iOS 6 to avoid that annoying few days in limbo. And remember, if you’re on iOS 6.x and have yet to jailbreak iOS 6.1 you iPhone or iPod touch, you can do so by following our extensive how-to tutorial. [RedmondPie]

You can follow me on Twitter, add me to your circles on Google+ or Subscribe to me on facebook or YouTube. You can also check my website and blog to keep yourself updated with what is happening in the ever changing world of technology