ABC iView (called Playback during its beta period) has now been opened up to all Australian Internet users, offering access to a fair chunk of the national broadcaster's output on full-screen streaming video across six channels. Unlike the Windows-only ABC Shop Download, the site is accessible on any browser supporting Flash (so Windows, Mac and Linux users all have options). There's plenty to keep you entertained: a rough calculation suggests there's already about 80 hours of programming on the service, the news channel will be updated on a daily basis, and the ABC has promised additional channels in the future. iView is free to access (via an Australian connection; the service is blocked overseas). As with all streaming media, you'll need to keep an eye on your download cap if you use the service extensively -- unless you're with iiNet, which is excluding iView from its quota.

The Wired How-To Wiki details how to stream music from your home computer or a web host to any PC over the internet. The guide suggests several methods for creating playlists, including M3U, XSPF, and PLS playlists that point to your online tunes and stream them to any application you use open the playlist. Depending on what format you use, you can stream your playlist of choice with anything from iTunes and Windows Media Player to the Yahoo Music Jukebox and more. If you don't feel like putting in all that effort to roll your own solution, check out other sites and tools like previously mentioned JukeFly, SlimServer, and Orb.

One intrepid Ubuntu hacker has written up a little script that allows your Xbox 360 to locate and stream music from any computer running Ubuntu. Downloading, setting up, and activating the script will require a bit of terminal work, but the commands can be easily copied and pasted from the Ubuntu Forums post linked below. Got a better solution for connecting the two systems that normally would never get along? Share your solutions in the comments.

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If you've got a home server running, or just a computer that controls music and video playback, the Simple Help blog has a guide that might make your digital life a little more convenient. Using the free WWWinamp tool, the author details how to set up and control Winamp from any browser, iPod touch/iPhones included. Convenient for controlling movies streamed to your television, music playing during a party, or any other away-from-computer control.

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Webapp Muxtape lets you upload MP3's into a streaming playlist for anyone on the internet to hear. Register for a free Muxtape account, and start uploading MP3's (which you have permission to share), and send your Muxtape URL (youraccount.muxtape.com) to others, who can play your tunes directly from the page. Muxtape's interface is bare-bones—no album art and sparse song metadata—and there's no obvious way for listeners to download the tunes you uploaded. Check out Wired's field guide to existing Muxtape playlists for finding good listening there.

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US-centric: March Madness is just a week away, and this year you've got more ways than ever to catch the action no matter where you are. First, the freeware TV-over-the-internet app Joost (remember our full tour and review of read more »

It's been hyped, dissed, and privately tested for five months, but now you can check out Hulu, a streaming video site created by NBC Universal and News Corp., for yourself. The U.S.-only site features a few (generally financially under-performing) full-length movies, including The Big Lebowski, The Usual Suspects, and Sideways, and a good number of clips and full episodes of shows like Family Guy, The Office, Babylon 5, and even the (dearly) departed likes of Arrested Development. No sign-up required, but, then again, you also can't upload or share clips—this is a sit-down-and-watch affair. Add it to the list of ways you can catch your favourite shows outside their air times.

The Geek Tonic weblog details how to use a remote control with your Netflix Watch Now videos. The tutorial takes advantage of several tools, most notably a shareware app called Girder. This method will work if you're desperate to add some remote control functionality to Watch Now videos, but it's also a nice introduction to adding remote capabilities to any program. If you're already using Windows Media Center on your Vista machine, this previously mentioned plug-in will give you the same Netflix remote functionality and more.

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These days, every gaming system in your living room better be able to do more than just play video games if it's going to earn its place next to your TV. The Xbox 360 makes for an excellent Media Center extender, and the original Xbox is the king of homebrew video-game-cum-media-boxes, but when it comes to expanding your home theatre beyond gaming, the Wii has always been a bit light on functionality. The best thing it's got going for it is the excellent Opera web browser, but web browsing with the Wii remote is still a bit clunky. Luckily, using that very same browser, you can turn your Wii into a full-fledged media centre with the freeware Windows application Orb. Here's how.

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Windows only: Listen to your home music library from anywhere through your browser with web site JukeFly. Similar to previously mentioned streaming application Orb, JukeFly runs a small server on your desktop that scans any music folders you add to it and makes all of that music available through their slick web interface. With its extensive social features, JukeFly is actually a little more reminiscent of Anywhere.fm, the main difference being that Anywhere.FM actually stores your music on their servers, whereas JukeFly streams the music from your computer. Either way, add JukeFly to the list of worthwhile methods for getting to your music library no matter where you are.

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