It’s not very often that I find a Media Center plugin that really gets me excited. Despite the platforms popularity and Microsoft support, it just doesn’t seem the draw the developers. That may have something to do with how complicated development is, but also the appeal of easy-money for smart phone app development. Regardless of that, though, I recently came across one that has me jumping for joy! Kylo is a web browser that integrates itself into the Media Center menu, is full-screen by default, has good Media Center-type features, and sports a home page with links to a plethora of content. In short, it’s what Microsoft should have done long ago.
Latest Version Includes Instant Visual Search Through Integration with Clicker.tv
Now Available for the United Kingdom, with a UK-Centric Kylo Directory
Now Available for the United Kingdom, with a UK-Centric Kylo Directory
There is a massive amount of links such as NFL (which goes straight to the NFL’s video page), MLB, NBA, Yahoo Fantasy Football, Pandora, all of the major (and some of the minor) TV networks, online-only content like Revision3, some games and social networks, and more.
Now let’s take a look at what it does.
During installation you will be prompted to choose shortcuts. Make sure you enable the Media Center menu option.
When you open the browser you will be greeted with an almost overwhelming amount of content links.
There is an on-screen keyboard if you prefer such a thing.
You’ll find a limited, but useful amount of items in the settings.
One thing I found very useful in settings was the ability to manually stretch the screen to match my TV. Perhaps not everyone will need this, but I found Kylo would not open to full-screen until I did this. It remembers the setting so you’ll only need to do this once.
The one problem I have with Kylo is it’s inability to import bookmarks. Previously I was running Firefox on my Media Center PC and I had a sparse, but much needed, set of bookmarks. Some are included, but some are not. It looks as though I will be adding those by hand.
Overall, though, I have found this browser to be just about everything I need in a Media Center browser. It’s a definite add-on to any system I build in the future.
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