Now you can beam videos you’ve recorded on your iPhone 4 to an Apple TV.

Last year's iOS4.2 update added some interesting streaming audio and video features to the iPhone 4, such as the ability to send video from the iPod app to the new Apple TV. You missed out if you owned an original Apple TV, but that’s just Apple’s way of “encouraging” you to upgrade to the latest wundergadget.

One of my biggest disappointments with the 4.2 AirPlay update was that it didn’t support streaming videos that I’d shot myself - such as my kids’ birthday parties. To be honest that’s about the only reason why I’d want to stream video from an iGadget to my television, as I’ve got plenty of ways to bounce other video files around the home. Having to get video clips off my iPhone 4 before I could watch them on the TV was a pain. Now iOS4.3 has come to the rescue, with quite impressive video quality considering it’s streaming across an 802.11g network.

With iOS4.3 Apple has expanded AirPlay support to a range of third-party iPhone apps, but it’s the ability to watch my own home movies that appeals to me most.

Every time we get a new iPhone, Apple's software update cripples the old model for a while. Will the first iPad suffer the same fate?

Long before the iPhone 3G made it to Australian shores, I was the proud owner of an original iPhone imported from California. The phone was a thing of beauty - sleek, stable, responsive and intuitive. It never failed to impress people and after a few minutes they always wanted one.

The original iPhone ran like a dream on iOS1.1.4 and I could have sold dozens of them to family and friends - until the iOS2.0 software update was released to coincide with the launch of the iPhone 3G. The old iPhone was now so sluggish that it was all but unuseable and I stopped showing it off to people. It took several more software updates for that old iPhone to come good, but it never returned to its former glory.

I later upgraded to an iPhone 3G, but it suffered a similar fate with the iOS3.0 update. It took a few updates to recover, but was then crippled again by the iOS4.0 update. I never owned an iPhone 3G S (jumping straight to the iPhone 4), but there were reports that it was also left sluggish by the iOS4.0 update.

Can you see a pattern here? Whenever Apple releases a shiny new iPhone, the corresponding software update leaves the old iPhone lame. After a few months Apple seems to magically fix the problem, but by then many iPhone owners have thrown their hands up in despair and reluctantly bought the new model. This isn’t just my conspiracy theory - some iPhone owners even launched a lawsuit claiming Apple deliberately crippled the old phones to “encourage” people to upgrade.

So we come to the release of the iPad 2 and iOS4.3. What’s got me worried is that Steve Jobs keeps bragging about how much more powerful the new iPad is. This sounds like bad news for the original iPad. Will Apple make an extra effort to ensure that the iOS4.3 update doesn’t cripple old iPads, or will we see a repeat of the iPhone upgrade fiasco? Only time will tell.

I think the real question is, can Apple afford to burn 15 million iPad owners? The answer is a definite no, not if Apple wants to maintain its lead over Android and get a stranglehold on the corporate tablet market. There also isn't the same constant upgrade mentality with tablets that there is with smartphones - fewer people will be prepared to hand over more cash just because Apple broke their old tablet. I think this time Apple will need to treat loyal customers with a bit more respect.

After once again failing to hold Australian ISPs responsible for the actions of their users, will the copyright police start kicking down doors?

Suing individual downloaders in the US turned into a PR nightmare for the copyright police, which is why the local arm of the law has shied away from such activities. For years Australia's copyright enforcers have privately admitted they have no intention of dragging local file-sharers through the courts US-style.

The former head of the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT), Adrianne Pecotic, is even on record saying copyright holders are only interested in chasing those who release pirate copies of movies, not people sitting at home downloading them. Chasing people who sit at home downloading Lost is "not something we should be wasting police resources on," she said.

Of course that was back when AFACT thought it could win the copyright war by other means. Yet BitTorrent search engines refuse to die, ISPs appear to be in the clear and the confidential Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement seems to have backed down on the harshest of its three-strikes proposals. Are the copyright police going to give up on online piracy and go back to busting dodgy DVD sellers at the weekend markets? Not likely.

After the last iiNet ruling Sabiene Heindl, general manager of the music industry's anti-piracy arm, Music Industry Piracy Investigations, said: ''Today's Federal Court decision suggests that copyright owners broadly may have no choice but to sue individuals for illegal file-sharing. This would be a most unfortunate outcome.''

I wouldn't be surprised to hear such threats repeated now AFACT has lost in court again.

Does the launch of Sony’s all-you-can-eat Qriocity online music service mean Australians will no longer be treated as second class digital citizens?

In short; probably not. We’ll always get screwed to a certain degree. But Sony’s new service is certainly a step in the right direction. Sony’s Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity won’t impress US customers, but it should impress Aussies who are currently forced to jump through hoops to access US-only subscription services such as Rhapsody. It should also place pressure on Apple to deliver its long-rumoured subscription service, hopefully across the globe and not just in the US.

Music Unlimited works in any Flash-enabled browser, as well as on the PlayStation 3 and AV gear compatible with Sony’s Bravia Internet Video service. Many news reports have overlooked the platform-agnostic browser-based access, as Sony’s press release is so poorly worded that you could easily miss it. That’s a shame, because most people will write off Music Unlimited sight-unseen if they think it’s a Sony-centric service.

The need for Flash means the browser-based service won’t work in Safari on iGadgets, but I got it running in the browser on my HTC Desire so there’s hope for Android users. Sony is talking about expanding the service to officially support mobile devices, specifically mentioning Android but not Apple’s range of gadgets. I’d love to see Sony introduce an iPhone app for controlling Music Unlimited remotely on a computer on Sony AV device - Apple hasn’t blocked similar apps from the likes of Sonos so there’s no reason why Sony’s should be blocked (not that reason plays a major role in Apple’s decision-making process when it comes to approving apps).

Having spent some time with Rhapsody and Hulu, I’m convinced that these kinds of subscription-based services are the future of digital content and perhaps the best weapon against piracy. They make paying for content easier than stealing it. With Australians getting access to faster download speeds and higher monthly download limits, I’m sure they’ll flock to these kinds of services given the chance. Hopefully Sony’s Music Unlimited marks the beginning of great things for Australia.

Have you ever closed your eyes and tried to use a touchscreen device?

For the last few weeks I’ve been writing about the VoiceOver text-to-speech accessibility options available on Apple’s iPad - with specific posts examining the onscreen keyboard, iBooks and Safari. I initially started delving into the VoiceOver options in a effort to help a friend with low vision get the most from his shiny new iPad.

Apple’s VoiceOver features on the iPad and iPhone are truly impressive, but the instruction manual is found wanting and most vision impaired users would struggle to use VoiceOver to its full potential without a helping hand. Hopefully my guide will help a few people get the most from VoiceOver and the iPad.

Unfortunately most touchscreen devices aren’t blessed with Apple’s impressive accessibility features. Next time you encounter a touchscreen interface, close your eyes and think about how you’d cope if you couldn’t see. I think it’s something all designers should be forced to do before they unleash new devices on the world. If we’re not careful, we're going to gradually cut off vision impaired people from the world around them.