We haven't heard of too many busy professionals of late that have too much time, and no way to adequately watch all of the great television that's coming out these days. But, if you're looking for a way to soak in even more entertainment, DISH has today introduced the DISH Explorer app for iPad. It's described as a second-screen app for the Hopper whole-home HD DVR platform. It's built to combine program-discovery tools, social media engagement and remote-control capabilities. It'll be available in the App Store tomorrow, and will allow viewers to discover what shows are trending at the moment (including sporting events, across hundreds of live-TV channels, DVR recordings and on-demand programs), control your Hopper DVR right from the iPad (yes, that includes the channel guide and
DVR management), as well as the ability to search live TV, DVR, and on-demand programs using the
iPad's virtual keyboard.
Using the app, customers can log in to
Twitter and Facebook and, in real-time, comment and track posts from fans of the shows they are watching. For sports fans, it adds Thuuz ratings to identify the hottest games on TV and provides viewers with real-time sports stats when watching live events on the Hopper. The Explorer's view into trending data can signal sporting events that are quickly becoming 'must see' events. You'll need an in-home Wi-Fi network, and of course you can't expect this thing to do you any good remotely over 3G. That'd just be too swell, wouldn't it?