Slashdot reports that VLC has been pulled from the App Store. Inevitably, the article is followed by lots of comments about Apple being some kind of Evil Big Brother, utterly ignoring the fact that it was pulled due to VLC developer Rémi Denis-Courmont being a bit of a dick about a perceived clash between the GNU General Public License and the App Store terms of use.

Still, I’m not terribly sad. All iOS devices lack the storage for loads of on-board video and VLC was a bit iffy anyway. If you’ve a PC or Mac lurking about the place, I instead highly recommend grabbing a copy of Air Video (£1.79, App Store) or StreamToMe (£1.79, App Store), both of which enable live-to-iOS-device streaming and conversion of files accessible to your computer. It’s a bit annoying leaving a computer on, but these apps offer a hugely flexible system, and they also (assuming you have the right leads) provide a simple way to get content from a drive connected to your Mac or PC to your TV, just by using an iOS device.

I’m personally also hoping that 2011 will bring full AirPlay support for third-party apps, enabling converted content to be fired wirelessly to an Apple TV, or, if Jobs decides that’s the Worst Idea Ever, for the apps to be used as a remote to control the same app running on another device. AirPlay’s great, but it gets old wandering across the room and finding a fiddly virtual button to pause a movie when the dog decides he needs a wee.

TechRadar reviews the Samsung Galaxy Player 50. I’ve long been amazed that while companies are clamouring to rip off the iPhone (and, more recently, the iPad), none have really taken on the iPod touch. And yet Apple’s iPhone-without-the-phone is a breakout hit, especially with kids, where it’s often replacing a DS or PSP, or with people happy with a simpler mobile phone but eager to embrace mobile apps.

So, given that Apple hugely rips off the entire world when it comes to pricing, surely Android wins through, right? Spoiler: TechRadar thinks the Samsung Galaxy Player 50 is utter shit.

The review notes that you get some extras over Apple’s device, notably a microSD card slot and built-in GPS; also, it’s £40 less than the equivalent iPod touch. But, like so many others competing against Apple, Samsung’s tried ticking off checkboxes on a specs sheet rather than polishing what really matters to the majority of consumers. For example, the screen boasts a miserly 240 x 400 pixels (pathetic compared to the Retina display on the Apple device and similar screens on Android phones), lacks a front-facing camera and also cannot record video in HD.

Amazingly, TechRadar found things got worse when they started using it:

It spends the majority of its time crashed when you try to launch apps, or even when you just wake it from the lock screen. It’s unusable in the sense that you are completely unable to use it.

Quite how such a device managed to score 1.5/5 is beyond me, but with other reviewers having similar problems, something is becoming clear: Apple isn’t entirely the Apple of old. Its kit isn’t cheap by any means, but it’s more aggressively priced than you’d think. This is perhaps the real reason why we’ve not seen dozens of iPod touch clones, and also why most of the incoming Android slates that aren’t total garbage are as pricey—or even more expensive than—Apple’s iPad.

WMPoweruser.com reports that a NES emulator has been blocked from Windows Phone 7‘s store. Matt Bettcher ported an open-source emulator to the platform, but Microsoft advised him it won’t be allowed on Marketplace.

Bettcher has started a campaign on YouTube, but good luck in changing Microsoft’s mind. Not only is Nintendo notoriously litigious, but Bettcher admits the current code is “unoptimised” (running as low as 10 frames per second), and so it’s hardly a shock Microsoft’s taken the decision it has.

The WMPoweruser.com article points to Apple allowing a number of emulators on its App Store, which include Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum, along with Sega’s own Mega Drive single-app ‘ports’, but these are fully licensed and released with the blessing of the IP owners. By contrast, Nintendo’s already feeling the strain in the handheld market, with the DS losing marketshare to iOS devices. Nintendo’s hardly likely to allow the dark horse in the smartphone race (backed by Microsoft’s gaming network) to release NES IP when it can do so itself (again and again) for its own mobile gaming systems.

Hat tip: iPhone Games Bulletin

So, Vince Cable says what everyone’s thinking—that Rupert Murdoch needs taking down a peg and his takeover of BSkyB needs to be stopped. And then he’s stripped of the role, humbled, and watches as the BSkyB takeover became the responsibility of Jeremy Hunt. Well, gosh, I WONDER WHAT HIS DECISION WILL BE? (Hint: Armando Iannucci links to a Hunt article that may as well be titled “Why I wuv Rupert and want to have his babies”.)

Cable was, of course, stripped of the role for making Rupert Murdoch cry and for being impartial, and not at all for going against Tory wishes to see the BBC killed by its commercial rival. After all, it’s not remotely hypocritical to demote Cable when David Cameron referred to the prospect of BBC cuts as ‘delicious’. Clearly, that little nugget wasn’t at all impartial and wrong.

And it’s not like The Labour Party comes out of this smelling of roses either. It had the perfect opportunity to play bipartisan politics and also to appeal to Lib-Dem MPs and voters alike. It doesn’t need Murdoch until 2015, and could have reduced his power over media and the voters. Instead, Ed Miliband leapt on the chance to smack Cable and score a couple of short-lived politics points, saying “Vince Cable should have gone”. Rather than weakening the government, this likely strengthened it, but it has weakened one of the few people in Cabinet seemingly trying to at least some things that aren’t entirely reprehensible.

So screw you, David Cameron and your Tory buddies for so openly going against the wishes of the people and tearing down one of your government’s best MPs time and time again.

Screw you, Nick Clegg for not having the balls to back one of your own, instead choosing to provide a ‘united front’ that will see your party wiped from Parliament in 2015 (well, apart from you, because you’ll likely be wearing blue by then).

And screw you, Ed Miliband for proving you’re just like every other tosspot Labour leader, playing reactionary politics when you had yet another opportunity to do something different.

Ricky Gervais on WSJ’s Speakeasy:

It’s strange that anyone who believes that an all-powerful all-knowing, omniscient power responsible for everything that happens, would also want to judge and punish people for what they are.

Amen to that.