Boxee for iPad is now available for free in the App Store. Get it here.

Our new iPad app is accompanied by the Boxee Media Manager (for streaming videos from your computer to the iPad), a new Watch Later bookmarklet and new firmware for the Boxee Box (version 1.2).   Oh, and we’re giving away iPads (x2) and Boxee Boxes galore on our Facebook page.

We have been busy

There’s so much to watch on the web these days. Whether it’s videos you find on blogs, your friends recommend, or you discover during 4 hour tantric Internet surfing sessions, keeping track of it all is a hassle.

Boxee for iPad gives you one place to discover, watch, and share video from the web and your computer.  We built the app to be useful for any iPad user, even those who have never heard of Boxee before, but it has the added benefit for current Boxee Box users that you can send video to your flat screen through it (we’ll include this for Mac/PC users in the fall update).

There’s 5 major functions: Friends, Watch Later, Featured, PC to iPad, iPad to TV

Friends – Never miss a hilarious or inspiring new video from your friends again.
Boxee automatically delivers new videos your friends share on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr directly to your iPad.
Return the favor and share your favorites with two taps.

Watch Later – Each day, we’re bombarded by video from everywhere. Use the freshly re-designed bookmarklet to, umm… bookmark videos from the Internet and have them waiting for you on your iPad (and anywhere else you’ve got Boxee). Now you’ve got one place to queue YouTube videos, TED talks, FunnyOrDie videos, a TV Show you missed, or anything else you don’t have time to watch right away. It’s an easy way to create a video playlist for the commute, the bed, the couch or the bathroom (this is mainly for Idan, whose iPad we don’t touch).

Get started by dragging ✚ Boxee to your Bookmark Bar.
Click it when you see a video you want to come back to later. Learn more about it here…

Featured – Find stunning, hilarious, creative, and insightful videos shared from Boxee’s editorial staff. We’ll keep you up to date with the best stuff on the net.  (PS – got recommendations for us? share them on our Facebook page and we might feature them to nearly 2Million other Boxee users!)

PC to iPad, Easily - No need to waste hours converting and syncing videos to your iPad. Boxee streams videos from your PC/Mac to your iPad over WiFi. You pick the video (in almost any format) and we make it play on your iPad. It’s all possible through the new Boxee Media Manager, a lightweight app for your PC/Mac that works magic on video files.  Check out the screenshot below for what you can expect (buffalo not included in all apps).

Download the Boxee Media Manager here… (it’s free).

Send to TV - Watching video on your iPad and want it on the big screen? Send videos straight to your TV via a Boxee Box so everyone in your living room can enjoy. Now you can go back to playing Avadon or Angry Birds on the iPad while you watch : )

Click here to get Boxee for iPad!

Don’t have an iPad?  Visit Boxee on Facebook and enter to win an iPad and Boxee Box this Friday.  

Boxee Box 1.2

In addition to the iPad goodness, we are also releasing a firmware update to the Boxee Box.
The update will roll out over the next few days to all users and includes:

• Filtering premium sources in the library such as Vudu, HBO Go, etc
• New “Featured Apps” section
• Updated App categories
• NFS and AFP support (and improved SMB/CIFS support)
• Improved HTML5 support in the browser
• Support for OS X Lion as a source for video files
• Option to receive “Beta Releases” of the firmware

As always there is a long list of bugs we squashed. Check out the full release notes.

Boxee Labs

We’ve also got something from the “wouldn’t it be cool if Boxee could..” department – one of our engineers has been playing around with AirPlay and we’ve included it as an experimental part of this release. When you click on the AirPlay button on your iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch you will now see your Boxee Box as one of the target devices. Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Driving Towards The Future

So just to recap – as of today you can now:

• bookmarklet something on your computer at work,
• watch the start of it on your iPad 3G on the evening commute,
• send it to your Boxee Box once you get home,
• then control it with your iPhone

We are starting to put the pieces together. Going beyond the Box and back again. Lots more that we have cooking. We have a vision for where TV is going and we are taking more and more steps in that direction. Stay tuned.