As TiVo owners, we’re not Time Warner Cable’s biggest fans. However, regular reader Josh R. asked that we set aside any animosity to ensure TWC is acknowledged for pushing the boundaries of online streaming. They were the first major cable provider to provide live television via their iPad app and have recently made a similar experience available to Windows and Mac computers (via Silverlight). Further, they’re promising live “television” will make its way to Ice Cream Sandwich-based Android devices – possibly as soon as this month.

Unfortunately, like most services of this nature, streaming remains limited to the confines of one’s home. It’s TV Everywhere! As long as everywhere doesn’t extend beyond the range of your wireless access point. And TWC TV Online only features a subset of channels. Having said that, TWC, along with Cablevision, are clearly leading the charge in this category. While Verizon FiOS TV customers wonder when their equivalent iPad app might arrive.

The Samsung Galaxy Beam is one of the more interesting looking smartphones announced at Mobile World Congress this week. As opposed to being just another Android handset, this Galaxy variant features a pico projector. And, as demonstrated above by PocketLint, the Beam… beams presumably anything displayed on the phone onto a wall, table, ceiling, or palm. Which sounds pretty dang cool. Until you stop to consider that, while it can project an image up to 50″ large, the resolution is capped at 640×360 and a meager 15 lumens are output. So it’s safe to say a compelling projected display under typical conditions would be something significantly less than 50″ — meaning you’re not going to watch too much HBO GO in this manner.

It’s quite impressive to see this projection tech integrated into such a compact and attractive form, compared to Samsung’s first blocky go of it or the original dedicated pico projectors (that never took off) and I suppose a few business professionals might find sporadic use projecting charts in a conference room. But, ultimately, the Beam offers a party trick to showcase ones downsampled personal photos or video, and I can’t imagine that alone will move many units.

UPDATE: Engadget has reviewed the Samsung Beam.

The Galaxy Beam does well at what it claims to be good at (projecting media), but it’s otherwise mediocre at best. That’s not to say it’s a horrible phone, but the low-to-mid-range feature set makes it a tough sell at $430, especially when you can pay the same price for much nicer devices these days. The Beam is interesting as a proof of concept, but we don’t see it blossoming into anything more than that at the present time.