This week on The CultCast: Apple Chief Tim Cook brings his Southern charm to Washington, hints at an iHologram; we break down the Apple tax debacle and say why their overseas billions are too legit to quit; and Xbox One vs. Apple TV, should Apple be worried?
All that and more on this week’s CultCast. Stream or download new and past episodes on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing now on iTunes, or hit play below and let the good times roll.
Show notes up next.
Ok, so if you’ve been paying attention to the gaming space today, you’ll know that Microsoft unveiled its new gaming console, the Xbox One. This next generation console is going to play video games, control your TV (sort of), and act as a DVD/Blue-Ray player. It’s got a Kinect motion sensor box on top, which can not be disconnected, and the console won’t play Xbox 360 discs.
This is all well and good, and represents a step forward in Microsoft’s quest to own the living room, even though a lot of us don’t have the time, space, or extra cash to spend on a huge entertainment hub these days, anyway. That’s really not what bothers me, though.
The Xbox One is just uglier than anything I could have imagined.
Heck, my ten year-old son, not a maven of design in any way, saw pictures of the new Xbox, and chuckled. “Why is it bigger than the Xbox 360?” he asked. “It looks the same, just more square.”
Which really made it all hit home for me: design matters. The case design of the Xbox One is firmly rooted in the past. Which makes a lot of sense if you consider the reveal today, full of the same games and the same brands with better graphics.
Today Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One at its Redmond, Washington campus. As the battle for the living room rages on, Microsoft has won a decisive victory that puts it well ahead of the competition.
The Xbox One is just as much for all-around entertainment as it is for gaming, perhaps even more so. It’s designed to be the one box that sits below your TV and does everything: games, movies, live TV, music, surfing the web, messaging, and even video calling. Minority Report-style gestures control the experience, it can recognize your face when you walk in the room, and you can talk to it like Siri on steroids.
Should Apple be worried? The answer is no, at least not yet.
This morning Microsoft unveiled its newest console, the Xbox One. Unlike previous Xbox models though, Xbox One isn’t just about games, it’s about becoming the one system your living room needs, and it probably means trouble for the Apple TV.
Not only can Microsoft’s latest box play video games with the best of them, but Microsoft has added features to make it the only box your TV really needs by recognizing who you are, what you movies and shows you like, and allowing you to control it all with just your voice.
We’ve shown you plenty of iTV/Apple TV concepts in the past. There are a lot of ideas to improve the TV experience out there, and Apple is working on a solution (if you put some level of faith in the rumor mill, that is).
How would you interact with an Apple TV that replaced your cable box? The above concept video suggests an interface that is controlled entirely with an iOS device. Gestures would be used to swipe through channels and navigate menus. You could use Siri to control the experience and ask questions, which is something that Apple has apparently been experimenting with for years.
These kinds of concepts tend to serve the purpose of getting people thinking, not laying out some detailed model that Apple absolutely needs to follow. There are parts of this video that are well executed, and parts that aren’t. The biggest thing that stands out is the total reliance on software. There’s nothing about the above concept that suggests Apple needing to build a physical television.
Via: iDownloadBlog
Well, that’s some positive news. The CW television network is bringing its television content to the Apple TV, the first network to do so directly, instead of via Netflix or Hulu. Even better, you won’t have to have a cable subscription to access the CW programming on Apple’s set top box, like many other content providers require.
The CW plans on launching an app to bring shows like Gossip Girl, The Vampire Diaries, and 90210 sometime in the next few weeks, according to a report at Deadline, though no release date has been reported.
Apple has confirmed it will seek to add Samsung’s new Galaxy S4 to its ongoing patent-infringement lawsuit against the Korean electronics giant.
In a statement filed in the U.S. District Court in California on Monday, Apple said it has analyzed the Galaxy S4 and “concluded that it is an infringing device and accordingly intends to move for leave to add the Galaxy S4 as an infringing product.”
Speaking of Microsoft, they’re the latest company said to be eyeing the living room, designing a new set-top box to go head-to-head with the Apple TV. But Microsoft might have an ace up their sleeves.
Foxconn has been forced to make preparations for life after Apple following reduced demand for the iPhone and other iOS devices which has caused the company’s revenue to nosedive, The New York Times reports.
The manufacturer has been doing well off the back of Apple’s hugely successful devices in recent years, which have been contributing at least 40% of its revenue, according to analyst estimates. But after suffering a 19.2% drop in revenue during the first quarter of the year, thanks to declining iPhone and iPad orders, Foxconn is now looking at ways in which it can be less reliant on Apple.
Amazon is reportedly ready to take on the likes of the Apple TV and Roku with a set-top box of its own, presumably some sort of Kindle Box.
The App Store has a chokehold on mobile gaming, but Apple has yet to set foot into the world of living room consoles. And Apple doesn’t need to worry about competing with the likes of Xbox—the App Store has already created an incredibly vibrant and profitable gaming ecosystem.
You can mirror a game running on your iPhone to the big screen with an Apple TV. It works, but there’s more that could be done. That’s why a gaming startup based in India is bringing Wii-like motion gaming to the Apple TV. Instead of playing on the iPhone, you play with the iPhone.
Brian White, an analyst with Topeka Capital Markets, brings us a crazy new rumor about the much-anticipated Apple television today following recent meetings with supply chain sources in China and Taiwan.
White claims that the “iTV” will finally launch during the second half of 2013, and that it’ll come with a miniature device called the “iRing”, which the user will wear on their finger to act as a pointer. The device will enhance the motion detection experience and take over some of the functions of the traditional remote control, apparently.
Without a doubt, my favorite Mountain Lion feature is AirPlay Mirroring, which allows me to easily mirror whatever is happening on my Mac to my Apple TV. My girlfriend and I use it pretty much all the time to watch movies at night — I digitized our vast DVD collection long ago to save space. It’s truly indispensible to me.
Although I love AirPlay Mirroring, the feature still has two main issues. First of all, AirPlay Mirroring doesn’t work at all on Macs released before 2011, meaning that my 2009-era 27-inch iMac can’t easily stream anything off of its 3.25 TB (rolled-at-home) Fusion Drive. There are apps like AirParrot that get around that limitation, but I’ve always found them to be a little bit strange and laggy, doing weird things like letterboxing my iMac’s display on all sides.
Even if you have a Mac that is newer than 2011, though, there’s one major limitation of AirPlay Mirroring: if you’re streaming a movie to your Apple TV using AirPlay Mirroring, you can’t actually do anything else with your Mac while the movie is playing. If you switch away from the video player to check your email or your Twitter account, it’s all mirrored on the screen.
What I have always wanted is this: the ability to easily stream a movie to my Apple TV from any Mac in my house, while allowing me to still use my Mac without disrupting the viewing experience.
Today, I discovered a gem of an app that lets me do all of this. It’s called Beamer and it frickin’ rocks.
If you’re a Hulu Plus subscriber that prefers to consume your favorite shows on Apple’s diminutive set-top box, great news: Hulu has just announced a new Hulu Plus experience that they say they have completely redesigned from the ground up.
Starwood Hotels recently opened Aloft Cupertino, a slick hotel that is located two blocks away from Apple’s famous One Infinite Loop headquarters in Cupertino, California. Given its close proximity to Apple itself, it only makes sense for Aloft to put Apple products into its rooms.
Unlike the crappy cable boxes that are usually in hotels, Aloft has installed an Apple TV in each of its 123 rooms with full access to all of the set-top box’s features, including AirPlay.
During his tenure as CEO of Apple, John Sculley saw the company suffer through a serious lack of innovation that nearly sunk the company, before Jobs came back and rescued it.
In an interview earlier this month, Sculley said he thinks Apple is experiencing a “lull in innovation.” To clarify his stance, Sculley just gave another interview and said that even though Apple’s experiencing a lull, it’s not really its own fault.
Speaking with Huffington Post, the former Apple CEO had the following to say about Apple’s perceived innovation problem:
YourTube, a popular jailbreak tweak that brings new features to the official YouTube app — including video downloading and ad-blocking — has been updated to support jailbroken devices running the latest iOS 6 firmwares. The latest version is available to download from Cydia now, and it’s free to existing YourTube and YourTube HD users.
Being in business with Apple can’t be all that bad right now. Despite a report this morning that claimed Apple’s suppliers experienced weak sales in February, there are a few Apple suppliers that are hiring more employees to meet demand.
Both TSMC and Hon Hai are looking to hire 5,000 new employees, which might mean that Apple really is looking to ditch Samsung in favor of TSMC.
The Apple TV, Cupertino’s “hobby” of a set-top box, is often used to test out new fabrication process for the A-series chips that go into iPhones, iPod touches and iPads. The last Apple TV ran a 32nm A5 processor built by Samsung with a single-core disabled, which eventually ended up (in a dual-core capacity) in the iPad mini.
With the new third-gen Apple TV, Apple’s at it again. The new Apple TV is functionally and physically identical to its predecessor, except for one detail: it features a 28nm A5 chip built by TSMC. But what does it mean?
Office supply chain Staples began selling the Apple TV and Apple accessories via its online store in late February, and by the end of this quarter, it will also be selling them in its brick and mortar stores across the United States. The company’s CEO announced the move today.
Last week a Staples Exec gloated that the office supply chain superstore had struck a deal to sell Apple products very soon. At the time, we didn’t know which Apple products Staples would sell, but for now it looks like they’re just selling accessories.
If you want to buy an Apple TV, Magic Mouse, Smart Cover, EarPods, or any other Apple accessories, you can now purchase them from Staples’ online store for the U.S.
There’s few better ways to extend the capabilities of your Apple TV 2 than installing XBMC on it, but after the latest Apple TV 5.2 software (iOS 6.1) dropped, there was just no way to do it. Thankfully, XMBC has been updated, and will now stably supercharge your second-gen Apple TV just as well as it did before.
To do the install, it’s as simple as following the instructions over on the XBMC wiki. It’s pretty easy, although it does require some command line delving and a reboot. Power through all of that, though, and you’ll have an incredible, open-source media center running on your Apple TV 2 that can play pretty much anything. Nifty.
Source: XBMC
Along with the recent job listing with hints that Apple might bring USB 3.0 support to iOS devices, there’s a second notable job listing that Apple posted today that relates to the future of Apple TV.
We’ve heard a lot of rumors lately that Apple wants to beef up the Apple TV and possibly add more apps and a developer SDK. The creator of the Xbox even thinks Apple can squash Microsoft’s console if it wants to. Pointing to Apple’s big plans for Apple TV, the new job listing is looking for a new engineering manager to help oversee the next-generation Apple TV.
Earlier this week the web was assaulted with a bevy of horrible Apple rumors from analyst Peter Misek. Along with claiming that Apple was going to have an Apple TV SDK event in March, Misek said Apple’s 4.8-inch iPhone will launch next year, and that iPhone 5 sales are slipping.
It only took a few minutes before Misek’s B.S. was shot down, so rather than launching his own barrage of crappy Apple TV rumors, Piper Jaffray’s analyst, Gene Munster, decided to tell investors he has no idea what Apple’s got up it’s sleeve right now, but there’s surely something.
Following the most recent Apple TV update that brought Bluetooth keyboard support, iTunes in the Cloud, and Up Next to the Apple TV, FireCore has released updates to their second-generation Apple TV jailbreaking software aTV Flash (black) and Seas0n Pass that allow you to get your jailbreak back on firmware 5.2.
Here’s what is new.