Apple TV+ - page 124

aTV Flash (black) from FireCore has now dropped its beta tag and hit version 1.0. The software package is designed to supercharge your second-generation jailbroken Apple TV, introducing a whole host of functionality that isn’t available from Apple. In addition to a media player which supports a huge variety of formats, aTV Flash will also introduce a web browser, weather and RSS feeds, a Last.fm radio, and more to your set-top box.

Sony CEO Howard Stringer recently revealed the company’s intentions to launch a revolutionary new television before Apple, and according to The Wall Street Journal, it will be a web-based alternative to the traditional set that will allow users to avoid the cable companies.

Great spot by 9to5Mac: Amazon just dropped the price of the Apple TV by $10 to just $89.99; they’ve also rechristened it the ‘2010’ model.

Could Amazon know something the rest of us poor suckers don’t? Is an updated 2011 Apple TV incoming in time for Black Friday? If so, don’t expect much besides a bump to an A5 chip: if Apple were to, say, bring Siri to the Apple TV, they’d definitely make a big fuss over it in an event.

Steve Jobs told his biographer Walter Isaacson he had “finally cracked” the television set, sparking more rumors his team in Cupertino are on the cusp of launching a revolutionary new television that will change home entertainment forever.

Apple won’t be the first to attempt this, however. Sony’s CEO Sir Howard Stringer says he is competing against Steve Jobs to change the traditional television set.

Since the unveiling of its iPhone 4S back in October, Apple has received heaps of praise for one of its new features in particular: Siri. The digital assistant is by far the most impressive voice recognition service built into a mobile device, and it seems everyone has been blown away by it.

What many of you may not know, however, is that Siri is one of the few Apple products that wasn’t created by the team in Cupertino. Instead, Siri was created by Dag Kittlaus, a 34-year-old man from Norway, and it has made him a multimillionaire.

A Hulu Plus application seems like the perfect addition to Apple’s $99 set-top box. While the device already comes packing a native Netflix app, the only way users can access current TV shows is by using the iTunes Store. According to some sources, however, a Hulu Plus app is ready to go, but Apple may not release it.

A deal to bring CBS shows to the Apple TV has been the focus of a number of rumors in recent times, but neither company had officially confirmed whether or not a deal had been met. Until this week, when CBS CEO Les Moonves confirmed the company had turned down an Apple TV deal.

Spotted by 9to5Mac, artist Guilherme M. Schasiepen has posted a gallery of concept iTV images. The images depict a multi-touch TV set with 3D that doesn’t require glasses.

Color us skeptical, but the idea of a touch-screen television seems absolutely unrealistic. This concept is still pretty gorgeous, however.

This weekend broke news that Apple was already hard at work on OS X 10.8, so it would be natural to assume that in the next version of OS X, Cupertino will bring even more iOS functionality to their desktop operating system: stuff like Airplay and iMessages.

Nope. But don’t be too disappointed. AirPlay and iMessages are reportedly coming to OS X 10.7 Lion, instead.

We thought we’d put this Apple television business to rest as a pipe-dream, but then Steve Jobs’s biography came out, where he claimed he had finally “cracked” the TV problem. Now the rumor mill has started itself up again with renewed vigor, and the latest report from Nick Bilton over at The New York Times: his sources tell him that Jobs thought that the “industry was totally broken” a real Apple-branded television set “isn’t a matter of if, but when,” a “guaranteed product.”

The BBC has finally issued an update to its free iPlayer app for the iPad that allows users to stream content to their Apple TV for viewing on their television.

Apple pushed out another update to its Apple TV yesterday which was set to fix a number of bugs in the 4.4 firmware, however, version 4.4.1 comes with a major issue of its own, so we’re suggesting you ignore this update for the time being.

I went to bed last night and my Apple TV stated that the update was gong to take a whopping nine hours. I get up this morning only to find out that it wasn’t even close to being done or that it had even moved along any. It looked stuck. So I started over and guess what?!?!?! The time went from nine hours to an extra galactic 41 hours – I guess the download was coming from the Andromeda galaxy.

Here’s how to work around all this update drama and get the update done in under 15 minutes.

References in Apple’s iOS 5 software sparked speculation over the weekend that suggested an upcoming refresh to the Apple TV could introduce the company’s latest dual-core processor. While that would allow the device to playback content in 1080p, it could also pave the way for a Siri assistant on our TVs.

Dying to get your hands on an iPad 2 before the weekend? Don’t order one from the Apple online store, then, because a whole host of Apple’s gadgets have had their shipping times mysteriously extended.

One of the absolute worst aspects of my television-watching endeavors has been the confusing use of multiple remotes. I’ve tried universal remotes but there’s always some function I need from DVD remote or DVR that is missing on the universal remote. Stepping up to the plate, the Griffin Beacon ($80) erases the need for five different remotes by providing users with one of the best universal remotes on the market, and interfaces it though iOS.

There’s plenty of evidence to suggest that Apple intends to replace the whole cable TV industry with Internet-delivered subscription television. But the best predictor is the fact that replacing broken content consumption is just what Apple does.

Apple will kill cable TV. Here’s how.

Go here to read the story.

For the past several hours, the Apple Store has been down, but unlike when we usually say that, Apple’s seemingly not doing just maintenance… instead, store.apple.com seems to have totally crashed.

Making things stranger, the Apple Online Store fell over on a Wednesday, as opposed to the traditional Tuesday maintenance period. Some users have reported in the last hour the usual ‘We’re Updating The Store” message… so could a new product be imminent?

Following this morning’s story that reveals Apple’s plans to launch a movie streaming service called iTunes Replay, one analyst believes that Apple has something more spectacular up its sleeve — a service that will take on Netflix.

You’ll soon be able to use a Bluetooth keyboard with the Apple TV, and there’s a good chance that devices like the iPad and iPhone will also serve as remotes for the set-top box in the near future.

Bluetooth support has been uncovered in the latest Apple TV model, and iOS 5 will also have this Bluetooth support when it’s released this Fall. Apple is clearly positioning the Apple TV as an all-in-one place for entertainment in the living room, and this Bluetooth discovery hints that the Apple TV will soon become a place for your favorite App Store apps.

Rather than focusing its efforts on its diminishing smartphone business, it seems RIM may be planning to launch a device that will rival the Apple TV, packed with PlayBook hardware.

Second-generation Apple TV users across the globe are reporting that they are not able to update their devices to the latest firmware. The complaints can be seen on a sizable thread on Apple’s Support Communities website.

You’ve no doubt seen this post suggesting that Apple could use its $70 billion in cash to buy the entire mobile phone industry. The idea is worth a chuckle, but buying the phone handset industry is neither desirable nor possible. Apple doesn’t want to sell Nokia phones, and regulators wouldn’t let the company buy, then close, all its competition.

No, instead Apple should use its billions to take over Hollywood.

Firemint wowed us all when it updated Real Racing 2 to support 1080p video output via the iPad’s AV Adapter. It comes as no surprise to us, then, that when iOS 5 goes live later this year, this popular racing sim will be the first title to offer dual-screen gaming over AirPlay on your HDTV.

Without a Retina Display, your iPad 2 can’t play true high-def video natively without downsizing… but come iOS 5, it’ll be able to output it like a champ. Cool, but what we’re really excited about is what this means for the next Apple TV and iPhone 4S: 1080p.