In what appears to be a first, Apple is providing free hardware for software developers.
Monday could be the lucky day for a limited number of developers who signed up for the Apple TV Developer Kit.
Not only will they get the new hardware six weeks in advance of it going on sale, they’ll get it for free, Apple has confirmed.
Wow. That was a big deal. For a mere “s” upgrade, Apple went way above and beyond with today’s big product showcase. Three major product lines have been not just upgraded, but reinvented, and finally there’s a reason to buy the one that has been languishing — the Apple TV, which is now a gaming console as well as an entertainment center.
Maybe I’ve drunk too much Kool-Aid, but I thought this morning’s presentation was one for the history books.
From the iPhone to the iPad to the Apple TV, Cupertino’s constellation of magical devices just got a little more magical.
Did you expect all that Apple goodness? Most of what we heard today already churned through the rumor mill: the plus-size iPad Pro; new Apple Watch finishes and bands; a refreshed Apple TV with games, apps and Siri functionality. And, oh yeah, the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus with a whole new level of Force Touch, called 3D Touch.
There were even a few surprises, like the iPad Pro’s new Smart Keyboard and the iPad stylus, dubbed the Apple Pencil. But throughout today’s keynote by Tim Cook and his lieutenants, the series of under-the-hood upgrades they revealed promise to push all Apple products forward into the future.
Let’s take a moment to boil down all two hours and 10 minutes of this incredibly dense and surprisingly succinct Apple event.
Congratulations — it’s iPhone Day 2015!
Tim Cook is already up and tweeting about the big Apple keynote that will go down today in San Francisco. We’ll be here liveblogging the entire thing, mixing all the dull wit and pithy snark we can muster for the iPhone 6s. The event starts at 10 a.m. Pacific but we’ll be getting started well before that — and we won’t stop until every last new iPad and iPhone has been announced.
For a quick recap of what to expect from today’s keynote, check out our roundup of all the announcements Apple will make, including the long-awaited iPad Pro.
Today’s event promises to be Apple’s biggest event of the year, so turn on the stream on your Apple TV and join us in the liveblog below:
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
If there’s anything more illusive than the iPhone 5 jailbreak, it’s the third-gen Apple TV jailbreak. While real progress is being made on cracking Apple’s latest smartphone, hackers are having a harder time jailbreaking everyone’s favorite living room hockey puck.
It’s a tiny, tiny squidge of an update, but an update nonetheless: Apple has just released version 4.4.3 for the Apple TV, adding support for Netflix in Mexico and resolving an audio issue where sound might not play through the optical port when the attached TV is turned off.
As usual, to grab the update, just hit up Settings > General. Enjoy all those great streaming episodes of Abrázame Muy Fuerte!.
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.