Update: False alarm. As we suggested was a possibility, Philips was misunderstood by a reporter. They are actually just bundling Apple TV’s with new televisions, not building in the hardware.

We don’t know exactly what Apple plans on announcing next Thursday, but one thing’s for sure: It’s not just new iPads.

The tagline for the event — “It’s been far too long” — implies that we’re about to see a new version of a product that hasn’t been updated for a while.

One strong candidate is the Apple TV. But if a (possibly premature) announcement by consumer electronics company Philips is anything to go by, Apple might not just be giving the Apple TV a spec bump. Cupertino might announce instead that it will be integrating Apple TV hardware into third-party television sets!

Apple TV updated Wednesday morning, giving the main screen a whole new look and adding Beats Music as a “channel.”

The icons for Music, Computers and TV Shows all have a new, almost pastel look, while all the icons seem a bit flatter, like iOS 8. The fonts seem thinner, as well, reflecting the overall new design ethos of iOS and OS X.

You can also connect to iCloud Photo and Family Sharing options, new iOS 8 features that also went live today for iPhone and iPad devices.

We’re mere hours away from Apple’s September 9th special media event at The Flint Center, and as expected, the company has added an “Apple Events” channel for those planning to watch on the Apple TV.

Fans without an Apple TV can watch a livestream of the event on Apple’s website, provided they are running Safari 5.1.10 or later on OS X 16.6.8 or later.

The event kicks off at 10 a.m. Pacific today, and we expect to see the public unveiling of both the iPhone 6 and iWatch.

Cult of Mac will be covering the event live from the Flint Center, so stay tuned for our moment-by-moment coverage. It’s going to be a blast!

Apple fans, are you ready for some football? Because NFL Now is ready to blitz Apple TV users with a trove of on-demand video and other football content straight from its brand new channel dedicated to everything football.

Just in time for the regular season kick off on September 4th, Apple TV has added the NFL Now channel which provides free access to the NFL’s massive video library of game highlight, press conferences, classic games, NFL Films and more.

If you’ve been looking for an excuse to treat yourself to a new Apple TV, the folks at Cupertino are making sweeting the deal for the next six weeks by including a free $25 gift card with all Apple TV purchases.

ABC News launched its live news channel on Apple TV just over a month ago, but the media giant has already made some pretty surprising discoveries about the platform, like the fact that users are more likely to watch live ABC News on their Apple TV than their Mac or iPhone.

iOS and OS X weren’t the only platforms that got some Apple beta loving today. A new update for Apple TV beta 4 was seeded to developers as well this morning that comes with a long awaited UI makeover.

Apple still hasn’t completely done away with the grid of icons approach for Apple TV, but it has given the UI an iOS 7-style makeover with a new set of icons that are a lot flatter than their old counterparts.

Apple added two new channels to Apple TV for customers in the U.S. on Tuesday, along with a few other additions for countries around the world.

Starting today, Apple TV users can access the new CNBC and Fox Now channels to watch on-demand video content from the company’s top programs like Cosmos & 24 on the Fox end, and uhhhh, American Greed and Restaurant Startups on CNBC.

Shares in the Oregon-based Pixelworks, which designs and produces semiconductors for superior digital-video displays, have surged on the back of reports that the company could be working on Apple’s long-awaited TV set.

According to a research analyst for Seeking Alpha, Apple accounted for 14 percent of Pixelworks’ first-quarter revenue this year, and the company may be using its latest Iris graphics chips — which provide “two to four times the pixels and quality of current offerings while drawing less power” — in its next generation iPad and iPhone 6 devices.

That’s not the most exciting possibility according to Seeking Alpha, though, which states that Pixelworks has obtained mass-production qualifications for a system-on-chip designed for larger screen devices, being developed with an unnamed partner. Pixelworks CEO Bruce Walicek recently claimed that his company is working on a significantly large project to develop a high-tech display, which could turn out to be the Apple TV.

Vimeo launched a redesigned version of its Apple TV channel today that gives the popular video service a streamlined new interface.

Heavy Vimeo users should find it easier to get to their own collections and likes, while more causal users will benefit from a monthly “Staff Favorites” collection and additional content curation.

“We took our old menu, cut it down to the essentials, and put it at the top of the screen for easy access,” said Vimeo’s Brad Dougherty. “Discover awesome videos, keep up with your feed, tackle your Watch Later queue, and quickly get to your own videos, likes, and collections.”