Apple TV

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Tim Cook says Apple has a “grand vision” for the Apple TV

Michael Steeber May 28 2013 - 6:38 pm PT

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At the All Things D11 conference, happening right now (check out our liveblog for more coverage), Tim Cook revealed that Apple has a “grand vision” in terms of the Apple TV:

This business has found many, many more customers that love the Apple TV experience. Great for customers and very good for an Apple learning point of view. Lots of us would agree that the TV space could be improved.

I don’t want to go into more detail on this. There is a “very grand” vision for TV. I have nothing to announce, but it is an area of incredible interest.

The Apple TV, which has long been a “hobby” of Apple’s, had been brought under the spotlight in the last few years, under rumors that Apple may be developing a full television set.

 I don’t want to go into technical details. TV remains an area of great interest to us. The work we’ve done on current Apple TV provides more knowledge than what we would have without that product. The popularity of the Apple TV has been greater than expected. It is encouraging. The TV experience is not an experience that many people love. It’s not an experience that you would say has been brought to date for this decade. It is like the experience from 10, 20 years and go.

Cook, as usual, has been very reserved about his comments toward unannounced products. He did, however, announce that the company has sold 13 million Apple TVs to date and 6.5 million in the last year alone.

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Video player app Infuse receives update, AirPlay and web interface coming soon

Michael Steeber May 27 2013 - 4:19 pm PT

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Last month, we reviewed the Infuse video player app by FireCore, the creators of aTV Flash. Today, the popular app received an update that addresses performance issues, metadata support, and more. FireCore also notes that AirPlay and HDMI support will be arriving soon in a 1.3 update.

The following changes and improvements have been implemented in version 1.2.4:

• Pause or resume videos using headphone controls
• Updated movie search for recent TMDb API change
• Improved support for embedded metadata
• Re-enabled access to synced music videos
• Minor visual improvements to cover art on iPad
• Minor performance improvements

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Apple strikes content deal with CW Network for ad-supported Apple TV app

Mark Gurman May 16 2013 - 3:35 pm PT

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CW’s Xbox app

During a presentation with advertisers, CW Network president Mark Pedowitz announced that the network would be expanding its content offerings to new multimedia devices. This strategy will include a spot as an app on the Apple TV set-top-box’s home screen.

The network confirmed this to MacRumors:

It’s a dedicated CW app that will work like our Xbox and mobile and tablet apps – no cable authentication required, full episodes of our shows available next day after air, ad-supported.

Notably, as noted in the above quote, the CW content will be ad-supported.

CW currently streams its content to software on Microsoft Windows devices such as the Xbox. Apple recently added Hulu Plus and sports content to the Apple TV, and the current generation Apple set-top-box has sported YouTube and Netflix integration since launch.

Apple is also rumored to be nearing a content deal for Apple TV with HBO.

CW currently hosts various TV episodes in addition to some original content. The network lists its show offerings on its website. 

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Amazon reportedly plans to get into the set-top-box game this fall

Mark Gurman Apr 24 2013 - 9:37 am PT

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Following in the footsteps of Apple and Google attempts at the set-top-box market, Amazon is planning to release a set-top-box, according to Bloomberg. 

They say the box will plug into TVs and give users access to Amazon’s expanding video offerings. Those include its a la carte Video on Demand store, which features newer films and TV shows, and its Instant Video service, which is free for subscribers to the Amazon Prime two-day shipping package. The Amazon set-top box will compete with similar products like the Roku, Apple TV and the Boxee Cloud DVR, along with more versatile devices like the Playstation 3 and the Xbox. An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment.

The device is reportedly being developed in Amazon’s Cupertino based labs and could launch this fall. The project is reportedly being spearheaded by a former Apple and Cisco employee:

The project is being run by Malachy Moynihan, a former vice president of emerging video products at Cisco (CSCO) who worked on the networking company’s various consumer video initiatives. Moynihan also spent nine years at Apple (AAPL) during the 1980s and 1990s.

Perhaps this future product is the reason that Apple and Amazon have no deal for Amazon content streaming on the Apple TV.

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• AAPL Company
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• iWatch

Apple analyst Gene Munster still clinging to HDTV this year, warns no major product announcements until June iPhone 5S launch (Video)

Jordan Kahn Mar 26 2013 - 7:56 am PT

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[ooyala code=”1rcW5oYTpTmicot6ItPNIE4t19rtj_tb” player_id=”undefined”]

Piper Jaffray Apple analyst Gene Munster is out today with an updated outlook for the company, warning that Apple will not have any major product announcements until June and likely miss its June guidance with lower-than-expected iPhone and Mac sales.

In other words, the Retina iPad mini he predicted would launch in March—not happening. Instead, Munster said Apple could announce an incremental upgrade to iPad or iTunes in April and wouldn’t have a major product announcement until the iPhone 5S lands in late June. He also told Bloomberg this morning (video above) that a cheaper iPhone would be announced in September through a deal with China Mobile and ship in September or October.

Gene still prays for an Apple HDTV this year, telling Bloomberg this morning there is “no question whether it’s a set-top box versus a TV, it’s an actual TV.” He hopes Apple will announce its full-fledged television set by the end of the year.

Gene also thought Apple’s iWatch won’t make an appearance until 2014, while also noting that wearable technology has an opportunity to cannibalize the phone market within 5 to 10 years.

• AAPL Company
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Poll — What’s likely to come out first from Apple: an iWatch or an iTV?

Élyse Betters Mar 4 2013 - 12:57 pm PT

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Rumors on Apple’s upcoming product launches are swirling around, whether it comes to a wristwatch-like device or even the elusive Apple “iTV” television set, but the question comes down to which device would the company most likely launch first.

Bloomberg published a new report on Monday that claimed Apple will launch its watch product in 2013, equipped with the ability to take calls, view maps, and record health data, etc., while Piper Jaffray’s Apple analyst Gene Munster yet again said in January that Apple will release a full-fledged television this year with a new remote.

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Apple launches Apple TV in India for Rs 8,295 ($150)

Jordan Kahn Feb 19 2013 - 6:51 am PT

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After officially bringing iTunes music and movies to India alongside a huge international rollout in December, Apple appears to have now launched Apple TV in the country. The Apple TV product page on Apple’s India website was first spotted by BGR India, but Apple has yet to issue an official press release announcing the product launch. The product page doesn’t include a “buy” button, and some reports claim stock has not yet made it to Apple resellers in the country. BGR first posted a screenshot of Apple’s site showing an Rs 7,900 price tag, but Apple’s website now shows a price of Rs 8295 (as pictured to the right). That’s roughly $150 USD and slightly higher than first rumored. As pictured above, the product page also highlights a number of Bollywood films and other local content in addition to The Wall Street Journal, YouTube, Vimeo, and MLB.TV.

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Apple looking for managers to lead ‘high-priority’ next-generation Apple TV feature development

Jordan Kahn Feb 15 2013 - 8:49 am PT

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A recent job posting by Apple looking for an Apple TV software engineer backs up rumors that the company is finally preparing to expand its presence in the living room. According to the job listing on Apple’s website, the company is looking for someone to “lead a team of engineers working on exciting new features and functionality” for the next-generation Apple TV. Once described by Apple as a hobby, the job listing refers to the Apple TV as a “high priority project.”

The Apple TV team is looking for an experienced engineering manager to help deliver the next generation features for Apple TV. Bring your creative energy and engineering discipline, and help us bring the Apple experience to the Living Room…Work closely with cross functional teams, representing Apple TV across Apple

With all the recent rumors of an upcoming Apple TV-related event, the reports that Apple is getting ready to introduce a revamped TV platform are starting to hold a little more weight. Reports from analysts about the company planning an event for next month to introduce a new Apple TV SDK were quickly shot down, but other reliable sources have chimed in today and claimed the event is likely scheduled for fall.

We don’t often report on Apple’s job listings, but Apple TV has languished for a while and we rarely see job listings from Apple referring to the device’s next-generation features. We also have never seen Apple refer to Apple TV as a “high priority project.”

(Image via Yelena & Nickolay Lamm)

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Apple TV 5.2 jailbroken, FireCore releases updates to Seas0nPass & aTV Flash (black)

Jordan Kahn Feb 13 2013 - 11:06 am PT

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Apple rolled out Apple TV update 5.2 in January, bringing Bluetooth keyboard support, Up Next, and an enhanced iTunes in the Cloud service alongside iOS 6.1 for iOS devices. Today, FireCore announced it has released updates to aTV Flash (black) and Seas0nPass that support the new 5.2 update. FireCore’s aTV Flash software enables jailbroken second-generation Apple TVs to support additional file formats, access a web browser, and much more.

To the delight of many loyal users, Apple officially added support for Bluetooth keyboards in Apple TV 5.2, and we’ve been working non-stop to provide a seamless experience in aTV Flash (black) 2.2. Now features such as web browsing, media playback, library browsing and more can all be controlled using a wireless keyboard. Don’t worry, the normal remote will still work as well.

The team provided instructions for updating:

What’s the best way to update?
aTV Flash (black) 2.2 is compatible with any ATV2 running 4.4 and later, so updating to 5.2 is not required. However, should you so desire, the best way to update can be found below.

• Backup your settings through the Maintenance > Manage Backups menu.
• Run the latest version of Seas0nPass to update the Apple TV to 5.2.
• Download and install the new 2.2 version of aTV Flash (black).
• Install any desired items through the Maintenance > Manage Extras menu.
• Restore the previously saved settings through the Maintenance > Manage Backups menu.
• That’s it!

(via Engadget)

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evasi0n Jailbreakers reveal the incredibly complicated methods they used to Jailbreak every Apple iOS device

Jordan Kahn Feb 5 2013 - 1:04 pm PT

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Forbes posted an article on Tuesday that gave some updates on the highly successful launch of the evasi0n jailbreak tool straight from its creators. After having officially released the jailbreak yesterday at noon, according to stats from Cydia’s Jay Freeman, around 1.7 million people have decided to jailbreak their iOS device. Perhaps more interesting is a description of how exactly the four members of the evad3rds team were able to get the job done. Team member David Wang, aka @planetbeing, walked through the process with Forbes:

Evasi0n alters the socket that allows programs to communicate with a program called Launch Daemon, abbreviated launchd, a master process that loads first whenever an iOS device boots up and can launch applications that require “root” privileges, a step beyond the control of the OS than users are granted by default. That means that whenever an iPhone or iPad’s mobile backup runs, it automatically grants all programs access to the time zone file and, thanks to the symbolic link trick, access to launchd.

Wang described the entire process from finding the initial exploit in the iOS mobile backup system to accessing Launch Daemon and getting around code signing and restrictions at the kernel layer:

Once it’s beaten ASLR, the jailbreak uses one final bug in iOS’s USB interface that passes an address in the kernel’s memory to a program and “naively expects the user to pass it back unmolested,” according to Wang. That allows evasi0n to write to any part of the kernel it wants. The first place it writes is to the part of the kernel that restricts changes to its code–the hacker equivalent of wishing for more wishes.  ”Once you get into the kernel, no security matters any more,” says Wang. “Then we win.”

Go to Forbes to read Wang’s entire step-by-step description of the jailbreak process for evasi0n.

Here’s another third-party analysis. The verdict is the same: incredible work.

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Valve’s Gabe Newell says Apple TV, not consoles, is the biggest threat to Steam Box

Jordan Kahn Jan 30 2013 - 3:23 pm PT

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Polygon covered a recent talk today given by Valve’s Gabe Newell at the University of Texas, where he said Apple, not the big gaming console makers, is the biggest threat for the company’s upcoming Linux-based Steam Box hardware. Newell said he thought the biggest challenge for bringing the massively popular Steam service to the TV will be if “Apple moves on the living room before the PC industry sort of gets its act together.” He also said Apple could “shut out the open-source creativity” that Steam hopes to bring to the living room:

“The threat right now is that Apple has gained a huge amount of market share, and has a relatively obvious pathway towards entering the living room with their platform,” Newell said. “I think that there’s a scenario where we see sort of a dumbed down living room platform emerging — I think Apple rolls the console guys really easily. The question is can we make enough progress in the PC space to establish ourselves there, and also figure out better ways of addressing mobile before Apple takes over the living room?”

He continued:

“The biggest challenge, I don’t think is from the consoles,” Newell said. “I think the biggest challenge is that Apple moves on the living room before the PC industry sort of gets its act together.”

• iOS
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Apple quietly releases firmware for a new Apple TV 3,2

Seth Weintraub Jan 28 2013 - 11:03 am PT

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Here’s some incredibly interesting news from today’s iOS  update extravaganza: Apple today released iOS 6.1 (or, in Apple TV talk, 5.2) for an heretofore unknown Apple TV called “Apple TV 3,2”. You can download it here. Apple’s current Apple TV — version 3,1 — was updated to 1080p with a single-core A5 processor in March 2012.

On the conservative side, this may just be a new set of chips cobbled together to do the same thing as the current model. On the optimistic/speculative side, this could foreshadow a new hardware product coming up soon-ish. Perhaps one with a large LCD attached?

Apple’s addition of Bluetooth today could also signal (ha) that a new Apple TV package would have some sort of Bluetooth keyboard/remote-type of functionality (Siri?). There are already a number of Bluetooth keyboards out there that cater to TV users, but Apple could certainly change the game in this regard.

We’re looking into it.

Update 1: We can compare some internal codes here which seem to point to bigger changes happening in Japan.

Update 2: Apple is apparently referring to an Apple TV model dubbed “J33I”, as noted by MacRumors. For comparison purposes, the third-generation Apple TV sported the “J33” codename. So, the “I” could suggest an international variation of the set-top box.

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• Apple TV
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• Bloomberg
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Apple analyst Gene Munster says Apple HDTV with new remote coming in 2013, again

Jordan Kahn Jan 22 2013 - 11:50 am PT

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Speaking with Bloomberg today about Apple’s upcoming earnings call, Piper Jaffray’s Apple analyst Gene Munster said his most recent checks with suppliers in Asia and industry sources indicate Apple is moving to release a full-fledged television this year with a new remote. This is of course not the first time the analyst has predicted Apple will release an HDTV—rather than an updated set-top box—in 2013…

Munster is expecting the Apple TV set to be one of three catalysts to help investors get behind Apple stock again in 2013. The other two are a Retina iPad mini in March and a low-cost iPhone later in the year. With the Apple TV information supposedly coming from supply chain sources in Asia, we’d expect Munster to have some more concrete specs instead of the same non-specific hearsay we’ve heard before. Note: Munster has predicted an Apple HDTV since 2011. Here’s what he had to say on Bloomberg (around the 9:40 mark):

The core of the debate is an improved set-top box… a hockey puck that attaches to your TV, or an actual television. Based on our work, in part, with talking to suppliers in asia, to talking with people in the industry, we think its an actual television. Specifically, the basic thing it fixes is the remote control problem… We think fixing that is going to be an important part of it. And the second piece down the road is content, content on demand. That’s essentially what apple television is. 

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Intel, like Apple, is having trouble getting content deals for its TV product, won’t be ready for CES

9to5 Staff Jan 1 2013 - 10:12 pm PT

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Adding to an earlier report, the Wall Street Journal today says that chip giant Intel’s TV initiative isn’t nearly ready for primetime. Intel, which has little background in developing consumer-friendly experiences, seems like a long shot at cracking the digital TV nut.

The Intel Plan:

Intel has pitched media companies on a plan to create a “virtual cable operator,” which would offer U.S. TV channels nationwide over the Internet in a bundle similar to subscriptions sold by cable- and satellite-TV operators, people familiar with the effort said previously. The company, besides expertise in chips for set-top boxes, has expertise in server technology that could help serve up video programming and other content.

Interesting idea…but not so fast, says the cable operators!

Persuading companies to license individual channels would require far higher fees than the companies currently receive, this executive said, noting that his company and Intel were far from reaching an agreement on financial terms.

But Intel has so far reached at least one content deal, one of the people familiar with Intel’s plans said, without identifying the partner.

One content provider does not a cable TV replacement make. And this is the problem not just for Google and Intel but also for Apple. How do you convince the cable companies to let you have content in a more consumer-friendly format that will make them less money and take their power position away?

Steve Jobs may have been able to convince the music industry to do so, but it is pretty clear Eddy Cue is having a hard time cracking the TV biz (Jobs’ bio notwithstanding).