Hasta La Gadget!

If you’ve run out of things to do with your Apple TV and have been using it as a hockey puck now that the lakes are getting solid, you’d better go dig it out of the snowbank. Following up on her iOS AirPlay hacks, Erica Sadun has released an alpha version of a tool called AirFlick which enables the playback of any ‘ol media files on an Apple TV. That’s demonstrated in a video below. Things aren’t perfect yet but already others are having a field day with the tool, the folks at TUAW figuring out how to not only stream whole DVDs to an Apple TV but their entire desktop image too by simply providing a VLC screen:// URL into the player. The quality looks a little iffy and, as you can see in the video below, it’s not entirely error-free. But, if you have the smallest little bit of patience, it’s sure worth a shot, eh?

Continue reading AirFlick allows streaming of arbitrary media, DVDs, even screencasting to the Apple TV (video)

AirFlick allows streaming of arbitrary media, DVDs, even screencasting to the Apple TV (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Dec 2010 07:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink MacRumors  |  TUAW (Airflick), (DVD Playback), (Screencasting)  | Email this | Comments

Curious timing, no? This morning, Cupertino’s PR department has blasted out a blurb stating that the newfangled Apple TV — which only started shipping three months ago — is expected to cross the one million mark in sales prior to Christmas Day. The obvious remark is hard to ignore: “That’s a lot for a hobby.” And yeah, it is. But it probably has more to do with trends in consumer purchasing and a delightfully low $99 price point than anything else, and if you doubt that logic, you should probably have a sit-down with Roku CEO Anthony Wood. The folks at Business Insider did, and Wood confessed that Roku media streamer sales have actually doubled since the introduction of the second-gen Apple TV. As the story goes, Jobs did the whole sector a solid by refocusing consumer attention on the set-top box realm, and with the most basic Roku retailing for just $59, it’s pretty clear that the outfit drives a tough bargain. Roku’s also expecting to sell its one millionth box by the close of this year, but of course it’s had a lot longer than three months to do so. Still, for an up and comer, selling one million of anything (let alone looking at $50 million or more in annual sales) is quite the achievement.

Continue reading New Apple TV, Roku media streamers race to break one million in sales

New Apple TV, Roku media streamers race to break one million in sales originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 09:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TUAW  |  Business Insider, Apple  | Email this | Comments

See, sometimes dreams do come true. Just days after we asked how you’d tweak the second generation Apple TV, in flies an update that a good many TV owners have been anxiously awaiting. The 4.1.1 update purportedly solves “an issue that causes some high-definition TVs to incorrectly display at 480p,” as well as an issue that “may cause a movie or TV show to be re-downloaded.” It’s pretty obvious that Apple’s aiming to correct a nagging color / banding problem that has been plaguing some owners since day one, but according to users over at Apple Insider‘s forums, it’s not a cure-all solution. A handful of members have stated that their sets — typically using an HDMI-to-DVI adapter — still display incorrect colors after the update. Flip on your own box and get the download started, and let us know if it’s the fix you’ve been after down in comments below.

Apple TV updated to 4.1.1, aims to fix resolution and download problems originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 08:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Apple Insider  |  Apple  | Email this | Comments

Hey Mac home theater users, listen up — your AirPlay wishes have come true. TUAW’s very own Erica Sadun has developed a free (ad supported) 0.01 AirPlayer alpha hack that lets your Mac play host to AirPlay video streamed off of iOS devices. Right, just like an Apple TV and without requiring a Jailbreak. But as long as you’re skirting official support anyway, why not install the free AirVideoEnabler app onto your jailbroken iPod touch, iPad, or iPhone to stream video from even more applications than Apple currently allows. Works for us. Everyone else can check the video after the break.

Continue reading AirPlay video streaming from iOS devices hacked into Macs (video)

AirPlay video streaming from iOS devices hacked into Macs (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 02:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  TUAW  | Email this | Comments

It’s always a bit of a funny business paying for hacks, but Fire Core’s aTV Flash is a serious product and we can’t blame them for trying to make a buck off the back of it. Now the sequel, aTV Flash (black), is here in beta form, bringing a subset of the aTV Flash’s functionality to the brand new Apple TV, which runs that fancy new iOS-based 4.0 software. Most importantly, Fire Core brings a HTML5-compatible browser, but the Last.fm app and Plex Client are welcome tag alongs. “Coming soon” features include expanded media format support and networked storage support. The pre-order beta price is $20, while the final hack will retail for $30. For existing users, (black) is a free upgrade.

[Thanks, Gustavo]

aTV Flash (black) now in beta, ready to equip your new Apple TV with a browser originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 18:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Fire Core  | Email this | Comments