It was almost a footnote. AirPlay, the audio streaming protocol once known as AirTunes, got just one minute of keynote time last week. But it might end up as the backbone of Apple’s assault on the living room. More »
Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he’ll explore where our industry is and where it’s going — on both micro and macro levels — with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.
This week at what’s become Apple’s fall music event the company unveiled a revised Apple TV. The small $99 device delivers a new rental model and support for Netflix, but there are no apps, contrary to much of the speculation leading up the event. That’s in stark contrast to the Google TV project announced at I/O last spring. Unlike Apple, Google is looking to provide DVR functionality, search, and an app marketplace. Some say Apple isn’t being bold enough, but I think Apple might be right.
Google wants input one on your TV. Apple wants input two. The difference? Input one is where your cable box goes. Input two was where your VCR or DVD player used to live. It’s a port that’s up for grabs.
Continue reading Entelligence: A tale of two TVs
Entelligence: A tale of two TVs originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Sep 2010 20:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple has always sucked at the internet. With Ping and the new Apple TV, Apple sucks a little bit less at it. But Apple could be good at it. More »
This week’s episode of the Gadget Lab podcast is heavy on fruits. High on vitamin A, Dylan Tweney gushes over the pluot, a plum-apricot hybrid, while yours truly dishes out this week’s announcements of brand new Apple gear.
Apple’s iPod family all scored major upgrades. The iPod Nano has become a puny touchscreen badge with a built-in clip that should be ideal for athletes, and the iPod Touch is now up to par with the iPhone 4. The iPod Shuffle was refreshed as well — also a badge-like clippable form factor, but with the traditional click wheel rather than a touchscreen.
Apple also announced a brand new Apple TV that’s about a quarter of the size of its predecessor. It streams movie and television rentals, but it faces one major limitation: only two television networks (Fox and ABC) are on board to offer programs for the device. For now, it’s not an adequate replacement for cable TV.
However, in a future software update, iOS devices will be able to wirelessly stream their iTunes videos and music onto the Apple TV by using a feature called “AirPlay.” We ponder on the potential for Apple to reshape the TV industry if the company eventually allows you to beam content from third-party iOS apps (such as Hulu) onto the Apple TV. It’s wishful thinking, but not an impossibility.
Finally, Samsung has officially launched a tablet to compete with Apple’s iPad. The Samsung Galaxy Tab is a 7-inch touchscreen tablet powered by Android OS 2.2, meaning it supports Adobe Flash. We share our impressions of the device after some hands-on testing.
Oh, and those pluots? They come from Frog Hollow Farm, and they really are delicious.
Like the show? You can also get the Gadget Lab video podcast via iTunes, or if you don’t want to be distracted by our smiling faces, check out the Gadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Lab video or audio podcast feeds
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Gadget Lab audio podcast #87
http://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gadgetlabaudio/GadgetLabAudio0087.mp3
Another Apple event has come and gone, and–at least as far as the odds makers are concern–the rumor mill did pretty well this time out. We saw a new, FaceTime-enabled iPod touch, a shuffle-sized touch screen nano, and a full-on refresh of the company’s oft-maligned Apple TV. As expected, iTunes got an upgrade as well, with the debut of iTunes 10.
There were some surprises, as well, including the debut of Ping–the iTunes-based social network and the announcement of Game Center, a forthcoming gaming service that some pundits are touting at Apple’s answer to Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network.
As always, there were also a number of rumors that never came to fruition, ranging from the probable to the highly unlikely–what, after all, would an Apple announcement be without a few crazy wildcards?
After the jump, check out the biggest rumors that never materialized.
New Apple TV hits the FCC with Bluetooth, dual-band WiFi originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Although it’s only just been revealed and won’t actually go on sale for four long weeks, Apple’s new hockey puck is far from the only media streamer on the market — and with Sony’s Netbox and the Boxee Box on the way, the sub-$200 set-top box market is exploding with options. So let’s line up the revised Apple TV against the (post-price cut) Roku HD-XR, Popbox, and even an LG Blu-ray player in the same price range and see what you’re actually getting — and more importantly, getting access to — on each device. Oh, and there’s some choice words from Roku after the break.
Update: You asked for them, so we added the PS3, Xbox 360 & WDTV Live as well, after the break.
| Device: | AppleTV | Roku XR | Pop Box | LG BD550 |
 |  |  |  | |
| Price: | $99 | $99 | $129 | $130 – $150 |
| Form Factor/Size: | 3.9 x 0.9 x 3.9 | 5 x 5 x 1.75 | 8 x 1.4 x 6 inches | 16.9 x 1.8 x 7.9 |
| Available Content: | HD TV shows from ABC & Fox ($0.99), HD Movie rentals ($4.99/$3.99), Netflix, iTunes, YouTube | Netflix, Amazon VOD (now with $0.99 HD TV show purchases from Fox & ABC), MLB.tv, UFC, NBA GameTime, YouTube, Pandora | YouTube, Revision3, Blip.tv, h.264 / XviD / MPEG-4, MKV / AVI / WMV | Blu-ray discs, VUDU, Netflix, CinemaNow, YouTube, Pandora, Napster |
| Apps / SDK: | N/A | Roku Channel / SDK available | Popapps Store / SDK available | NetCast widgets |
| Connectivity: | WiFi N, Ethernet | WiFi N, Ethernet | Ethernet, optional WiFi adapter | Ethernet, Disc |
| Video Quality: | 720p, 5.1 audio | 720p (1080p upgrade coming soon), 5.1 audio | 1080p, 5.1 audio | 1080p, 7.1 audio, DTS-HD MA / Dolby TrueHD audio |
Continue reading Apple TV vs. the competition — how does it stack up?
Apple TV vs. the competition — how does it stack up? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Promotional Image from Apple.com.
The App Store has offered a Remote app for iOS devices for a while now, but the new Apple TV might be the best use-case to show what an app-based touchscreen remote can do.
The new Apple TV had two remotes. The first is the minimalist metal slab that will ship with your tiny box. The second is the iOS application that you’ll download from the App store.
The first iteration of Apple TV had the same little white infrared remote the company used to ship with laptops. It was great for clicking through a slideshow presentation. It wasn’t very good to keep around your living room, unless you stuck it in a bowl with your keys. It wasn’t a real remote, and most people hated keeping track of another remote anyway, especially one that got lost at the drop of a hat.
The new remote, released earlier this year, isn’t a lot different from that old white remote. It’s a nicer device; like everything else Apple makes now besides the new square iPods, it’s a long strip of aluminum. It’s still got just six buttons: up, down, right, left, play/pause and menu.
But that minimalism seems almost smarter now. Apple now seems to be figuring out the exact number of hardware buttons it needs on each device. It took away too much on the iPod Shuffle, so now some buttons are coming back. It wanted to get rid of the buttons on the Nano, so it changed it to touchscreen.
For the Apple TV, it’s keeping the action on the screen, with the software interface. Make that easy to navigate, give people the exact options they need depending on context, and you don’t need dozens of buttons on the remote/media player/phone.
Maybe you don’t even need a remote, though. That’s because Apple TV’s second remote control is the Apple-made mobile device that Apple TV customers probably already own.
Seriously — what are the chances of someone buying Apple TV who doesn’t have an iPod, iPad or iPhone?
SAN FRANCISCO — When Steve Jobs was preparing to introduce the Apple TV, he called it “one more hobby,” and based on our first impressions, that’s a safe choice of words.
The new Apple TV is a major hardware upgrade. One quarter the size of its predecessor, it’s a small black box with curved edges, somewhat resembling a hockey puck. The highlights: It costs $100, and it integrates nearly instant streaming TV and movie rentals, along with Netflix streaming.
The major limitation: For TV rentals, only two studios are on board to stream shows through the Apple TV — ABC and Fox. This isn’t an adequate replacement yet for cable subscriptions.
So calling it a “hobby” was right — Apple’s starting out small, and maybe it’ll roll into something bigger if more studios warm up to the idea.
Nonetheless, I got some hands-on time with the new Apple TV and it is a promising start.
TV and movie rentals are really snappy and fast. After choosing to rent a movie or show, the Apple TV takes a few seconds to prepare a buffer and begins streaming your video live.
Also particularly cool was internet integration. I enjoyed searching through Flickr streams: Select a photo and hit the Play button and it immediately plays a slideshow with music and fancy transitions. I’m too lazy to check my friends’ Flickr streams the normal way on Flickr.com, aren’t you? Plus, the photos look great on a big screen through the Apple TV’s HDMI connection.
The Apple TV’s remote is familiar: It’s got the same aluminum and black design as the current MacBook Pros. It’s also very similar to the current Apple remote that controls Macs — only it’s a little longer and the buttons have small bumps for subtle tactile feedback. It feels great in the hand and navigating through the Apple TV menu was really smooth.
As good as the idea sounds, you won’t be able to use your iPhone or iPad as a remote for the Apple TV (not yet, at least). Instead, there’s a feature called “AirPlay,” so if you’re using your iPad or iPhone to listen to music, look at photos or watch a video, you can tap an AirPlay button, select your Apple TV and boom — your content is streaming onto your Apple TV. We weren’t able to test that since this feature won’t be available until iOS 4.2 ships in November, but we’ll keep you posted.
You can also stream media from your Mac’s iTunes library by choosing the “Computer” option and selecting a movie or playlist. I tested that out too, and it worked fine, but do note that iTunes only supports a few formats for video (.H264, for instance). So if you prefer getting media through some alternative non-iTunes-compatible means, you’re still going to be doing a lot of file conversion before you can watch your videos on the Apple TV.
All in all, it’s a cool device, and for $100 it’s going to pose a serious threat to the Roku Netflix player. But as a TV replacement, it’s still not there yet. Maybe later.
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Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Steve Jobs has–at least publicly–long written the Apple TV off as “hobby,” not discontinuing the line, but not really doing much to change its fortunes, making it a rare dim spot in the Apple product line. That changed at today’s Apple music event, when Jobs took the wraps of a tiny new update to the set top box during his famous “one more thing” capper to the presentation.
The new palm-sized device features a black matte finish, HDMI, Ethernet, USB, and optical audio ports. It features 802.11n and, interestingly, no internal storage–Apple is going for an all rental scheme with the new product, giving users access to content from ABC, Fox, Netflix, Flickr, YouTube, and Apple’s own MobileMe.
First run HD movies will run $4.99, and HD TV rentals of ABC and Fox episodes are $0.99 a piece. The device also lets users stream content from their computers and (thanks to iOS’s AirPlay) iPad.
The new Apple TV (yep, that whole iTV seemed to be a red herring) will run $99. it begins shipping a month from now.
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