Hasta La Gadget!

Speaking at AllThingsD’s D11 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook just dropped the latest sales figure for the Apple TV: 13 million (compare that to Roku’s sales of 5 million in the US), with “about half” sold in the last year. Despite being prodded by interviewers Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, Cook repeated his “area of great interest” line (again) regarding TV, only mentioning that the company does have a “grand vision” in place. Surprised by the hockey puck’s popularity? You’re not the only one, as Cook followed up on Steve Jobs’ proclamation that” no one wants to buy a box,” claiming “Frankly, the popularity of the Apple TV has become much larger than we thought it would. We aren’t marketing it.”

Last year at the conference he reported sales of 2.7 million Apple TVs for the year, and the company noted 2 million sold in Q1 2013. He also followed his predecessor’s stance that the current TV experience needs remodeling “When you look at the TV experience, it’s not an experience that I think many people love…still an experience that is too much like 10 or 20 years ago.” As usual however, despite the “interest,” if you’re looking for a hint that Apple is going to join the likes of Google and Microsoft in trying to shift the balance of the TV market, Cook — like Jobs before him — is keeping those details to himself.

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Filed under: HD, Apple

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The Apple TV has seen its share of issues crop up and then be fixed by software updates, but it looks like at least some are proving to be too difficult for some fresh firmware to fix. According to a support document obtained by 9 to 5 Mac, Apple has informed employees at its Apple Stores and authorized resellers that a “very small number” of third generation Apple TVs are eligible to be replaced due to persistent WiFi problems. Those replacements will be offered for up to two years from the original purchase date (free of charge), and you can check if the serial number for your device matches up with the affected units at the links below.

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Via: Ars Technica, MacRumors

Source: 9 to 5 Mac

The XBMC crew hasn’t been distracted by its early work on XBMC 13 Gotham — it’s more than willing to share the love with those who are still busy with Frodo’s adventures. A just-launched XBMC 12.1 update improves the experience in several ways on Apple platforms, rolling up iOS 6 support for second-generation Apple TV boxes, making full use of the iPhone 5’s expanded screen and bringing support in OS X for both the default audio device and playback acceleration from Intel GPUs. There’s a number of upgrades elsewhere as well: XBMC no longer monopolizes audio in Linux, runs more reliably on the Raspberry Pi and supports more Xbox 360 controllers and HDMI-CEC devices. Android has received an audio control tweak of its own and the software is available in seven new languages We’d say 12.1 is a near-automatic download if XBMC is the cornerstone of your living room, hit the source to find out everything new that awaits, or check out the Github link.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Software, HD

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Source: XBMC

Jailbroken Apple TVs with software update 5.2 (iOS 6.1) snagged Bluetooth keyboard compatibility roughly a week ago, and now Cook and Co.’s hockey puck is in store for a heftier perk: support for XBMC. Memphiz, a developer on the entertainment hub project, has managed to tweak XBMC to run on Cupertino’s TV box with its latest software release. Ready to load up your hardware with the alternative media suite? Hit the bordering source link for the download and instructions, or check out the “Manage Extras” section if you’re running aTV Flash.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Apple

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Via: FireCore (Google+)

Source: XBMC

We don’t generally find surprises from Apple in the daily stream of FCC documents and test reports, but a new filing published today seems to suggest that a new Apple TV model of some sort could be on the way. While the diagram pictured above doesn’t suggest any major changes to the device’s appearance, it does list some slightly smaller measurements: 93.78mm square compared to the 98mm of the current model. That’s certainly not the biggest of differences, but the measurements in previous Apple FCC filings have been spot on. The model number, A1469, is also one that we haven’t seen before, but the documents unfortunately don’t offer much else in the way of details (only confirmation of the same WiFi capabilities as the current-gen Apple TV).

As MacRumors noted yesterday, a look at the download options for the latest Apple TV software update also revealed a new “AppleTV3,2” model, which it speculated could be an international version of the device — although it of course remains to be seen if it and this model are one and the same. For now, you can get a closer look at the filing yourself at the source link.

Update: Anandtech has peeked through the filings and the source code, finding a new single antenna setup that follows the design of other iDevices, and reference to an updated A5X SoC at its heart.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Apple

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Source: FCC, Anandtech