Hasta La Gadget!

I was using my Apple TV the other day to stream some music to my television and thought about something: prior to the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, rumors suggested that Apple was going to announce a new Apple TV operating system that would support applications and all kinds of other goodies. There was also some speculation that the company might offer up a new Apple TV set-top box that would come with some storage for the apps.

However, amid all of the talk of a new MacBook Pro with a Retina display and discussions on Apple’s new mobile and desktop operating systems, the Apple TV was overlooked. And those of us who actually want to run apps on our televisions were left to hope it might happen another day.

There’s just one issue: since WWDC, discussions on a new Apple TV have dried up. We haven’t heard of any improvements to the device’s operating system nor discussions on developers bringing their apps to the device. There hasn’t even been a rumor mentioning the possibility of a new Apple set-top box launching sometime soon.

So, what gives? Has Apple’s highly touted ability to keep everything secret won yet again? Or is it possible that the rumors were nonsense in the beginning, and those of us who own an Apple TV will never get the update we so deeply desire?

Unfortunately, I’m starting to think that it’s the latter. For years now, Apple has called its set-top box a hobby, and although it doesn’t like to use that moniker nowadays, the device really is. Like it or not, Apple doesn’t really care all that much about the Apple TV, and it has proven to be an afterthought for the company for far too many years.

“I’ve decided to ignore all Apple TV rumors”

Realizing that, I’ve decided to ignore all Apple TV rumors that might arise in the next several months. The way I see it, Apple cares most about its iPhone, iPad, and Macs, and the company is more than likely working on a television. To worry about updating a device that comes in at $99 and many consumers don’t even know about would be a mistake from a business perspective.

Admittedly, it’s not the end of the world for me. As much as I’d like to have an App Store on my Apple TV, I have applications running on my current Samsung HDTVs. At this point, I really only use my Apple TV to watch television shows or movies I download or to stream some of my music. Beyond that, I ignore it.

But that could all change if Apple actually started caring about the Apple TV. And if those rumors could eventually come true, I think there would be millions of the device’s owners who would be awfully happy to have that extra functionality.

Don’t hold your breath, though. Unfortunately, the Apple TV is slowly but surely meeting its maker. And within the next year or so, it’s quite possible it’ll be discontinued and throw into the grand junk heap of tech goodies that couldn’t hold out for long.

Whatever Happened to That New Apple TV? is written by Don Reisinger & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Almost every day it seems like folks are finding a way to add to the number of practical uses for 3D printers. What was once a hobbyist’s dream gadget is now being used to produce faux arteries for lab-grown tissue and Magic Arms. As the pricey peripherals work their way into the mainstream, are they soon to be found in most homes? That’s the quandary we tackle in this edition of our weekly tablet mag as Brian Heater spends some quality time with the MakerBot Replicator at Engadget’s NYC Headquarters. Not really into $2,000 output devices? No sweat. The Meizu MX 4-core, Toshiba U845W and Parrot Zik headphones all get the proper review treatment. “Hands-on” visits SIGGRAPH, “Weekly Stat” examines the shortcomings of our handsets, “Reaction Time” discusses THQ, “IRL” packs in three more of our gadget confessions and GameStop CEO Paul Raines admits his affinity for Jelly Bean in this week’s Q&A. Go on and usher in the weekend by hitting up your download link of choice down below.

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Filed under: Announcements

Distro Issue 52: Does the MakerBot Replicator signal the dawn of in-home 3D printing? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Aug 2012 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It may not be Pebble‘s $10m, but with OUYA‘s $8m Kickstarter has its newest standard-bearer, and around sixty thousand sets of eyes turn to the mailbox for the promised early-2013 deliveries. It’s a surprising degree of patience – however ill-suffered – considering the short-shrift we give most products, software updates or even just the regular postal service if they dare to make us wait. Immediate gratification is arguably at odds with today’s trends, but there’s another angle that makes Kickstarter so appealing: it’s the rumor-mill we can buy into.

Kickstarter isn’t a regular store: you’re not “pre-ordering” products, you’re backing a project in the hope it will succeed and, since those behind the project itself would like to encourage and thank you, you usually get a free whatever-you-backed if it makes it to production. That’s a differentiator many have forgotten amid the hype, the countdown of limited backer positions, and the glossy renders. Unfortunately, unlike a failed Amazon order, there’s no refund should your Kickstarter project of choice slump before the production lines start churning.

But even with all those risks, Kickstarter remains popular. The handful of backers putting up low-figure pledges with no real freebie in return implies some cohort of people made up in part by those with altruistic “support the little guy” motivations, but for many it seems the allure of getting in at not just ground level but when a project is still practically underground proves irresistible.

Over the past years there’s been a growing appetite for rumors and leaks, to the point where hearing about a product or service before those responsible for it would like you to know is considered arguably more interesting than post-unveil. Magnitude of speculation has become the new metric for defining company success: rather than just raw sales, which we probably won’t hear about in detail until months after launch, it’s a sign of mental stickiness among consumers and early-adopters. Samsung had therefore “made it” when the hype building up to the Galaxy S III began to resemble that in advance of a new iPhone.

“It’s like Tim Cook invited you into the Apple backroom and asked for your feedback”

Kickstarter plays on that anticipation, and even allows you to buy into it – rather than having to wait for Apple, or Samsung, or whichever mainstream company puts its products onto store shelves. For the cost of a pledge you’re an early-adopter, and you even get a say in the development of the product. It’s like Tim Cook and Jony Ive invited you into the Cupertino backroom and asked for your feedback on the latest iOS gadget; you can’t give Apple a hundred bucks if you like the sound of an iPhone nano and want them to make it, but you can feel that degree of control with a credit card and Kickstarter.

Of course, many Kickstarter projects fail – even if they’re fully funded – often because they’re too ambitious or too naive. Traditional product development filters through dozens of risk-assessments, mangers, and customer research teams, the rough edges (and some of the ingenuous charm) buffed away in the process. On Kickstarter, however, it’s easy to over-promise, either intentionally or accidentally, and under-deliver, especially when outside-the-box thinking is what’s likely to get attention for your project in the first place.

OUYA has $8m and it wanted less than $1m; humble project beginnings gave way to hype and Android enthusiasm. It also has a huge list of people counting on it to be The Next Big Thing in gaming, and 7-8 months to deliver all it promised. Whether it will achieve that is yet to be seen; what’s certain is that the glossy launch has now given way to the mundanities of bringing a product to a fast-paced and difficult marketplace, one where aftersales support and product stability are key. The appeal of the start-up only lasts as long as the Kickstarter pledge payment leaves your account.

OUYA’s millions: Kickstarter and the lure of the rumor-mill is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Although all of the talk surrounding Cupertino currently centers on Apple’s iPhone, I can’t get the company’s television out of my head. I own an iPhone and have an iPad. And although I’ll likely buy Apple’s next handset, it’s the company’s television that has me drooling.

Based on the reports surrounding Apple’s television at the moment, I can all but guarantee that I’ll be buying one. I love the idea of iCloud integration and I firmly believe that it’ll come with an App Store. Better yet, it’ll deliver high-quality visuals that should make its competition reevaluate their future decisions.

The only thing I don’t like hearing, though, is talk of Apple requiring iPhone and iPad owners use their mobile devices to control the television. Yes, it’s a forward-thinking idea, but it’s a bad one.

The fact is, we can use the iPhone and iPad as a remote right now. On my Apple TV, for example, I can control everything the device does with Apple’s nifty Remote app. But that Remote app is designed for a simple box and even simpler functionality. The remote’s featureset just won’t translate to a sophisticated television.

Like it or not, today’s remotes, as ugly and big, and old school as they might be, are a necessary evil. Physical buttons that light up at night make it easy for us to choose a channel, increase the volume, and perform other activities. And with some help from a physical keyboard built into some of those remotes, we can quickly type out just about anything.

“Using the iPhone as a remote will take us back in time”

A touchscreen-based remote, however, tends to fall short. For one thing, we’ll always need to be looking down just to find out what buttons we need to press. And our current practice of sliding our finger over to a button based on muscle memory alone will be gone. Using the iPhone or iPad as a remote in some ways will take us back in time.

That said, I can see some value in using an iDevice to control my new Apple television. I like the idea of using it to type in credentials into an application or even making it a secondary screen that delivers more information than what’s on the television. For example, if I’m watching a baseball game, it would be great if that broadcast shipped over to my iPhone – likely through an additional application running on the handset – some information on the batter, who’s up next, and other key data.

But as a remote, I don’t see much value in the iPhone and iPad. Apple can certainly create some nifty applications and I won’t deny that the company has come up with features that have blown us away. But controlling a television is very basic and needs some physical buttons. A mobile device featuring only a touchscreen just won’t get it done.

Ditch plans for the iDevices controlling your televisions, Apple. The future is still in the past with physical remotes.

Dear Apple: Don’t Use the iPhone As the Remote for Your TV is written by Don Reisinger & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This weekend we will see Curiosity attempt a dramatic Mars landing inside of Gale Crater. Its mission will be to study the Martian rocks to determine how they were formed and try to answer whether conditions on Mars once could have supported life in its most simple form – tiny, microbial cells. The rover’s intended destination after landing is a series of layered rock outcrops on the slopes of Mount Sharp. These layers were spied from orbit only a few years ago and appear to provide a geological record of Mars spanning hundreds of millions of years that Curiosity can spend months touring and reading back to us on Earth. With Curiosity’s hypersonic entry guidance, this is the first Mars rover that could safely land inside Gale and reach these layers.

As interest and enthusiasm mounts for one of the greatest exploration missions of the last decade, it is worth remembering what it took to get here and consider what should be next. We’ve been fortunate to witness a golden age of Mars exploration over the last fifteen years of orbiters, landers, and rovers. The successful international missions of Mars Global Surveyor, Pathfinder, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, Spirit, Opportunity, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Phoenix have helped us “follow the water”.

The assumption, given our experience here on Earth, is that where there was water on Mars there may also have been life. The probes orbiting Mars have been outfitted with a dazzling array of sensors and cameras to identify sites that may have been formed or affected by the presence of water. All this feeds into the landing site selection process using the best available data to find sites that are also safe to land at. The rovers have found proof of water in the past, confirming what we see from orbit, and Phoenix found ice just inches under the surface in the far north regions of Mars.

“Is life still there, hidden in the ground?”

As we explore Mars, we are learning how Mars formed and changed throughout its history. This will help us understand the history of the Earth better as well. Mars is right next door and formed the same time as the Earth did, but how did Mars come to be so different? And despite its differences, did life exist on Mars too? Is life still there, hidden in the ground? In ways we can never predict, we are all enlightened and benefit from discoveries in the jungles or the deep oceans of Earth, the microscopic intricacies of the human genome, the elusive Higgs particle, and delving into the puzzles and opportunities that space exploration presents.

Besides the science, why do we do this? Why spend the years of dedicated effort, the long days away from our families, the meticulous designing, building, and testing? Why do we feel that emotional rush when we attempt a nearly impossible task, or when we watch someone make such an attempt? Theodore Roosevelt offered a fitting answer. “Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even through checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”

It is no coincidence that as Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineers monitor Curiosity on its Mars approach and landing this weekend, only a few miles away the Mars Society is convening its 15th international conference. Enthusiastic people from all over the world and of various professions are discussing how we should reach and perhaps settle Mars this century. If you want to dare mightily, I cannot think of anything more challenging or fitting for the 21st century.

But getting humans to Mars is technically very difficult, and while we don’t yet know how to do it we have a few promising ideas. Curiosity had to give up the proven airbag technique because of its weight, and human missions will be much more massive. Curiosity has a few things important to a future human mission: it will demonstrate a hypersonic guided entry to land close to a site, and radiation sensors to inform what environment a crew and vehicle would withstand throughout the whole mission.

“We have never been more prepared than we are right now”

There is so much more to figure out and test. The recent Mars program has been set up to test things incrementally, to build off of what has been done before. Before we bring people to and from Mars, we can bring something from Mars back home to study. Curiosity has an incredible miniature laboratory tucked inside of it, but it can only carry so much instrumentation with it. We can use the orbiters, what Curiosity and other landers find, to help us pick out the rocks that will tell us the most about Mars. We have never been more prepared than we are right now to mount a sample return mission or begin the preparations for a human expedition.

The question facing the American administration and Congress is whether to support one now, in a time where NASA is seeing flat-lined budgets with other high-profile, billion dollar programs such as Webb Space Telescope, the heavy-lift launch vehicle, and the Orion human exploration spacecraft wrestling for those funds.

As America is dealing with large budget deficits, it is unlikely that NASA will receive enough funding to successfully finish all of these this decade, let alone a Mars sample return mission. With Congress focusing on issues of the magnitude of trillions of dollars it will be difficult to get their attention for programs on the order of billions. Expect no decision on anything of significance until after the American presidential and congressional elections this fall. If Mars exploration is to continue, public support is very important so that the politicians can accurately gauge the interest and the benefits.

There have been two grand periods of exploration of Mars. The first was led by a vanguard of American and Soviet probes in the 1960s and 1970s, radioing back amazing pictures of the largest volcanoes and canyons found in our solar system. That first period, suffering many failures as we learned how to reach to Mars, culminated in the successful Viking orbiters and landers.

And then, Mars was left alone — it seemed lifeless to our 1970s technology. The American Mars exploration team that had pulled off so many successes over those dozen years, that had engineered how to land safely on Mars, was scattered. Much of the talent and engineering knowledge from those early days of Mars exploration was lost. Today’s period of exploration had to assemble a new team, tempered by the successes and failures of recent missions, to attempt something as audacious as Curiosity.

We find ourselves again at the crossroads for Mars exploration. Dare we follow where curiosity leads us? Do we decide instead to start over again later this century?

Countdown to Mars: Thoughts from a NASA Curiosity engineer is written by Gavin Mendeck & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.