If you head to Apple’s US homepage, you’ll be greeted with this very special splash page: the company’s got an iTunes-related announcement tomorrow morning at 10EST time. But what could it be? Updated: More »
We’ve already got the Mac OS X update, and here’s iTunes 10.1. Next stop? iOS 4.2. If your copy of iTunes isn’t pushing the update, you can head to Apple’s page where it’ll be there, waiting for you. In addition to paving way for the new iOS, iTunes 10.1 adds the much anticipated video AirPlay feature (it launched as audio only), so fire up that Apple TV and push yourself some vids!
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
iTunes 10.1 is out, brings video AirPlay and iOS 4.2 compatibility originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Nov 2010 13:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We love us some big fancy grown-up consoles like the PS3 and Xbox 360, but ever since we saw the new Apple TV we’ve been wondering what would happen if Apple gave it the App Store and let developers go wild. Surely the results would look a lot like the video above. The developers of The Incident are showing off the upcoming 1.3 build of their ultra-addictive falling objects platformer, which allows for an iPhone to control the game while it’s running on an iPad, which is in turn outputting video to the TV. Of course, The Incident guys aren’t the first to think of this, we actually saw an SNES emulator running on a jailbroken iPad months ago, and plenty of other apps use the iPhone as a controller. Still, it’s some pretty great execution, and the iPad video out seems to be key. Still seem tame to you? Imagine the OnLive iPhone app up and running on this thing. Mind = blown, right? Right.
New version of The Incident offers glimpse of world where Apple TV is the console, iPhone is the controller originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Nov 2010 10:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Boxee might get all the attention but Plex is without a doubt one of our favorite Mac media center apps. So it’s with wide-eyed interest that we tell you about the Plex client making its first tentative steps onto the second generation Apple TV platform. Naturally, Cupertino’s not behind the initiative to replace Apple’s own “Lowtide” 10-foot user interface — this work is being done by the Apple TV jailbreak community. The ATV2 build is still just a proof of concept so it’s buggy and limited to video playback (no music, images, or app management) for now. But hey, it’s another iOS app for ATV2 and it does work as evidenced by the video after the break. Man, we’re getting all tingly at the thought of scattering a few $99 boxes around the house to serve up the wide variety of codecs supported by Plex in addition to Apple’s more limited AirPlay.
Continue reading Plex arrives on jailbroken Apple TVs (video)
Plex arrives on jailbroken Apple TVs (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Nov 2010 05:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple calls the Apple TV a “hobby” because it isn’t a big seller. But for a bustling community of hackers, jailbreaking and tinkering with the set-top box is the real hobby.
The recent release of the second-generation Apple TV is revitalizing a group effort to crack open the set-top box and expand on its capabilities with third-party software. In the next month or two, the rebellious coders say they hope to open an underground app store for the device, just as hackers did for the popular iPhone before Apple opened its official App Store.
“The Apple TV has been jailbroken for less than a month, and the amount of progress that’s been made on [hacking] it so far is absolutely phenomenal,” said Scott Davilla, a programmer who is working to get the Boxee TV platform running on the Apple TV.
Apple’s original Apple TV was cracked years ago, but there was relatively low enthusiasm in modifying the device because of some nagging technical hurdles. Hacking the first Apple TV required using a “patch stick” — installing software on a bootable USB drive that broke through the set-top box’s restrictions — and not all USB flash drives booted properly. Also, interest in modding the original Apple TV waned over time: Hacking the device’s software required a Mac running an older version of the Mac OS X operating system (10.4.7), and later versions of OS X broke software used to test Apple TV apps on a desktop computer.
However, this time around, the Apple TV jailbreak community, called Awkward TV, believes that hacking Apple’s set-top box will be much more popular and energetic. This is thanks largely to the fact that the second-generation Apple TV runs iOS, the same mobile operating system that powers the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Hacking the device will be much easier for users: The Apple TV requires connecting with a computer by a USB cable and running existing jailbreak software to break its restrictions, just like users did with the iPhone. (In other words, the annoying patch-stick method is no more.)
And besides, hackers can’t resist the allure of modifying a $100 device into the set-top box of their dreams — a path that carries much less risk than, say, tampering with a pricier Mac Mini or a less aesthetically pleasing Windows PC.
Also, a major difference to the new Apple TV hacking scene is that many of these coders have been making apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch — so now, the community is much bigger, diverse and more experienced. A lot of the groundwork has already been laid by iOS jailbreakers, and third-party apps served through the underground app store Cydia should be compatible with the device.
“Everything is kind of coming full circle,” said Kevin Bradley, an Apple TV programmer who works under the handle [bile]. “The old Apple TV is kinda sputtering and dying because it’s a 4-year-old product. Now you have all the people who have done amazing stuff on the iPhone working with us, and it’s made our jobs for the Apple TV a thousand times easier…. I think some really amazing things could come out of this.”
Indeed, the Cydia community is already working on an interface to launch the Cydia app store directly on the Apple TV’s main menu. Also, the “grandfather” of Apple TV hacking Jim Dovey (better known by the hacker handle AlanQuatermain), is working on a software development kit for programmers to code and test special Apple TV apps.
Dovey said he’s especially excited about the potential for hacks to take advantage of AirPlay, an Apple feature that will enable iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch to wirelessly stream content from audio or video apps to the Apple TV.
“I’d be very interested in the possibilities of using AirPlay video to treat an AppleTV as an attached screen in my iPhone, iPad or even Mac apps,” Dovey said.
Already, owners of the new Apple TV can hack their device to run an early version of Bradley’s software, NitoTV, a media player that promises to support every media format. That makes the Apple TV seem weak: It only plays a few iTunes-compatible formats, such as H.264-encoded MPEG-4 videos.
Bradley is also working to get some of his old Apple TV hacks working on the new system, such as an app that enables you to play Super Nintendo on the Apple TV, and an app that allows you to order a pizza.
The Awkward TV community is compiling a list of potential capabilities that could be unlocked with Apple TV hacks, such as playing Flash videos, connecting a TV tuner for recording, or hooking up a CD/DVD player for playing discs.
What are some Apple TV hacks you’d like to see once an unauthorized app store opens? Suggest and vote on ideas in the Reddit widget below, and maybe your wish will come true.
What Apple TV hacks would you like to see?
While you can submit as many ideas as you want, you can only submit one every 30 minutes. No HTML allowed.
Photo: Steven Levy/Wired.com
We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Brandon, who is fairly interested in ditching his cable subscription. If you’re looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.
“Hey Engadget readership. I’ve been paying way too much for channels I never watch for way too long. I’m about ready to seriously consider my options for ditching cable. Problem is, I’ve got too many alternatives. Google TV, Apple TV and Roku stick out, but I’ve also heard of using a new Mac Mini along with Boxee. Given that I have a Netflix subscription to loop in, which of these would be my most satisfying option? Or is there another I’m not considering? Thanks for the assistance.”
We feel your pain. Loads of options, and not really one set-top that does it all. ‘Course, you could always whip up an HTPC to really cover your bases, but we’re sure you’ll get some fine input either way in comments below.
Ask Engadget: Google TV, Apple TV, Roku, or something else? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 22:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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If you’ve ever complained about a certain set-top box’s dearth of local storage or support of exotic media files, you now have a clear alternative. Western Digital’s TV Live Hub doesn’t actually have much to do with live TV, but it will store and stream the stuffing out of whatever you’ve been keeping on your computer.
You want local storage for your movies, music, pictures and TV shows? How does 1 TB sound? Western Digital makes some of the biggest and best hard drives around, and this one packs a wallop. And for $200, the TV Live Hub only costs $70 more than WD’s entry-level 1-TB external hard drive, the MyBook.
You want support for every file format you’ve ever dreamed about and video all the way up to 1080p? Here’s the list:
Video – AVI (Xvid, AVC, MPEG1/2/4), MPG/MPEG, VOB, MKV (h.264, x.264, AVC, MPEG1/2/4, VC-1), TS/TP/M2T (MPEG1/2/4, AVC, VC-1), MP4/MOV (MPEG4, h.264), M2TS, WMV9
Photo – JPEG, GIF, TIF/TIFF, BMP, PNG
Audio – MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, AIF/AIFF, OGG, Dolby Digital, DTS
Playlist – PLS, M3U, WPL
Subtitle – SRT, ASS, SSA, SUB, SMI
I don’t even know what some of those are, but OMG, I am furious at any device that doesn’t support all of them now.
Wait — so far, it sounds like I’m just connecting a big-ass net-connected hard drive to my TV. Can it do anything cool with that internet connection?
Sure. The Live Hub is a fully-fledged media server, WD claims. Once it’s on your network, you can stream its content to pretty much any device with a screen on your network: net-connected TVs, Blu-ray players, Xbox 360, PS3 — even iOS or Android devices using third-party applications. It can also share and sync media folders with PCs or Macs.
And the network isn’t just local: You can also stream content from Netflix, Pandora, Flickr and YouTube, and upload content to Facebook.
The open question here — which I can’t really speak to without getting a chance to try it out — is the quality of the user interface. Unlike Apple or Google, Western Digital isn’t really a software company.
Wired recently reviewed the previous version, the Western Digital TV Live Plus, and found it was riddled with problems: Videos often played without their audio tracks, file-format support was not nearly as complete as the above spec list suggests, and video quality was hit-or-miss.
What it does offer is a different — and I think compelling — model for how you configure your hardware throughout your home network, how you store and share content that ultimately will be displayed primarily on the biggest screen in your house.
Here are the positions each player’s taken on the board so far:
On the one hand, both Apple and WD are avoiding TiVo’s and Google’s attempts to bring software to bear on live TV. On the other hand, their approaches couldn’t be more different.
Apple’s world is all cloud: a box with a tiny footprint that makes as little noise as possible, offering lightweight, streaming rentals that disappear. If you’re storing a library of data, you’re doing it somewhere else.
WD’s approach might seem more conservative, because it’s still about building and storing a digital library of files in lots of different formats. But you could say it’s actually much more radical.
It suggests that your entertainment media won’t be pumped into your house through a box or live on the computer you use to make spreadsheets. The digital hub isn’t your PC, and it definitely isn’t a server somewhere sitting lonely in your office or basement.
The digital hub is your television — the one screen in your house that always stays in one place. And now, your television can talk to every other screen that comes into your house.
WD TV Live Hub Media Center [WD Press Release]
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While everyone was focused on Apple ditching software discs with its forthcoming App Store for Mac, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings was busy digging a grave for optical media. Steve Jobs just threw a shovel full of dirt on top.
“Three years ago we were a DVD-by-mail company that offered some streaming,” Hastings told reporters and investors Wednesday. “We are now a streaming company, which also offers DVD-by-mail.”
Software discs haven’t actually mattered for a long time now. The real innovation of Apple’s App Store for software sales isn’t online distribution. It isn’t even creating a central marketplace. It’s putting that marketplace in a client right on the desktop. For Apple, it’s having that client not be iTunes, an already overstuffed monster well overdue for dismemberment and redistribution.
The real front in the battle over optical media remains video — with Netflix, Apple, Hulu, TiVo, Xbox Live and others on the side of the cloud, and Blu-ray, 3D televisions and most game consoles on the side of the disc. Microsoft is the only company that is nearly everywhere pursuing both approaches equally all at once.
Netflix has been able to become a streaming video company by partnering with nearly everyone who makes a net-connected box or screen, from TVs and set-top boxes to tablets and smartphones.
Reportedly, Netflix accounts for more than 20 percent of US downstream internet traffic in peak times, with the heaviest traffic falling between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m — traditional television prime time.
That’s only likely to rise as Netflix streaming becomes available on a greater number of less expensive devices attached to television sets. And it’s a good reminder that while software discs vs downloads is a battle that’s virtually over, streaming media over the internet vs streaming media over cable or broadcast has in some sense only just truly begun.
In Canada, Netflix already offers a streaming-only video plan, with regular or Blu-ray DVDs as an extra, optional feature. Its CEO’s comments suggest the US will likely be next.
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Well, that didn’t take long. Greenpois0n jailbroke the new Apple TV just yesterday, and PwnageTool 4.1 this afternoon, and we’ve already got what appears to be the first custom software successfully running on the device. As you can see, it’s a simple weather app, designed by a tiny software firm called nitoTV, but it’s a harbinger of things to come when developers get cracking on the Apple TV in earnest. See a picture of nitoTV’s custom launcher after the break, while your subconscious frantically tries to figure out what the four cities in the above pic could possibly have in common.
Continue reading Apple TV hacked to run weather app
Apple TV hacked to run weather app originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Oct 2010 22:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple TV now jailbreakable with PwnageTool 4.1 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Oct 2010 16:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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