At times, Best Buy sends surveys to customers asking for feedback on potential new products and services; in the latest survey electrical retail giant is asking about a potential clients’ interest in 42-inch Apple HDTV! „Be one of the first to get the all new 42“ Apple HDTV at Best Buy for $1499. Apple finally reinvents what a TV can do,“ the survey reads.
Best Buy survey suggests that the Apple HDTV will feature 42-inch 1080p LED flash panel display, built in iSight camera and microphone for Skype, will run iOS, will have access to the App Store (!), Netflix, YouTube and Flickr, support for iCloud, will be controllable from an iPhone or iPad and will cost $1499.
The big question is: does Best Buy really have some reliable information on the upcoming Apple product or they know just what we know and are just identifying clients’ interest in long-rumored Apple TV set?
[via The Verge]
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Apple has issued an update to Apple TV 2 adding Genius recommendations for movies and TV shows. This is not a firmware update, so don’t be afraid that an accidental update will destroy your jailbreak.
Recommendation are available from the new “Genius” menu options under both Movies and TV shows. Genius allows you to view recommendations based on your previous iTunes purchases.
Genius recommendations for movies and TV shows have already been offered in iTunes through the iTunes Sidebar, the Genius suggestions are also available on other iOS devices.
You may also want to read:
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Visit What's on iPhone for the best iPad and iPhone app reviews!
Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!
We’ve been so busy lately going through all the rumors on the upcoming Apple Television that we forgot to let you know that the Plex client for Apple TV 2 has been updated to version 0.10 (and later on to version 0.10.0.71 – beta 2). The new version brings some significant changes, like DirectPlay support and Full myPlex support, and supports Apple TV 4.3 and 4.4 firmware.
Highlights of the release:
- Full myPlex Support – view your myPlex queue or Friend’s shared server.
- Top Shelf is now configurable – You can choose which Plex Media Server, then the Section, and Recently Added or OnDeck – the posters are added to the shelf for easy selection.
- Badges! Grid and Bookshelf view now sport badges!
- DirectPlay Support – now works on the ATV client. Avoid transcoding! Save the Planet!
- Directories are now loaded asynchronously. That means that you will see a nice spinner while waiting for the directory to load.
- Memory leaks galore fixed – more stable, particularly on media playback.
- Many annoying bug fixes – more useable. The UI is becoming more consistent, reliable and snappy!
- Added settings for subtitle size and audio boost.
- Fixes capability settings on AAC. The ATV only supports 2 channels AAC.
- Fixes where you couldn’t disable DTS and AC3 support under 4.4.4.
- Tons of fixes to the main menu where categories should show up faster and more reliably.
- Correctly order Channel, Search and Queue in the main menu.
Installation
The installation has also been improved. You can now use plex-atv-installer on your Linux or OSX box.
Installing using the installer:
- Download the installer here: https://github.com/P…/zipball/master
- Unzip it
- Open Terminal.app and enter the plex-atv-installer directory
- update: if you have an older version installed, first run
./plex-atv-installer.py remove
- Run
./plex-atv-installer.py -b beta install
to install the beta.
Note: if your Apple TV is not named ‘Apple-TV.local’ and if you have changed your login password on the atv you need to check the usage of Plex ATV Installer here: https://github.com/P…aster/README.md
- Done!
Installing manually:
- SSH into your ATV
- Run
wget http://nightlies.plexapp.com/plex-atv-plugin/repo/com.plexapp.repo.beta_1.0_iphoneos-arm.deb
- Run
dpkg -i com.plexapp.repo.beta_1.0_iphoneos-arm.deb
- Run
apt-get update
If you have an older version installed please remove it first:
dpkg -r com.plex.client-plugin
- Run
apt-get install com.plex.client-plugin
- Run
killall AppleTV
- Done!
Known issues:
- Some high profile H264 MKV’s will not play back on ATV. There seem to be something that the transcoder does here that is not working out for the Apple TV.
- Badges in the bookcase doesn’t work correctly.
- The devs have seen, in some cases, a serious issue with network connectivity disappearing from the atv. But they haven’t been able to say for certain it’s because of plex-atv, it might be the jailbreak for 4.4.4 instead.
Note: the current version is 0.10.0-720fd8d1 and it only works with Plex Media Server 0.9.5.2.
[via Plex forums]
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How to Watch Hulu on Apple TV 2
Visit What's on iPhone for the best iPad and iPhone app reviews!
Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!
Have you missed Gene Munster and his Apple TV-related “predictions” yet? Piper Jaffray analyst wrote a new note to clients claiming he has heard from “a major TV component supplier” that they had been contacted by Apple regarding “various capabilities of their television display components.” Munster sees this as “continued evidence that Apple is exploring production of a television.” Munster added that Apple had a series of meetings in January 2011 in Asia because the company “was investing in manufacturing facilities for LCD displays ranging from 3.5″ mobile displays to 50″ television displays.”
“In Sept-11 we met with a contact close to an Asian supplier who indicated that prototypes of an Apple Television are in the works,” Munster wrote.
Munster believes the hardware part could be ready for late 2012 lunch, but the content part – getting Hollywood on board – seems to still be a major problem. “The timeline and scope of a revamped content solution is more uncertain,” Piper Jaffray analyst wrote. “Without a revamped TV content solution, we do not think Apple enters the TV market,” he concluded.
Munster offers three scenarios on how might a revamped TV content solution look like (quotation from Munster’s note):
1. Apple could simply enable its television to manage a consumer’s live TV service from within a unified interface much like TiVo does, partnering with MSOs [i.e. the cable companies]. As Apple was developing the iPhone many investors expected the company to become an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator). Instead, the company partnered with AT&T (then Cingular) to bring the iPhone to market in the U.S. Similarly, Apple could choose to avoid the cost and effort of entering the live TV services business and simply partner with MSOs to deliver live, cable TV to the Apple Television. While this would be the easiest and most likely option, it would also be the least revolutionary. Technically, this option would function much like TiVo does today: partnering with MSOs and offering a unified DVR/guidance software interface to make search and discovery easier for the viewer. In some ways, a connected TV’s software is the biggest differentiator that Apple can bring to the table, so this option could still result in a new and fresh product for the television market. Apple could also supplement this with its iTunes Movie rental and purchase service directly on the television.
2. Apple could offer access to live TV from network channels in combination with other web-based video services. One middle-of-the-road option could be for Apple to deliver live TV from network channels (either over the internet or over the air) to the Apple Television. Apple could then leverage a new App Store for the Apple Television to supplement the basic live TV features with Netflix, Hulu Plus, or any content provider that chooses to build an app for the television. In this instance, Apple would also likely continue to offer its iTunes movie and TV content through the iTunes store to the Apple Television.
3. Apple could offer monthly subscriptions, on an a-la-carte basis, for live TV packages with content from content providers. Clearly the most challenging option, if Apple truly wanted to control the entire television experience – which, again, the company chose not to do when entering the smartphone market – it would have to become a virtual MSO (Multiple Services Provider) and offer monthly subscriptions for live TV services. Such an offering would be unlikely given existing licensing arrangements between content providers and service providers as well as the fact that it lies outside of Apple’s core competencies, even in media. That said, it would enable the company to control the entire experience and possibly deliver new features that are currently unavailable through existing television service providers and CE device makers.
[via Fortune; image by Guilherme M. Schasiepen]
Visit What's on iPhone for the best iPad and iPhone app reviews!
Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!
Friday 27th January 2012 - 19:01
The devs of IceFilms XBMC plugin for Apple TV haven’t given up after FBI took down Megaupload, the source of the most of IceFilms links, and they just released a new IceFilms 1.0.24 beta that supports RapidShare links. 2Shared links are still an option too. Going forward links will be posted to both 2Shared and Rapidshare so users will continue to see both in the sources section.
According to the developers, the new beta isn’t perfect but “it’s a development build and updates will be pushed through quickly.” There seems to be a bug with the tvshownextaired script but this should be fixed quickly as well.
The devs have disabled the metadata install pack from 1.0.24 so if you are doing a fresh install of this release you won’t be able to get metadata until the beta testing is done 1.1.0.
Things to know about RapidShare:
- Time limit on files varies to what appears to be server load, busier they are the longer you wait;
- No download limits, you can download as much as you want per day;
- Files stream and download just like Megaupload – still high quality AVI and HD scene releases.
To update to version 1.0.24 open XBMC, go to Videos -> Add-Ons -> Get More ->Icefilms -> Update. Some users report this didn’t work and they had to reinstall IceFilms. Here is how to install the new repository:
- Download IceFilms 1.0.24 zip
- Open XBMC, go to Settings > Addons > Install from zip file, browse to your downloads and select it. Repository installed!
- Now you can install Icefilms.info from within XBMC, by navigating to Settings > Addons > Get Add-ons > anarchintosh add-ons.
Here is a video of the new IceFilms in action:
[via hd420p]
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Visit What's on iPhone for the best iPad and iPhone app reviews!
Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!
