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hspace

macrumors regular
Oct 13, 2011
146
88
Apps on the Apple TV make a lot of sense... Except they would probably be a subset of apps (given the more limited user interaction) compared to what we see on the iPhone/iPod/iPad.

But imagine this... Bying/subscribing to channel apps. A la carte. This is would be a *nightmare* for the cable providers - And this could really turn the market on its head.

I'm really excited about this, and I think it will happen when the Apple TV 3 is released.

If the ATV3 has 1080p output and app support, my purchase is guaranteed.
 

damir00

macrumors 6502a
Oct 30, 2011
744
7
But imagine this... Bying/subscribing to channel apps. A la carte. This is would be a *nightmare* for the cable providers - And this could really turn the market on its head.

You can already do this with ATV2, without needing apps. Market seems to have remained firmly on its feet, alas, and content providers remain hesitant of supplying triple-A quality offerings.

Maybe 2012 is the year things change..
 

X38

macrumors 6502a
Jul 11, 2007
539
562
No way to control the apps without an iPhone or IPad...which is what AirPlay does. I really don't see the point here. Improve the AirPlay to full HD seems more useful than trying to put apps solely on the ATV. They would also need to put more storage back on the ATV, don't see this happening with the current hardware.

iOS already allows external keyboards with bluetooth, all that is needed is the ability to use an external pointing device. But iOS effectively already has that too - the emulator in the SDK simulate the touch screen with a mouse, or better yet, trackpad. Since Apple also already has a bluetooth trackpad that is also tap sensitive, all the pieces are there. All they need to do is port the SKD emulator's mouse interface to iOS itself, which should be trivial.
 

hspace

macrumors regular
Oct 13, 2011
146
88
You can already do this with ATV2, without needing apps. Market seems to have remained firmly on its feet, alas, and content providers remain hesitant of supplying triple-A quality offerings.

Maybe 2012 is the year things change..

Oh sure... But there's only a few selections. If each pay channel and network were allowed to create their content delivery app - THEN then market would change drastically.
 

acozilla

macrumors newbie
Dec 28, 2011
9
0
This is rather unimpressive. Nothing revolutionary here. Microsoft had something like this very long ago. Keyboard/mouse connected to a TV. A complete waste.

Tablets are the future. Mobile is a great mobile extension. Laptops/desktops will phase out and will be mainly used for development purposes. Great software for the iPad/iPhone is still in the making, especially when the hardware gets better.

Apple's TV is going to be a whole new thing in terms of design and UI. It's an attempt to revolutionize the way we access digital content just like the iPod was. It will then follow with a service similar to iTunes (probably an extension). I can see this being the proper way to go. TVs are just giant displays that will be hooked up to the "cloud." to streamline services/entertainment. Hell, I think using my iPhone/iPod as a TV remote would be awesome! Think about the possibilities there.
 

ViPhone

macrumors 6502
Jun 2, 2010
251
3
Miami, Florida
This is rather unimpressive. Nothing revolutionary here. Microsoft had something like this very long ago. Keyboard/mouse connected to a TV. A complete waste.

Tablets are the future. Mobile is a great mobile extension. Laptops/desktops will phase out and will be mainly used for development purposes. Great software for the iPad/iPhone is still in the making, especially when the hardware gets better.

Apple's TV is going to be a whole new thing in terms of design and UI. It's an attempt to revolutionize the way we access digital content just like the iPod was. It will then follow with a service similar to iTunes (probably an extension). I can see this being the proper way to go. TVs are just giant displays that will be hooked up to the "cloud." to streamline services/entertainment. Hell, I think using my iPhone/iPod as a TV remote would be awesome! Think about the possibilities there.

I'm going to go ahead and reserve my right to respectfully disagree.

This will cause a little shake-up in the desktop PC / Apple environment.
 

damir00

macrumors 6502a
Oct 30, 2011
744
7
Oh sure... But there's only a few selections. If each pay channel and network were allowed to create their content delivery app - THEN then market would change drastically.

They can already do that on iPad and AirPlay. There are no technical hurdles with this, and haven't been for quite some time. And "channels" capability has been in iTMS for ages.

The difficulty is getting the content providers to actually do it. There are advantages to both sides of the current network/cable cabal...that's where Apple's challenge lies, and having ATV3 running iOS apps has nothing to do with it.
 

APlotdevice

macrumors 68040
Sep 3, 2011
3,145
3,861
iOS already allows external keyboards with bluetooth, all that is needed is the ability to use an external pointing device. But iOS effectively already has that too - the emulator in the SDK simulate the touch screen with a mouse, or better yet, trackpad. Since Apple also already has a bluetooth trackpad that is also tap sensitive, all the pieces are there. All they need to do is port the SKD emulator's mouse interface to iOS itself, which should be trivial.

A mouse and keyboard aren't exactly the most ideal input methods for a home theater device though. They can be very awkward to use while sitting back on a couch.
 
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iEvolution

macrumors 65816
Jul 11, 2008
1,432
2
That's pretty BA. Best POC ive seen for awhile, better than the pretty much non-functional Siri hack.

I have no doubts that this supposed large apple Tv line is going to be iOS centric and have some serious interaction with other iOS devices. Honestly if it is to have features like that I think it'll knock the socks off the competition.
 

shandyman

Suspended
Apr 24, 2010
6,458
397
Dublin, Ireland
Kudos to Stephen and TheMudKip. But this is exactly what Apple wants to avoid: general iOS apps running on your living room TV. Google TV did it and failed. WebTV before them ran a few specific apps on your living room TV and failed. If Apple does it all over again, they too will fail.

And the reason for all that app-on-TV failure? It's because big-screen TV viewing is a communal event and small-screen personal computing is a private activity. Those two concepts can't be combined to deliver a great experience. And Apple needs to deliver a great experience to make a dent in the TV market.

Do you really want Mom to check her email on 3rd and goal during the Superbowl? Nope. Do you want Dad to check ink cartridge prices on Amazon at a dramatic moment in "Kung Fu Panda 8"? Negative. Do you want to let the kid tweet about his dessert in the middle of the State of the Union address? Not so much.

So for now, running apps is a personal, private activity. And for now, big-screen TV viewing is a communal, shared activity. You can't mix the two without major problems with the overall experience. The one exception is video games, but despite the money to be had in video games, it's small potatoes compared to the overall TV market. (And, speaking of big money, I think Apple designed iAd for big-screen HDTV from day one, but that's another story...)

Obviously any Apple TV apps will be primarily less personal, more like games, video apps, such as the BBC iPlayer, LoveFilm, etc in the UK, or Hulu and Netflix in the US, maybe FaceTime too (xbox live has video calling, so no harm in FaceTime too). Though they might have mail apps too for the people that want it, but you get the idea. I've mentioned Xbox before, but look at where they're going, video on demand is gradually being brought in now.
 

KnightWRX

macrumors Pentium
Jan 28, 2009
15,046
4
Quebec, Canada
iOS already allows external keyboards with bluetooth, all that is needed is the ability to use an external pointing device. But iOS effectively already has that too - the emulator in the SDK simulate the touch screen with a mouse, or better yet, trackpad. Since Apple also already has a bluetooth trackpad that is also tap sensitive, all the pieces are there. All they need to do is port the SKD emulator's mouse interface to iOS itself, which should be trivial.

There is no mouse interface in the SDK's simulator. Mouse clicks simulate touches. There is no pointing device.

----------

I'm going to go ahead and reserve my right to respectfully disagree.

This will cause a little shake-up in the desktop PC / Apple environment.

Google have been shipping essentially this same product in a support fashion all through 2011 and it has yet to catch on though.
 

lincolntran

macrumors 6502a
Jan 18, 2010
843
471
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

charlituna said:
Nooo! I can't have my wife taking over the big screen with her Angry Birds

Prime example of how pointless this hack is. Many apps weren't made to go on the TV so just like these hackers did, they had to rig a way to control the app. How is that better than just playing on your iPad or on a computer where the controls are already there.

Apple has been selective but they picked apps that would actually have a benefit in being on a tv. And they gave developers the whole AirPlay Mirroring.

If these hackers want to do something that actually makes sense, how about creating an iOS emulator that runs on the Mac with full functions and without having to be a developer.

The hackers should do all that And give it to you for free right?
 

hitekalex

macrumors 68000
Feb 4, 2008
1,624
0
Chicago, USA
and yet, despite me putting across solid observations, nobody has any opinions to disprove my comments.
if this dev was responsible for siri on iPhone 4, then what better way to hold his place in the spotlight than to create a fake hack based on a big topic at the moment... the apple tv set.

You fail once again. Steve Troughton-Smith is a reputable developer. If you followed him on Twitter, you'd know that he's been working on this project (porting iOS apps to ATV2) for a while, and it's not something he just threw out there to get attention. That would just be silly.

Trying to disprove your suspicions would be a waste of time, that's why no one had bothered to do it.
 
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acozilla

macrumors newbie
Dec 28, 2011
9
0
I'm going to go ahead and reserve my right to respectfully disagree.

This will cause a little shake-up in the desktop PC / Apple environment.

Tell me what you expect to happen. A shake-up in the industry is a very vague comment. Please, share your predictions.
 
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