New Apple TV Allows App Installation, Needs Launcher

[rendy0212]

Memory on apple tv

I know the atv has 8 gb of flash memory but how easy would it be to upgrade that to 16gb? Flash memory is cheap and I know there is a micro USB port on back so I'm just curious how easily the device memory could be upgraded for expanded use either internay or externally? Or would you just have to buy second generation atv to get more memory

 

[Rot'nApple]

Google TV?! What more was Eric Schmidt let in on when on Apple's BOD?!

Google TV... Steve, the time is right!

 

[GeekLawyer]

My god man! Put away your butcher knives and let me SAVE this patient!

Post of the day. Well played.

This is another interesting development on the road to the AppleTV app store. Who will get there first? Apple or Cydia?

 

[E.Lizardo]

Really??? You have to look at you hand when using the Remote app with your Apple TV? Most people are coordinated enough to just look at the TV.

Especially if the new TV targeted games give TV feedback on where the players fingers are hitting, punching, swiping, etc. users won't need to look down, any more than with an analog joystick.

Right now, Blind people manage to operate a lot of apps on their iPhone's by turning on Voice Over. So it's obvious that no looking is required for any app, not just games, when the app is properly designed for this setup.

Going back to my first post,I would classify the remote app under"the simplest of games".Now why don't you use the remote app to select a specific song and artist?Whoa!Made you look!
I defy anyone-blind or sighted to play a fast twitch game that requires accurate finger touches without looking-not at their hand,but the screen.That's why game controllers have buttons.

And of course I wasn't referring to TV-specific games.I'm talking about the idea that every game in the app store is going to be an awesome experience on the TV.It simply can't be denied that many existing games will require looking away from the TV so much that it will be an exercise in frustration ending with the TV off.It definitely would be more fun with a traditional controller(hello blutooth module?)

 

[E.Lizardo]

I keep having the same thought. You need physical buttons to maintain your focus on the screen. Without buttons, you'd have to constantly look at the controller. Lots of people seem to overlook this problem.

I'm sure there will be a lot of clever ways around this,but many games as written would not be fun.I'd like to see these folks connect their phone via TV out and play a precise fast paced game while keeping the phone and both hands in a bag out of sight.When they post that video I'll believe it.
I'm thinking bluetooth game controllers would be perfect!

 

[Rocketman]

When someone says, "I need a launcher", it makes me all warm inside.

Rocketman

 

[DanMacApple]

When an app store is available for the ATV these will be impossible to find, probably like when the Nintendo Wii system first came out.

 

[akm3]

A NES emulator? Really? When the **** are people going to get tired of playing ****ing 15-year-old games?

If I'm playing games on my TV I'd like them to be games designed for iOS and the A4 and a little remote or whatever, not a platform that went out of style before legwarmers.

And besides, the killer app for a jailbroken ATV will be more codecs... which is unlikely, since so far the best effort has been VLC for the iPad - an app whose performance is variable at best with anything more taxing than SD DivX content.

I just have to respond to this....I'll get tired of 15 year old games when a developer actually makes some new games instead of rehashes 15 year old games but with prettier graphics. but easy. And eliminates big flashing red arrows telling me exactly where to go. Games today are flashy "simon says" mockups.

 

[X38]

Still absolutely must have a DVR or it is a dead end. With Google TV on the scene now, Apple has no choice left - add a DVR or die.

They had it all figured out long ago:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/03/13/apple_tv_dvr_interface_revealed_in_patent_filings.html

It is incomprehensibly stupid why they have not followed through on this long ago and with Google breathing down their necks it may be Apple's last chance to get it right if they want to gain a serious presence in the living room.
Of course they're going to have to figure out how to get a cable input into the AppleTV - maybe start with a USB interface and upgrade it to add a Light Peak plug ASAP?

 

[JAT]

The other way 'round.

Transfer the touches from the iPhone to the Apple TV, similar to way the Remote app does it already.

How? There's no mouse, how do you know where you are touching on an iPhone unless there is something to look at? A pic on your 50" screen and you can magically touch the right spot on....what on the iPhone?

I would imagine a controller interface on the phone to control to appletv apps.

This thread is about current iOS apps, not "appletv apps".

It's silly. People need to stop being silly. There's dumb threads here and there's dumb threads here, and this is definitely the latter.

 

[Pachang]

I bet we will be able to use iphones and ipod touches as game controllers for the atv once the app store comes out.
I bet it will suck and we will be forced to JB them and use wii motes or something for better control.

 

[locust76]

A NES emulator? Really? When the **** are people going to get tired of playing ****ing 15-year-old games?

More like 25 years old.

And NEVER.

There are two modern day measures of a computer system:

1) Can Doom be ported to it?
and
2) Can it run an NES emulator?

Everything else is just icing on the cake.

 

[skeep5]

GAsh Dang et I knew it.

 

[brygruver]

Still absolutely must have a DVR or it is a dead end. With Google TV on the scene now, Apple has no choice left - add a DVR or die.

They had it all figured out long ago:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/03/13/apple_tv_dvr_interface_revealed_in_patent_filings.html

It is incomprehensibly stupid why they have not followed through on this long ago and with Google breathing down their necks it may be Apple's last chance to get it right if they want to gain a serious presence in the living room.
Of course they're going to have to figure out how to get a cable input into the AppleTV - maybe start with a USB interface and upgrade it to add a Light Peak plug ASAP?

You just described a completely different device than what Apple built. You want a DVR out of a device that has minuscule storage (compared to a normal DVR) and a cable input.

I somehow don't think the Apple TV is for you and I don't think it ever will be.

I don't think Apple agrees with your theory of they must add a DVR or die. You should apply at http://www.apple.com/jobs immediately in order to save the company. They clearly can't do it without you.

 

[billysea]

I am so excited at the prospect of cloud-based or downloadable gaming on the Apple TV. Just like the iPhone launched without Apps Store, Apple will wait until the next generation of Apple TV to become more mature and mainstream to begin incorporation of Apps Store.

The only concern right now is the gaming interface. Without controller, how are we going to game on the Apple TV? All Apple needs to do is to make a great controller (controller with good button layout is VERY important for serious gaming), but Apple love ultra-simplisticity and seems to hate buttons or additional peripheral.

Using iPhone/iTouch as controller would NOT be ideal at all. They are cool when you are looking and touching the same screen. But when they are separated you just lose that connection. The problem with touch screen interface (compare to button interface) is that you have to look at the screen to play. If you play a lot of games you will understand what I mean......

But unlike Nintendo or Sony, Apple never care about gaming enough to know these intricate (but important) details anyway. To them video game is just a business opportunity that pop up at a time when they didn't even realized it. So they will never put gaming interface in priority to their other strategies.

 

[firewood]

How? There's no mouse, how do you know where you are touching on an iPhone unless there is something to look at? A pic on your 50" screen and you can magically touch the right spot on....what on the iPhone?

If you're saying this to throw the competition off the track. It's too late. Remote control is already a big business. Nobody looks at a trackpad or joystick with the appropriate UI, and game (and aircraft) designers other than you already know the tricks to do this.

Too late...

 

[brygruver]

How? There's no mouse, how do you know where you are touching on an iPhone unless there is something to look at? A pic on your 50" screen and you can magically touch the right spot on....what on the iPhone?

This thread is about current iOS apps, not "appletv apps".

It's silly. People need to stop being silly. There's dumb threads here and there's dumb threads here, and this is definitely the latter.

I couldn't agree more. Apple TV apps, if they ever come, will be things like Hulu, ABC Player, etc. It wouldn't surprise me if Apple never did an App Store for the Apple TV. Instead making it invitation only, inviting ABC, Hulu, etc to add extend the functionality of the Apple TV like they have already incorporated NetFlix. To me, this sounds a lot more like something Apple would do with the Apple TV, rather than an App Store.

As far as the spot left open by Apple for additional storage (or usb port)......Give me a break, Apple is not keen on making things "Upgradable". Even if it was possible, no "Apple approved" apps would make use of it, you couldn't guarantee that all users had the additional storage.

As far as Bluetooth goes. It has Bluetooth, but only because the chipset Apple uses for it's WiFi, also includes Bluetooth capabilities. That same chipset also supports FM transmit and receive. I wouldn't go as far as to say that Apple will never enable the bluetooth in it....it sat dormant in the 2nd Gen iPod Touch for quite some time before Apple enabled it in a software update. But I don't ever expect it to use a Keyboard or Mouse. If you bought the wireless keyboard and mouse from Apple, you would end up paying $140 for both. The Apple TV is only $99.....it just doesn't make sense. At some point you should be buying a Mac Mini, not an Apple TV.

Everyone is wanting the Apple TV to be something that it's not. It doesn't have enough storage to be a DVR, it doesn't have a game controller for playing video games, it doesn't have bluetooth (enabled) for a keyboard/mouse for surfing the internet.......AND IT'S NOT GOING TO. At least not this generation. Maybe the next Apple TV will.....who knows. Sure people will hack it and it will be able to do all kinds of things, but that will be a very small portion of people who will own it.

If it can't be done with the included remote, it's not going to happen. The Apple TV is already a niche product. Requiring that you buy additional hardware to play games, etc, would make that app even more niche. Buy a Mac Mini if you want 1080p, internet surfing, etc. Buy a Wii, XBox360 or PS3 if you want to play games. Buy an Apple TV to extend your iTunes experience to the Big Screen. Throw some content up on the Screen using Airplay and your iOS 4 Device. If you use Netflix, enjoy the best experience out there today.

Expect more services in the future, but to the JAT who suggested this..."Unless the shiny top is really a touchscreen?".....you really make my head hurt.

If Apple does plan to do an open App store, everyone will know, many months in advance. Apple would need to announce it and release several beta sdk's before any "App Store" would go live. Just like with the iPhone and iPad.

 

[aquarterof]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

Enabling voice control for the remote app and other future apps would work well though... "Playlist, party mix, apple tv volume low, den speakers high"...

 

[nelmat]

Yep it is gonna happen and happen soon.
Why do you think it has 8Gb of storage in it just like the low end Itouch 4?

For Apps!

For downloading an entire movie into buffer for fast forward and rewind capabilities, that 4 gig gone, then the OS. I'd imagine it has 8gig as that was the most readily available size component which had 'just enough' storage on it. You rent three tv programmes and a movie - 'storage' full.

I couldn't agree more. Apple TV apps, if they ever come, will be things like Hulu, ABC Player, etc. It wouldn't surprise me if Apple never did an App Store for the Apple TV. Instead making it invitation only, inviting ABC, Hulu, etc to add extend the functionality of the Apple TV like they have already incorporated NetFlix. To me, this sounds a lot more like something Apple would do with the Apple TV, rather than an App Store.

As far as the spot left open by Apple for additional storage (or usb port)......Give me a break, Apple is not keen on making things "Upgradable". Even if it was possible, no "Apple approved" apps would make use of it, you couldn't guarantee that all users had the additional storage.

As far as Bluetooth goes. It has Bluetooth, but only because the chipset Apple uses for it's WiFi, also includes Bluetooth capabilities. That same chipset also supports FM transmit and receive. I wouldn't go as far as to say that Apple will never enable the bluetooth in it....it sat dormant in the 2nd Gen iPod Touch for quite some time before Apple enabled it in a software update. But I don't ever expect it to use a Keyboard or Mouse. If you bought the wireless keyboard and mouse from Apple, you would end up paying $140 for both. The Apple TV is only $99.....it just doesn't make sense. At some point you should be buying a Mac Mini, not an Apple TV.

Everyone is wanting the Apple TV to be something that it's not. It doesn't have enough storage to be a DVR, it doesn't have a game controller for playing video games, it doesn't have bluetooth (enabled) for a keyboard/mouse for surfing the internet.......AND IT'S NOT GOING TO. At least not this generation. Maybe the next Apple TV will.....who knows. Sure people will hack it and it will be able to do all kinds of things, but that will be a very small portion of people who will own it.

If it can't be done with the included remote, it's not going to happen. The Apple TV is already a niche product. Requiring that you buy additional hardware to play games, etc, would make that app even more niche. Buy a Mac Mini if you want 1080p, internet surfing, etc. Buy a Wii, XBox360 or PS3 if you want to play games. Buy an Apple TV to extend your iTunes experience to the Big Screen. Throw some content up on the Screen using Airplay and your iOS 4 Device. If you use Netflix, enjoy the best experience out there today.

Expect more services in the future, but to the JAT who suggested this..."Unless the shiny top is really a touchscreen?".....you really make my head hurt.

If Apple does plan to do an open App store, everyone will know, many months in advance. Apple would need to announce it and release several beta sdk's before any "App Store" would go live. Just like with the iPhone and iPad.

I'm almost with you, but the bluetooth will be utilised in the future, some form of input device, probably a keyboard would set this apart - nothing worse than entering a search phrase a letter at a time by scanning over an onscreen interface - and everyone already has a bluetooth keyboard...

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

Enabling voice control for the remote app and other future apps would work well though... "Playlist, party mix, apple tv volume low, den speakers high"...

Yup, at which point there's so much noise that you can't tell it to shut the hell up...

 

[scottness]

Just want to state my prediction again:

Replace the word "App" with "Channel." Now you have an a-la-carte cable subscription service where networks can fully control their content, and cut the "middle man" out of the picture.

I like this... I only really watch 3 channels.

 

[Winni]

I'd imagine that since the AppleTV is always on the Internet, your apps will either be stored in the cloud or on the hard drive of a networked computer. The device could pull the data from the app you're using to the tv's drive and then erase it a few minutes after you quit the app.

The keywords cloud and networked are good. But I think you can forget about the word computer in this context. The Apple TV will be networked with some cloud services and eventually it will take over the part that was formerly served by the computer. And since most of you folks here are so in love with the crippled iOS and the censored AppStore, you won't even miss the freedom that you had while you were still using a real computing platform.

Just give it some more time.

 

[nelmat]

Still absolutely must have a DVR or it is a dead end. With Google TV on the scene now, Apple has no choice left - add a DVR or die.

They had it all figured out long ago:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/03/13/apple_tv_dvr_interface_revealed_in_patent_filings.html

It is incomprehensibly stupid why they have not followed through on this long ago and with Google breathing down their necks it may be Apple's last chance to get it right if they want to gain a serious presence in the living room.
Of course they're going to have to figure out how to get a cable input into the AppleTV - maybe start with a USB interface and upgrade it to add a Light Peak plug ASAP?

Nonsense. The ONLY issue facing Apple is the studio's reluctance to release content. Why do I need a DVR when the entire world of television is a push button away? What I want to see is a single price subscription service instead of individual rentals. I'd also like to see older content streamed for free by the studios - I'm not paying 99c to watch 'I Love Lucy'...

DVRs already exist, as do blu-ray players - if you want either of those, go buy one. There is ZERO point in Apple entering this market as a late player.

The keywords cloud and networked are good. But I think you can forget about the word computer in this context. The Apple TV will be networked with some cloud services and eventually it will take over the part that was formerly served by the computer. And since most of you folks here are so in love with the crippled iOS and the censored AppStore, you won't even miss the freedom that you had while you were still using a real computing platform.

Just give it some more time.

Crippled? Censored? Is that how you see quality control and a company protecting the security of it's customers and the stability of it's equipment?

If you want non-screened virus riddled malware, then do pop along to the android market.

Can I use any software I want on my Mac without limitation? Nope, didn't think so.

 

[richman555]

Just to be fair, what Apps will be available on Google TV at launch? They said that you will be able to get more Apps sometime next year. I think most likely Apple will do the same thing except they will do it with an IOS update which first gets seeded to developers. Should they announce it 6 months in advance? who knows.

Secondly, for those clamoring about DVR capabilities, I believe Google says this will only work with Dish Network. There is no mention as to how exactly that will work with their device. I still think most people who will use this will be new Sony TV owners and Dish Network subscribers.

 

[alent1234]

Nonsense. The ONLY issue facing Apple is the studio's reluctance to release content. Why do I need a DVR when the entire world of television is a push button away? What I want to see is a single price subscription service instead of individual rentals. I'd also like to see older content streamed for free by the studios - I'm not paying 99c to watch 'I Love Lucy'...

DVRs already exist, as do blu-ray players - if you want either of those, go buy one. There is ZERO point in Apple entering this market as a late player.

if only we had a box where you pay money per month to watch unlimited TV. it would have some kind of cable wire going into it and cable TV sounds like a cool name

 

[KnightWRX]

If you're saying this to throw the competition off the track. It's too late. Remote control is already a big business. Nobody looks at a trackpad or joystick with the appropriate UI, and game (and aircraft) designers other than you already know the tricks to do this.

Too late...

Yeah, it's called a mouse cursor. That's why a trackpad works and you don't need to look at it to do proper input.

iOS apps currently aren't designed to work with a cursor based trackpad style input, they are designed mostly to work with a visual touchscreen interface.

Apple and oranges. Current apps would not work on a deported display, if AppleTV gets an App Store, it will be for AppleTV apps, not current iOS apps.

------------

Let's see if we can play mind games with nelmat to prove him wrong :

Cellphones and smartphones already exist - if you want either of those, go buy one. There is ZERO point in Apple entering this market as a late player.

------------

Secondly, for those clamoring about DVR capabilities, I believe Google says this will only work with Dish Network. There is no mention as to how exactly that will work with their device. I still think most people who will use this will be new Sony TV owners and Dish Network subscribers.

Again, people are missing the point of GoogleTV. GoogleTV is not an appliance, it is not like AppleTV. It's a platform aimed at electronics manufacturers. You can take it and make a blu-ray player with it, a TV, a DVR, a cable box, anything really. You can integrate it to your Home Theater in a box, you can integrate it into your projector, you could technically make a USB adapter and ship it as software on a CD for PCs and Macs.

Right now, a few partners are on board. This includes the 299$ Logitech Revue settop box, the Sony TV and the Dish Network PVR. There's no telling what others will get in and what hardware they will ship. Final specs and features are left up to manufacturers to decide.

GoogleTV is to AppleTV what Android is to iPhone. Think about that.