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New Apple TV to Get Apps?

The reasons for the 4.2 delay?

newagemac said:
... The real allure of iPhone/Touch/iPad games is the direct interaction you get with the touch based screen where you can directly manipulate things on the screen you're looking at and probably also the portability/immediate access of it. These effects are completely lost when a traditional non touch based screen like a TV set is used for games. ...
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Agree. And that's why I think the 4.2 release has been pushed out so far. If Apple were just updating Xcode and iOS for the current iPad, 4.2 might have already been released.

I think Apple must adding support for App Store on the next-gen iPad and the new Apple TV. Increasing the 2011 iPad's pixel size to 1280x720 seems like a no-brainer. That would bring iPad up to the minimum HD spec, which would be great for marketing purposes, and it would make it easier for Apple to support HDTV-resolution Apps (and HDTV-resolution iAds).

How would it make HDTV-resolution Apps and iAds easier? Well, let's assume that Apple wants to make it possible to create "universal" apps for iPhone / iPad / Apple TV. Currently, iOS App resolution is 960x640 for iPhone 4 and iPod touch 4G. HDTV resolution is 1920x1080, or exactly twice the horizontal resolution of iOS 4.0/4.1. 960 x 2 = 1920. The same line doubling trick that was done for iOS 3.x apps on iOS 4.x could be done for iOS 4.1 apps on Apple TV with iOS 4.2.

I am not an iOS developer (yet) so I'm not completely sure what you need to do to make your App run on both iPhone 4 / iPod touch 4G and iPad. But I've heard that some developers were forced to re-do all the graphics in their apps for iPad with iOS 3.2. Ouch. It would be awkward at best to scale Apps up from 960 to 1024 pixels, with possible aliasing and other artifacts.

Eventually, Apps could be written at 1920 horizontal pixels natively so they would look great on your HDTV set in your living room. And HD Apps could be scaled down to iPad with an easy 2/3 crunch (if iPad goes to 1280 horizontal resolution) and scaled down to iPhone / iPod touch with an even easier 1/2 crunch.

The harder thing to do will be to bridge the gap between handheld multi-touch with iDevices and remote-control multi-touch with Apple TV. There are any number of ways of doing that, and I'm sure Apple has worked it all out like they always do.

newagemac said:
... Mark my words, people will be amazed when they see that they can watch episodes of "Dancing With The Stars" on their big screen HDTV just by Airplaying it from their ABC iphone app and be able to vote and interact right on the iPad. Once that takes off, more content providers will make the iOS devices a must-have source for their content just like they do now with cable, satellite, DVD, and Blu Ray. ...
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This is another huge reason for writing all "universal" iOS apps at full HDTV 1920 resolution. You could run an App on your iPhone and stream video to your Apple TV at 1920x1080, if and when Apple TV supports 1080p output. (And I believe the only reason for lack of 1080p support is limited bandwith. 1080p video files are about 2x the size of 720p files.)

If Apple can establish themselves as a solid internet-TV player with iOS and App Store, they will have reached an amazing goal. They will have made iOS compatible with screen sizes from 3.5" up to 60"+. (With the exception of the 13" - 30" laptop / desktop screen size range. For now.)
 
installing apps

does the new apple tv have some sort of memory to install the apps? Of course, there is no hard drive like before, but some sort of flash memory then??
 
rfahey said:
Why the big push for apps on the appleTV? I can sort of understand apps developed strictly for the TV but this is almost turning into a "why no flash on my iphone" situation.

iPhones and apps are developed with a touch interface in mind. There's no touch-enabled device for the apple tv. Just like flash sites are designed for mouse input when there's no mouse on your phone.

Seems to me that there's not much to complain about with the aTV so you guys are grasping at straws.
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Netflix is an app (luckily it come with apple TV).
Hulu is an app
Every pro sports league could create an app.
Every network could create their own app.

Apps on Apple TV would be like interactive channels. They wouldn't be designed for a touch interface, they'd be designed for the TV, just like the Apple TV interface is.

Apps have the potential to bring you far more content than you could ever dream of from your local cable provider. You'd only pay for what you want, and could watch what you want, whenver you wanted, you'd never be late for a show again since it starts when you tell it to.

AirPlay is a decent substitute for that. Open the app of your place, select what you want to watch on the touch screen and hit one button to display it on your TV while keeping the media control on your iOS device.
 
dexthageek said:
That is why I think even though it is $100 more, Boxee is the way to go.

Boxee contains a unified menu that allows you to search for a show and then it tells you where/how you can watch it.
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Boxee is trash man...does it do $.99 shows in HD?
Does it do Airplay with an Ipad\Iphone\Itouch?
Does it have an Apple A4 chip in it?
Does it run iOS?
 
The fact that it isn't shipping with Safari or Bluetooth is very telling IMO. I really wanted this to be the iOS device for my TV but sadly I don't see them adding an app store :( I hope I'm wrong.

All of this plus no avi or dnla support has me looking at other alternatives, inluding Google TV.
 
The Apple TV runs iOS 4.1 when delivered.
The first update will be iOS 4.2 soon after that.
Also expect an update to iTunes 10 before actual delivery.
The A4 isn't running at top speed in the Apple TV.
Everything you see is effectively an app: apple.app, video.app, netflix.app, youtube.app
New version of xcode available soon.
App development available soon.
The box is full of air – almost nothing in it – the universal power supply is the biggest part.
 
tripjammer said:
Boxee is trash man...does it do $.99 shows in HD?
Does it do Airplay with an Ipad\Iphone\Itouch?
Does it have an Apple A4 chip in it?
Does it run iOS?
Click to expand...

The boxee has apps which the apple tv currently doesnt have
It will have intels new atom chip in it which can play FULL 1080p video.
has an sd card slot which the apple tv does not

also has 2 usb ports

Comes with a keyboard on the remote.

Also 1 gig ethernet vs 10/100 on the apple tv
Just because its not apple does not make it bad.
 
BillyBobBongo said:
I fail to see how and why anyone would want Apps on this device. Every man and his dog is going on about being able to play games on it, but fail to understand that without a separate dedicated controller this is just not going to be feasible.

Apple will never expect users to shell out for an iPod or iPhone to be able to fill the role of a controller and the remote that comes with the device would be irritating as hell to use instead.

Perhaps there could be Apps from large media companies to add their content (video streaming of sports and film) into the mix that functioned in a similar way to how the menu system in the :apple:TV currently functions, but the idea of being able to use Apps in their current form as we have on iPod/Pads/Phones I just can't see happening.
Click to expand...

Well, the main reason would be for customizing the streams available. You could connect to your favorite podcast through an app, much like Boxee. The CNN app on Boxee gives you something like the website, with all the available videos lined up to choose. It gives you everything, but not the movies and shows that everyone wants.

It would also be a direct sale, like Hulu+. Would you buy those videos for $9.95 a month? Or even better, how about HBO for a similar price? The main thing that the :apple: TV could do, and what they all want to do, is replace your cable box or your satellite. No more tiered pricing. All a la carte. Rent a single show, rent a season. Who wants to be extorted into more and more premium channels? Just go straight to the producers. Rent "the Daily Show" for a year.

Of course, the big road block are the cable providers. That's why Steve Jobs has had all the problems he's had selling to the studios and the producers. That's why the :apple: Tv is a flop, so far.

The roadblock to true choice in TV is
 
Didn't Job say at the announcement something like "If you have photos on your iphone you'll be able to share them on the TV using airplay"?

That to me sounds very useful.
I don't have to sync, then stream, I can just Flick them onto my TV via the built-in Photos App in iOS4.2???
 
One of the main reasons I was going to get the Apple T.V. was Netflix, but Icurrently have it running on my PS3. I understand if Apple T.V. gets apps that would be a plus, but is there anything else I would gain by getting the Apple T.V.?
 
JeffLebowski41 said:
two words: air video.

I'd buy this thing just for that app. Throw in netflix, maybe hulu, and some content partners (I remember an hbo app being announced for later this year or next).

If they do that..my interest in the atv goes from zero to 100%
Click to expand...


Apple could potentially circumvent the cable companies and go straight to the content providers. Just imagine picking and choosing app packages of channels you really want to watch. Some people want only sports and maybe a movie channel, the possiblities are endless. I for one wouldn't mind paying $30-$40 a month for just the channels I want and ditch my cable box all together.
 
majortom1981 said:
The boxee has apps which the apple tv currently doesnt have
It will have intels new atom chip in it which can play FULL 1080p video.
has an sd card slot which the apple tv does not

also has 2 usb ports

Comes with a keyboard on the remote.

Also 1 gig ethernet vs 10/100 on the apple tv
Just because its not apple does not make it bad.
Click to expand...

Add-on apps (widgets/gadgets) and python scripts as plugins

Boxee features a Python Scripts Engine and WindowXML application framework (a XML-based widget toolkit for creating a GUI for widgets) in a similar fashion to Apple Mac OS X Dashboard Widgets and Microsoft Gadgets in Windows Sidebar. Python widget scripts allow non-developers to themselves create new add-ons functionality to Boxee, (using the easier to learn Python programming language), without knowledge of the complex C/C++ programming language that the rest of the Boxee software is written in. Current plugin scripts add-ons include functions like Internet-TV and movie-trailer browsers, cinema guides, Internet-radio-station browsers (example SHOUTcast), and much more.

Boxee recently also introduced an additional plugin architecture based on the XUL (XULRunner) framework which enables any web-based application to be integrated into Boxee as an app add-on. With this new plugin architecture Boxee uses Mozilla corebase architecture for those plugins. Since this is the same core architecture that Firefox uses, Hulu will see Boxee as any other Mozilla-based web-browser.
[edit] Skins, skinning, and the skinning-engine

Boxee GUI source code is based on XBMC Media Center which is noted for having a very flexible GUI toolkit and robust framework for its GUI, using a standard XML base, making theme-skinning and personal customization very accessible. Users can create their own skin (or simply modify an existing skin) and share it with others via public websites dedicated for XBMC skins trading.
[edit] Limitations and known issues

This is a list of current software limitations in the Boxee code, (Boxee's base source code is based on XBMC Media Center software source code so Boxee has many of the same software limitations as XBMC).

* Boxee currently cannot play any audio/music files protected/encrypted with Digital rights management (DRM), such as music purchased from the iTunes Store, MSN Music or Audible.com before DRM restrictions are lifted.
* Boxee cannot receive TV signals from a TV tuner device attached to the computer. It is therefore not possible to watch and record live TV programs.
* Boxee is currently only available for x86-based platforms, and a x86-64 version is only available for Windows and Linux. Boxee is not yet available for ARM, PowerPC, MIPS or SPARC processor architectures, though ARM architecture support is under development.
* Boxee requires an DirectX 9.0 or OpenGL 1.3 with GLSL (or newer) hardware accelerated graphics GPU and matching device drivers.
 
Dillenger said:
One of the main reasons I was going to get the Apple T.V. was Netflix, but Icurrently have it running on my PS3. I understand if Apple T.V. gets apps that would be a plus, but is there anything else I would gain by getting the Apple T.V.?
Click to expand...

Airplay!
And hopefully apps.
Hopefully the netflix in the appleTV is faster than in the PS3. I love netflix in the PS3...but Sony really needs to put netflix in the firmware or an app like the Huluplus app.
 
tripjammer said:
Airplay!
And hopefully apps.
Hopefully the netflix in the appleTV is faster than in the PS3. I love netflix in the PS3...but Sony really needs to put netflix in the firmware or an app like the Huluplus app.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. Although the putting the Netflix DVD in the PS3 every time you want to watch something is a bit of a pain, it's no reason to make me drop the $99.00 on the Apple T.V. Is the PS3 1080 or 720?
 
Dillenger said:
Thanks for the reply. Although the putting the Netflix DVD in the PS3 every time you want to watch something is a bit of a pain, it's no reason to make me drop the $99.00 on the Apple T.V. Is the PS3 1080 or 720?
Click to expand...

Netflix is 720p max I believe on the PS3. I heard that sony is going to put it as an app in the XMB real soon. Maybe in the next update. Hulu Plus works awesomely on the PS3!


Airplay my friend if you have a ipad\itouch\Iphone you will be able to stream video\pics and maybe apps to the appleTV.
 
TouchTV!

I think what is been talked about is going to happen. I can the see future of Magic trackpad to control and manipulate the multitouch feature of iOS. However the magic trackpad has the advantage of controlling the AppleTV once this is integrated into the system. The magic trackpad didn't exist for just the sake of having a larger trackpad. I believe all along this is been planned and for $70 this is a no brainer for Apple to increase the sales of magic trackpad. I'm hoping that future magic trackpads includes motion and gyro sensors. Remember that this is just to condition the minds of the consumer for $70-80 magic trackpads.
 
It will never happen since there is no storage on the device. How hard is this for people to figure out?
'it is what it is'
 
re: no storage

It apparently still has a USB port on it, which means a flash drive could easily be attached, giving it as much as 64GB of instant storage.

Might be something you have to jailbreak the device and load custom code onto it to make use of -- but not impossible, by any means.

Regardless, when they said "no storage" on it in the Keynote, that could be taken to mean no hard drive "mass storage" to allow saving shows on it. That doesn't necessarily mean it has no on-board flash memory sufficient to hold some apps. (It could have as little as 4GB or so, and it'd be plenty for that purpose, since most iApps are in the hundreds of KB range, or a few MB at most.)


brewser said:
It will never happen since there is no storage on the device. How hard is this for people to figure out?
'it is what it is'
Click to expand...
 
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