Steve Jobs on an Apple Television: No Need for 'All These Complicated Remote Controls'

[Enzobot24]

All of these "revolutionary" ideas that you guys are proposing are mere luxuries--ones that actually open up a new world of problems.

What if a family is arguing over what show to watch? How will parental control work with these voice activated commands? What if you want to watch TV quietly (late at night, while people are sleeping)?

There's a reason the remote has stood the test of time. I don't know about you, but when I want to watch DVR'd episodes of Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad it takes me mere seconds to find them and initiate playback.

And the thought of navigating my television's color management system with voice commands is a terrifying thought.

Apple will bundle a fully capable remote regardless of any new features (and they probably know this already).

 

[OllyW]

Good point. I'm not saying it replaces the remote but you can use your iPhone instead of the remote when you are around. I can easily see a pecking order over who's remote / iPhone gets priority of use when everyone is on the house. Geek dad will trump kids and techie kid will upset grandparents and neighbors across the street that didn't change the default PIN code.

It's supposed to be making it less complicated.

 

[joepunk]

Heck, my late father (and millions of other dads) had the whole "remote control" thing figured out decades ago.

You see, some of us remember actually _being_ the remote control when we were kids

Mom & Dad would sit on the couch, while us kids sat on the floor near the TV.

Whenever Dad wanted to change channels, he would simply speak the command: "Son, change to Lost in Space!" and it would magically be done for him.

(And that included adjusting the fine tuner, the horizontal and vertical holds, and even the tint on color sets!)

My dads stepfather engineered a mute button (wired of course) for his tv back in the 1950's. For what it's worth I've said to my dad that they should have patented the thing.

 

[firewood]

There's a reason the remote has stood the test of time.

So has the numeric keypad on cell phones. There's no reason for multi-touch input, on-screen keyboards, voice commands, or cameras on cell phones. It's far more convenient to just push the dozen or so buttons on your iPhone's keypad.

What? Only one button? How could that possibly work!

 

[freetobelee]

AppleTV software sucks

that being said... i'm already using siri to dictate mine with the remote app.

 

[iSayuSay]

Can HE just be revived, or cloned, or something?

Guys like JOBS should live 200 or 300 years at least.

THAT would be a game changer. Revolution every couple of years. Joy in products, technology dreams, great - INSANELY GREAT stuff.

Now imagine if we're left with only GATES and BALMERS.

Yeah .. leave us with 100 people like Bill Gates and I'm sure no longer homeless person exist on earth .. You have problem with that?

Not all aspect about Jobs are good, just as not all about Gates are bad, so stop over-worshipping a person, not good for your (mental) health

 

[TheTSArt]

In the Steve Jobs biography, on August 24 after the board meeting where Steve resigned:

"Over lunch, Scott Forstall and Phil Schiller came in to display mockups of some products that Apple had in the pipeline. Jobs peppered them with questions and thoughts, especially about what capacities the fourth-generation cellular networks might have and what features needed to be in future phones.

At one point Forstall showed off a voice recognition app. As he feared, Jobs grabbed the phone in the middle of the demo and proceeded to see if he could confuse it...."

I may be entirely wrong, but to me that sounds like Steve was introduced to Siri at that point. Considering his reported health after that I just cannot understand how he translated that technology into 'licking' the problems with television in that short period of time before he died.

 

[scoobydoo99]

I don't know either but if you spend enough time here you will hear the long time Apple fanboys whining about "how complicated television remote controls are". I guess us Windows converts are a little ahead of them and have figured out the "highly complex" television remote controls while long time Apple Fanboys require that they are limited to 2 or 3 three buttons to be able to understand them.

I can't think of a better post to exemplify the Windoze fanboi mantra than this one! It's a type of thinking that can't be reasoned with, only puzzled over.

After all, we Apple fanboys have compained about Windows for years! The "Windows converts" must just be "ahead of us" - they understand how to dig through the Windows registry and tinker with all the arcane settings needed just to get the machine to run. Why should we want anything simple and intuitive?! We must just be overwhelmed by the technology and can't understand its complexities! If we find Windows to be a time-sucking chore and a disaster to use, it must be because we just aren't competent enough to use it! Why bother building a better interface when, with hundreds of hours of clicking, typing, rebooting, and reinstalling, we could just learn to love Windows!

 

[devilstrider]

I can't think of a better post to exemplify the Windoze fanboi mantra than this one! It's a type of thinking that can't be reasoned with, only puzzled over.

After all, we Apple fanboys have compained about Windows for years! The "Windows converts" must just be "ahead of us" - they understand how to dig through the Windows registry and tinker with all the arcane settings needed just to get the machine to run. Why should we want anything simple and intuitive?! We must just be overwhelmed by the technology and can't understand its complexities! If we find Windows to be a time-sucking chore and a disaster to use, it must be because we just aren't competent enough to use it! Why bother building a better interface when, with hundreds of hours of clicking, typing, rebooting, and reinstalling, we could just learn to love Windows!

I never have to do that with windows. My PC always works. Also I like knowing how something works and can fix it myself instead of spending crazy money at the genius bar after your $300 apple care expires. I have a Mac and love it the same as my windows PCs. To many people don't take the time to figure out how and why something works. They don't care as long as it works. Then when it's time to get it fixed they don't want to pay that high price of repairs.

 

[Oletros]

I can't think of a better post to exemplify the Windoze fanboi mantra than this one! It's a type of thinking that can't be reasoned with, only puzzled over.

After all, we Apple fanboys have compained about Windows for years! The "Windows converts" must just be "ahead of us" - they understand how to dig through the Windows registry and tinker with all the arcane settings needed just to get the machine to run. Why should we want anything simple and intuitive?! We must just be overwhelmed by the technology and can't understand its complexities! If we find Windows to be a time-sucking chore and a disaster to use, it must be because we just aren't competent enough to use it! Why bother building a better interface when, with hundreds of hours of clicking, typing, rebooting, and reinstalling, we could just learn to love Windows!

It's not 1.996, it's 2.011

 

[JAT]

I never have to do that with windows. My PC always works. Also I like knowing how something works and can fix it myself instead of spending crazy money at the genius bar after your $300 apple care expires.

If it always works, why do you have to fix it?

 

[devilstrider]

If it always works, why do you have to fix it?

Because I like to take apart things. I experiment a lot so if i screw something up I have to fix it. It's trail and error learning for me.

 

[TwinCities Dan]

I don't know either but if you spend enough time here you will hear the long time Apple fanboys whining about "how complicated television remote controls are". I guess us Windows converts are a little ahead of them and have figured out the "highly complex" television remote controls while long time Apple Fanboys require that they are limited to 2 or 3 three buttons to be able to understand them.

So much pompousness and ignorance. It's amazing you fit it all in one paragraph!

 

[rstansby]

Steve Jobs was obsessed with "simplifying" the TV remote control, as evidenced by the standard Apple remote. Meanwhile Logitech and others have made remotes that are much more useful. I really don't understand what his complaints were. It will be interesting if they do come out with a SIRI controlled TV, you will have to tell everyone in the room to be quiet so you can change the channel, or volume on your TV.

----------

In the Steve Jobs biography, on August 24 after the board meeting where Steve resigned:

"Over lunch, Scott Forstall and Phil Schiller came in to display mockups of some products that Apple had in the pipeline. Jobs peppered them with questions and thoughts, especially about what capacities the fourth-generation cellular networks might have and what features needed to be in future phones.

At one point Forstall showed off a voice recognition app. As he feared, Jobs grabbed the phone in the middle of the demo and proceeded to see if he could confuse it...."

I may be entirely wrong, but to me that sounds like Steve was introduced to Siri at that point. Considering his reported health after that I just cannot understand how he translated that technology into 'licking' the problems with television in that short period of time before he died.

August 24th was certainly not the first time Steve Jobs heard of Siri. Perhaps it was the first time he used Siri on an iPhone.

Apple purchased Siri in April of 2010.

 

[AidenShaw]

I never have to do that with windows.

But I'd like to learn more about Apple OSX maintenance tasks like "trashing the plists" and "zapping the pram".

In particular, what happens if the baby is still in the pram when you zap it?

Steve Jobs was obsessed with "simplifying" the TV remote control, as evidenced by the standard Apple remote. Meanwhile Logitech and others have made remotes that are much more useful.

<insert cliché like "prying my Logitech Harmony out of my cold dead hands">

 

[Eidorian]

But I'd like to learn more about Apple OSX maintenance tasks like "trashing the plists" and "zapping the pram".

In particular, what happens if the baby is still in the pram when you zap it?

>repairing disk permissions

 

[lanceh5]

This sounds great and about time. I will buy three. Over the years we have bought and still have three TV's and three DVD players all from different manufactures. The remotes are a pita. Apple will do it right.

 

[AidenShaw]

This sounds great and about time. I will buy three. Over the years we have bought and still have three TV's and three DVD players all from different manufactures. The remotes are a pita. Apple will do it right.

If you buy three new TVs and three new BD players from Apple, and send everything that you currently own to the toxic ewaste dump.

Or, buy a $200 Logitech Harmony remote and keep your existing kit.

 

[MattInOz]

In the Steve Jobs biography, on August 24 after the board meeting where Steve resigned:

"Over lunch, Scott Forstall and Phil Schiller came in to display mockups of some products that Apple had in the pipeline. Jobs peppered them with questions and thoughts, especially about what capacities the fourth-generation cellular networks might have and what features needed to be in future phones.

At one point Forstall showed off a voice recognition app. As he feared, Jobs grabbed the phone in the middle of the demo and proceeded to see if he could confuse it...."

I may be entirely wrong, but to me that sounds like Steve was introduced to Siri at that point. Considering his reported health after that I just cannot understand how he translated that technology into 'licking' the problems with television in that short period of time before he died.

Ummm... maybe it wasn't just Siri that convinced him he had a solution.
Maybe it was the talk regarding LTE and 4th Generation Cellular Networks?

Or a combo of the two and some other things they talked about. Or all that and some other stuff he'd been talking to someone else about. Everything I've read suggested Steve Jobs was a multi-homing kind of guy, who could bring ideas and tech together that might not have been brought together.

Now all the Apple guys who worked with would know this and when telling the story would have left out the left field topic of convo. that was the secret sauce.

 

[darster]

This may be the next step in the evolution television. Dual core HDMI/USB wifi stick. Load what you want on the stick from your computer, and plug the it into your HDMI port on your tv. Eliminate those boxes to stream netflix, etc. Interesting to see if they can pull it off. $200 seems like a steep price, and people by nature need to see something with size for that money. People may find it hard to believe that a little usb stick was actually worth it, even for $100, the equivalent of the ATV, Roku, etc.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/11/android-cotton-candy-fxi/

 

[till213]

Somehow I gotta believe they've figured this one out

Yes off course: you would push that SINGLE BIG RED BUTTON on that extra remote control whenever you would speak with your TV! That is what Steve meant by saying "I finally cracked it"!

 

[till213]

What? Only one button? How could that possibly work!

Well, it doesn't: ever tried to use your iPhone as a remote control (Apple Remote or any other "remote app")? It sucks big time!

The time you have activated the iPhone (startup, PIN, launch app, ...) I have zapped through a gadzillion of channels!

And don't make me go crazy with "voice control": "zap! zap! zap! zap! Damn zap it, Siri, you bitch, faster!"

 

[KnightWRX]

So has the numeric keypad on cell phones. There's no reason for multi-touch input, on-screen keyboards, voice commands, or cameras on cell phones. It's far more convenient to just push the dozen or so buttons on your iPhone's keypad.

What? Only one button? How could that possibly work!

Not to sound like a douche, but my iPhone still has that good old trusty numeric keypad.

 

[mentholiptus]

Ok... What is it then ?

Who are all these people that say others are wrong and then don't offer any insight into why ?

You already own it. The Apple TV remote.

Wire the HDMI inputs into a home screen as icons. (like app switching on the iPad/iPhone)

While watching TV from your set top box, hit “menu”, from the home screen choose the “DVD” icon (which is just HDMI2), and now you’re using the DVD player. Hit menu, and the icon for cable lets you go back to the set top box (or HDMI1). Maybe home screen channels (inputs) can access devices over wifi and be controlled with the remote as well.

The remote buttons are specific to each device. They may need to add 2-3 more buttons, but most device surfing/operation could be done with a minimal set of buttons on the remote.

So, it’ll work like the iPhone/iPad and sort of like the current apple tv. The menu button is your home button, and the inputs are "app" icons, so to speak. HDMI allows one remote to operate multiple devices, correct? Too much focus on “ala carte” TV, and siri integration. Cable is embedded and here to stay for the foreseeable future. To ignore cable would make the TV useless to millions (billions?). Too many people have optical collections. The set needs to work with what people already expect/own, to a certain degree.


Button 1 & 3 = volume
Button 2 & 6 = channels on TV, FF/RW on optical devices, etc
Button 5 = select, or select/guide/record on TV?
Button 4 = home screen, or back
Button 7 = play/pause

We might need a dedicated record and guide button for TV navigation, and that should cover it, no?

 

[Oletros]

You already own it. The Apple TV remote.

What? Call me when I can go from channel 2 to channel 30 in less than a minute pushing up, up, up,...