Another company you've probably never heard of before today is after a slice of Apple's pie. This time it's Swiss company SmartData, who claims Apple is willfully infringing its patent on a "modular computer" with the Apple TV, iPhone, and Remote app.

As noted by Electronista, SmartData doesn't seem to produce any products or have any clients, so this seems to be yet another case of a company seeking to make money solely off its patent portfolio. SmartData was reportedly in licensing talks with Apple as early as 2004, but the companies' communication abruptly ended two years later.

Electronista classifies SmartData's claim as "somewhat tenuous," noting that nothing in the claim actually appears to apply to Apple's products. That, plus the fact that the claim was filed in Apple's San Jose court district rather than the plaintiff-friendly East Texas district, makes it far less likely that SmartData will succeed in its claim.

Swiss company SmartData sues Apple over Apple TV, iPhone originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Swiss company SmartData sues Apple over Apple TV, iPhone originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Based on AppleInsider's screenshots of the updated Apple TV UI, this feature appears essentially identical to the Genius recommendation features already present in iTunes on the Mac and iOS devices. With access to your library and purchase history, the Apple TV can now recommend TV or movie content based on what you've watched before.

Apple TV now offers Genius recommendations for movies, TV shows originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple TV now offers Genius recommendations for movies, TV shows originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

That hobby still turns out to be pretty lucrative for Apple, though. Apple sold 2.8 million units during the 2011 fiscal year -- a low number compared to sales of its other devices, but the US$99 product still added $280 million or so in revenue for the year. Nothing to sneeze at. According to Tim Cook, however, Apple's sales of the device for its most recent quarter totaled 1.4 million, so even though the device hasn't been updated in quite some time, demand for it remains steady.

Apple is in a very interesting position where it can consider a device that brought in $140 million in revenue over three months a "hobby." Cook and the other execs on the call gave no indication that the Apple TV would be updated in the near future, so the Apple HDTV remains 2012's Little Rumor that Could.

Apple TV: $140 million worth sold in three months, but still a 'hobby' originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple TV: $140 million worth sold in three months, but still a 'hobby' originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apple was the first computer manufacturer to popularize Wi-Fi, pioneering the adoption of the early 802.11b standard, then 802.11g, and raising the speed limit with 802.11n in 2007. Now AppleInsider is reporting that the company is expected to start providing support for the "Gigabit Wi-Fi" 802.11ac standard in 2012.

To provide lightning-fast wireless networking, 802.11ac uses up to four times the frequency bandwidth (up to 160 MHz), more antennas (up to eight; existing Macs use up to three), and hyper-efficient data transfers through more sophisticated modulation schemes.

The standard hasn't yet been approved by the 802.11 Working Group, but things are moving along at a fast clip. Many suppliers, including Apple component manufacturer Broadcom, have announced 802.11ac chipsets. The new equipment not only provides network speeds above 1 Gigabit per second (about three times the speed of existing 802.11n networks), but also offers improved reliability, better power efficiency, and more range.

When the changes come, they'll most likely first appear in the form of new AirPort base stations and a new Time Capsule, and then start rolling out to new Mac models and mobile devices. Where the new technology will have the biggest impact is in the user of other Apple technologies such as AirPlay, AirPlay Mirroring, and AirDrop.

Now aren't you glad you didn't run Ethernet cabling all over your house?

Gigabit 802.11ac Wi-Fi may be coming to Apple devices soon originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gigabit 802.11ac Wi-Fi may be coming to Apple devices soon originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

According to Patently Apple, Apple has been awarded a patent that it filed over five years ago related to sorting episodic TV content on the Apple TV. Steve Jobs himself is among the people credited with the patent, which on the surface merely appears to describe the sorting features already present in the Apple TV's interface.

Patently Apple dug a bit deeper, though, and found an interesting tidbit referring to menus that "correspond to television shows that have either been recorded from a broadcast or purchased from a content provider." This seems to suggest that at one point there were plans to include DVR-like functionality in the Apple TV; it's unclear if those plans were shelved indefinitely or if they'll show up in some future iteration of Apple's "hobby."

An updated Apple TV, perhaps integrated within its own dedicated display, is pretty much 2012's Rumor of the Year. An included DVR-like function which combines the existing Apple TV interface with a TiVo-esque recording ability would be a killer feature. As usual, though, Apple's patents aren't necessarily indicative of products it actually plans to bring to market -- particularly a patent filed so long ago.

Steve Jobs awarded patent for episodic TV on the Apple TV originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Steve Jobs awarded patent for episodic TV on the Apple TV originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The "iTV" rumourmill -- speculation that Apple will be releasing a full-size television, screen and all -- is back to full speed again. I've long been skeptical about this possibility, but even I have to concede that we reached the "no smoke without fire" level some time ago. The rumours are too numerous and too persistent to not have some sort of substance to them.

Nevertheless, there's a few aspects of the most frequently repeated speculation that don't make sense to me; I'll explain which ones, and why, below. Want to add your own voice to the discussion? Jump into our comments section!

The future of video distribution

The big-picture issue that drives many of the rumours is the coming battle over how we, the viewers, will receive and pay for television content.

On the one hand, we have the status quo: "conventional" broadcast and subscription TV (over the air, cable, digital terrestrial or satellite). Pay TV income today is about $300 billion world-wide, with about $100 billion of that in the USA alone; that's a roughly equal split between advertising and subscription fees.

It's a highly incestuous market, in which content producers and content delivery firms are often owned by the same parent companies or bound to each other in complex webs of cross-licensing deals. However, cable TV firms acknowledge the tough times ahead as their business models are placed under threat by the wave of Internet based streaming. Still, though, no one's going to be keen to place the current huge incomes under any threat without some clear payoffs to a new business model.

And then there's the other hand. There's a common view that existing services like iTunes, Netflix, Hulu and other "over-the-top content" streams are glimpses of the future. A future where people pay for the individual shows or episodes they want and watch it whenever they choose, rather than being restricted by channel packages and schedules. If that's to be the future, though, there's massive uncertainty over how the giant media companies can get from here to there without going broke in the process. Smoothing over the disruption of a $300 billion industry isn't easy. Making turkeys vote for Christmas is even harder.

Will Apple be part of the efforts to push this change through, or will the Apple TV remain a "hobby"?

Apple TV vs "iTV"

Much of the recent speculation has focused on Apple's alleged plans to expand its existing Apple TV set-top box into a full blown screen-and-all television. I'm going to call this mythical device "iTV" here, for clarity, although I doubt it would ever ship with that name because that might cause confusion with UK broadcaster ITV.

I must confess, the idea of the iTV doesn't make much sense to me.

First, the big downside as I see it: Apple TV is, famously, barely more than a "hobby" for Apple because of low sales -- but a $1000+ premium HDTV is necessarily going to be a far harder sell than a $99 add-on. Plus, people simply don't change their living room TVs as often as they change most other gadgets in their life.

What are the potential upsides, though? Firstly, remember that most of the (slightly breathless) benefits that are being attributed to the iTV -- cord-cutting, disrupting existing pay TV business models, iTunes streaming, and so forth -- are just as applicable to the Apple TV as the iTV. Hence these are not reasons for Apple to create an iTV. It could tick all those boxes with some new Apple TV software or a new hardware version. The list of unique-to-iTV features is non-zero but makes for a far less compelling product.

Second, cabling. It's true that wiring in a TV isn't simple at all -- in fact it's one of those complicated areas of tech that Apple seems to delight in turning upside-down. However, I have reservations about Apple's ability to revolutionise here because people (I contend) expect to be able to plug all sorts of stuff into their TVs. Can you imagine a successful iTV that shipped without multiple inputs for component, HDMI, composite, and so forth? A TV which didn't allow the addition of a games console or a DVR or (shudder) a VHS player for the (double shudder) family's home movie collection? But if a TV has all those ports, how can it be any simpler to set up or use than existing ones?

Second, UI. I've used a few brands of HDTV and it's probably fair to say the on-screen displays are often workmanlike at best. Apple could bring some slick polish to this area. But... how often do you use these screens? Personally, I tweak the brightness levels on my TV a few times a week to account for changes in the ambient light level. That's about it. I don't think most consumers use these interfaces often enough to muster any wallet-opening enthusiasm about what they look like.

Third, AirPlay. Something that happens quite a lot in our household is for one of us to be viewing content, on a Mac or an iOS device, and want to share that with other people in the room. The ability to seamlessly shunt videos, pictures, and audio onto a television via AirPlay is extremely useful for this (although the lack of baked-in AirPlay support in OS X is a puzzle). However, it relies on the television already being on the right HDMI input. It would be more useful still if the AirPlay client was built into the TV itself so you could use it regardless of what was currently showing, or even if the TV was in standby. This is why we suggested that the Apple TV is a compelling accessory for the iPhone and iPad.

Does all of this add up to a solid set of reasons to junk an existing HDTV and buy an Apple iTV? I'd say not -- not for most people, anyway. The benefits are just too slim. Apple might find it an easier sell to target people who don't yet have an HDTV, but that by definition will be the less affluent and least tech-focused consumers; that's not a great market segment to pitch a premium device at. Apple could negate some of the disadvantages if it launched a cut-price device, but with margins generally pretty thin in the mainstream HDTV market it'd be left not making any money -- in which case, why bother?

Another minor point to finish off with: having watched someone wrestle a 27" iMac out of an Apple Store and across a 10 minute walk to his car recently, I'm not convinced Apple retail stores are really set up for such large-box purchases. Yet retail is such a significant part of Apple's success story that it's hard to imagine it being sidelined for iTV sales.

However, I could be wrong; Apple's a lot smarter than I am, so maybe it's found a compelling angle I've overlooked. Or perhaps the rumours are half-right, and Apple is going to revolutionize the world of video distribution -- but via the Apple TV, rather than an iTV. What forms might that revolution take?

The UI challenge

If over-the-top is to be the future of TV, there is a significant challenge coming regarding how that content is organised and presented to the user. Existing "browse" type UIs, whether the genre-based structure of iTunes or Netflix or the channel-centric nature of a traditional pay TV set-top box, don't really scale well to having hundreds of thousands of titles for a user to choose from. I'm also dubious about any "search" type UIs that rely on the user hunting-and-pecking an on-screen QWERTY keyboard via a remote control with an up/down/left/right block. It simply feels ungainly and awkward to me. Steve Jobs famously said he "cracked it"; do we really think he could be talking about something so kludgy?

One possible answer is to rely more heavily on personalised recommendations, rather like Amazon or TiVo. Indeed, I wouldn't be surprised to see this become an area Apple looks to innovate in -- perhaps by acquiring a startup, as they did for Siri. But no amount of recommendation smarts can hope to ever fully replace the search box, which will always require the user to somehow enter free-form text.

The Boxee Box solves this problem with a two-sided remote; the upper surface resembles the sparse Apple remote, with just seven buttons: up/down/left/right, select, play/pause, and menu. The flip side has a micro-sized QWERTY keyboard. It's alright, but the keyboard is tricky to type on and isn't backlit, presumably for battery life reasons. It's consequently very difficult to enter text in a dim home theatre room.

So how can Apple drive this forward, then?

The iPhone as a controller

Many people believe that iOS devices will be the answer. As they are blank slates for software to project a flexible and changing UI upon, the reasoning goes that they are perfect for this. They can display a five-way pad for basic UI navigation, transport controls during playback, and switch to an on-screen keyboard when that's a better choice. The existing Remote app for the iPad/iPhone that works with the Apple TV is a good example of this context-sensitive control.

This solution isn't without its charms, but I have some reservations. For one, there are households with more people than iOS devices -- particularly those with young children. If your son or daughter wants to watch cartoons, are you really going to hand over your iPhone so they can turn the TV on? Are you going to be happy to buy a $300 iPod touch to go with your $99 Apple TV?

Secondly, there's a growing demand these days for so-called "two screen viewing"; the TV showing a movie or program, viewers each with a smartphone in hand or computer in lap -- perhaps checking Facebook during ad breaks, or doing quick IMDb lookups to answer "who's that guy?" queries (I must confess, I do this a lot). Some broadcasters are starting to pick up on this and launch companion apps, such as the deal between Sky TV and zeebox; sporting leagues like the NBA or MLB in the States already produce such 'sideview' apps, and third parties like Yahoo's intoNow have similar capabilities.

iOS devices, of course, don't have deep multitasking. Are you going to be satisfied with having to switch away from your Twitter app halfway through writing a tweet so you can channel hop, mute an annoying advert, or -- even worse -- pause playback when the doorbell rings?

Also, you can't use an iOS device as a remote control without looking at it, because it's a flat sheet of undifferentiated glass. If you don't think that's a problem, next time you watch TV for an hour, make a point of always looking directly at the remote before every single button press. It sounds minor but it's surprisingly annoying.

Moreover, if you watch movies in a darkened room then your iPhone will default to eye-searing brightness levels. It's long annoyed me that the "adjust brightness automatically" setting doesn't go far enough in either direction.

For this reasons, whilst I accept that an iOS device can be a useful ancillary controller for a home audio-visual setup, I don't think it can be a compelling primary controller.

Siri

Much fuss has been made about the possibilities of using Apple's Siri voice-recognition technology for TV control, both for and against. I see upsides and downsides.

There's no doubt that voice recognition could be compelling for the "I want to watch the latest episode of Breaking Bad" use case -- in other words when you turn the television on knowing exactly what you want to do. It also appears that Siri's recognition engine is easily sophisticated enough to cope. Microsoft's Kinect for Xbox already supports this sort of thing, and is reasonably successful at it.

As with the iOS-device-as-controller scenario, however, there are some ways in which Siri would be a step back from a traditional remote control. Again, next time you watch TV, try speaking each command aloud as you press the button. "HDMI one... Volume up... Volume up... Volume up... Channel down..." It feels ridiculous and clumsy.

There is one use case I see where voice control is superior -- "pause playback so I can deal with this emergency." If the dog just knocked your New Yorker all over your cream carpet, not having to fumble for the remote whilst also running for a towel and shouting at the hound is useful. Apart from this, though, I simply don't think Siri for routine television UI navigation is compelling.

There are physical downsides also. Kinect's voice control only works because it has a good quality directional microphone built in to the sensor bar, which is always placed near to the screen. Siri, of course, is on a device you naturally speak in to and hold at close range. Building a pickup into the body of an Apple TV might not work very well, as people often tuck them into AV racks where the sound would be muffled. Having a small microphone on a wire would be ugly, and requiring the user to talk into an iOS device would incur the disadvantages covered in the previous section. An iTV could solve this problem, of course, by integrating the microphone into the housing of the device.

Overall, although I could see a place for Siri, and although it seems to attract a lot of attention from bloggers, I'm not sure it's the most interesting part of the puzzle. I think the really juicy stuff is: what would we watch on an iTV?

Content sources

Along with the user experience difficulties, Apple faces commercial ones if it is to push iTunes streaming as a mainstream alternative to (as opposed to supplement to) existing pay TV solutions like cable and satellite. Namely, content.

So far, the Apple TV has been a slightly odd halfway house. The primary focus of the device is undoubtably iTunes content, but iTunes doesn't have everything. There's some limited concessions in the form of baked-into-the-OS apps for Netflix and NHL/NBA/NFL streaming, as well as some Internet services like Youtube, Vimeo, and Flickr. Compared to the wide variety of streaming services out there, though, this is just a drop in the ocean.

The big question here is whether or not Apple will open Apple TV up with an App Store for streaming content. On the one hand, it seems to make perfect sense. It seems unlikely that, going forward, we are going to have one source to rule them all for over-the-top content. Most content producers and distributers are keener on controlling at least some of the customer relationship via their own apps. So we have current episodes on dedicated apps like HBO Go, the BBC's iPlayer, or Hulu whilst older archival content appears on Netflix or Amazon Video.

If the content players won't simply put everything they have into iTunes (perhaps because they are afraid of giving Apple too much control), why not allow them to ship their own apps for the Apple TV? This approach seems to be working OK for other iOS devices. Apple could mandate in-app payments and take a cut from them, exactly as it does on the mainstream App Store, so it'd make some money too.

If Apple wanted to do this, though, I think it already would have done. The Apple TV is five years old and it's been an iOS device for almost 18 months now. So why might it not want to open the platform up? One explanation I can think of is that it doesn't want the user experience to be fragmented.

Consider the Boxee Box. Boxee does a reasonable job of aggregating content across many of its sources; so, for example, if I do a search for Memento I might see a single result that offers me multiple ways to watch the film: a premium streaming service like Vudu, perhaps a free ad-supported service, and the DVD ISO stored on my file server (I love that film). But, crucially, Netflix content is not aggregated outside the interface of Boxee's dedicated Netflix app, so it doesn't appear in search results. Similarly, even though Vudu content is reachable from the generic Boxee UI, the actual Vudu app has a nicer experience that does a better job of highlighting new releases and sale titles.

I suspect, eventually, Apple will buckle and we'll get an App Store for the Apple TV. I certainly hope so, at least. It'd be a much more useful device.

I don't think that shipping apps for iOS and using AirPlay to stream them to an Apple TV is a really convincing answer to this problem, either. Many of the disadvantages listed under "the iPhone as a controller" apply to this model, plus battery life becomes an issue from the constant Wifi streaming. Do you really want to have to routinely put your phone on charge before you can settle down to watch a movie?

There's also little clarity about the fundamental business model. So far, we have iTunes, Vudu, and the link with the pay-per-episode model, bolstered with season passes, while Netflix, Hulu and others have a monthly-fee, watch-all-you-want model. The latter model might be more comfortable to consumers as its basically how pay TV works today.

There are rumours going back to 2009 that Apple is seeking to adopt a subscription plan. However, Reuters reported recently that Microsoft scrapped its online TV subscription business before launch because it couldn't agree a price with content providers that matched the price it felt it could charge consumers for the service. There's certainly a large discrepancy between the costs most people will pay for a monthly cable subscription and the cost of a Netflix or Hulu Plus account, for example. Dan Frommer speculates that unless the large content companies agree to simply make a lot less money than they do at the moment -- and why would they? -- this is going to be a huge roadblock to subscription-based service offering fresh content.

International iTunes

As a native of Britain, I am painfully aware that iTunes video content outside the US is drastically truncated -- an issue that sometimes doesn't receive the attention it deserves from the often US-centric tech blogs. Even worse, Netflix only works in the US, Canada and UK. TV shows are only available in six countries, and even movie rentals are only available in 50. By comparison, the iPhone is available in more than 120 countries. The bottom line is, the Apple TV isn't anywhere near as attractive a device around the world as it is in the US.

If Apple is going to fulfill the grandiose dreams many people have for it to revolutionise video distribution, it's going to have to get to the bottom of this somehow. I don't mean to gloss over the stupendously complex world of international distribution rights for TV shows and movies, but for it to still be so poor five years after the product launched suggests Apple isn't giving this matter top priority. That won't do at all. There's a lot of world outside America's borders.

Wrapping up

I think what the future holds is cloudy and far less obvious than many people are painting it. Yes, the sheer volume and persistence of the rumours surrounding Apple's ambitions in the TV market make it likely that something is coming... but from where I'm sitting, it doesn't look clear-cut that Apple are going to change the world again, either.

To finish up, I'd like to return to the famous quote given to Walter Isaacson by Steve Jobs; that Apple had "cracked it" regarding the future of TV. Less attention has been paid to this followup statement by Isaccson in an interview with CNet (thanks to Yoni Heisler for pointing this out to me):

Q: How far along were they on the TV? Did you get any indication of that when talking to Jobs?

A: They weren't close at all. He told me it was very theoretical. These were theoretical things they were thinking about in the future.

Apple's plans for your living room: On Apple TV, "iTV", Siri, and all the rest originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 15 Jan 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple's plans for your living room: On Apple TV, "iTV", Siri, and all the rest originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 15 Jan 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

If you're eager for the possibilities for a fully app-enabled Apple TV, the jailbreak hacker geniuses are right there with you. Last week saw some proof of concept demonstrations from Steve Troughton-Smith and @TheMudkip, featuring native applications running on the iOS-based settop device.

The input mechanisms are a bit wonky at the present stage -- without a touchscreen, the devs need to use a combination of VNC, touchpad and keyboard inputs -- but remote support is on the way, they say. Troughton-Smith has released a UIKit library for other developers to play with, and the first third-party demo (a weather radar app) is apparently working now.

Now there's a nice high-def video demo, seen below, via MacDaddyNews, that gives a better sense of the capabilities of this hack. While some apps may appear sluggish, that's an artifact of the control scheme; the final product should be nice and snappy.

Jailbreaking the current version (4.4.4) of the Apple TV got easier last week, as the free jailbreak tool Seas0nPass was updated to allow an untethered jailbreak of the device. A jailbroken Apple TV can use third-party plugins such as XBMC, NitoTV or Plex.

Proof of concept: iOS apps on jailbroken Apple TV originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Proof of concept: iOS apps on jailbroken Apple TV originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

OK, we'll probably get a lot of comments for this award, but in our reader nominations and voting, the second-generation Apple TV consistently won out as the most popular iPhone accessory of 2011. As a result, it wins a coveted TUAW Best of 2011 award.

Why did we consider the Apple TV to be an iPhone accessory? Because the device works so well with the iPhone. If you want to blast videos or photos that you've taken with your iPhone onto a large screen HDTV, the Apple TV is a fast, inexpensive (US$99) and wireless way to do so. The iPhone can act as a remote control for your Apple TV, although that almost turns the tables on the situation and makes the iPhone an accessory to the little black box.

The readers have spoken: 46.5 percent of respondents in our poll agreed that the second-generation Apple TV is a perfect match to an iPhone, and voted it into the TUAW Best of 2011.

In second place with 21.0 percent of the votes was a much more traditional iPhone accessory: the LifeProof case ($79.99) for iPhone 4 and 4S. This is a lightweight and relatively skinny case that offers incredible waterproof protection for your favorite phone.

Congratulations again to Apple for creating a winner!

Apple TV 2 is the favorite iPhone accessory of TUAW readers originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple TV 2 is the favorite iPhone accessory of TUAW readers originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apple has just announced a special iTunes version of James Cameron's Avatar that will not only include some special extras like the film's script and a big 1,700 picture special effects gallery of pictures to browse through, but allow viewers to actually control 17 scenes as they happen, switching between different views like the finished film, rough CG cuts, and the original live action motion capture footage. Viewers will also be able to "x-ray" these scenes, moving a special view around the screen that will show off the original live action footage, superimposed over the finished movie.

Sounds pretty awesome to us. Special features have obviously been a standby of disc-based movies for years, and modern Blu Ray discs offer up split-screen and onscreen special effects information and footage for all kinds of movies. But this is something that's really interactive, and it's exclusively on iTunes (Apple doesn't say yet if the special footage will work on an iPad or an iPhone, though it seems likely, right?). That's a nice get for Apple, and it might be an indication of more features like this to come (which would make for nice viewing fodder on a possible Apple TV, wouldn't it).

You can preorder the movie on iTunes right now. The special edition version will cost you $20, while the regular edition itself is $15.

iTunes version of Avatar will let users control scenes, more originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iTunes version of Avatar will let users control scenes, more originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apple has updated the Apple TV's software to version 4.4.4, though Mac Rumors and several other sites note that it's not yet clear what improvements the update offers over 4.4.3. The Apple TV's software remains significantly out of step with other iOS-powered devices; iPads and newer iPhones and iPod touches are now capable of running iOS 5, but the Apple TV remains running on iOS 4.

Apple has also issued a new version of iOS 5.0.1 exclusively for the iPhone 4S. While the build version differs from the previously released 5.0.1 update, users who have already updated to iOS 5.0.1 will be told that theirs is the most current version, suggesting that the new build contains only very minor tweaks not necessitating a 5.0.2 release. Anyone who has not yet updated to iOS 5.0.1 will consequently be updated to this new build version when/if they choose to update from 5.0.

Meanwhile, iOS 5.1 is currently in beta and recently had its second developer build released.

Apple TV updated to 4.4.4, iOS 5.0.1 'tweaked' for iPhone 4S originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple TV updated to 4.4.4, iOS 5.0.1 'tweaked' for iPhone 4S originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

There's good news for our Apple TV-owning mates in Australia, Canada, and the UK. A new software update was sent to Apple TVs in those countries, and TV shows are now available for purchase and download on the device.

These are actual purchases, not rentals. You purchase the episodes or a season, and the content is then streamed from iCloud for your viewing pleasure. Want to watch that one special episode of Fringe over and over again? No problem.

According to readers, the episode downloads cost anywhere from "free" to CAD$2.49 (AUD$2.99). This is a new source of content for Apple TV owners in these other primarily English-speaking countries. To get the update, turn on your Apple TV and it should show that an update is available for download and installation. The other method that works is to go to Settings > General > Update to check for the new software.

Apple TV updates bring streaming TV purchases to Australia, Canada and the UK originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple TV updates bring streaming TV purchases to Australia, Canada and the UK originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apple has released Apple TV Software Update 4.4.3. The minor update, labeled Build 9A4051, adds support for Netflix in Mexico and also addresses an audio issue where audio wouldn't play through the optical port when a user's TV was turned off. You can apply the update by going to Settings>General>Update Software on your Apple TV.

Apple releases Apple TV Software Update 4.4.3 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple releases Apple TV Software Update 4.4.3 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Our sister blog TechCrunch just posted a rumor suggesting that the current Apple TV might be replaced with a newer model in the very near future.

As Matt Burns at TechCrunch reports, Amazon and Best Buy are now selling the second-generation Apple TV for $89, one full Hamilton less than the MSRP. Amazon has also marked the product name with the number "2010" in parentheses, perhaps suggesting that there will be a 2011 or 2012 edition rolling out soon.

The existing model has been around since September 1, 2010, and a new device might very well replace the single-core A4 with a dual-core A5. That bump would help 1080p playback and smooth out the UI on the Apple TV.

Burns believes that if a new Apple TV is on the way, it would be likely to hit the market before the holiday buying binge starts -- perhaps as soon as the next few days. If not, a refresh wouldn't be likely until 2012.

Rumor: New Apple TV on the way, suggests TechCrunch originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Rumor: New Apple TV on the way, suggests TechCrunch originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Logitech Chief Executive Guerrino De Luca says his company's dance with Google TV was a "big mistake" and says it will stop producing the set top box.

The Verge website quotes De Luca as saying the introduction of the Logitech Revue with Google TV "cost us dearly" and when supplies are sold out, that will be it for the ill-fated venture.

It is estimated that Logitech spent about US$100 million on the product and has little to show for it. While some other companies, notably Sony, are still selling Google TV boxes, the little Apple TV is still in stores and apparently satisfying buyers, even if it hasn't been a blockbuster hit either.

The second-generation Apple TV, announced in September of 2010, has experienced much better sales success than the original model. The reason? Most likely it's because of the addition of other services like Major League Baseball and Netflix. Apple says it has sold more than 2 million of the units so far.

Now rumors are flying that Apple will produce a complete TV solution, and quotes in the recent Steve Jobs biography have added to the speculation that something might be on the way.

[via The Verge]

Logitech drops Google TV originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 13 Nov 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Logitech drops Google TV originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 13 Nov 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apple is sometimes known for adding little features and not giving them much notice. A case in point is the recent 4.4 update for the Apple TV 2. Noodling around the other night, I noticed a new screensaver called Photo Wall. I selected it, and the Apple TV put my photos in a variety of frames, some with mattes, that slid slowly across the screen from left to right. It was sort of like walking in an art museum.

This wasn't the only surprise. At a certain point, the Apple TV did a cool little 3D move that looked like I was going around a corner and more photos appeared. It's a nice way to display your favorite photos, and had I not stumbled on it, I would never know it was there.

Apple also added 2 more screensavers, one called Flip-up, the other is called Shifting Tiles. I think Photo Wall is the best of the new ones, but you may have your own thoughts.

If you have an Apple TV 2, be sure to check these out, and let us know what you think. There is no easy way to capture a screen from a TV, but I used my trusty iPhone and have some examples in the gallery.

Gallery: Photo Wall screensaver on Apple tV2

Found: Apple sneaks in a very cool Apple TV 2 screensaver originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 05 Nov 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Found: Apple sneaks in a very cool Apple TV 2 screensaver originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 05 Nov 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

It turns out Apple may have been interested in television after all. We recently found out from Steve's Jobs's biography that Jobs was exploring the idea of an Apple-branded television set and now a report from GigaOM reveals that Apple was pursuing a streaming TV service as well. This small tidbit information comes from CBS CEO Les Moonves who confirmed that Apple approached his company about licensing content for this service.

Speaking during CBS's latest earning conference call, Moonves told analysts that CBS turned down an Apple deal that would let Apple stream CBS TV shows in exchange for a split of ad revenues. CBS reportedly turned down the deal because the media company prefers upfront licensing payments for content and not future revenue splits.

It's been an ongoing rumor that Apple was working on a streaming TV service, but this is the first public report that confirms these plans. Apple supposedly pursued other media companies, but couldn't generate enough support to successfully launch the service.

CBS reportedly turned down Apple TV deal originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

CBS reportedly turned down Apple TV deal originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

While watch the snow fall here at the TUAW studios in Colorado, you can watch and enjoy a conversation about some new products made for your favorite Apple devices. I'll give you a hands-on look at Twelve South's new PlugBug for iPad/iPhone, Scosche's caribiner-laden clipSYNC Charge & Sync Cable for iPhone and iPod touch, and a prototype of a new aluminum iPhone case from Caseless. I also have one of the new OtterBox Defender cases for the iPhone 4S to demonstrate -- I think it would work just fine in the snowstorm we're having here today.

Once we've explored the accessories, I have a couple of apps to demonstrate to you just to show you what I've been looking at lately. I'll talk briefly about this year's NaNoWriMo, a new book written by me and Erica Sadun, and anything else that happens to come up in the chat room.

As usual, I'll be starting the show at 5 PM EDT (2 PM PDT / 10 PM BST) sharp, and we'll take a few minutes to chat before the demos start. To join in on the chat and watch the live streaming video, drop by TUAW about five minutes before the start time to get your instructions on how to participate. If you're unable to join us for the show, remember that you can always subscribe to the video podcast and watch the show at your leisure in iTunes or any other favorite podcatching app. The past shows are also available on the TUAW YouTube channel.

The chat is now available as well on IRC: join us on server chat1.ustream.tv, chat room #tuaw-tv.

TUAW TV Live at 5 PM ET: What's 'appening? originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAW TV Live at 5 PM ET: What's 'appening? originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

After a bit of investigation, I had an answer for him, which was "Yes, you could, but no, you probably don't want to." That's because the degree of hacking necessary to make this happen, versus the actual real-world performance, really isn't worth the effort. It might make a cool demo, but not an effective remote control.

The best and most obvious approach would have been to have Siri use URL schemes to trigger a local application on the iPhone, which would then coordinate with a Mac client or directly with Apple TV over Bonjour. Unfortunately, Siri does not allow you to open web pages -- yet. She's quite apologetic about this, but my hope for a URL-based solution was a no-go.

Moving on, I investigated an AppleScript/email-based approach. Cory Bohon wrote up a series of tutorials a while back on TUAW demonstrating how to use mail rules to trigger scripts. You create rules (Preferences > Rules) that match message subjects and contents, and use the "Run AppleScript" choice to choose a script to trigger based on your rules.

This was a much more promising avenue, but Mike and I agreed that the complexity of sending emails via Siri felt more complicated in practice than using SMS texting. I started investigating ways of triggering email rules by SMS. Fortunately, a simple solution quickly popped up: Google Voice.

GV offers the option of forwarding text messages and provides the bonus feature of tagging subject lines with the incoming phone number. This makes it especially easy to authenticate and match incoming requests to Mail rules.

In order to create the control scripts, I would use AirFlick rather than iTunes. I shall spare you the messy details, but I would extend the app to support external pause and play requests.

Finally, you have to set up a contact on your iPhone using the Google Voice address. No big deal. Just make sure you use a name that Siri can easily recognize.

The operational path then works like this: "Siri, text AirFlick 'pause'." You wait for Siri to compose the SMS message. You then send it. The iPhone texts Google Voice. Google Voice forwards the message to your inbox. The mail rule triggers and runs the AppleScript, which causes AirFlick to send a pause command.

The whole latency from your spoken command to your Apple TV actually pausing? Probably under a minute.

As I said, this is a not an optimal approach, but if I wanted to invest a couple of hours I could get it up and working today.

So how close are we now to extending Siri control to our world and to third-party apps? Well, Siri can already pour you a beer and trigger any SMS-based Arduino set-up. But beyond using it for simple triggers, we're still pretty far away from fine-tuned control.

Apple really needs to release a developer API that will provide third-party rules and vocabulary for Siri to follow before we can truly jump into "build your own remote with Siri" scenarios. Of course, by the time that happens the company may simply release a Siri-savvy TV of its own.

Thought experiment: hacking Siri to control your TV originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Thought experiment: hacking Siri to control your TV originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Apple TV has updated to 4.4.2, barely a week after releasing (then pulling and releasing again) the 4.4.1 update. That update contained a number of bug fixes, and we're assuming this one will have the same.

However, TUAW editor Victor Agreda reported that updating his Apple TV to 4.4.2 has lost all of his information and is setting up the device as if it was brand new, then showed it was still on 4.4 instead of 4.4.2 and required another "update" round before the 4.4.2 update stuck, so you might want to make this update with a bit of caution.

Update: Apple has released a support document saying that settings on the Apple TV must be reset before updating to 4.4.2; if you neglect to reset them, the update will thoughtfully do it for you.

The update is available now through the Apple TV's software update feature, but you'll have to restore your settings (App Store, Netflix, etc.) after applying the update. You can usually do those settings quite a bit faster if you use your iPhone or iPad and the Remote app, rather than trying to type in passwords and user IDs with the regular remote.

Apple TV updates to 4.4.2 (updated) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple TV updates to 4.4.2 (updated) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Walter Isaacson biography of Steve Jobs has just been officially released and now everyone from TUAW readers to Wall Street analyst Gene Munster is reading between the lines to see what Apple's "next big thing" will be. The biggest rumor? That Apple will be coming out with a branded HDTV that will revolutionize the television-watching experience.

A lot of us don't expect this to happen -- in a recent TUAW poll, about 57% of readers thought it was unlikely that Apple would every make a TV. But based on a statement in the biography, Munster is even more convinced that Apple is going that way -- and he's even starting to forecast revenues for an Apple HDTV line.

Munster has been "certain" of an Apple-branded TV since 2009, and according to Apple 2.0's Philip Elmer-Dewitt, he keyed on a particular section of the book where Jobs said "I'd like to create an integrated television set. It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud... It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it."

Munster thinks that the "code" that Jobs "cracked" is combining live TV with shows that were previously captured and stored on iCloud. The Piper-Jaffray analyst also believes that Apple could add Siri support "to bolster its TV offering and simplify the chore of inputting information like show titles, or actor names, into a TV."

There are a number of meetings with suppliers and patent filings (including the one noted by Patently Apple in the screenshot above) that Munster cites as more evidence of an upcoming Apple TV. He goes on to show that the device, if released in 2012, could add as much as US$6 billion to Apple's bottom line in calendar year 2014.

Jobs bio fosters resurgence in Apple-branded TV rumors originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Jobs bio fosters resurgence in Apple-branded TV rumors originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments