TV Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Apple TV now offers Genius recommendations for movies, TV shows

by Chris Rawson (Feb 3rd, 2012)

A silent update to the backend has introduced Genius recommendations for movies and TV shows to the Apple TV. No user action is required to access the new feature, as it's not part of a device firmware update. Instead, Apple has updated its own servers to send this information to the Apple TV from ...

Siri guest stars on CBS's Big Bang Theory

by Chris Rawson (Jan 30th, 2012)

The most recent episode of CBS's sitcom The Big Bang Theory rather prominently features Siri in its "B" storyline. Astrophysicist Raj, one of the show's main characters, buys an iPhone 4S and spends most of the episode interacting with the voice-activated "personal assistant." As is typical for the ...

Apple TV: $140 million worth sold in three months, but still a 'hobby'

by Chris Rawson (Jan 24th, 2012)

During the most recent conference call discussing Apple's quarterly results, Apple's executives did something highly unusual and divulged actual sales figures for the Apple TV. Responding to a question about Apple's future plans for the TV-centric device, Apple dodged the question (as is typical ...

Time Warner Cable's app goes universal

by Mike Schramm (Jan 24th, 2012)

Time Warner Cable released an official iOS app early last year that let subscribers watch live TV. Despite some early issues with channel agreements, the app is still going strong, and appears to be popular with customers. So popular, in fact, that the company has just updated the app to also work ...

Steve Jobs awarded patent for episodic TV on the Apple TV

by Chris Rawson (Jan 18th, 2012)

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 ...

TUAW on SOPA and PIPA: What they are and why we're against them

by Chris Rawson (Jan 18th, 2012)

By now, news about two bills making their way through the US legislative approval process, Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), has spread like wildfire across the Internet, along with widespread criticism of both bills. As part of that criticism, if you're reading this on ...

Apple's plans for your living room: On Apple TV, "iTV", Siri, and all the rest

by Richard Gaywood (Jan 15th, 2012)

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 ...

Comcast launches live TV on iPad

by Megan Lavey-Heaton (Jan 10th, 2012)

There's a number of live TV-streaming apps out there for cable subscribers, and Comcast has added its AnyPlay service to the mix. Part of the Xfinity TV iPad app, AnyPlay allows subscribers with Xfinity HD Triple Play to access live cable programming at home via the iPad. Those who are traveling ...

BBC's iPlayer racks up 500k users, BBC shows how they made the app

by Michael Grothaus (Dec 20th, 2011)

The BBC's wildly popular iPlayer app was updated last week to include support for the iPhone and iPod touch plus the ability to stream TV over 3G. As a result of all the new features, iPlayer for iOS has been downloaded over 1.1 million times in just the last week alone. What's more interesting ...

WSJ: Apple's TV plans hinted at in discussions with media execs

by Michael Grothaus (Dec 19th, 2011)

It's come to the point where everyone realizes that Apple is coming out with a real, bonafide television set. As sets become smarter, manufacturers struggle to define just what a "smart" TV is. Now the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple executives "have discussed their vision for the ...

Cox Communications brings live TV to the iPad

by Steven Sande (Dec 6th, 2011)

Cable provider Cox Communications has a new app available for subscribers that makes it possible to watch live TV shows and movies in your home -- on an iPad. The Cox TV Connect app (free, requires cable subscription) brings live shows from 35 different popular channels to the iPad. While ...

BBC brings iPlayer app to Canada

by Mike Schramm (Dec 2nd, 2011)

The BBC still hasn't released its popular iPlayer app for the iPhone and iPad in the U.S. yet, but it has appeared on the Canadian App Store. Through a monthly (or yearly) subscription, the app offers content on demand from the BBC, including old school shows like Fawlty Towers and Blackadder ...

DirecTV adds live video streaming on iPad

by Mel Martin (Oct 26th, 2011)

The DirecTV app for iPad got a significant bump in capabilities today by adding live streaming to giving you essentially a portable TV you can take to any room of your house. You have to be on the same network as your DirecTV receiver, and not all channels are available. I'm not seeing the pay ...

PBS to air Steve Jobs documentary

by Megan Lavey-Heaton (Oct 26th, 2011)

Coming on the heels of the release of Walter Isaacson's long-anticipated biography of Steve Jobs (and, if you haven't read Chris Rawson's review yet, stop what you're doing and do so), PBS will premiere "Steve Jobs -- One Last Thing" on November 2, time depending on local listings. The ...

Steve "finally cracked" the TV puzzle, says bio

by Mel Martin (Oct 23rd, 2011)

We're seeing an unending stream of tidbits from the new biography of Steve Jobs to be released tomorrow. Author Walter Isaacson, who interviewed Jobs extensively has this interesting passage as quoted by Razorianfly: "He very much wanted to do for television sets what he had done for ...