Bites from the Apple: Coasting Along

If you're one of the few, proud owners of the Apple TV (like myself), you'll finally get some high-definition goodness downloaded directly to your device thanks to the Apple TV 2.2 update released last night. After installing, you'll be able to purchase HD TV shows and season passes directly on the Apple TV instead of first downloading to a linked PC and then transferring it to the ATV. I'm still perplexed as to why Apple didn't have this functionality ready right out of the gate for its HD TV show launch last month, but I guess the Apple TV is still just a hobby (or, perhaps, more correctly an experiment).

Which is a shame, as the ATV deserves more attention. In my home, we don't have a live TV connection--we get all of our video entertainment via online video from commercial-supported sites like Hulu or podcast/movie/TV downloads via our Apple TV. And as we build onto our home, the Apple TV will become the main video and audio hub thanks to its seamless Wi-Fi streaming from the other PCs in the house. But, as Dan Frommer notes at Silicon Alley Insider, the ATV is still just a box that connects to your TV that doesn't replace anything. You still need a DVD player of some ilk to watch rented/owned discs. And you still need a PC with a web browser to access Flash/Silverlight content (not only from sites like Amazon, but also live games from MLB.TV).

Until a day comes when the Apple TV (or a replacement) is opened up and added to, ATV users will have to get their hands dirty with hacks. This week brought news of another entry in the ATV hacking sweepstakes with the announcement that you can load the Boxee media player software onto the Apple TV by simply inserting a bootable USB thumbdrive (loaded via the ATV USB Creator). Once installed, your ATV can play video formats that are officially verbotten by Apple (i.e., AVI) as well as view streaming video the Internet. Additionally, Wired's Gadget Lab notes it's a media-centric social networking application:

In addition to playing media on your network, Boxee enables other friends running Boxee to view information on what you just watched or listened to as well. For example, your Boxee buddies will be able to see that you just streamed the latest episode of Lost through ABC.com, and they can then click through to the site to watch it, too.

Boxee is still in alpha stage, and it requires an invitation to start hacking (you can sign up for an invitation request, but it sounds like you might have to wait a few weeks). Once you get the invite, you can then get to hacking by following these steps enumerated by Engadget HD.

Rounding back to the Apple TV 2.2 update, check out this very complete overview of the new features over at iLounge, including Genius and on-the-go music playlists, video playlists (which I moaned about in helping to update Jeff Carlson's Apple TV Pocket Guide), and a new way to put the system on standby. However, standby still doesn't put the Apple TV fully to sleep (which would help to save on vampire energy as well as its tremendous heat output, which Digital Trends captured via the thermal imagery seen at right).

Follow the break to read on for more Apple-y goodness from the week that was...

• Steve Jobs is still not dead... though CNN tried to kill him off this time with a heart attack (and Apple shares subsequently plunged). Despite Jobs' apparent good health, Don Reisinger at CNet's Digital Home argues that Jobs and Apple needs to name an heir to the throne that will make Wall Street investors and Main Street users comfortable.

• Obviously, politics is on the brain. And as Tom notes below, Barack Obama's campaign launched its own iPhone app this week--the Obama '08: The Official Application. There's nothing comparable from the McCain campaign (though there is this independently available McCain Inauguration Countdown app). If you're a political junkie like myself, be sure to also check out Slate's Poll Tracker app, which provides the most recent polling data for the two presidential candidates culled from Pollster.com. (Note that app links open iTunes software, if you have it.)

• Treehugger lists a variety of iPhone applications that you can use to get greener, including ways to monitor your car's fuel efficiency, find carpool buddies, and get the lowest gas prices in your area.

• Be grateful you don't live in Russia and want to purchase an iPhone (which is launched there today). The Boy Genius Report notes Russians will pay 22,999 rubles ($937) for the 8 GB and 26,999 rubles ($1,100) for the 16 GB model--and that's with a contract!!!

• TUAW notes a report from Forbes that claims the free Stanza ebook reader iPhone app has been downloaded 395,000 times--which beats the estimated 380,000 sales of Amazon Kindle devices. However, one downside--Stanza only offers free works in the public domain while Kindle gets you the latest Tom Friedman.

• Adobe is actively developing a Flash solution for the iPhone (via The Apple Blog); will Apple let it into the walled garden?

• Apple tweaked its iTunes App Store a bit to where you actually have to have purchased an iPhone application (or downloaded, if free) to be able to review it (via CNet's One More Thing).

• Mac Daily News has posted the video of Walt Mossberg reviewing the new VMware Fusion release (which can run Windows on your Mac), and he give it higher marks than Parallels (read his full review here).

• And finally, we've seen iPhone applications made into cupcakes, and now you can get them in drink coaster form (via TUAW):

  

--Agen G.N. Schmitz

Comments

[rschwarz on October 04, 2008 at 01:56 PM]

Basic email/web functionality and a DVD drive and you'd have a very nice product. As is, I don't really see the point.