Archive | AppleTV RSS feed for this section

Apple Remote’s Phantom Button

by thomasfitzgerald on 05. Nov, 2009 in Apple, AppleTV

Ok, this is kind of weird. It seems that the new Aluminium IR remote from Apple has a phantom button. They removed the play pause button from the centre and positioned it below the arrow pad, yet according to Tech Crunch, the centre still works as a play pause button

That might make some sense as just a straight-up ergonomic design change, but the weirdest thing is that the center of the navigational circle is still a button, that does the same thing as the Play/Pause button.

Perhaps Apple is future-proofing the remote for some future product ?
[Read Apple’s New Remote Is A Riddle, Wrapped In A Mystery, Inside An Enigma]

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

Stating the Obvious

by thomasfitzgerald on 14. Sep, 2009 in Apple, AppleTV

I don’t mean to dump on everyone’s enthusiasm, but I have to take issue with everyone (and by everyone I mean the majority of mac related blogs) getting very excited at the discovery that the iTunes LP format and the iTunes Extras format seems to be designed to work with the appleTV some time in the future. I’m sorry, but did people really think they wouldn’t support it on the AppleTV at some point? I’ve seen this at least ten times in my RSS feed this morning and personally I think it’s a non story, because, of course they’re going to make it work on the AppleTV.

I think the bigger issue about iTunes LP and iTunes Extras would be when they plan to roll these out internationally? (if ever) The same stories are claiming that iTunes Extras marks the end of DVD and Blu-Ray and yet there’s only a handful of iTunes Extras releases, and still only a handful of HD movies available for sale. Not only that but of the 70+ countries that have iTunes Stores, only three or four still have videos for sale several years after we were told that video sales on iTunes were going “international”. iTunes has had amazing success in the realm of music sales but on a global scale the format is barely a noticeable blip when it comes to video sales. While it’s great that Apple have added extras to (a few) movies until the studios decide to accept and push the format right across the world it won’t make a blind bit of difference to the sale of disk based formats. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like they’re willing to do that out of fear of giving Apple too much control. In fact the only truly international digital download standard at the moment is illegal bit-torrents. That unfortunately is the only real competitor for DVD and Blu-Ray at the moment in terms of raw numbers. Hey, don’t get me wrong, I’m as much of an Apple fan as anyone. I bought an Apple TV when it came out and would love the format to take off in a big way, but sometimes you have to temper that enthusiasm with a dose of reality.

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

Apple Drops 40GB Apple TV and Discounts 160GB

by thomasfitzgerald on 14. Sep, 2009 in Apple, AppleTV

From MacRumors:

Apple has quietly discontinued the 40GB Apple TV overnight and reduced the price of the 160GB model down to $229. Previously, the 40GB and 160GB models were priced at $229 and $329, respectively.

Might a new model finally be nearing release? Here’s hoping.
[Read Apple Drops 40GB Apple TV and Discounts 160GB Model to $229 - Mac Rumors]

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

My Expectations for Apple’s Rumored September Event

by thomasfitzgerald on 15. Aug, 2009 in Apple, AppleTV, iPod, iTunes

With tablet rumors swirling out of control and supposed iPod touch photos doing the rounds, the build up to Apple’s usual September annual event seem to be bigger than ever this year. Just to play devils advocate here are my thoughts as to what we will see for Apple’s consumer electronics fall lineup. (Disclaimer: I have no inside information. This is just pure speculation and it’s just for the fun of it so please don’t take this too seriously)

  1. iPod touch with camera. This will come in 16, 32 and 64gb versions. I would say that the inclusion of a camera is a near certainty at this stage. It will more than likely do video too. This will prety much bring the iPod Touch in line with the iPhone in terms of hardware (minus the phone part obviously). I doubt that there will be many other surprises related to the iPod touch.
  2. iPod nano will be upgraded with a slightly different form factor and may feature a camera. I’d say capacities will probably remain the same although we might see a 32gb version.
  3. iPod Classic will either be discontinued or remain the same, but I doubt it will see upgrades. I still see a lot of people out and about with iPod classics so I don’t know if their sales have dropped off to the point where Apple will kill it yet. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Either way, I doubt it will be upgraded.
Read the full post
Read full story • Comments { 1 }

It’s crap like this that makes people pirate

by thomasfitzgerald on 22. Mar, 2009 in Apple, AppleTV, Entertainment

So the season Finale of Battlestar Galactica aired on friday night on the SciFi (sorry, SyFy) channel in the US and I think it would be fair to say that the two hour episode was one of the most eagerly awaited events on television in years. The show has a huge fan base and the much publicized finale was something everyone was gearing up for. Of course a lot of people get their shows off iTunes and this was probably one of the most eagerly awaited downloads since iTunes began selling TV shows. So you can only imagine how pissed off a lot of people were when they decided to split the finale into two parts on iTunes so they could charge twice as much for it.

Now, I’m not blaming Apple (heaven forbid) as I assume this is NBC/SciFi** pulling the strings. And you probably think, two hour episode, fair enough, pay twice as much, except they regularly show two hour episodes on iTunes as one download. Not only that, but people who had bought a season pass didn’t get the second part (or third part if you go by the iTunes delineation of the episode parts) according to some of the comments on the iTunes store (if someone had a season pass and can confirm or deny this please let me know). Apparently it was considered extra and you had to pay for that. * While some people out there will see this as a legitimate way to make money, others will see it as a blatant attempt to cash in on the pent up excitement for the episode and fleece customers.

Read the full post
Read full story • Comments { 8 }

HD Movies Now Available for Sale on iTunes

by thomasfitzgerald on 19. Mar, 2009 in Apple, AppleTV

At the moment this announcement seems limited to the iTunes store in the USA, but it’s good news for those who have wanted this feature. HD Movies will cost $19.99 which doesn’t seem like particularly good value when you consider that they are only 720p, the average price of a blu-ray disk is around $20 with many selling for less on Amazon, and movies on itunes are DRM’d up the wazoo. Just as an example – the movie “Bangkok Dangerous” is $19.99 in 720p HD on itunes or you can get it on Amazon for $17.99 on Blu-Ray, for which you get 1080p video at a much higher quality, and it is a 2 disk special edition with a boat load of extras . I’m sorry but this is not good value Apple / Movie Studios.

They also announced that you can now rent movies in HD from iTunes on the Mac or PC without having to go through the AppleTV, so those considering a Mac Mini as an AppleTV alternative now have one less obstacle.

Read full story • Comments { 1 }

Tired Old Arguments

by thomasfitzgerald on 21. Jan, 2009 in AppleTV, Entertainment, Technology

I just came across this excellent article recounting some of the things critics said when dvd first debuted and people were predicting it’s early demise, and more importantly how they’re using the same arguments against blu-ray.

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

Random thoughts for Friday

by thomasfitzgerald on 05. Dec, 2008 in Apple, AppleTV, Games, Microsoft, Photography, Photoshop, Sony

Here’s a couple of thing’s I’ve been pondering all day.

Why have Microsoft been hyping the crap out of their xbox 360 sales numbers over the last couple of weeks. It seems like every other day they’re putting out a press release saying how great they are. Could it be that they know that the price drop on an aging system will only work so long and they want to make the most of it while they can?

And what’s with the need for Microsoft to compete with everything. If you look at the new software upgrade, the so called “new xbox experience” it’s clear they’re targeting nintendo and the wii. Sure the wii is selling like hot cakes but it’s a cheaper product aimed at a different segment of the market. While Microsoft and nintendo go at it it leaves Sony with the high end of the gaming market all to themselves, and Sony have stated repeatedly that they are not interested in the low end casual gaming market.

and another thing…

Just what is going on at Adobe? I’m not talking about the fact that they’re not exhibiting at Macworld expo or that they’re laying off 600 employees. I’m talking about camera raw and Lightroom. It’s been a while now since they upgraded Camera Raw with support for some newer cameras and so far no sign of an update for Lightroom. Considering they both share the same engine and that they are pushing Lightroom as “the” workflow tool for digital photography, surely they would have added support to lightroom first? Could it be that slower sales of CS4 have forced a re-think of priorities? Given that at the moment only CS4 supports new cameras like the 5DMKII are adobe trying to send a message?

Read the full post
Read full story • Comments { 0 }
Older Entries »