television

British Broadcaster Warns Apple Not To Use iTV Name For Upcoming Television

by Killian Bell on Feb.13, 2012, under Apple TV, News, Steve Jobs, television, Tim Cook, Top stories, TV

After having its tablet banned in one Chinese city today for using the iPad name without permission, Apple could be about to enter into another dispute if it names its television set the “iTV.” Britain’s biggest commercial broadcaster ITV has warned Apple not to use its name for the second time.

Apple initially named its set-top box the iTV when it was first unveiled back in 2006, but its name was changed to “Apple TV” before release following a warning from ITV. It was reported that Apple was planning to change its name back to iTV, and ITV executives were believed to be “furious” over the idea.

Apple promised back in 2010, while Steve Jobs was at its helm, that the company would not use the iTV name, but The Telegraph reports that ITV is concerned that stance may change now that Apple has a new CEO:

However, insiders fear that the world’s biggest company might take a different stance under Tim Cook, who replaced Steve Jobs as chief executive shortly before Mr Jobs died in August last year.

As rumors surrounding Apple’s television continue to circulate, the iTV name is increasingly being used to label the device. But it seems the set may in fact launch under a different name.

[via MacRumors]

Apple TVs are disappearing from shelves, could see an update next month as well

by Seth Weintraub on Feb.12, 2012, under apple, Apple Inc, AppleTV, Best Buy, business, iPad, iphone, iTunes, television

We learned last year that the new iPad is codenamed “J2″ in the iOS 5.1Beta software, and we learned last week that it will probably be announced at the beginning of next month. However, we also learned about another Apple Jxx product: The next Apple TV. It is codenamed “J33” and “AppleTV 3,1″ in the 5.1B software. This new Apple TV will also feature the low-power Bluetooth 4.0 technology. Perhaps, besides both showing up in iOS 5.1 software, the Jxx devices are also A6 devices? We cannot tell if this new device will be a 1080P/A6 upgrade from the current or something bigger.

So, when will it be delivered?

One of our Best Buy sources just pinged us and alerted us that Apple TV is not just out of stock at his store, but Apple TVs are no longer shipping to the stores at all anymore.

A customer was inquiring tonight about Apple TV. However right now we are out of stock (Which hasn’t happened since I started). Not only were we out of stock, but also I was also unable to order one from our product ordering system (OMS). Product was listed as “currently unavailable”. From prior experience, this usually is associated with a product that is being “discontinued”.

A visit to Best Buy.com shows that it is out of stock online. Only some stores have them in stock and if those are like our tipster’s, as seen above, they cannot order any more either. A quick check around the web shows an eerily similar pattern: Amazon is out for “2-5 weeks”, as seen below, which fits into Apple’s iPad announcement window, and it has returned to calling it the “2010 model.” Some of Amazon’s third party retailers do have them in stock, however.

We checked Target and many others too…

Gone.

Walmart? Erased from existence.

Buy.com? Out of stock:

Radio Shack? Only available in stores (and none that we could find).

Some online resellers do have them in stock. MacMall and MacConnection, for instance, have them. However, it seems more than a little curious that the biggest retailers in the United States all seem to be running dry on Apple TVs just ahead of an Apple event.

VooMote Zapper Universal Remote Appcessory: One Remote To Rule Them All! [Review]

by Eli Milchman on Feb.08, 2012, under Apple TV, custom, Hardware, Reviews, television, Top stories, TV, Universal

Oh, sure. The idea of being able to reach out from across the room and dramatically direct your mighty will to zap stuff on, off, up, down, or cause the very Air to shimmer with Play is intoxicating — that is, until those nine remotes you’ve been using to control all your magical devices become horribly unruly; perhaps they no longer bow to your commands, or maybe they’re off chasing hobbits under a couch somewhere. Whatever the reason, it’s time to harness the VooMote Zapper ($70), and make them all submit to your will!

(WARNING: Tossing the Zapper into a giant pit of lava under a mountain is not advised and will undoubtedly void the warranty, ‘mkay?)

The Good:

Plug the attractive, unassuming key into any iDevice, download the free VooMote Zapper app and that iDevice transforms into a universal remote. The key to this powerful little guy is in how flexible the software is — besides the standard complement of preloaded remotes, the Zapper can learn a remote’s commands simply by pointing the remote at the Voomote and moving through a few steps on the app — a process that worked, for the most part.

Still not happy with the way things are laid out? Customize to your heart’s content: add, delete and re-arrange buttons, make custom commands for those buttons and even change their colors. If you have the time to sit through the whole process, the editing functions are a powerful tool.

Swiping between remotes was easy. There’s even a really cool swipe-controlled screen that, as you’ve guessed, allows you to control functions like volume and channel simply by swiping. Bummer: It’s not customizable.

Range wasn’t bad — powerful enough to more or less reach across a medium-sized livingroom, and about the same strength as the Apple TV’s remote. But my Sharp flatscreen’s original remote bested it from the far corners of the room.

The Bad:

Really, VooMote? The number of models available for selection under the brand my TV belongs to (Sharp, not a small manufacturer) was exactly: one. Needless to say, it wasn’t my model. Luckily, as noted above, creating a remote from scratch is a straightforward, if laborious, process.

I was unable to get the Zapper to learn certain buttons, like the power and mute commands from a remote belonging to a set of Monster speakers.

One of the Zapper’s star features allow the user to control viewing from within a TV Guide-like app — but that app hasn’t arrived yet.

Surely the pool of starving English majors out there is large enough the German company behind the Zapper can hire one to edit the damn copy in the manual and app. It’s not quite the level of Japanese photocopier instructions from the ’70s, but it isn’t pretty, either.

Verdict:

Ambitious features in search of a badly needed software update; when that update comes, it should transform this gadget into the powerful ruler it wants to be.

Rating: ★★★½☆

Best Buy Predicts 42-Inch “Apple HDTV” In Customer Survey

by Killian Bell on Feb.06, 2012, under AirPlay, App Store, Apple TV, camera, display, FaceTime, iOS, iOS Devices, iPad, iphone, IPod Touch, News, Siri, Skype, television, Top stories

A rumored Apple television set has received just as much — if not more — attention than the company’s upcoming iPhone 5 in recent months, but the questions we’ve all been asking about its specifications have been answered… by Best Buy.

The retailer has been issuing surveys to its customers to obtain feedback on potential new products and services, but many were surprised to find details on a 42-inch “Apple HDTV,” which will apparently be available for $1,499.

In addition to a 42-inch 1080p LED display, Best Buy claims the set will feature Apple’s iOS operating system; iCloud; the ability to use your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad as a remote; and content services like Netflix, YouTube, and Flickr. Features which — apart from the 42-inch display — are already available from the company’s $99 Apple TV.

There are a few slightly questionable predictions, however. Best Buy also claims the set will feature an iSight camera and microphone for Skype video calls, and the App Store. ”Can you imagine playing Angry Birds on a big screen in your living room?” the retailer asks. Which is where its predictions become slightly questionable.

Firstly, it’s unlikely Apple would market a built-in iSight camera for Skype when it has its own video calling platform in the form of FaceTime. And with AirPlay mirroring available on our iOS devices, are we really going to see an App Store on the Apple set?

There’s also one glaring omission from that list, which is Siri. Since rumors surrounding the Apple television first began, one feature that been present in almost every report is the inclusion of Apple’s impressive voice controlled assistant, which Best Buy fails to mention.

Of course, it’s highly unlikely these specifications are anything more than predictions from Best Buy, but it’s surprising the retailer would even mention the set at all in a public document.

[via The Verge]

Munster offers three content scenarios for iTV, says Apple tapping ‘major TV component supplier’ for late 2012 launch

by Christian Zibreg on Feb.01, 2012, under apple, Apple Inc, Apple TV, television

Apple television mockup by Guilherme M. Schasiepen

Piper Jaffray’s resident Apple analyst Gene Munster is arguably the most vocal proponent of an integrated high-definition television set from Apple, the mythical iTV. His old predictions were picked up by the press lately thanks to that vague Apple HD TV hint in Walter Isaacson’s authorized Steve Jobs biography, gaining more credence with both Sony and Samsung dissing the idea as old news.

Now, last we heard from Munster was in November of last year when he predicted an Apple television set within a year, costing double a comparable set. In a note to clients issued Tuesday, the analyst warned that his original timing “remains uncertain” but underscored he is still targeting “a late 2012 launch.”

More interesting is Munster’s claim that a “major TV component supplier” told him last month Apple was inquiring about “various capabilities of their television display components,” which sounds a lot like this skeptical New York Times report from October 2011. However, “Without a revamped TV content solution, we do not think Apple enters the TV market,” Munster wrote. Remaking the user interface is easy, but getting Hollywood on board will be tricky, as the Wall Street Journal warned in December.

With that in mind, Munster offers three content scenarios for the Apple television, as quoted by Fortune’s Philip Elmer-Dewitt…

1. The simplest scenario – Apple could simply enable its television to manage a consumer’s live TV service from within a unified interface much like TiVo does, partnering with MSOs (i.e. the cable companies). [..] In some ways, connected TV’s software is the biggest differentiator that Apple can bring to the table, so this option could still result in a new and fresh product for the television market. Apple could also supplement this with its iTunes Movie rental and purchase service directly on the television.

2. Live TV + Web combo – Apple could offer access to live TV from network channels in combination with other web-based video services. One middle-of-the-road option could be for Apple to deliver live TV from network channels (either over the internet or over the air) to the Apple Television. Apple could then leverage a new App Store for the Apple Television to supplement the basic live TV features with Netflix, Hulu Plus, or any content provider that chooses to build an app for the television.

3. iTunes television subscription - Apple could offer monthly subscriptions, on an a-la-carte basis, for live TV packages with content from content providers. [...] Such an offering would be unlikely given existing licensing arrangements between content providers and service providers as well as the fact that it lies outside of Apple’s core competencies, even in media.

The only “slight” hurdle we see with content delivery over the Internet is those dreaded data caps and bandwidth throttling…

We have shortened the above scenarios for your reading convenience. If you are interested in the full quotes, make sure to check them out over at Fortune’s Apple 2.0 blog.

Munster: Apple HDTV coming within a year, cost double a comparable set (9to5mac.com)
Analysts: Apple prototyping television set for a 2012 launch, but it won’t come cheap (9to5mac.com)
Apple’s HDTV project being headed by iTunes creator Jeff Robbin (9to5mac.com)

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Big Bang Theory Asks ‘What If Siri Was A Sexy Real-Life Woman?’ [Humor]

by John Brownlee on Jan.28, 2012, under iPhone 4S, News, Siri, television

I’m not a huge fan of The Big Bang Theory, but this clip from the latest episode is too good not to post.

What if Siri wasn’t just Wolfram Alpha stapled onto a smart text-to-speech program, but instead an actual woman, working a call center, and just as slinky and sexually promiscuous as any bro showing off in front of his drunken friends by asking for a blow job could ever hope?

That’s probably not many people’s fantasies, but it is the hilarious chimera of Big Bang’s Raj, who is as cripplingly shy as he is addicted to his new iPhone 4S.

Apple researching universal touchscreen remote with adaptable user interface for future TVs

by Jordan Kahn on Jan.26, 2012, under apple, Apple Inc, display, Industry Intel, patent, television, touchscreen, TV, Universal

A patent application published by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office earlier today reveals Apple is flirting with the idea of a universal touchscreen controller capable of controlling multiple devices including a “television, a video tape player, a video disk player, a stereo, a home control system, or a computer system.” The patent application is titled “Apparatus and Method to Facilitate Universal Remote Control” and was filed Sept. 30, 2011.

The patent application’s background covers many of the issues with current controllers for televisions and the devices mentioned above. It noted current universal remotes are “complex to operate” and unable to adapt to incorporate every command or control functionality supported by a device or future device. It also mentions the fact that users are often “confronted with multiple” remotes, which is the classic “table full of remotes” scenario described by Steve Jobs when talking about the Apple TV at D8. The patent application explained:

“While all of these buttons and switches are necessary for complete control of the appliance, users typically use only a small subset of the total controls on the remote control. The controls that are not normally used clutter the remote control and can cause confusion to the user when trying to locate a seldom-used feature.…users must spend time learning a new remote control or programming an existing universal remote control each time they purchase a new remotely controllable appliance, which detracts from the enjoyment of using the appliance after it is first purchased…What is needed is an apparatus and a method to provide remote control over multiple appliances without the difficulties described above.”

Apple’s solution would feature an automatic “discovery mechanism” allowing the remote to pair with other devices over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. The patent describes being able to customize the UI on the remote’s touchscreen without the universal remote control needing “special knowledge” of the device. In other words, graphical representations for any given device, such as a button layout, could be stored in the device and sent to the remote control wirelessly. The patent application also described using the remote with multiple devices simultaneously through an “active appliances” list.

According to the patent application, the unique UIs sent from a device to the remote could be customizable by the manufacturer of the device, hinting that the remote could control third-party appliances as well. Apple noted the UI “can also display an icon such as the manufacturer’s logo, user instructions, or an advertising message on remote control.”

When a user selects an appliance to control at the remote control, the remote control sends a message to the appliance requesting a menu description. In response, the appliance returns the menu description to the remote control. The remote control then displays the menu. If more appliances respond than can fit on a single page, remote control can provide multiple appliance selection pages including navigation icons on the appliance selection pages for switching between pages.

With latest reports claiming Apple is already working on a 42-inch+ HDTV, and today’s patent focusing mainly on televisions and video players (opposed to Macs and iOS devices), it is possible that Apple is experimenting with touchscreen remotes with adaptable UIs to interact with a future Apple-branded HDTV. Other reports claimed the yet to be unveiled Apple HDTV will feature voice-control courtesy of Siri-like functionality. However, there is no mention of voice-control functionality or Siri in today’s patent application for the universal remote.

The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office also published a series of other patents today filed by Apple Inc., including one covering “Programmable Magnetic Connectors” that could hint at possible MagSafe-like connections for iOS and other Apple devices. Another patent covers “Automatically Adapting User Interfaces for Hands-Free Interaction” for an “intelligent automated assistant,” also known as Siri.

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New Apple Patent Reveals Upcoming Apple TV Set Could Have DVR Capabilities

by Killian Bell on Jan.18, 2012, under Apple TV, News, patent, Siri, Steve Jobs, television, Top stories

Apple is expected to revolutionize television with a set of its own later this year, and while we’re all expecting the device to feature Siri, there’s very little else we know about it. But according to a relatively new Apple patent, credited to Steve Jobs, it may also feature digital video recording capabilities that allow you to save your favorite shows for viewing at a later date.

The patent is part of a series published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office earlier this week, and discovered by Patently Apple. It details a feature for recording episodic TV broadcasts that has never made its way into the Apple TV, but could make its debut in Apple’s upcoming television set.

Patently Apple reports:

The patent goes on to state that the menu items, could, for example, “correspond to television shows that have either been recorded from a broadcast or purchased from a content provider. Recording broadcast TV shows isn’t an option available today on Apple TV, so it’s interesting to see that this option was listed in this 2006 Apple TV patent which also credits Steve Jobs as one of the inventors.

The patent also mentions the “Apple TV working with a cable network” — another feature we’re yet to see from the Cupertino company’s set-top box, that could be part of the television.

The patent was first filed back in 2006 and is credited to Apple’s co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, in addition to Rainer Brodersen, Rachel Goldeen, Jeffrey Ma, and Mihnea Pacuraiu.

But this isn’t the first indication that the Apple television will offer DVR capabilities. A recent report from The Wall Street Journal revealed Apple has met with executives from several major studios to discuss its set, which would reportedly “integrate DVR storage and iCloud.”

[via 9to5Mac]

Sculley: If anyone is going to change television, it’s going to be Apple (Murdoch agrees, too)

by Christian Zibreg on Jan.13, 2012, under apple, Apple Inc, Apple TV, BBC, Steve Jobs, television, Walter Isaacson

Photo courtesy of BBC

John Sculley, former vice-president and president of PepsiCo and CEO of Apple between 1983 and 1993, is adamant that Apple —not incumbents such as Samsung— is poised to change the first principles of the television experience. Sculley also confessed in an interview with BBC that has not read Walter Isaacson’s authorized biography of Apple’s late cofounder and CEO. Nevertheless, the executive turned investor underscored Apple’s history of past industry disruptions while opining that the television industry is about to experience Apple’s magic touch:

I think that Apple has revolutionized every other consumer industry, why not television? I think that televisions are unnecessarily complex. The irony is that as the pictures get better and the choice of content gets broader, that the complexity of the experience of using the television gets more and more complicated. So it seems exactly the sort of problem that if anyone is going to change the experience of what the first principles are, it is going to be Apple.

Sculely, 72, is a Silicon Valley investor nowadays, and dispelled some “myths” about his tense relationship with Apple’s cofounder. He said he did not fire Jobs, insisting they had “a terrific relationship when things were going well.” Heck, even Rupert Murdoch is commenting about Apple television, writing on Twitter this morning: “All talk is about coming Apple TV. Plenty of apprehension, no firm facts but eyes on their enormous cash pile”.

Steve Jobs was in search for a CEO in the early 1980s. Jobs and Apple’s investors needed someone reliable to run the trains on time and free Jobs to do what he always enjoyed the most— creating new products. Finally, following a series of secret interviews and long walks Jobs and Sculley enjoyed for months, Apple’s cofounder finally managed to persuade the then-young PepsiCo executive to join the team by famously asking him, “Do you want to sell sugared water for the rest of your life or do you want to come with me and change the world?” Sculley would later confess, “It was like someone just knocked wind out of my stomach.”

The company’s sales would increase under Sculley’s management from $800 million to $8 billion. However, a power struggle between Jobs and Sculley over the expensive Macintosh project would eventually pave the way for an unsuccessful boardroom coup Jobs secretly plotted behind Sculley’s back. The events culminated with Jobs’ removal from managerial duties on May 31, 1985. Shortly thereafter, Jobs resigned from Apple and founded NeXT Inc., the same year.

Sculley told BBC he did not fire Jobs and explained why their relationship deteriorated so badly:

When the Macintosh Office was introduced in 1985 and failed Steve went into a very deep funk. He was depressed, and he and I had a major disagreement where he wanted to cut the price of the Macintosh and I wanted to focus on the Apple II because we were a public company. [...] Ironically it was all about Moore’s law and it wasn’t about Steve and me. Computers just weren’t powerful enough in 1985 to do the very rigorous graphics that you had to be able to do for laser printing, and ironically it was only 18 months later when computers were powerful enough that we renamed the Mac Office, Desktop Publishing and it became wildly successful. It wasn’t my idea, it was all Steve’s stuff, but he was just a year and a half too early.

While the Macintosh Office was a year and a half too early, the Newton project that Sculley pioneered was “probably 15 years too early.” As you know, Jobs would immediately axe the Newton project upon his return from exile. Last summer, Sculley credited Jobs for single-handedly launching the mobile revolution and perfecting the process of selling the experience of a lifestyle. A year earlier, he publicly expressed his “tremendous admiration” for Apple’s mercurial CEO.

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Samsung: Apple Television is old news. Smart TV is the future and already here

by Christian Zibreg on Jan.13, 2012, under apple, Apple Inc, Apple TV, Samsung Group, Steve Jobs, television, Walter Isaacson

When Steve Jobs told his biographer Walter Isaacson that he finally “cracked the code” to building an integrated television set that is user-friendly and seamlessly syncs with all of your devices, Samsung Australia’s Director of Audiovisual Philip Newton told the Sydney Morning Herald that Jobs’ was talking about connectivity.

He laughed off the mythical iTV and dissed Jobs’ TV brain wave as “nothing new,” saying the future is now and it is his company’s Smart TVs:

When Steve Jobs talked about he’s ‘cracked it’, he’s talking about connectivity – so we’ve had that in the market already for 12 months, it’s nothing new, it was new for them because they didn’t play in the space. It’s old news as far as the traditional players are concerned and we have broadened that with things like voice control and touch control; the remote control for these TVs has a touch pad.

Samsung is promoting Smart TVs left and right at the CES show that is underway this week in Las Vegas. The company is showing off apps and games such as Angry Birds running smoothly on Smart TVs. Feature-wise, Samsung Smart TVs are beating Google TVs to the punch with capabilities such as voice interaction, facial recognition, integrated camera controls for multi-video conferencing and multitasking.

Sony, Panasonic and LG are also pushing integrated television sets built around the Smart TV platform. While not officially an exhibitor, Apple reportedly dispatched 250 employees to attend the show and monitor what competition is doing; among them is the head of iOS product marketing Greg Joswiak. Apple has been rumored for months to launch 32- and 37-inch television sets in the summer of 2012. Does Samsung see Apple as a threat?

Not at all, though that might be just a posture as Apple and Samsung are embroiled in a complicated web of copyright infringement lawsuits in courts the world over.

Do we see them as a threat, not specifically no … probably we’ll have some competitors that may suffer … but we see it as a great opportunity, the more big name brands that get involved in smart [TV] the better off we are as a brand because we know we can lead it.

Samsung is also drumming up excitement for Smart TVs on its Samsung Tomorrow blog, which today ran interactive info graphic highlighting how users can interact with a Smart TV “on a scale never before imagined.” As of October 2011, the company had surpassed 10 million app downloads and a thousand apps registered and available on the store. Apple, a self-proclaimed consumer electronics company, will have to expand its product portfolio sooner than later and sell products other than computers and mobile devices if it’s to keep growing and remain relevant ¾conventional wisdom has it.

Front-facing view of Samsung’s ES8000 LED TV.

That could be easier said than done—at least in the case of integrated television as cutthroat margins, established incumbents and diverse product portfolios make it all too difficult for newbie’s to effectively compete, especially on a large scale. Over at Tech Crunch, author John Biggs opined that Apple is at a huge disadvantage in terms of living room presence compared to Samsung, concluding that the Korean-based consumer electronics conglomerate is “the next Apple.”

He summed up:

Samsung makes TVs. They make everything – the screen, the PCBs, and the case. Apple will be outsourcing their manufacture and they won’t be able to compete on price, especially when they’re buying panels from Samsung. Can Apple beat other CE manufacturers at this game? Sure. They’ve done similar things before. But Samsung and Sony and LG have plenty of time to sell TVs and at two a second, Apple will have quite a bit of catching up to do.

In the meantime, Samsung updated its television lineup yesterday with the newly announced Samsung ES8000 LED TV model that is coming “soon.” Pictured below, it sports a dual-core chip, slim bezel, U-shaped stand and screen sizes going all the way up to 75-inches. Samsung America President of Consumer Electronics Division Tim Baxter explained the benefit of multitasking on a big screen during a CES presentation:

Let’s say you are watching a movie on Netflix and want to check in on the hockey highlights, just toggle from Netflix to one of my favorite apps, NHL Game center, and come right back to the movie without having to quit the app and launch another app.

A pair of CES clips showing gesture interaction on a Samsung Smart TV and Angry Birds can be seen below.