According to J. Crew CEO and current Apple board member, Mickey Drexler, Steve Jobs didn’t just want to re-invent the personal computer, mobile phone, and music industry -- he also wanted to take a stab at the car industry too. In an interview at Fast Company’s Innovation Uncensored conference earlier this week, Drexler said that Steve Jobs wanted to build... an iCar.

"Look at the car industry, it's a tragedy in America. Who's designing the cars?" Drexler said. "Steve's dream before he died was to design an iCar and I think it would've been probably 50% of the market. He never did design it."

You can imagine how great that iCar would have been had it come to fruition and you wouldn’t bet against it becoming the leader in the car world either. There would have been no ugly buttons inside, everything would have been simple to operate and elegant. Of course the integration with other Apple devices would have been a thing to behold; sadly it wasn't to be.

Drexler also claimed that Apple would be dealing with the living room in the "near future"; which could be taken as a hint about the often rumored Apple HDTV.

However, neither Drexler no any Apple board member would likely leak real information about unannounced Apple products, so we'll take this as what it is -- a vague, confidence boosting comment with context informed solely based on existing rumor and speculation.

He also went on to say that he wouldn't like to be in Tim Cooks shoes as taking over a successful company is more difficult than taking over one that is failing. (Though Tim Cook certainly seems to have done well enough for Apple so far...)

You can see the full interview in the video below, unfortunatley the video is flash only.

Source: Busines Insider, Apple Insider, Image: Mercedes

Seas0nPass, the popular jailbreak tool for the 2010 Apple TV (720p) has just received an update that will allow it to jailbreak the latest Apple TV software. Apple has just released the Apple TV software update taking it to version 5.0.1; it is actually version 5.1.1 inline with other iOS devices but Apple still files the version numbers differently for whatever reason. Unfortunately the jailbreak is a tethered type which means if your device needs to be rebooted, it will need to be plugged into a PC or Mac as part of the reboot process.

Seas0nPass 0.8.4 released. Adds [tethered] support for ver. 5.0.1 (iOS 5.1.1) on ATV2. ATV3 update still in progress

If you have a 2010 Apple TV (720p) and need help jailbreaking it, be sure to check out our full how-to guide.

Source: @firecore

Update: Not surprisingly, Foxconn has denied the statement, telling The Next Web:

“Any reports,” the statement reads, “that Foxconn confirmed that it is preparing to produce a specific product for any customer are not accurate.”

Foxconn chiarman Terry Gou was recently quoted as saying that the manufacturing giant is making preparations for an Apple "iTV" television set, which included buying a significant stake in Sharp for access to LCD displays.

Previous rumors suggested that an Apple-made television would include Siri-style voice recognition and Kinect-esque motion detection, but that's all unconfirmed for now, and I would just as soon chalk it up to wishful thinking.

Steve Jobs was quoted in his biography as having "cracked" the formula for a smart TV set, something beyond Apple's existing set-top box is likely on the way. But Jobs has also said how tough the go-to-market situation is for televisions and the living room, with the cable and satellite providers being far more numerous and enjoying far more monopoly control than even carriers do in the mobile phone space.

We have heard Apple has television concepts in the labs, but it would be more surprising at this point if they didn't. Whether they ever choose to ship an Apple branded television set remains the question. Gou may be in a position to know, given Foxxcon's relationship with Apple, but it's really difficult to see him knowingly leak that sort of information. He couldn't imagine Apple being happy about it, if true, could he?

As always, we'll believe it when we see it. TV is the third screen that Apple has yet to make an agressive play for. Apple TV, from launch until this day, remains a hobby; something for Apple enthusiasts more than the mainstream. If Apple does decide to launch a television, and they do it right, their sphere of influence stands to expand massively.

That being said, we still can't see people lining up to buy a new one every year, especially not at the price that size display, and that type of technology would necessitate.

What would an Apple television need to have for you to drop, say, a thousand bucks or more on one?

Source: China Daily via AppleInsider; The Next Web

Apple has pushed out Apple TV software version 5.0.1 (4224), aka iOS 5.1.1 (9B206f). The update applies to both the 2010 Apple TV (720p) and 2012 Apple TV (1080p). No new features are shown following the update, and no new services seem to have been added, so this could well be a bug fix and performance enhancement release.

(And once again I'll add -- how it helps anyone, inside Apple or outside, to refer to the same software by different versions numbers, is beyond me. Could we please just unify behind the same numbering scheme as the rest of iOS and call it a day?)

To update your Apple TV:

1. Click on Settings at the top right
2. Click on General
3. Scroll down and click on Update Software

If you have any trouble or need any help, head on over to our Apple TV forum!

According to reports, Apple has been in talks with major TV channel Epix over rights to streaming its content to the Apple TV or any other Apple device which has that capability. The Epix channel is backed by three major movie studios, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures and Lionsgate.

Apple Inc began talks earlier this year to stream films owned by EPIX, which is backed by three major movie studios, on devices including a long-anticipated TV, according to two people with knowledge of the negotiations.

Source: Reuters

Brent Schlender, a veteran journalist that has been covering Apple for the last 25 yeras, has recently published new snippets of interviews with Steve Jobs. One quote in particular from 1998 sharply counterpoints recent rumours of a full-blown Apple TV set.

I don't really believe that televisions and computers are going to merge. I've spent enough time in entertainment to know that storytelling is linear. It's not interactive. You go to your TV when you want to turn your brain off. You go to your computer when you want to turn your brain on. Those are not the same thing.

At the D5 conference in 2007, Jobs explained why the Apple TV wasn't anything more than a hobby, and again in 2010 that there wasn't a viable go-to market strategy that wouldn't produce "just another TiVO".

That's not to say Jobs didn't want to try to make a great TV set; his official biography cited Steve Jobs as saying that he had "finally cracked" a solution that would avoid all of the disconnected experience with cable providers and peripherals like DVD players. With Jobs gone, maybe Apple will be able to pursue its ambitions in television more freely. After all, the latest update to Apple TV sported a user interface that Jobs vetoed, so that shows some added amount of flexibility -- but that doesn't necessarily mean that it will be done right or be the right thing to do.

Then again, 2012 or 2013 isn't 2010, 2007, or 1998. As is often cited, Steve Jobs at one point said no one wanted to watch video on an iPod, or read books, and that Apple wasn't making a phone. Times and go-to-market conditions change.

Ikea recently launched their own integrated TV set solution (see the video, below), which I think looks great. Could Apple do something similar? What would your ideal Apple TV look like? How much overlap should there be between TVs and computers?

Source: Fast Company

FireCore has released another update to its hugely popular software for jailbroken second generation Apple TV's (2010, 720p version). The new 1.5 release includes a revamped video player which claims to improve playback performance of most video file types.

Today we're happy to release a brand new version of aTV Flash (black) which includes a revamped player that is optimized for iOS 5.0 and later. This new player improves performance for virtually all file type resulting in noticeably smoother playback. We've also baked in a number of other goodies including NFS streaming, subtitle timing settings, additional translations and a mountain of other improvements and fixes.

Still nothing concrete on the release of a jailbrealk for the latest Apple TV (2012, 1080p version) or an untethered jailbreak for the Apple  TV 2 running iOS 5.1. FireCore says that it is still working hard on both fronts but its is still too early to give an estimate on the release date.

If you’re looking for the full change log, you’ll find it below. If you really don’t need the full details and just want to get yourself updated, version 1.5 is available now from the Firecore website. If you're already running a version of aTV Flash (black) the new 1.5 version can be installed through the Maintenance --> Manage Extras menu.

Need help jailbreaking your Apple TV 2? If so, be sure to check out our full how-to guide.

Source: FireCore

Full Changelog

• Revamped player with improved performance (AppleTV 4.4 and later)
• Added NFS streaming
• Added Catalan, Czech, Korean and Traditional Chinese translations
• Added support for localized TV show pattern: TV Show/Season #/S##E##.extension
• Added manual subtitle time correction (-10.0s to +10.0s)
• Added support for embedded .FLAC cover art
• Added support for .AC3, .DTS and .MOD files
• Improved .EYETV file handling
• Improved audio synchronization in slow and unstable networks
• Improved slideshow operation with small images
• Improved movie folders detection logic to ignore hidden files
• Improved metadata fetching to support movies split into multiple files (dvd#, cd#, disk#)
• Improved zoom mode operation for non-square pixels
• Improved DVD menu handling
• Improved .OGG file handling (now correctly treated as audio)
• Improved error handling for connection issues
• Improved buffering logic
• Improved installation routine
• Other minor UI improvements
• Resolved format detection that was causing rare playback issues
• Resolved issue with volume level resetting during rw/fw
• Resolved floating crashes usually observed when using SMB with Windows 7 shares
• Resolved conflicts with XBMC related to SMB
• Resolved issues with metadata fetching for 'Show.Name.###.extension' pattern
• Resolved crashes observed in folders with significant number of files
• Resolved playback error on DVD and ISO files observed when file path contains '?' character
• Resolved crashes when working with long file paths
• Resolved rare issue with incorrect pre-playback screen layout
• Other miscellaneous bug fixes

UPDATE: Never happened, according to Valve:

We actually, we all sent mail to each other, going, "Who's Tim Cook meeting with? Is he meeting with you? I'm not meeting with Tim Cook." So we're... it's one of those rumors that was stated so factually that we were actually confused.

No one here was meeting with Tim Cook or with anybody at Apple that day. I wish we were! We have a long list of things we'd love to see Apple do to support games and gaming better. But no, we didn't meet with Tim Cook. He seems like a smart guy, but I've never actually met him.

Source: Kotaku

ORIGINAL:

Last week Tim Cook visited Valve, one of the biggest influencers in PC gaming, to talk about a work-in-progress TV set Apple is working on, according to anonymous sources. Supposedly the TV will be ready for games, complete with Kinect-style motion recognition, touch input through a custom remote control, and support Siri-esque voice input. Obviously, the gaming opportunities for such a mythical piece of hardware are significant, especially if it's able to tap into the huge library of iOS games currently available, but it's unclear how Valve would fit into that picture. Supposedly, this TV set will be available this year, though analysts think that kind of timing is unlikely.

This rumor comes after word that Valve was working on their own console called the Steam Box, after their hugely successful digital distribution platform, but Valve promptly corrected the media by saying they would rather partner with a hardware vendor for that sort of thing. A vendor like Apple? It's hard to say, and I somehow doubt Apple would allow anything but the App Store to sell games on there, but an Apple TV set with gaming powered by Steam would be really, really awesome.

It's worth noting that Valve is perpetually experimenting, including in the realm of wearable computing, but the process is more about gathering valuable information than it is about shipping a product. That said, even if Apple was talking to Valve about a TV doesn't mean they would be directly involved. Steam started supporting Mac about two years ago, and it seems more likely that Cook's visit was about how that relationship is evolving, rather than some high-profile hardware partnership.

In any case, it's interesting to hear about the potential capabilities of a game-ready Apple TV. Could you guys replace your Xbox 360 with an Apple TV that plays games originally optimized for the new iPad?

Source: Cult of Mac

P.S.: For a good laugh, check out Team Fortress 2's Mac update minisite and comic.

Update: Aaaaand it totally didn't happen, according to Valve CEO Gabe Newell.

Some recent poking around inside Apple's third-generation TV unit show that there's actually a dual-core A5 processor inside, and not the single-core CPU listed on the spec sheet. It's possible Apple's just reusing iPad 2 parts that have a bad core, and simply disabling it. Further investigation shows that the chip was actually made using a 32 nm process, compared to the standard 45 nm found elsewhere in Apple products.

The last teardown we had seen of the new Apple TV revealed extra RAM to handle 1080p video playback. The third-gen Apple TV also introduced a new user interface, though apparently the venerable Steve Jobs wasn't a huge fan.

It's entirely possible that this new manufacturing process will actually be squeezed into the iPhone 4S to save space and improve battery performance, perhaps with an Apple A5X variant we heard about previously?

Source: Chipworks

UPDATE: According to some digging around in a restore image, there are already plenty of iPad 2 models out there using the same processor.

If you updated your Apple TV recently to 5.0 (iOS 5.1) you can now jailbreak it again. FireCore has just updated their popular Seas0nPass jailbreak tool to offer tethered support for the newest firmware on the second generation Apple TV. If you picked up a new Apple TV, you'll have to sit this one out for now.

The current version of Seas0nPass will be tethered for anyone using it on iOS 5. This basically means you'll have to perform a tethered boot with a computer if your Apple TV gets powered off. If you're debating whether or not to update or tethered jailbreak, you may want to take into consideration whether or not the plug-ins you'd like to use are compatible with iOS 5 yet. I've found tethered jailbreaks to be a bit of a headache on devices like the Apple TV.

• Couch Surfer (works)
• Last.fm (works)
• Maintenance (works)
• Media Player (works)
• NitoTV (works)
• RSS Feeds (works)
• Weather (works)
• Overflow (not working)
• Plex (not working)
• Remote HD (not working)
• Rowmote (not working)
• XBMC (not working)

As you can see from above, a lot of popular applications and plug-ins aren't yet compatible. This may be something you want to think about before dealing with updating or installing a tethered jailbreak. If you do decide you'd like to take the plunge and update, you can grab a link from our downloads section below!

Source: FireCore

Additional resources:

• iMore Apple TV downloads section
• How to jailbreak your Apple TV 2
• iMore jailbreak and discussion forums

The new Apple TV user interface designs, which debuted alongside the new 1080p Apple TV, are actually 5 years old and were originally tossed out by the late Steve Jobs, who didn't like them. This according to Michael Margolis on Twitter, who claims to have "implemented much of the AppleTV 2.0 UI years ago".

The comment was made in response to Aral Balkan, who asked, "Wtf happened, Apple, did a rainbow throw up at one infinite loop while having sex with a designer from Samsung?" Margolis added, "The new home page UI makes me cry."

Thanks, though most of the product is the same. I also don't like the top-bar-navigation on the app store UI.

Fun fact - those new designs were tossed out 5 years ago because SJ didn't like them. Now there is nobody to say "no" to bad design.

Margolis closed out the exchange by saying, as far as he knew, "that whole team has left/been replaced".

Seth Weintraub from 9to5Mac checked into Margolis on LinkedIn, and found him listed as both former Senior Software Engineer at Apple, and Professional Hobbyist, AppleTV. He's currently listed as iPhone Software Connoisseur at Massive Health.

The new Apple TV user interface has been somewhat controversial, with some liking it and believing it hints at a future where apps can run on the Apple TV as they do on other iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad. Others feel the icons are inelegant and poorly organized.

However, citing the lack of Steve Jobs being there to say "no" to bad design is somewhat specious. Some of the user interface decisions made by Jobs were just as controversial, including pinstripes and brushed metal on OS X, the new iTunes icon, and the skeumorphic trend on iOS involving plush leather, green felt, and various shades of linen.

Update: It occurs to me that 5 years ago was iOS 1 (iPhone OS 1), which consisted of a Home screen interface with nothing but a collection of static, unorganized, unorganizable icons. The ability to move and organize apps on the Home screen wasn't added until iOS 1.1 in January of 2008 when Apple created Web Clips (web app icons on the Home screen). Jobs obviously okayed the iPhone UI, and later evolutions thereof. Since you can't directly interact with the Apple TV like you can the iPhone and iPad UI, however, it's not quite the same.

Personally, I'd prefer some hierarchical organization -- News, Sports, Videos, etc. instead of just all the icons (some rather less than appealing to look at) splattered all over the screen.

If you've tried out the new Apple TV software, what do you think of it? Designed fine, or design crime?

Source: @yipe, @aral, LinkedIn via 9to5Mac

Now that folks have had some time to play with their new Apple TVs, it's inevitable that a few are going to crack theirs open to see what's inside. The new Apple TV sports a single-core A5 processor, which is a step up from the A4 used in the previous generation, but it's not dual-core, like the iPhone 4S. There's also extra RAM in there to help with the playback of high-definition 1080p video; the memory has been bumped up from 256 MB to 512 MB. The 8 GB of local storage is unchanged unfortunately, but seeing as it's primarily a streaming box, that's no surprise.

This might not be as exciting as the iPad 2 teardown, but it's great to see Apple has been able to offer some decent upgrades to the set-top box without cranking up the price. Aside from being decent option for accessing Netflix, iTunes, and other web content, the Apple TV also enables AirPlay, so you can wirelessly beam iPad content to the big screen. Besides enabling 1080p video, the new Apple TV is also introducing updated software with a fresh user interface.

As nice as the Apple TV may be, I think anybody who's serious about having a digital home media center will want a whole lot of local storage so they don't have to deal with buffering times or otherwise worry about connectivity to get their shows and music. I'm all for a service-centric streaming model of the Apple TV, but higher-end counterpoint with lots of local storage would be an awesome option to have.

Source: XBMC via MacRumors

Every week the editors at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps, accessories, gadgets, and websites. This week's selections include a Dropbox-based plain text editor, a camera app that's bound to capture any action, a strategy game, a photo editing app, and a couple new Apple devices.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

PlainText - @sethclifford

It's been a while since I've talked about one directly, so yes, it's time for another Dropbox-based plain text editor. This one, appropriately enough, is called PlainText. Currently, this is my go-to text editor on iOS for a very simple reason.

Apple has shown us the value in unifying its multiple platforms visually with the preview release of Mountain Lion, incorporating both aesthetic influences and applications from iOS into OS X. Something I've tried to do for a while, well in advance of the official declaration of this agenda has been to unify my computing experience as seamlessly as possible in all places. On the desktop, I use NValt for writing notes and long form text. In fact I'm using it to write this pick right now ("You're soaking in it"). NValt is a fork of the excellent note program Notational Velocity, and is provided by Brett Terpstra of TUAW fame as well as other cool projects. The reason I like Notational Velocity is because it provides a super-clean and ultra-fast note taking interface. NValt adds some nice tweaks like Markdown support baked right in. It's quick, simple, and highly effective.

I realized I was looking for a similar experience on iOS, and although I've tried many editors, I came back to PlainText because of one major feature that accurately mimicked the most excellent part of NValt and Notational Velocity - a search field that drills through your notes like a bullet. I realized that after all my searching, what I need most on my phone is speedy access to the information I'm looking through, above all else. PlainText has a really cool search UI that works in almost exactly the same fashion, providing an experience that matches the one I like so much on my MBP.

Ultimately, PlainText doesn't have most of the bells and whistles of some of the other text editors we've discussed in the past, but it has the most important one: pure, blistering speed. And a nice, clean UI. Okay, two important ones. It's a great free app, and for two bucks, you can drop the ads and support great development.

Free - Download Now

Fast Camera - @Alli_Flowers

If you ever missed a great action shot because your iPhone camera lens didn't refresh fast enough - this app's for you. According to the iTunes description, you can take up to 800 pictures per minute! I've only taken 178 at a pop, so I can't prove it, but 178 is impressive in a few seconds.

Once you take your series of photos, you can review them and save the ones you want - delete the rest. No need to take up space with what you're not keeping. But what you're keeping are full resolution (can you say 8 megapixels?) photos. This is not like taking a video and then doing a screen capture of the good part.

You can adjust the settings so that your photos are not full resolution, but why would you do that? Settings include starting your series when you open the app for instant picture taking, or letting you press the start button.

This app is worth way more than the $.99 price tag, and should be a must for active people.

$0.99 - Download Now

Hero Academy - @simonsage

I've spent a lot of time playing Hero Academy this week. It's a free turn-based strategy game with a high fantasy theme. Either side is trying to destroy the other's other's crystal placed on a square grid. Each turn consists of five actions, which can involve playing various units, powers and upgrades held in your hand, or moving and attacking with the pieces on the board. The only army available in the free version are the humans, but if you want to give the dark elves or dwarves a shot, they're $1.99 each, and they wipe out the inter-turn ads.

I do have a few niggles. For one, you can only get the new armies through microtransactions - there's no way to unlock them through standard gameplay. Secondly, it feels like the premium armies are a little overpowered; a fully-upgraded dwarven Annihilator doesn't feel remotely equivalent to a tweaked-out Council Ninja. Pay-to-win is never a great policy.

Free - Download Now

iPhoto for iPhone and iPad - @iMuggle

Ever since I have started to take a liking to photography (mostly thanks to our own Leanna and her iPhoneography series), I've been filling up my iPhone and iPad with tons of pictures from both my iPhone 4S and my DSLR.

iPhoto has a lot of really nice editing tools that allows me to make quick edits to photos on the go without having to load them to my computer first. Of course it'll never be a replacement for tools like Photoshop but it's definitely good enough for basic editing.

Paired with a camera kit, I've been bringing both my camera and iPad with me when taking photos and loading them straight into iPhoto to view them with friends, family, and clients.

Let's also not forget the new iPad. I am blown away with how good high quality images look on the retina display. Absolutely amazing. I still wish Apple would sync albums and events back and forth. That is my biggest complaint at this point. If I create an event on my iPad I want it on my iMac too. Hopefully we will see this functionality added in an update. If you're debating picking iPhoto up you can check out our review first.

$4.99 - Download Now

NCAA March Madness Live - @gmazo1

If you are a sports fan like me, March means one thing - March Madness. For those non-sports fans among us, that is the NCAA college basketball tournament.

The Tournament is known for the “Bracket” – the seeding and schedule of the 64-team road to the final four.

This year, there is a great app called NCAA March Madness Live, which lets me follow all the action. I can see the scores and plays in real time, follow tweets about the games, listen to game day audio and watch video highlights.

If that’s not enough, I can pay a once time fee of $3.99 and watch every single second of every game right on my iPad or iPhone. This app is just amazing for the college basketball lover.

The feature I like the best is that when you first set up the app (provided you did it before the tournament started) you can “fill in your bracket” and it keeps track of your winning percentage. So far, I’m doing OK – the four teams I picked for the Final Four are still in the tournament.

I’d be curious to know if you are using this app and how your bracket is doing, so please head to our forums and join in on the discussion!

Free - Download Now

Apple TV 1080p (2012) - Rene Ritchie

Last week I picked the new iPad. This week I'm rounding that pick out with something that combines with it, like Devastator or Voltron, to be more than the sum of its parts. The new Apple TV.

Apple didn't make many changes to the new Apple TV. Design-wise it's the same black, rounded rectangle they released in the fall of 2010. Inside, however, they've made some great changes. RAM is increased, if you follow the tear-downs, but more importantly it now supports 1080p content. While that doesn't sound impressive in a 1080p HDTV and BluRay soaked society, Apple is streaming 1080p content to it, both via AirPlay from the iPhone 4S, iPad 2, and the new iPad, and from iTunes in the cloud.

They've improved the look of the video without excessive file size increases by supporting higher quality H.264 encoding, but that's just a technical detail. They've made a peripheral that lets you take the absolutely stunning looking video the new iPad can play natively and beam it right to your 1080p TV to share with friends, families, or colleagues.

Apple also released an updated interface for both the new and the previous Apple TV, which I like in concept if not in individual icon-level rendering or organization. There's a lot of content there now though, and you can subscribe to Netflix or MLB right on the Apple TV, right with your iTunes account.

We're not there yet, not to where Apple TV can replace cable television for most people, most of the time, but we're getting closer.

iPad - @llofte

Turning on my new iPad for the first time was just like turning on my iPhone 4 for the first time. A-mazing. Those claiming that the new iPad is only a incremental upgrade from the iPad 2 clearly haven't actually looked at the screen on the new iPad. I literally can't stop staring at it.

I can rant and rave all night about the new iPad, but I'm sure you'll just roll your eyes at me and scream "fangirl", so instead, I'm just going to answer the question that I'm repeatedly being asked on Twitter -- yes, the new iPad is worth it.

Tell us your pick!

Those were our picks, iMore Nation, so now it's your turn! Tell us your pick of the week below. Give us the name of your favorite app, site, or accessory, and tell us why it made your life more productive, more informed, more entertaining, or just plain more fun. Jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

If you're hoping to get your new 3rd-generation new iPad in the mail early, maybe the fact that some 2012 Apple TV units are hitting doorsteps today will give you some hope. We got this shot of the brand-spanking-new Apple TV delivered safely to the home of one of our New York readers. Reviews of the latest model have been pretty good, though there's nothing hugely groundbreaking. Yeah, it can handle 1080p video streams, but the updated user interface will be available through a software update on older Apple TVs too.

Thanks Damon!

Although it might be overshadowed by the new iPad reviews looming large, select journos have had some time with the new Apple TV, and have posted largely positive reviews. Just to recap, the new Apple TV introduces 1080p video streaming, access to cloud-stored iTunes movies, and a brand new user interface. The $99 price point has stuck, and so has the hardware design.

TechCrunch's MG Siegler sees the new Apple TV as a threat to traditional disc-based HD media.

No, Apple didn’t give a huge incentive for current Apple TV owners to upgrade to the newer box. But they gave a huge incentive to millions of people without an Apple TV to get one. And that’s bad news for Blu-ray.

If Apple can get the content in place — even Hulu and HBO Go apps would go an awfully long way — the Apple TV will be a truly killer device, whether or not the company ever decides to make an actual TV set. Until then, devices from Roku and Western Digital still provide more complete options for cord-cutters.

At $99, the third-generation Apple TV continues to be as excellent a value as the previous model—and now it supports higher-quality video too. That’s a good thing.

The Apple TV is the epitome of convenience. With iCloud, I have access to all of my iTunes Match music and videos, so I don’t need to connect to a computer anymore. I can purchase movies, TV shows and I can watch content from Netflix. That’s perfect.

CBS CEO Leslie Moonves mentioned in an interview recently that Steve Jobs had approached him about syndicating television content on Apple TV. Jobs pitched the partnership as a subscription service, but there aren't many details beyond that. Moonves shot down Jobs, citing concerns about disrupting the traditional CBS revenue stream. Specifically, Moonves said "You know more than me about 99 percent of things but I know more about the television business." As you might expect, Jobs vehemently disagreed with Moonves about the revenue situation. In the interview, Moonves reiterated that they full support digital distribution of content, having played a huge role in Hulu's earlier days, and being a Netflix partner.

While this headline might be getting Moonves some attention, he's hardly the only person ever to have said "no" to Steve Jobs. Verizon did as well, landing the iPhone exclusively on AT&T for 3 years. Given Jobs' track record, and his ability to see the future of consumer demand, it might not be something Moonves is smart to be shopping around. But hey, if Apple launches their rumored television set, and it takes off anything like the iPhone and iPad has, at least we'll be able to link back to this in a few years and see, right?

Meanwhile Apple TV is seeing a refresh with 1080p video quality, but for most TV, that's overkill. There's already a wealth of CBS content available on Apple TV through Netflix, but If Apple is still interested in this sort of a setup, a subscription-based premium Apple TV service may still be in the cards. In any case, this kind of thing has been rumoured for awhile, so I wouldn't be holding my breath to see a launch any time soon. Would you guys be interested in a $10/month Netflix competitor from Apple? What would they need to do differently to stand out?

Source: Hollywood Reporter

The new column. It comes after last week's column 2. If that confuses you, just call it the column (3rd edition). Yeah, I went there. It's been a heckuva week so cut me some slack. We've all been running on equal parts adrenalin and recklessly strong coffee and might soon be going into a collective apoplexy not dissimilar to what I'm sure faced the CEOs of rival tablet manufacturers sometime Wednesday afternoon. Yeah, I went there too. Here's why...

The unbeatable new iPad

I've already written about the new iPad event and what it means for the new Apple, so go read that first. Done? Good. Here's a little more.

The new iPad event was the first event following the passing of Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs. So, it's being afforded way more attention than it otherwise might (and as we all know, stare at anything long enough and you'll be seeing shapes and patterns that aren't really there).

Along with the need for more better helmets, that probably explains a lot of link-bait that's been going around since the event. It's dumb Apple stuff and I'm not going anywhere near it, nor the noble but unfortunately perpetuating link-back refutations that still leave me dumber for having scanned them. Instead I'm going with the opposite -- the chest beating. The stuff that's even more dangerous. The stuff that's saying that Apple is unbeatable.

Nothing and no one is unbeatable. Not even Apple. And no one ever sees the next big transition coming. IBM didn't. Microsoft didn't. Sony didn't. Google won't. And neither will Apple.

Apple's advantage is, right now, they don't consider themselves unbeatable. They're scared and they're hungry. They're Rocky III after Clubber Lang clobbered him midway through the film, and they're working their collective asses off to make sure they don't lose the much bigger rematch. They know they're beatable because they've been beaten in the past, and they're lucky enough to have gotten a second chance. They're smart enough to keep proving they're beatable, each and every year, by beating themselves.

That's what makes Apple dangerous.

[Update: I thought more about this and spun it off into a separate editorial called Beatable]

The new Apple TV

Now it comes in 1080p.

The Privacy car

Android Central had a great editorial about mobile privacy this week. It's the kind of smart, non-sensationalist, non-reactionary writing we need more of. But that's not going to stop me from disagreeing with it in a fairly fundamental way.

Yes, the concerns raised by headline-seeking senators in regards to mobile privacy are neither new nor unique to mobile. Potential bad guy developers can access your photos on your phone, just like they could access those photos on your Mac or Windows PC too. Heck, we can't go a week without yet another celebrity's nudie pics getting hacked and splayed across the internet. We get it.

But smartphones and tablets aren't PCs. To quote Steve Jobs, mobile is the car to the PC truck. And mobile users aren't the same types of drivers as traditional PC users. They're often people for whom traditional PCs were intimidating and inaccessible, and for whom the idea of a file system and permissions were confusing and off putting. They got smartphones and tablets, in part, because they wanted something easier.

Time was if you owned a motor vehicle you needed some measure of mechanical knowledge to operate it and keep it operational. Even years later common prejudice held that you shouldn't drive something you didn't know how to fix. But times changed and cars became more user friendly. Now most people get in, turn a key, shift an automatic transmission, and go. If they break down, they call someone. Mainstream drivers often have no idea how modern cars function and wouldn't have the first clue how to fix them if they ever broke down. Same goes for PCs.

That's the price we pay for democratizing technology.

And that's why it's not reasonable to expect mainstream users to even begin to understand the subtleties and specifics of online, mobile privacy permissions.

I'm a huge believer in personal responsibility. Don't put something online that you couldn't survive going public. But the concept of computers and filesystems and permissions is antiquated and outdated in our brave, new mobile world of always accessible networks and instant uploading apps.

We need something simpler, more sensible, and easier for mainstream users to understand and employ. We've made PCs into computing appliances, into cars, far more elegant and accessible than ever before. It's time to make the privacy and security settings match.

I repeat, I'm a huge believer in personal responsibility. I'm also a huge believer in platform responsibility. This is something Apple and Google (among others) need to address and now.

Podcasting

I did a double-header on the iPhone & iPad Live podcast this week -- a live show during the new iPad event with Seth Clifford (calling in from Aruba no less!), and Simon Sage, and a post-event analysis show with Georgia and David Barnard of App Cubby (which is currently sitting at #8 in the iTunes gadget podcast listings, thanks to all of you). We're doing fewer podcasts these days but our goal is to do each show better. I've already switched from iMovie to Final Cut Pro X for the editing and while it's taken me a couple weeks to even begin to feel comfortable, the time saved in rendering (almost 2x) has already made it more than worth it.

We're thinking of doing a few specials soon, both for Iterate and iMore, and for Mobile Nations, and the new schedule it what's going to make that possible. Stay tuned.

Features

Apple turned our schedule upside down this week. Usually there's a few days if not a week between an Apple event and the release of a new iOS update (for developers to test the Gold Master (GM) build against their apps), and between device announcement and pre-orders (for Apple to get everything in place). This year Apple pushed iOS 5.1 out and opened pre-orders right on event day. And we all scrambled. We'd already planned and written a lot of content, but we needed to wait for the announcement to finalize it (so we'd know the actual details of what they announced). We believe iMore exists only and always to serve our readers, and a big part of that is helping our readers figure out new software features and decide which version of new hardware to buy. Let's just say some of us didn't get much sleep for the last few days. But we managed to get a lot of stuff done. Much of it is rounded and summed up in these two, conveniently bookmarkable places.

• iOS 5 walkthrough: A complete look at Apple's latest mobile software for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
• 2012 iPad buyers guide: Everything you need to know before buying the new iPad, including how to pick your model, storage capacity, color, and 3G or 4G LTE carrier.

We also had a huge internal debate about the name "the new iPad"... or the new "iPad" depending on which side of the debate you fall on.

• Why the new “iPad” has the perfect name: Leanna fights back with great points about how Apple has always handled new products and their existing product lines.
• Why “the new iPad” is a terrible name

Me, I fight for the user. My mom bought an iPad 2, went and searched for "iPad 2 cases", and found one she liked for exactly the model she had. As an experiment, I searched for "new iPad cases" and "iPad cases" (fair is fair) and got results that were far too broad to be useful. Accessory makers and stores alike will need to do some heavy lifting on their ends to help customers navigate that. I'm guess app devs who target only the latest hardware will have to do likewise. So in theory, while "iPad" is shorter, "iPad (3rd generation)" is both more realistic and less penetrable for my mom.

In lieu of her usual photography column this week, Leanna took a look at Apple's new photo editor for iOS. (Spoiler: It's powerful but not perfect, but a damn sight better than Photoshop Touch -and shows it's time for Adobe to ditch AIR and get in the native game.)

• iPhoto for iPhone and iPad review

Ally also tackled the questions that were rapidly filling our email boxes.

• Can you jailbreak the new iPad, AppleTV, and iOS 5.1?

Meanwhile, Georgia did the best she could to make sure some cool iPhone kit still hit the site.

• SGP Linear Blitz Case for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 review

Some readers expressed concern that case might be too slippery or might interfere with reception. I've used it and found it had a great grip and didn't notice any signal lock. I'm guessing the ones the iMore Store sells are simply badass.

If you're not read-out yet

This went rather long, so I'll keep the recommended reading brief.

• From the Editor's Desk: Privacy, Google Play, Nexus tablets and more: Phil Nickinson started this very format on Mobile Nations and does it better than anyone.
• MacStories Reading List: New iPad Special Edition: Federico Viticci inspired me to share links to smart stuff I liked.

This Friday

I'll be lining up to get my new iPad in Montreal on Friday. Black. 64GB. LTE. (Go big or go Kindle.) If you're around, come say hi and get a free special edition iMore t-shirt.

I'm your huckleberry.

Apple has made 1080p TV shows and music available for streaming and purchase via the iTunes Store. The price is the same as the previous 720p HD content, but is the image quality better enough to justify the bigger download sizes and increased storage they'll require?

First of all it's worth remember that, as of now, only the new iPad and the new Apple TV, in addition to iTunes on the desktop, can even play back 1080p content. If you primarily watch your iTunes TV shows and movies on an iPad 2 and iPhone 4S or older device, 720p is all you can play. That makes the choice simple -- there is none.

[Clarification: As pointed out in the comments below, you can load 1080p content onto iPad 2 or iPhone 4S, but the screen density is insufficient to play them at native resolution. For streaming, there's no reason to go 1080p. For purchases, you may want to swallow the size difference and go 1080p simply to future-proof your collection.]

If you're getting the new iPad and/or the new Apple TV, however, you have the choice. With one flip of the Settings, you can go from 720p to 1080p. That makes the choice not so simple.

Ars Technica has taken a look and compared 720p vs 1080p content from iTunes, and the results are surprising. 1080p iTunes content isn't that much bigger than 720p, but still manages to look better.

n the iTunes 10.6 preferences under Store, you can select whether HD downloads come in 720p or 1080p resolution. In the iTunes Store, movies conveniently list the file size for the selected format. A couple of examples: Hugo is 1.74GB in SD, 3.99GB in 720p, and 4.84GB in 1080p. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is 1.00, 2.91, and 3.65 gigabytes, respectively. However, to determine the quality difference, I looked at two (currently free) TV episodes: episode 1 of season 5 of The Big Bang Theory, and the first episode of Awake.

The reason Ars gives is that the new Apple TV supports High Profile H.264 decompression up to level 4.0, while the iPhone 4S and the new iPad support it up to level 4.1. That means they can handle more bits per second, and otherwise better optimize quality vs. file size. However. Ars also found the amount of extra detail in the 1080p versions varied greatly between videos and even within videos. In other words, 1080p didn't always make a big difference to the overall quality of the experience.

While not directly comparable, if you want to look at the difference between 720p and 1080p without buying or downloading entire movies or TV show episodes, iTunes Movies Trailers is a good resource. I checked out a bunch of recent trailers, including The Avengers and noticed not only differences in quality but in color fidelity as well (look at the greens in the image up top). File sizes weren't outrageously different either.

Check out their full report via the link below, and let us know if you're going to be flipping your iTunes switch to 1080p.

Source: Ars Technica

Georgia, Rene, and David Barnard of Appcubby are in full post-game mode, reviewing everything Apple announced at the new iPad event, including iOS 5.1, the new Apple TV, the new iPad, and more. This is iPhone & iPad Live!

Brought to you by Audible. Please visit http://www.audiblepodcast.com/imore for your free audiobook download! And thank you for supporting our sponsors!

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Show notes

• The new iPad: Everything you need to know

Hosts

• Georgia (@GeorgiaTiPb)
• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)
• David Barnard (@drbarnard) of App Cubby

Credits

You can reach all of us on Twitter @iMore, or you can email us at podcast@imore.com, or leave a comment on the website when the show goes live.

We're here every Wednesday night at 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern, 2am GMT at www.TiPb.com/live

For all our podcasts -- audio and video -- including iPhone and iPad Live, ZEN and TECH, Iterate, and more, see MobileNations.com/shows

If you haven't already please subscribe to all our shows in iTunes and leave a rating. It helps people find the show and means a lot to us!

Thanks to the iMore Accessory Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Bad news if you are planning on pre-ordering the new Apple TV for delivery on March 16. The shipping estimate has slipped to a rather vague 1-2 week instead of the original guaranteed delivery on March 16.

Apple announced the new Apple TV at its media event yesterday along with the new iPad. The new Apple TV now offers 1080p video playback, iTunes Movies in the cloud and also comes with a revamped user interface. It looks like it is going to be a very popular upgrade!

Source: Apple Store

Kicking off the new iPad event, Apple CEO Tim Cook has just announced a new Apple TV, a new Apple TV user interface, new iTunes Movies in the cloud, and most importantly -- full 1080p support.

Looking at the interface,  you can see items are no longer "listed" but rather, laid out in a more icon like way so that items are easily viewed. The information lacking in the announcement here ,though, was any mention of specs for the new Apple TV however, it was noted it will be available as of March 16th while retaining the current Apple TV pricing of $99.

Here's the full press release

Apple Brings 1080p High Definition to New Apple TV

SAN FRANCISCO—March 7, 2012—Apple® today announced the new Apple TV® featuring 1080p programming including iTunes® movies and TV shows, Netflix, Vimeo, photos and more in HD. With iTunes in the Cloud, customers can purchase and play their favorite movies and TV shows from the iTunes Store® and watch them instantly on their HD TV. The new Apple TV features a simpler, refined user interface making it easier than ever to access your purchased movies, TV shows and music with iTunes Match℠ right from iCloud®. With AirPlay®, users can stream or mirror their favorite content from their iPad® or iPhone® 4S to Apple TV.

“People are going to love streaming movies and TV shows in 1080p with the new Apple TV, and photos look beautiful displayed at the maximum resolution of your TV,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Apple TV is easier than ever to use with its new icon-based interface and the ability to access your purchased movies, TV shows and music right from iCloud.”

Apple TV users can choose from an incredible selection of programming including over 15,000 movies and over 90,000 TV episodes on the iTunes Store. Apple TV also offers great content from Netflix’s streaming catalog, live sports from MLB, NBA and NHL as well as Internet content from Vimeo, YouTube and Flickr.*

With iCloud, you can buy movies and TV shows on Apple TV and watch them on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch®, Mac® or PC. iCloud also stores photos and pushes them wirelessly to all your devices including your HD TV via Apple TV. iCloud provides an incredibly easy way to get instant access to all of your content, no matter which device is being used.

iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users can use AirPlay to stream music, photos and videos from their devices directly to their HD TV with Apple TV. iPhone 4S or iPad users can use AirPlay Mirroring to show the screen of their device right on their HD TV, allowing them to stream web pages, spreadsheets or even games.**

Apple TV makes it easy to enjoy iTunes video, music and photo libraries from your computer right on your HD TV—and with iCloud you can instantly enjoy content that was purchased on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch as well. iTunes Match customers can now play their entire music library from iCloud—even songs they’ve imported from CDs. Users can also control Apple TV with their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch using the Remote app, available as a free download on the App Store™ (www.itunes.com/appstore).

Pricing & Availability

Apple TV will be available on Friday, March 16 for a suggested retail price of $99 (US) through the Apple online store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. Apple TV requires iTunes 10.5 or later. Apple TV requires an 802.11g/n Wi-Fi network or Ethernet network, a broadband Internet connection and a HD TV capable of 1080p or 720p and an HDMI cable that is sold separately. iTunes movie and TV show availability varies by country. Second generation Apple TV users can install the new Apple TV user interface via a free software update, available today. Third generation Apple TV hardware is required to play 1080p video.

Content availability varies by country and may require account subscriptions.

AirPlay requires an iOS device running iOS 4.2 or later. AirPlay Mirroring not supported on original iPad.

Apple is set to announce the next generation iPad later today at its media event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Also on the agenda is a revamped Apple TV which 9to5 Mac has garnered some rather interesting information.

According to their sources, the new Apple TV will stick to its current low price point of $99 even though it is getting a very nice spec bump. The new Apple TV should have the exact same form factor as the current version but include the ability to play back 1080p high definition content, Bluetooth 4.0 should also be included and of course a processor bump to help run all of the new internals.

The Apple TV J33 model, MD199LL/A – J33 BEST -USA, which we’ve covered before will come in at the same $99 price point (and similar prices globally).

Also the mystery Apple TV accessory which is listed as B82 has also been given a price point of $39. We have no idea what this accessory may be but we assume that it could be some type of advanced remote control to take advantage of the new Bluetooth 4.0 capability.

And lastly, the new iPad 3/iPad HD may also be receiving the same AppleCare+ treatment the iPhone 4S received back in October. It would replace the already existing $79 AppleCare plan and be priced at $99. From there users would be covered for up to 2 incidents of accidental damage, which general AppleCare plans don't cover. The AppleCare+ package for iPhone currently has a $49 deductible per incident. No word on whether the deductible would be the same for AppleCare+ for iPad.

Source: 9to5 Mac

Once again, rumors are circulating about an Apple TV 3 update to accompany the new iPad 3/iPad HD. Adding yet more weight to previous reports, The Verge's Josh Topolsky says the new Apple TV will indeed be 1080p, and what's more:

According to sources familiar with the matter, Apple will update both the new Apple TV and the iPad 3 (or iPad HD, a name we first unearthed last year) not with the rumored, quad-core A6 system-on-a-chip, but rather the A5X, a dual-core SoC said to have a more powerful GPU. From what we're hearing, it's basically an A5 on steroids.

Our source was adamant that neither of the new products would be receiving the next generation chip — rather, that Apple seems to be waiting for the launch of the iPhone 5 to introduce the rumored A6.

iMore, and others including Daring Fireball's John Gruber, have heard the iPad 3 will be quad-core, and 9to5Mac has found code strings for both the A5X and A6 in iOS. Apple could have the different chips in different models, or could have decided to stick with dual core for battery reasons. We'll find out tomorrow.

Topolsky also paints a complex radio picture:

two distinct, separate versions of the LTE tablet ([one for AT&T, one for Verizon]). In addition, there's a third international model which does double duty on 3G; a CDMA / GSM model using a similar radio chipset to the iPhone 4S (a Qualcomm Gobi chip).

That would be two 4G LTE models for the U.S. (that could fall back on 3G), a 3G model for international markets (no LTE outside the U.S.), as well as the usual Wi-Fi only model.

Source: The Verge

Apple is rumoured to be launching its own TV streaming service which could be available in time for Christmas. The news comes from a report in the New York Post which claims to have some inside information on the direction Apple is looking to take.

For months, Apple’s point man, Eddie Cue, has been leading talks with content providers, which have largely balked at the tech giant’s efforts to exert control over all aspects of the video service, including pricing, sources said. Apple’s negotiating stance can be summed up as “we decide the price, we decide what content,” according to one source familiar with the talks. “They want everything for nothing,” said another media executive, echoing similar tense negotiations Apple has had in the past with magazine publishers and music companies.

Apple has been rumored to be releasing an updated Apple TV device at its iPad 3 event which is scheduled for March 7. It has also been strongly rumoured that Apple is working on an actual Apple HDTV set. We will have to wait and see how this one transpires but it would appear to make more sense if Apple manages to get control of some live TV content; especially sports content.

Source: New York Post

There's a rumor going around that Apple could be preparing a second product launch to accompany the iPad 3 this March, and the current front-runner is Apple TV 3. Mark Gurman from 9to5Mac reports:

We’ve been hearing that supplies of the Apple TV are severely constrained, but it’s hard to see a reason for this besides an imminent refresh. We’ve been hitting hard with evidence for the past few months that suggests a new Apple TV is in development, and what better time to launch it than alongside the latest and greatest mobile iOS device?

Rumored new features center on 1080p content made possible by an updated chipset, perhaps the current Apple A5 dual-core, ARM Cortex A9, or even a next-generation Apple A5X or Apple A6 (whichever ships with the iPad 3).

What and how much 1080p content Apple will have available via iTunes to accompany the launch is unknown. What a new Apple TV 3 this march means, if anything, for rumors of a full-on Apple iTV television is also unknown.

The current, iOS-powered Apple TV 2 was announced in September of 2010. Apple TV 3 rumors have been swirling for a while now, beginning well before the 2011 holiday shopping quarter.

If these rumors pan out, March could just bring us one more thing...

Source: 9to5Mac

At a recent trade show, Samsung product manager Chris Moseley commented on the recent rumours swirling about an Apple-made iTV television.

"We've not seen what they've done but what we can say is that they don't have 10,000 people in R&D in the vision category. They don't have the best scaling engine in the world and they don't have world renowned picture quality that has been awarded more than anyone else. TVs are ultimately about picture quality. Ultimately. How smart they are...great, but let's face it that's a secondary consideration. The ultimate is about picture quality and there is no way that anyone, new or old, can come along this year or next year and beat us on picture quality. So, from that perspective, it's not a great concern but it remains to be seen what they're going to come out with, if anything."

If you are fully submerged in the Samsung culture, I could understand that line of thinking, but in the grand scheme of things, it's hard to put Apple past setting a new bar for any electronics industry, regardless of how well-established it is in any particular field. Steve Jobs and Tim Cook both admitted openly that the Apple TV was little more than a hobby project, but what's going to happen when Apple takes TVs seriously? Are they just going to make another little puck, only have it not suck for a change? Or are they going to go all-out, producing an entire TV set?

While I certainly agree with Moseley that Apple isn't likely to oust Samsung's top spot in TV in the next two years, I would be really surprised if Apple didn't at least introduce some considerable competition in that timeframe. Competitors are offering some really smart connected home solutions, but if Apple doesn't have a real presence in the world of TVs, the Mac, iPhone, and iPad will have comparatively limited reach. I'm eager to see how Apple patches that gap in their strategy, but what about you guys? Would you pay a premium for an Apple-made TV? 50-inch Retina Display, anyone?

Lastly, we can't help but remember what happened the last time existing players counted Apple out of an established industry -- namely Microsoft's Steve Ballmer and Palm's Ed Colligan, who both believed Apple wouldn't get any significant market share -- when the iPhone launched in 2007.

Source: Pocket-Lint

Update: iTV denies The Telegraph's report:

The Telegraph's piece is entirely speculative, and there has been no recent dialogue between ITV and Apple. ITV has no further comment on the matter."

There have been an increasing number of rumors flying around that Apple is set to launch its own television set later this year. The rumors also all seem to think that if Apple does follow this product route, this particular television set will be called the iTV. Unfortunately for Apple, there is already a huge broadcasting company in the UK that already owns the name ITV. ITV stands for (Independent Television) and it is sharpening its knives ready for a fight; if Apple does decide to launch a television this year and name it the iTV.

Adam Crozier, chief executive of Britain’s biggest commercial broadcaster, raised the issue with the company when he took the job in 2010, amid expectations that Apple would follow the pattern of branding used for its iPhone and iPad when it eventually cracked television. At the time, ITV, the broadcaster of popular period drama Downton Abbey, received assurances that Apple would not muscle into its territory, at least in the UK. 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.

Source: The Telegraph; Update: The Verge

The Apple TV remote that comes with the latest Apple TV 2 is very small and can be very easily misplaced or lost completely. Luckily, Apple has included a very easy way for you to use a third-party remote control as an alternative. Sure you could use your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and the Apple Remote app but if you don’t want your kids, friends, or spouses, bugging you every time they need to change something on the Apple TV, you'll want something dedicated.

Here's how to set it up, and you should do it now before you lose your current remote.

• Power on your Apple TV
• Go to Settings in the main menu
• Click on General and then Remote
• Choose Learn Remote

• Select Start
• Apple TV will display icons that represent the six buttons on the Apple Remote with the "Up" or "+" button highlighted first.
• Using your third-party remote, press and hold the button you would like to use to control the "up" function until the blue progress bar is full as shown below.
• Apple TV will then select the next button function. Repeat the above step using a different button
• After you have programmed all six button functions, you can now use your third-party remote to control Apple TV. You can optionally setup specific playback buttons for Fast-forward, Rewind, Next chapter, and more.

If you see the "Button Already Learned" error message, this means one of the following:

• A different, previously learned remote, has a learned button with the same IR code as the current button that you are trying to program.
• A previously learned button of the current remote has the same IR code as the current button that you are trying to program.

That is all  there is to it, a very easy way to use a third-party remote as a backup for your Apple TV remote!

Daily Tips range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@imore.com.

Source: Apple Support Article

Best Buy is currently running an online survey asking for its customers views on a potential Apple HDTV. The survey suggests that the Apple iTV television could be available as a 42” 1080p LED Flat Panel set that will run iOS applications, stream movies and deliver other entertainment programs from the internet. The cost could be as much as $1499.00.

Apple finally reinvents what a TV can do," saying that it'll run iOS, support iCloud, be controllable from an iPhone or iPad, and have access to Netflix, YouTube, and Flickr — in other words, it's an Apple TV wrapped in an actual television set, exactly as you'd expect.

Source: The Verge

iPad 3 is likely up next, and the big rumor is Retina display on the order of 2048x1536. Less certain but still desirable are quad-core chips and LTE networking. Much the same rumors apply to the iPhone 5, just replace the already-present Retina display with an oft-requested 4-inch screen. You could throw a 7-inch iPad in there for good measure to.

Is it something subtler you're waiting for, like NFC support, or something more dramatic like 3D?

Apple TV hasn't been updated in over a year, so are you really craving some 1080p or are you all about the Apple iTV televion rumors now?

Maybe it's the Mac you want -- more specifically a 15-inch MacBook Air? A redesigned Mac Pro? If you could get just one big hardware gift from Apple this year, what would it be?

Give us your vote up top and then give us the details in the comments below!

As part of Apple's record breaking Q1 2012 financial results, Apple CEO Tim Cook took the time to break out Apple TV numbers -- 2.8 million sold last year with half of those sales, 1.4 million, coming in the last quarter.

Cook insisted that Apple TV is still a hobby for Apple and while there was pressure to comment on the Apple iTV Television rumors, Cook managed to dodge his way around those questions simply by stating there was nothing else to talk about in that area. Of course, that's what Apple said about phones and tablets, once upon a time.

Totally avoided by analysts and Apple execs alike -- Apple TV 3 rumors. Where's our Apple A5 powered, 1080p update already?

A is for AirPlay, a way to share everything from your music and movies to apps and games from your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad to your Apple TV

If you're new to iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and are wondering just what exactly AirPlay is and what it means to you, worry not -- iMore has you covered. AirPlay is Apple's term for their audio and video streaming technology. It's what lets your iOS 5 device, or iTunes on Mac or Windows, beam videos over Wi-Fi to your Apple TV so you can watch movies and play games on your big screen TV, or music to your AirPort Express router, so you can listen on your higher quality speakers.

AirPlay Mirroring is a more recent addition to iOS that works with iPad 2 or iPhone 4S and lets you not only beam music or video, but entire iPhone or iPad apps. Anything from Facebook to your favorite crosswords, racing, or fighting game can be sent via Apple TV to your HDTV, with your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad remaining active as the controller. Some games, like [Real Racing 2](http://www.imore.com/tag/real-racing 2) even let you participate in multiplayer games using AirPlay, with each person using their own device to control their own car, all displayed together on the big screen TV.

AirPlay is proprietary and not an open standard, which means Apple gets to control who uses it. Several other companies have licensed AirPlay, however, and you can find a growing range of AirPlay-compatible audio equipment. There's also some software out there that can run on your computer and tie into AirPlay, like BananaTV that lets you beam to your Mac instead of a TV.

Your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or computer running iTunes needs to be on the same Wi-Fi network as your Apple TV, Airport Express, or other hardware for AirPlay to work, but because Wi-Fi has high bandwidth it usually makes for a solid, stable connection. It's real time. It's encrypted. And most of the time, it "just works"

Want to know more? Check out more of our iOS A-Z words-of-the-day, or jump ahead to our complete iPhone and iPad glossary for the full on dictionary list!

• Apple TV - Amazon link
• AirPlay compatible speakers - Amazon link

Firecore has released an updated version of its aTV Flash (black) software that runs on any jailbroken second generation Apple TV. The new update, version 1.2,  adds in some nice new features like video zoom options, grid view, watched icons, quick access to recently visited browser pages and a huge raft of bug fixes.

• Three all new zoom options (Normal, Crop, and Stretch) allow you choose how videos are displayed. You can keep videos in their native format (widescreen or pillar box) or crop/stretch them to fill the entire screen.
• Watched indicator icons have been added to the grid view. These icons allow you to quickly see which content is new and ready to be enjoyed. (Note: These can be disabled through the Media --> Settings menu if desired)
• Couch Surfer now displays thumbnail images in the 'top shelf' area of the main menu, which allows you to quickly get back to recently viewed pages.

• Added video zoom options (available through Playback Menu)
• Added watched indicators to grid view
• Added 'Recently Visited' section to Browser top shelf
• Added support for MicroDVD .SUB files
• Added screensaver during pause
• Added file delete option
• Added activity indicator for metadata clearing
• Added 'tune' icon placeholder for audio files without metadata
• Added episode number to the fetched name the list view
• Added Reload Metadata' option in contextual menu for folders
• Added 'no items' message to the 'Unwatched' filter of the list view
• Added gray ticket image caching
• Added loading screen when opening Manage Extras menu
• Improved scrubber bar logic
• Improved audio feedback for watched and pre-playback screens
• Improved poster loading for large folders
• Improved support for DVDs without menus
• Improved subtitle support for right-to-left languages (e.g. Hebrew)
• Improved installer device detection
• Resolved minor memory management issues
• Resolved issues with subtitles settings while playing a playlist
• Resolved issues with yellow subtitles displayed for movies converted with Handbrake
• Resolved conflicts with default audio player
• Resolved issues with passwords that contain @ symbols
• Resolved issues with metadata loading for files that contain '/' in folder or file name
• Resolved buffer overflow in libafpclient observed when navigating folders with long names
• Resolved issues with installer Bonjour detection
• Resolved rare crashes during web browsing
• Changed metadata format to S.# / Ep.# for TV Shows
• Disabled metadata processing during movie playback
• Corrected audio feedback when pressing Menu while in grid view
• Minor UI improvements
• Other miscellaneous bug fixes

If you’re not already jailbroken, you can jailbreak your AppleTV via Seas0nPass. You’ll just need the most recent version of Seas0nPass and a micro-usb cable. For help, you can check out our guide on how to jailbreak the AppleTV second generation. All the steps will remain the same as long as you grab the correct version of Seas0nPass for your AppleTV firmware.

Source: Firecore

Apple television -- iTV if you're trendy -- rumors just won't quit, but rather than bloggers and analysts, we're curious what you, the super smart members of the iMore Nation think Apple might have in store for your big living room screens?

Will there be one-size-fits-all, like iPhone and iPad, or a couple sizes like iMacs? What size or sizes would you prefer? 32- and 37-inches? 55-inches? 72-inches? Will they be 16:10 or 16:9?

Are we going to see something sleek and sexy, a glass and aluminum unibody, like Apple's existing product line or will we finely see some fancy carbon fiber or even liquid metal to cut down on the weight and take us into the future? Will there be input ports so you can hook up your existing cable or satellite box, your game console, or your receiver to the iTV? Will Apple want or even let all they cables muddy the appearance of their beautiful screen?

It almost has to run iOS like the existing Apple TV set top box, but will it run the same iOS as the existing Apple TV? Steve Jobs said he cracked the 10" user interface, but does that mean a Springboard-style grid of apps like iPhone and iPad or will Siri be the primary way we launch apps and search for shows? ("Play me something with ninja assassins!")

How will you control it? The current Apple Remote device and app are both... okay but neither are ideal. A Siri mic? Xbox Kinect style gestures? Will Apple keep it simple or will they really try to wow us again?

Will Apple be able to get content deals in place for network television stations? For major league sports? For pay-per-view movies? For specialty channels? And how will they present them? An ever growing list below "Shows" like on Apple TV or will each "channel" be an app like on iPhone and iPad? Will it have other apps like Safari or Twitter or Calendar so iTV is actually productive as well as fun? Or will it all be AirPlay from your iOS devices?

Would we even see it this year? Is 2012 the right time for an iTV or should Apple wait until 2013 to ramp up their television plans? And what happens to the existing Apple TV? Is it kept around for those who don't want an Apple television but still want the content, or does Apple ditch it to force us to buy the more expensive television?

Apple hasn't even announced the desire to announce a television set yet, and maybe they never will, but with so much speculation going on, we want to know what you want to have. What kind of iTV would like Apple to make you?

Following the hack that allows fullscreen apps to run on the Apple TV, developer Jack Perry, known as @Jackoplane on Twitter, decided to try porting his own apps to the bigger screen.

A quick preview of Frequencies for AppleTV... Waiting for @stroughtonsmith to test it on a real device.

The tweet was followed up by Steven Troughton-Smith showing the app running at full 720p on an actual Apple TV.

Some Beautiful AppleTV apps coming together right now; this one from @Jackoplane is nice.

The app, Frequencies, is a simple internet radio tuner, but demonstrates how the idea of fullscreen apps might work on the Apple TV. And it's really quite exciting.

Source: @stroughtonsmith, @Jackoplane, Jackoplane Blog

USA Today, based on sources who have previously worked at Apple, is contributing some more information to the increasingly large Apple television rumor pile.

Apple is said to be looking at a 42-inch or larger LCD TV with built-in Wi-Fi. Inside the locked-down studio of Jonathan Ive, senior vice president of industrial design at Apple, there's a slick 50-inch TV, according to the source who worked at Apple.

Previous speculation out of China suggested a 32 or 37-inch television with Siri controls.

Although this report mentions that talks with media executives have stalled, it's apparent that a 42 or even 50-inch model vs a smaller display would likely help Apple get a better foothold during their primary push into this new and already-crowded product segment. And with CES just around the corner, rumors of Apple making a television are only going to get more frequent.

Source: USA Today

According to an article in British newspaper The Daily Mail, Apple is considering throwing its hat into the bidding ring for the rights to broadcast English Premier League soccer games. The deal is open for a new round of bidding before the end of this season in May.

The Premier League is seen as the type of premium content that will help establish Apple TV in the UK and boost iPad sales, while the iTunes subscription service infrastructure is already in place.

Apple will face some huge competition if it is to get its hands on some form of TV rights for these games. Sky, who currently owns most of the rights for live games, had to pay around £1.6 billion ($2.5 billion) for the privilege. Competition is also likely to come in from Google, ESPN and Middle East Network Al Jezeera.

If Apple did manage to secure some of the rights to live EPL games, it would then have to force consumers to buy an Apple TV if they wanted to see the content on their big screen televisions. This does not appear to make a great deal of sense for the consumer unless of course the deal is just to sell the games through iTunes; in a similar way to its TV episodes.

Source: The Daily Mail

iOS and jailbreak developers Steven Troughton-Smith and Nick, who goes by the Twitter handle @TheMudkip have now managed to get iPad applications running on an Apple TV; in full screen mode running on a 720p HDTV. We told you yesterday how they were working on a way to bring iOS apps to the Apple TV. Well they have now moved a step closer to making this a workable solution.

The first Apple TV port enabled iOS applications to run in a windowed mode on the Apple TV; this allowed multiple applications to run side by side. Now however they have discovered a way to run iPad applications in full screen mode with a resolution of 720p.

The port is far from being ready for primetime however it doesn’t stop you dreaming about the possibilities of running iPad apps natively on your Apple TV. Apple has long been rumored to be bringing an App Store to the Apple TV platform. Maybe something like this will force its hand to get it done.

Source: 9to5Mac

iOS and jailbreak developers Steven Troughton-Smith and Nick, who goes by the Twitter handle @TheMudkip, have hacked together a working window manager for Apple TV, paving the way for the possibility of iPhone and iPad app compatibility on the non-touchscreen device.

I rewrote SpringBoard from scratch using only QuartzCore. MobileX isn't linked against UIKit.

[The control scheme involves] remote events from an iPad. Or a cursor controlled by an apple remote.

It might be a while before we actually see this publicly available but the idea is as exciting now as the original jailbreak apps were back in the early days of iOS, before the introduction of the iOS App Store.

Source: Steve Troughton-Smith, @theMudkip

Hit-or-miss rumor site Digitimes has additional speculation from "industry sources" that Apple may be looking to Foxconn to assemble orders of their upcoming Siri-powered Apple Television.

Following sources' claims that Samsung Electronics and Sharp will manufacture chips and displays, respectively, for the so-called Apple "iTV," others have suggested that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) and Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL) have the potential to win orders for Apple's smart TV.

The "sources" also added to conjecture that Apple is planning to release the Apple Television in late 2012, which may debut in 32 and 37-inch form.

Source: Digitimes

Randomly accurate rumor site, Digitimes has word from "industry sources" that suppliers are starting to build materials for 32 and 37-inch Apple Televisions for release in the second or third quarter of 2012.

Instead of a form of set-top box (STB) like the Apple TV launched in 2006, Apple's new products will be full TV sets, the sources added [...] The displays of the new iTV sets will focus on 32 and 37-inch sizes initially, noted sources in the supply chain.

Steve Jobs mentioned in his official biography that he'd finally "cracked" the television, and we've heard rumors that Apple was recently in talks with media executives about a television set product. However, Apple is no doubt working on a lot of new products in the lab, so keep this filed this in your "expect it when you see it" folder for now.

Source: Digitimes

Find some new Apple products under your tree this year did you?  Welcome to the family, we're glad you're here. Whether you're new to Apple products or old hat -- the TiPb forums are a great resource for discussing all things Apple. Have some questions? Just looking to help others? Join us in the forums, you can register now to get started today:

• iOS 5 Forum: Anyone else having issues with iMessage?
• iPhone 4S Forum: iOS Holiday gifts
• iCloud Forum Can I use iCloud on Windows XP?
• iPad 2 Forum Setting up iPad 2 for my Mom, please help
• Jailbreak and Unlock Forum Got a new Apple TV 2, should I jailbreak it?

If you're not already a member of the TiPb Forums, register now!

In case you hadn't heard -- and really, there's no helping you at this point! -- TiPb wants to give you the iOS device -- or devices! -- of your dreams. That's right, a brand new iPhone 4S, iPad 2, iPod touch, or Apple TV, or even iPad 3 in 2012, could be yours!

And this is week 4 so you now have a third chance to win!

The Prize: A $600 Apple gift certificate to put towards the iOS device -- or devices -- of your dreams. An iPhone or iPad for you or your special someone, a couple of iPod touches for the kids, a handful of Apple TVs for the whole family -- you could even save it for an iPad 3 when Apple releases it! -- whatever you choose!

How to enter: Each week we'll have a special thread in a different TiPb iOS device forum. Just leave one (1) reply in each thread telling us why you'd love to have that week's device. You can enter once per week, each week, for a total of four (4) chances to enter over the course of the contest.

The contest is on now and the winner will be announced on the iPhone Live podcast on December 28, 2011.

So what are you waiting for? Enter already!

• TiPb iOS Dream Device Giveaway: Week 4 thread!

Rumors of an Apple Television just won't quit, and this new one from The Wall Street Journal pegs Apple ramping up for a release in the not-so-distant future with features like Siri voice-control, built-in AirPlay streaming and more.

Apple executives have discussed their vision for the future of TV with media executives at several large companies, according to people familiar with the matter. [...] In the recent meetings with media companies, the Apple executives, including Senior Vice President Eddy Cue, have outlined new ways Apple's technology could recognize users across phones, tablets and TVs, people familiar with the talks said. In at least one meeting, Apple described future television technology that would respond to users' voices and movements

Details remain extremely vague, of course, with specifics being left off the table to help keep the essence of the future product closely guarded.

Before Steve Jobs passed away in October, he told biography Walter Isaacson that he'd "finally cracked the TV". From user interface and experience to ditching the mountain of controls many of us now deal with, tons of speculation has followed. Some suggest an Apple Television will bring about new ways of communicating across multiple devices like the iPhone or iPad, where a users' content can be switched from the television and onto their mobile device for consumption on-the-go. Imagine watching a movie in your living room and deciding you want to take a quick run, but having limited time. With something like an Apple Television using new technology developed internally at Cupertino, you could watch the rest of your movie on-the-go without any hassle; with everything working seamlessly and with very little setup involved.

With Siri voice control, the possibilites of what a future product like this could do seem almost endless.

Source: WSJ

Watching iPad Live, iPhone Live, or any of the other Mobile Nations Podcasts on your iPhone or iPad is kinda cool, but what's really cool is watching them on your big screen TV. Luckily, with just an Apple TV, an app, and a few taps, it's easy to do. Here's how:

1. Grab the Ustream app for your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad
2. Wait for one of our shows to begin and search for MobileNations in the Ustream app
3. Hit the AirPlay button and beam it straight to your AppleTV

That's it! Crack open a spicy drink, grab a tasty snack, and enjoy! We'll see you on the big shows!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com.

Apple has updated the 2nd-generation Apple TV software to version 4.4.4, which includes general performances and stability improvements and a fix related to an issue that displayed an error when attempting to play certain types of video content.

The new software update comes just a month after their 4.4.3 update, which added support for Netflix streaming in Mexico as well as addressing an audio problem when playing sound through the optical port when your television set is turned off, and carries a new build number (9A406a).

You can grab the update from the Apple TV Update Software option in the device’s General Settings menu.

Source: Apple

Last week an iTunes TV show menu suddenly started showing up on international Apple TVs, didn't work, and subsequently disappeared. This week iTunes Match suddenly started showing up for international iTunes users, didn't work, and Apple subsequently offered refunds to those who'd tried to purchase it.

So, we'd suggest waiting until a) Apple makes an official announcement about iTunes Match in your country, or b) significant reports come in of it actually working, before c) you give them any money for it.

Whether or not Apple is planning to officially launch iTunes TV shows and iTunes Match in more regions and someone accidentally lent on the big red "launch" lever at iCloud central a tad early -- twice -- or there's some stranger problem going on is uncertain.

International licensing agreements are complex. Cloud services are complex. But false starts and pull backs seem decidedly un-Apple-like.

Here's hoping iTunes gets their international launches back in order, and officially out the door, asap. If you saw either the here-today-gone-tomorrow TV show menu on Apple TV, or tried and failed to buy iTunes Match outside the US and Brazil, let us know in the comments below.

Japanese news site Macotakara reported last week that Apple has supplied Made For iPhone accessory makers with a new authentication chip using Bluetooth 4.0 and the Bluetooth Low Energy protocol, making it easier to setup and authenticate devices for use over the dock connector and Bluetooth with a specific push for fitness and health-related apps.

It was previously speculated that this new authentication system would support Bluetooth for carrying content over AirPlay, but The Verge was able to squash the rumor with a bit of clarification from Apple. Instead, Apple wants more MFI accessory makers to use the new spec in devices like the recently-released Jawbone UP and similar hardware. The process will make it easier for users to configure wireless devices by connecting to WiFi networks and grabbing Bluetooth configuration information, ultimately requiring little effort on the user's part to get everything up and running.

The Bluetooth Accessory Protocol was introduced in iOS 5, but only around 2 percent of MFI accessory makers are actually utilizing the new stack. Hopefully this new authentication chip will bring wider adoption to less tech-savvy iOS users, but we'll have to wait until we start seeing supporting hardware pop up in the market.

Source: Macotakara via The Verge

In the latest iOS 5.1 Beta 2 it looks like Apple has taken steps to start hiding future iPhone, iPad and other iOS device model references from the bloggers and deep code divers who have previously delighted in finding and exposing them.

Mark Gurman of 9to5 Mac first noted the new, obviously obfuscating entries on Twitter, and now it seems that in the USBDeviceConfiguration.plist, Apple has thrown in over 100 entries have been added for everything from iPad10,1 to AppleTV9,2, and so on.

Interesting new move in the cat and mouse game, to say the least.

Source: Mark Gurman

With rumors ramping up of a Siri-controlled Apple television coming from Apple, Todd Treece was able to beat them to the punch and get Siri to fully control his television set using an Arduino IR remote setup and SiriProxy.

We've seen Siri do amazing things like start your car and control your home thermostat using SiriProxy as well, but this setup actually shows the power of having Siri used as a remote control for your TV.

We'll have to wait until Apple ultimately releases their own television set with Siri control before we see something like this hit the masses, but in the meantime you can get your own setup going as long as you don't mind a little bit of hackery.

Source: Todd Treece via iDB

FireCore has released a version 1.1 update for aTV Flash. If you're a jailbroken Apple TV user, aTV Flash is definitely something you'll want to check out. It adds a great deal of functionality to your AppleTV, and new features include custom view options, web page auto-load, playback improvements, and much more.

aTV Flash for the 2nd generation Apple TV is super easy to install after you've jailbroken and doesn't mess with any of the current features your Apple TV already offers. If you're not already jailbroken, you can jailbreak your AppleTV via Seas0nPass. You'll just need the most recent version of Seas0nPass and a micro-usb cable. For help, you can check out our guide on how to jailbreak the AppleTV second generation. All the steps will remain the same as long as you grab the correct version of Seas0nPass for your AppleTV firmware.

If you've checked out the new version of aTV Flash, let us know what you think of it!

As we bust on into the holiday season it's time to get jolly. As you you can see, we spruced up the place for the event and we've got plenty more lined up for you both here on the blogs and in the forums. That said; if you have some holiday app suggestions or if you've got your hands on some great holiday recipes, join us in the TiPb forums and let us know! You can register now for the forums!

• iPhone 4 Forum: Why is there no 4G on the iPhone?
• iPhone Ringtones and Wallpaper Forum: Holiday wallpapers, share yours!
• Cooking and Foodies Forum: Have a great holiday treat recipe? Share it
• Apple TV Forum Do I want one?

If you're not already a member of the TiPb Forums, register now!

Have you been dreaming of a free iPhone 4S for the holidays? Wishing for an iPad 2 with your name on it? Hoping for iPod touches or Apple TVs for the whole house? Already saving for an iPad 3 in 2012?

Well you're in luck! The TiPb Nation is by far the best community on the 'net and we want to say thank you -- and spread a little holiday cheer! -- by giving you the iOS device of your dreams!

The Prize: A $600 Apple gift certificate to put towards the iOS device -- or devices -- of your dreams. An iPhone or iPad for you or your special someone, a couple of iPod touches for the kids, a handful of Apple TVs for the whole family -- you could even save it for an iPad 3 when Apple releases it! -- whatever you choose!

How to enter: Each week we'll have a special thread in a different TiPb iOS device forum. Just leave one (1) reply in each thread telling us why you'd love to have that week's device. You can enter once per week, each week, for a total of four (4) chances to enter over the course of the contest.

The giveaway starts now and the winner will be announced on the iPhone Live podcast on December 28, 2011.

So what are you waiting for? Enter already!

• TiPb iOS Dream Device Giveaway: Week 1 thread!

9to5Mac has found some code references in the recently released-to-developers iOS 5.1 beta for iPhone 5 (or whatever Apple ends up calling it), iPad 3, and Apple TV 3.

• The next iPhone is model number 5,1, representing another large internal upgrade, likely a next-generation Apple A6 system-on-a-chip. (iPhone 3G was 1,2, iPhone 4S was 4,1, so factor that into your tea-leaf reading about Apple's 2012 naming conventions.

• iPad 3 has already been seen in model number 3,1 and 3,2 and now it's joined by 3,3 and a 2,4 (perhaps a Sprint version) as well.

• Apple TV 3 is model number 3,1, code-named J33, and again the jump likely represents a processor upgrade, but in this case to the current Apple A5 SoC.

While everyone expects Apple to keep producing iOS devices into 2012, it's still reassuring to see the signs pop up along the way. iPhone 5 could be seen summer/fall 2012, iPad 3 spring 2012, and Apple TV 3... well, that's anyone's guess at this point.

Source: 9to5Mac, x2, x3

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Etsy - @andrewwray

A lot of you are probably already familiar with Etsy, the online e-commerce website that focuses on buying and selling handmade and vintage items, and they've recently released a really great looking iPhone app to help you browse the service on the go. Etsy for iPhone lets you browse and purchase one of a kind accessory items and clothing directly from independent sellers.

As a buyer, you can browse by category and set your own filters to narrow down your search results (there are a lot of things on Etsy!) and check out your shopping cart right from within the app. As a seller, you have most of the Etsy merchant tools readily available whenever you need to access your listings or manage your business without having to jump onto your computer. It's a great way to sell and shop! If you're into vintage items, Etsy has always been one of the best places to shop, and they've just made it that much easier by making the service accessible anywhere you are -- check it out!

[Free - App Store Link]

Type2Phone - @sethclifford

Since the very first time I jailbroke my iPhone 3G a million years ago, I've wanted a way to control it without taking it out of the dock. I've used Veency to run a VNC server on the phone and then screen share into it, but it's really overkill for what I need, which is essentially just text entry. I can manage to hit the home button and swipe around a little just fine while the phone is docked, it's the typing that becomes laborious if I'm answering a text message or if I want to quickly paste some text into a field.

Enter Type2Phone. I'm sure you can figure out what it does, but it's actually fairly slick in how it does it. You use Bluetooth to pair your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with your Mac, and activate the app on the computer. Tap into a text field and start blasting away. You're using your Mac's BT connection in lieu of a BT keyboard, but it works in exactly the same way.

Aaaaand... that's pretty much it. Which isn't a bad thing, because I'm sure if you tried to bolt a bunch of other unnecessary stuff onto an app like this, somehow it would stop working. The only thing I'd like to see would be a way to actually hit say, the "Send" button from the keyboard. Just hitting enter drops you down a line, but a Cmd-Enter would be a fine way to get that done. Then you could basically slide to reply to a text, fire off a response and not touch your phone at all. I can also see someone perhaps wanting to keep an iPad on as a secondary display for something like Twitter, away from his/her main workspace really finding this functionality pretty useful.

And for everyone who's thinking "Why don't you just use Siri to answer your messages? DUH!", well, when other people are on a conference call or working around me, I like to embrace basic social courtesies and respect their needs. Otherwise, yeah, you're totally right. In the meantime, Type2Phone is a cool little utility that makes life at least a little easier. I'm all for that.

[$4.99 - Mac App Store link]

Beauty and the Beast: Storybook Deluxe – @chrisoldroyd

My little girl adores the Disney Movie Beauty and the Beast. Now that Disney has released this app, she has completely taken over ownership of my iPad 2. Beauty and the Beast: Storybook Deluxe is based on the Disney movie and includes games, movie clips, puzzles, coloring pages and even sing-along songs from the film.

The animation, as expected is superb and the whole app is really well put together. It tells the story in an interactive way and offers a read along mode or the story can be read out to you. This one should keep any little princess happy for quite some time!

[$6.99 – App Store link]

Word Tumble - @Alli_Flowers

A familiar theme, this word game is great on either iPad and iPhone. Find a word inside the box of letters. You can go forwards, backwards, up, down, or diagonally. The longer the word, the more points you get. So far, so similar to a dozen other games, right?

Here's the catch. When you find a word, the letters disappear from the playing field, just like Bejeweled or Tetris.

There are several versions you can play, although the basic game play is the same. I like the one minute game. The one minute game can stretch out and last for quite some time, because the more you score, the more time you get back.

The only negative to this game is the background music, which is either on or off. I'd like to be able to lower it because it also lets you know when your time is running out. The music is less than great.

But the game is addictive! I even found a fun way to play with a partner, and maybe keep the game going extra long. My nephew and I play together - he finds words on the left side of the board, and I find them on the right. (Hooray for capacitive screens!)

[$0.99 - App Store link]

Instagram - @iMuggle

This week i'm going back to an app that I've used for quite a long time but just recently started "really using" again. I have always loved Instagram and the ease of which you can share pictures and add cool effects.

Ever since picking up my iPhone 4S I've been blown away by the quality of photos it produces considering it's a phone. I've found myself snapping more pictures than ever. Instagram makes is easy to share them not only with my Instagram followers but all my followers and friends on Twitter and Facebook. If I just want to share something quickly, this is the app I choose 99.9% of the time.

[Free - App Store Link]

Instacast HD - @reneritchie

My grand take-away from the original iPad launch was that it was the iPhone gone IMAX, and experiencing Instacast HD shows that, more than 18 months later, that take-away still holds true. Here's why: Instacast on iPhone is all about quickly getting, streaming, and/or caching your favorite podcasts so you can listen to them feet down on the go. Instacast HD on IPad is a different experience entirely. It's feet up, at pause, relaxed and ready to enjoy.

If that type of usage pattern sounds like it favors video podcasts, you're not wrong. Settling back in the recliner, a tasty beverage to the side, a soft light in the back, a light rain-turned-snow-turned-back-rain outside, in just a few taps I was watching Georgia kick off the last iPad Live. A few more and I was watching TED. A few more and Steve Jobs was walking out on stage to introduce the iPad 2.

The interface took a bit of getting used to. Global tools like add podcast, refresh, favorites, AirPlay, volume, and action live along the thin left edge. Album art for your shows lives beside it for easy scrolling and selection. Episode-specific controls like mark, favorite, download, action, and play/stream live at the top, while mark all, the scrubber, and the show list live at the bottom.

Show notes get the rest of the screen, with a built in web view to handle links. You can swipe the browser away to get back to show notes, and you can swipe horizontally between shows.

Video shows go full screen with controls top and bottom and there's even an embedded brightness control so you can make it look just so.

The one big bit of friction I hope gets addresses in an update is, while in video mode, tapping the "exit full screen" button takes you back to show notes while leaving the audio playing, there's no equal and opposite "go full screen button" to return to the video. I should be able to toggle back and forth without moving my finger or having to figure out I need to cross back to the play/stream button to get the video back. Also, while they deserve a lot of credit for jumping on iCloud sync quickly, it's still early days and some glitches will hopefully be worked out, by by Apple and developers.

Overall, Instacast HD makes fantastic use of the bigger iPad screen. It's all the podcasts I want, right where I want them.

[$4.99 - App Store link]

Real Racing 2 -@llofte

This Black Friday, I picked up an Apple TV (finally!) and Real Racing 2 on my iPhone and iPad. One of the really cool features about this combo is that with AirPlay, you can play multiplier on your TV with a split screen. Firemint calls this Party Play. All that's required is to have an iPhone 4S or iPad 2 work as a host. My husband and I had a lot of fun racing against each other, last night, which is saying a lot because my husband typically hates anything related to Apple.

I will say that playing with the iPad is a little awkward because of how big it is. By the end of the race, it actually begins to a feel a little heavy.

If you have an Apple TV and an iPhone 4S or iPad 2, and do not have Real Racing 2 - what are you waiting for? It's actually still on sale for Black Friday weekend, so now is the perfect time to pick it up!

[$2.99 for iPhone - App Store link] [$4.99 for iPad - App Store link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

If you took advantage of the big moderate sales on Apple iOS devices today to score yourself a brand new iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Apple TV, you might have opened the box, powered up... and then wondered what the heck to do next? No problem! TiPb's got you covered!

And if you already know what you're doing, just save this link to send to family and friends so you can get off the tech support hook and get on with having fun. We'll do the heavy lifting for you!

• iPhone and iPod touch new users guide
• Top 10 apps for new iPhone and iPod touch users
• iPad new users guide
• Top 10 apps for new iPad users
• Apple TV coverage

Also, don't forget to jump into the TiPb Forums for expert help and the best conversation on the 'net! And when you're done, leave me a comment and let me know how you're enjoying your new device!

The iPhone, iPad and  iPod touch are pretty much the perfect mobile gaming platform and chances are you might be shopping for someone who just loves their iOS gaming. So what to get them? Luckily, there are lots and lots of gifts for gamers to choose from! Here are a few of my favorites, both for the hottest hardware and greatest games!

Don’t need anything for a gamer? Check out the recommendations anyway, something great might still catch your eye. If not, no worries, check out one of our other 2011 holiday gift guides!

iOS device gifts

Does you gamer in your life not have an iPhone, Pod touch or iPad yet? Not sure which one you should get? Not a problem! Start here:

• iOS device gift guide

Accessory gifts

If your gamer already has their device, there are some great accessories out there to help them take their gaming to another level.

iCade

The iCade is a magical gift for the retro gamer. The iCade arcade cabinet is an accessory for your iPad which turns it into a retro arcade machine complete with joystick, six buttons and a glowing coin slot.

More and more games are being released that work with the iCade; including the Atari's Greatest Hits app. The iCade is designed to work with the iPad and iPad 2.

The iPad slots into the arcade cabinet and the controls are done over Bluetooth. Buying a gamer one of these should keep them happy not just over the holiday period but for the rest of their life too!

• Get iCade at ThinkGeek.com

Fling and Fling Mini

What if you are watching your favorite gamer and they are constantly struggling with their game and can't achieve even the simplest tasks due to their finger and thumb fumblings on the shiny iPhone or iPad touchscreen? Fear not, there is a solution for that too, Ten One Design have come up with a well designed joystick for the iPad and a mini version for the iPhone and iPod touch too. Called the "Fling", it sticks to your screen with some small suction cups and claims to offer a console type gaming experience.

As you control a game with Fling, it pushes gently back towards the center position.  This haptic feedback guides and stabilizes your gameplay, making every action more accurate. Any gamer would love to get their hands on one of these, me included!

• Get Fling and Fling mini at Amazon.com

mophie juice pack plus

It is pointless having the latest games and accessories for your iPhone if the battery on your device is not up to the task. Thankfully we have just the thing to buy for the gamer to keep their iPhone fully charged and ready to play.

The mophie juice pack is a hard shell case which fits the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. Built into the case is a 2000 mAh capacity battery. mophie claims that the juice pack plus will double your iPhone's battery life which gives you double the time to play your favorite games.

The mophie juice pack is the ideal gift for the iPhone gamer, it not only protects your iPhone but also doubles its battery life, a perfect gaming combination!

• Get mophie juice pack plus on store.imore.com

Motorola MOTOROKR S10HD Bluetooth Stereo Headphones

It's a classic story, they love to game, you'd dearly love some peace and quiet. Luckily, there's a gift that can keep on giving to the both of you -- stereo headphones! They get deep base and immersive sound, and the freedom of a cable-free experience, and you get blissful, well deserved silence.

While there are a ton of headphones to choose from, wire and unwired alike, the MOTOROKR looks and sounds great, and has just a touch of that futuristic feel to it.

• Get the Motorola MOTOROKR S10HD Bluetooth Stereo Headphones on store.imore.com

App gifts

What better gift for a gamer than more great games to play? The App Store is chock full of them, and iTunes allows you to gift them straight to your special gamer. (If you're not sure how, here's quick guide to gifting apps)

First person shooter (FPS) games: Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation

Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation is the ultimate First Person Shooter for the iOS platform. If you want to treat the gamer in your life with a great game then this may be the one to go for. You can play a solo mission with over 13 different levels each with fantastic graphics and enemy AI.

Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation also offers a highly polished online multiplayer game experience. You can battle up to twelve players in six maps with seven different modes of play. A word of warning, you can accelerate your gaming abilities in this game via in app purchase of weapons and health kits; some find this an unfair advantage!

It is also a universal binary so this particular game will look stunning on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

• $6.99 - App Store link

Also check out:

• Dead Space is a gorgeous, terrifying shooter set in the depth of space. $6.99 - App Store link
• N.O.V.A. 2 is the closest thing to HALO on the iPhone. $6.99 - App Store link
• RAGE HD comes from John Carmack and while it's on rails, it's also off the hook. $1.99 - App Store link
• Call of Duty: Zombies is all the undead you can empty a clip at. $4.99 App Store link

Arcade games: Real Racing 2

If the gamer on your gift hit list is into driving games then they don't get any better than Firemint's Real Racing 2. Real Racing 2 lets you take the wheel of 30 officially licensed cars and each has its own characteristics too. You can race against 16 other cars all at the same time.

Real Racing 2 also offers 15 locations to race in with over 40 miles of highly detailed race tracks, speedways and city center circuits. You can also choose to race in the daytime, twilight hours or evening.

If you are lucky enough to own an iPhone 4S or iPad 2 and an Apple TV (Black) you can even play wirelessly on your HDTV. Friends can join in too with split screen multiplayer and Party Play.

• $9.99 - App Store link

Also check out:

• Infinity Blade brings the Epic Unreal 3 engine to iOS. 'Nuff said. $2.99 - App Store link]
• Street Fighter IV Volt puts the classic fighter in the palm of your hands. $0.99 - App Store link
• Extraction: Project Outbreak is a fresh take on the top-down 3D shooter. $0.99 - App Store Link
• Atari's Greatest Hits brings the oldest of old school to your brand new advice. Free - App Store link

Casual Games: Amazing Breaker

Amazing Breaker is a game for the more casual gamer. It involves ice sculptures; you remember them, popular at high class parties but nowhere else. Anyway, the aim of the game is to destroy the ice sculptures with bombs, and try not to leave any shards of ice behind.

Amazing Breaker is a highly addictive puzzle game with over 80 levels to keep you busy. Designed for the Retina display, it offers high resolution graphics, easy to learn game play and Game Center achievements. The bombs you use to destroy the ice sculptures come in many different flavors too with Spike Bombs, Ghost Bombs, Helicopter Bombs and even Split Bombs. The game is a lot of fun and once you start it, you will struggle to put it down. A great gift for the gamer in your life!

• $0.99 - App Store link]

Also check out:

• Catan is a great version of a great strategy game. $4.99 - App Store link
• Words with Friends isn't Scrabble but it is an all out, all online spelling war. $0.99 - App Store link
• Carcassone is a beautiful rendition of the medieval strategy game. $9.99 - App Store link
• Poker by Zynga let's you get your Texus Hold'em on your iPhone. Free - App Store link

More great games for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad

Every day, TiPb covers the best new games and best new game updates, so if you're looking for more great game gift ideas, check out our gaming section! Likewise, the iTunes App Store has a games section with lots of great choices.

• TiPb Games
• iTunes App Store games

And if you're still not sure what to get, consider an iTunes Gift Card, that way the special gamer in your life can pick their very own gift!

• Get iTunes Gift Cards

Your picks?

Remember, you’re part of Team TiPb too, so if you’ve already picked the perfect gift for your iPhone or iPad gamer, or have the perfect idea for one, let us know in comments!

The biggest gift of the year, as far as TiPb is concerned, is a brand new iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Apple TV. But with so many iOS devices on the wish list this year, how do you know which one to get and for whom? Well sit back, relax, and let us do the heavy gift lifting for you this year -- with our 2011 holiday guides!

And hey -- if you already have all the iOS devices you need, no worries! We have a full slate of 2011 gift guides coming your way!

iPhone

The iPhone was the first and in many ways remains Apple's flagship iOS device. It's highly portable, always connected, has the best design, fit and finish in the business, and the largest app and game catalog on the planet. It manages to be both easy to use and accessible to first time smartphone users and powerful and productive for power users alike.

The iPhone 4S has a dual-core processor, making it the fastest iPhone ever, along with a startlingly good looking 960x640 Retina display that looks more like paper than pixels. It's 8mp camera and 1080p video camera are good enough to be on a point-and-shoot, and it includes Siri, the world's first intelligent assistant that keeps track of your appointments, reminds you of your tasks, sends you mail and messages, and does a host of other tasks with charm and wit straight out of a Pixar cartoon.

It does require a carrier contract with a voice and data plan, however, which isn't insignificant, and if you're not buying with a subsidy, the initial price can be quite high. Apple also only makes one kind of iPhone, so anyone looking for a bigger screen, a keyboard, or anything other than an iPhone needs to look elsewhere.

iPhone 4S comes in black or white, 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB, and is available on AT&T and GSM carriers, as well as Verizon and Sprint in the US. While the iPhone itself is the same, they're typically locked to a specific carrier and can't be switched between them. Apple has also kept last year's iPhone 4, and the 2009 iPhone 3GS around at reduced prices. If saving money up front is important, check them out as well.

• Full iPhone 4S review
• iPhone 4S buyers guide
• Get an iPhone 4S from Apple, local carriers, and electronics stores

iPod touch

The iPod touch might seem like an iPhone without the phone, and there's a lot of truth to that. You can get 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB storage options, just like the iPhone, and now you can get it in black or white, just like the iPhone as well. It can run the same apps and games as the iPhone, including the built in ones like Mail and Safari, read the same eBooks, show the same TV, movies, and videos, and play the same music.

But that "without the phone" part is important. It's significantly cheaper -- don't look at the iPhones subsidizes carrier price, count in the 2 years of voice and data plan and it can be a couple thousand dollars cheaper. It does use slightly lower end parts to keep the price tag low, like a screen that's still a 960x480 Retina display, but doesn't have the same fancy inter-plane switching (IPS) technology built in. But it's also thinner. Almost impossibly thinner.

The iPod touch is perfect for people who want access to the App Store and iTunes Store, and all the great content that comes with it, as well as apps for everything from Netflix to Kindle, but don't want or need a phone and phone contract. That includes kids (Nintendo and Sony are hurting for a reason), people who already have a phone but want an iOS device, and people who want a light, highly portable, multifunction device for the living room, travel, etc.

• Full iPod touch review
• Get an iPod touch on Amazon.com

Alternatives: Amazon Kindle

iPad

When Apple introduced the iPad, some people knocked it saying it was "just a big iPhone" -- turns out that's exactly what it was and why it's been so successful. While it does pretty much everything an iPod touch can do -- or an iPhone except for the phone part -- and runs all iPhone apps, it also runs tens of thousands of iPad specific apps, custom built for the bigger, more expansive 9.7-inch screen.

For email, web browsing, eBook reading, and gaming it can be a much easier, more immersive experience, though the size makes it better suited to feet-up, at rest use rather than feet-down, on the go use. The size also makes it heavier than an iPod touch, and you can't just throw it in a pocket and be on your way.

But oh, when you're sitting down. Everything from curling up with a great movie to controlling your server over remote desktop from poolside to playing a first person shooter on the plane to building a presentation at the coffee shop, it's a fully mainstream computer appliance in your lap.

Just like the iPhone and iPod touch, it comes in black and white, in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB versions. Unlike the iPod touch, in addition to the Wi-Fi version, there's also a 3G-enabled model that works on either AT&T and international GSM carriers, and a CDMA version on Verizon.

For people new to computers, for kids or seniors more comfortable with the bigger screen, for those who need more than a small mobile screen but nothing as complex as a laptop, the iPad is an excellent choice.

• Full iPad 2 review
• iPad buyers guide
• Get an iPad on Amazon.com

iPod nano

Although the iPod nano looks like an iOS device -- especially with the 2011 software update -- it doesn't really run iOS and can't run App Store apps and games. It can play iTunes music, however, as well as FM radio and several other handy, ultra-portable things like a pedometer.

It's not as expensive as a full iOS device, however, and clips easily to your clothes to take with you on everything from a walk to a workout at the gym. It can also be worn as a watch, thanks to a variety of accessory makers, and Apple has recently added a bunch of great new clock faces for just that, including Micky Mouse!

• Full iPod nano review
• Get an iPod nano on Amazon

Apple TV

Apple TV is perfect for anyone who has a large iTunes library, and/or an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and wants an easy way to get all their TV, movies, music, and even apps and games onto their big screen HDTV. You can easily stream anything from iTunes and most everything from your iOS devices to an Apple TV over Wi-Fi. Start watching a show or playing a game on your iPhone, come home, hit the AirPlay button and keep watching or playing right on your television. It really is just that easy.

Even if you don't have iTunes or an iOS device, Apple TV is an incredibly simple way to watch YouTube, Vimeo, Netflix, and iTunes rentals on your television.

• Full Apple TV review
• Get an Apple TV on Amazon.com

Alternatives: Roku Player, Boxee Box

Apple has just released software update 4.4.3 for the Apple TV 2. The update carries a new build number (9A4051) following the last update that hit in October.

Details of the update include added support for Netflix in Mexico as well as addressing an audio problem when playing sound through the optical port when your television set is turned off. The Apple TV Software Update 4.4.3 is available now through the 'Update Software' option under General Settings.

(And yes, they're still confusingly referring to iOS Software 5.x as Apple TV version 4.x -- can we stop that please?)

Firecore has announced that its aTV Flash (black) software for jailbroken second gen Apple TV’s has finally come out of beta and is now at version 1.0. aTV Flash adds a whole host of additional features to your Apple TV such as a media player that can handle loads of different video formats, a WebKit web browser, Last.fm radio, Weather and RSS feeds.

• The new Media Player included in aTV Flash (black) empowers you to go beyond iTunes and play most popular media formats. This includes formats such as: AVI, FLAC, ISO, M2TS, MKV, MP3, MP4, MPEG, MPG, VOB, WMV and many others.
• Cover art and metadata are downloaded automatically and added to your files with an end result of amazing! If you've already taken the time to add your own metadata you can you can use that too.
• Surf the web with a native web browser that provides a rich web experience on the AppleTV. Included is support for things like HTML5 music and video streaming as well as easy to use bookmarks and history. Navigating the web is easily done with the included AppleTV remote or the free Remote app for the iPhone and iPad.
• Go beyond just listening to music and start truly experiencing it by utilizing the full power of Last.fm. While streaming Last.fm radio (or playing your own music) you'll have access to artist bios, and a seemingly endless amount of artist photos.
• Get quick access to weather and RSS news feeds. Your current weather location will be detected automatically, and other locations can be easily added as well.

Source: Firecore

aTV Flash (black) Demo from FireCore, LLC on Vimeo.

Some major retailers seem to be selling the Apple TV 2 at a discount, leading 9to5Mac and TechCrunch to speculate a new model may be incoming and soon.

It's also being tagged as the 2010 Apple TV, leading to further speculation a 2011 model is nigh, though I think the Apple TV 2 has been referred to as Apple TV (2010) almost from launch to differentiate it from the original, non-iOS model.

If there is a new Apple TV in the works, here's hoping it gets an Apple A5 chipset for easy 1080p handling. (And no, there's no expectation of Siri so let's not anyone start going pre-emptively nuts, okay?)

Either way, if you want a cheap(er) gift for the holidays, head on over and grab an $89 Apple TV 2 on Amazon while you can.

Source: 9to5Mac, TechCrunch

While the big news yesterday was Adobe putting a bullet in the head of Flash Player for mobile, Ryan Lawler over a *GigaOm" noted a similar end for Flash for TV.

Adobe will continue to support existing licensees who are planning on supporting Flash Player for web browsing on digital home devices and are using the Flash Player Porting Kit to do so. However we believe the right approach to deliver content on televisions is through applications, not a web browsing experience, and we will continue to encourage the device and content publishing community down that path.

Apple TV, of course, never supported Flash Player, instead creating apps for YouTube, and a long while later, Vimeo and other web-based video sites. Google, however, decided to go all in with Flash -- effectively turning their backs on a tradition of open, standards based web support -- just to have a checkbox they thought would hurt Apple and help their ODM's compete.

Hopefully now, with all giant ships pointing in the same HTML 5 direction, users on all major platforms will get better technology, faster.

Source GigaOm

Speaking on his company’s earnings call, CBS CEO Les Moonves said that CBS had turned down the Apple TV as a platform for its content. The revelation was revealed in response to a question about CBS’s appetite toward striking deals with new streaming providers that may not have the cash to pay up front for its content. Moonves claimed that CBS had turned down Apple and its Apple TV platform because the offer was based on an ad split revenue source.

This seems to confirm rumors that Apple is trying to secure some sort of Apple TV subscription service however it looks like it is going to be much harder than Apple had hoped. Apple has been slowly adding additional media content to the Apple TV platform; the recent iOS 5 update brought Wall Street Journal Live and NHL content. Hulu Plus is also rumored to be ready to go on the Apple TV but political reasons are cited as holding it back from launch.

Source: Gigaom

Following up on the beta release of iOS 5.0.1 for developers, Apple has also released iTunes 10.5.1 beta 2, replacing the now timed-out iTunes 10.5.1 beta 1 and allowing for continued testing of iTunes Match.

The Loop's Jim Dalrymple also noticed iTunes Match is now up and running on Apple TV.

While Apple missed their previously stated goal of releasing iTunes Match in September, but since it's still in beta, it looks like they'd rather take the time to get it right, rather than just right now.

Source: developer.apple.com, The Loop

Apple already has a Hulu Plus app up and running on Apple TV but may be delaying its launch due to concerns it will compete with iTunes TV Show sales, according to 9to5Mac. Their sources claim the Hulu Plus for Apple TV is now feature complete and ready for release, and has supposedly been ready for release for over a month. The reason for the hold is thought to be political and not related to any technical issues.

While Apple TV 2 has had Netflix since launch, their content is mainly older, catalog shows, not the new releases that are more profitable for iTunes.

Hulu Plus is already available on iOS, and in HD on a few other set top boxes such as the Roku and the Western Digital TV Live. It would make so much sense to have it available on the Apple TV too.

Source: 9to5Mac

FireCore has updated its aTV Flash (Black) software to RC1, which adds a number of new features including a new grid view browsing mode, subtitle related improvements and most importantly, a huge list of performance and playback related improvements.

If you’re already running a version of aTV Flash (black) on your Jailbroken Apple TV, the new RC1 version can be installed through the Maintenance –> Manage Extras menu on your Apple TV. If you want to run it, you will need to jailbreak your Apple TV first. Luckily FireCore also released an upated version of its Seas0nPass Apple TV (Black) jailbreak which now supports fimware versions 4.4, 4.41and 4.4.2. So you are all set.

If you get stuck and need any help, don’t forget you can always visit our Apple TV forum!

Source: FireCore

Seas0nPass has been updated and it now supports a tethered jailbreak of the latest Apple TV iOS 5 software versions 4.4, 4.41 and 4.42. Unfortunately the jailbreak is a tethered solution which means if you have to reboot your Apple TV it will need to be connected to iTunes before you can use it again. Not that much of a deal for the Apple TV as reboots should be few and far between.

If you have been holding off for a jailbreak before updating your Apple TV, it may be a good time to do it. You are missing out on some great new features like AirPlay Mirroring, Photo Stream, Trailers, National Hockey League and Wall Street Journal Live.

If you do decide to update and jailbreak a word of warning, if you use Plex or Rowmote these plugins are not working with iOS 5. Also XMBC will only work if you use the nightly builds.

Source: Firecore

Apple has released another update for the Apple TV, this one is numbered 4.4.2.  It appears that Apple has been having some strange problems with recent Apple TV updates with widespread reports of devices having to be restored using iTunes after the 4.4 and 4.4.1 updates. If you are already running version 4.4 or 4.4.1, Apple wants you to perform a system reset before updating to this latest version.

Apple TV devices with software version 4.4 and 4.4.1 have an issue with updating software to later versions. The recommended way to resolve this is go to Settings -> General -> Reset -> Reset All Settings, prior to updating. Note: If you apply the software update without resetting all settings first, the updater will reset the settings for you.

Source: Apple

Now that we have the iPhone and iPad, the next great unicorn to chase seems to be an Apple television. Not the Apple TV set top box, mind you, but a full on elegant glass and aluminium object de panel art from Jony Ive and co. Something to hang on our wall and banish cables and crummy cable boxes from our living rooms once and for all.

When last we got analyst-fueled Apple television rumors, it turned out to be the 27-inch iMac. This time, however, we have a nebulous passage from the just-released Steve Jobs biography to properly set the chase in motion:

“He very much wanted to do for television sets what he had done for computers, music players, and phones: make them simple and elegant. I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use,’ he told me. ‘It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud.’ No longer would users have to fiddle with complex remotes for DVD players and cable channels. ‘It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it."

Interface is only one of the things Apple will have to crack, however. Content is called king for a reason. A gorgeously designed, cunningly coded TV set only goes so far if you can't get your sports, your specialty channels and special events, and everything else cable and satellite currently has an locked up in their oligopoly.

Bloomberg, however, has added another face to the chase:

Apple Inc. (AAPL) is turning to the software engineer who built iTunes to help lead its development of a television set, according to three people with knowledge of the project. Jeff Robbin, who helped create the iPod in addition to the iTunes media store, is now guiding Apple’s internal development of the new TV effort, said the people, who declined to be identified because his role isn’t public.

Now don't get me wrong -- from 2007 to 2010 I went from a Treo 650 to an iPhone 4S yet my TV has pretty much the same crappy Scientific Atlanta PVR. If any dinosaur of an industry needs to get hit by the Apple meteorite and turned into the fossil fuel of the future, it's television. The idea of an Apple engineered and programmed television is enticing -- though my wallet threatens to punch me in the nose at the mere thought of lining up every year for that multi-thousand dollar product launch. It's just trickier to see what an Apple television would be to a current Sony or Samsung set, as opposed to what an iPhone was to Treo or iPad to Tablet PC. It's tricky to see what it would do that an Apple TV box couldn't, aside from being neater and tidier.

Of course Apple probably has all sorts of products in the lab. Their success, however, has come from not shipping something until they knew how to go to market with it. The Apple TV is called a hobby for a reason, and at $100 it can easily afford to be. iPhone took Apple years to bring to market, after all. iPad years more. Conceivably Apple could pull the trigger on a television as soon as 2012, but until Tim Cook and co. show it off on stage, just like chasing unicorns, it's just flights of fun and fancy.

Source: Bloomberg

Apple has released another update for the Apple TV which takes it from version 4.4 to version 4.4.1. The update claims to fix issues with a small number of Apple TV units that needed to be connected a computer running iTunes after last week’siOS 5 update.

Addresses an issue that required a small number of Apple TV units to be connected to iTunes in order to complete the update.

A word of warning before you update, there are widespread reports that this update is causing more connect to iTunes issues than the original update. It may be wise to hold off updating until more information is available.

UPDATE: One of TiPb's Apple TV, which we didn't try to update until last night, ran both 4.4 and then 4.4.1 without success, still resulting in the image you see up top. We're trying again and we'll keep you posted.

Source: Apple Support

Wondering how to turn use AirPlay Mirroring on your new iPhone 4S or iPad 2? Air Play Mirroring is one of the great features of  iOS 5 and enables you to mirror your screen on your second generation Apple TV. Here's how to get it started.

First off we need to make sure AirPlay is enabled on the Apple TV

• Go into Settings
• AirPlay
• Turn on AirPlay

• Make sure it is connected to the same Wi-Fi network as the Apple TV
• Double Click the Home Button
• Swipe twice from left to right in the fast app switching task bar
• Click on the AirPlay icon which looks like a rectangle with an arrow pointing up
• Select your Apple TV and turn the toggle switch on for Mirroring

Enjoy this awesome new feature!

Daily Tips range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Want to use your Apple TV 2 with fancy new iOS 5 features like Photo Stream and AirPlay Mirroring? Well go navigate over to Software Update and start your download because it's available now.

Other new features include (at least in Canada):

• NHL Hockey
• Wall Street Journal

To find out more about these features, and to get help:

• Complete iOS 5 feature walkthrough
• iOS 5 help forum
• Apple TV help forum

Mark Gurman from 9to5Mac has spotted something interesting deep inside the iOS 5 file system -- code references to a next generation Apple TV 3,1. Given Apple's internal naming conventions, a move the current Apple TV 2,1 to an Apple TV 3,1 should signify a major upgrade, which could lend credence to rumors of a Apple A5 on the horizon, and perhaps even the 1080p video muscle that comes with it.

Another A5-powered, iPhone 4S feature that would be great to see? Siri, Apple's artificially intelligent voice control system.

Source: 9to5Mac

Reed Hastings, the co-founder and CEO of Netflix has put up a video and blog post this morning apologizing to customers for the way their recent plan changes and increases were handled, and announcing that while streaming services will retain the Netflix name, the DVD (and now video game) mailer service will be spun off as Qwikster. Phew. This only really matters to US customers, and to those who in addition to streaming on iPhone, Apple TV, iPad, and iPod touch also have DVD mailer plans, but it's an interesting case study in corporate communications none-the-less.

For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn't make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us) because they are afraid to hurt their initial business. Eventually these companies realize their error of not focusing enough on the new thing, and then the company fights desperately and hopelessly to recover. Companies rarely die from moving too fast, and they frequently die from moving too slowly.

Commendable fearlessness. Apple has often said that if anyone cannibalizes their business, it's going to be Apple themselves, and it's good to see other companies take those types of risks.

So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are becoming two quite different businesses, with very different cost structures, different benefits that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently. It’s hard for me to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary and best: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”.

It's going to be a different website -- you'll have to go to netflix.com for your streaming and qwikster.com for your discs -- and different entries on your credit card statement. Hastings assures everyone, however, that the price hikes are done and the characteristic red envelopes will remain the same. However, for customers of both services, it could mean twice the overhead in managing those services, and a dilution of what Netflix means to them. (Twice as much is often half as strong.)

I want to acknowledge and thank our many members that stuck with us, and to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly.

Check the video above and full post via the link below and let us know how you think he did, and whether you'll be sticking with Netflix -- and Qwikster -- going forward.

[Netflix

It seems like September 1 not only saw Netflix's new, controversial price plans go into effect, but it also saw them begin to enforce their "one movie stream at a time" policy, which means you can no longer have one video going on your iPhone and another on your iPad or Apple TV. Stop the Cap! breaks down your choices moving forward.

1. Pay considerably more for a combo disc-rental/streaming plan which unlocks a corresponding number of concurrent streams. If you want two concurrent video streams, you will need to pay $19.98 a month, which also allows you two mailed DVD’s out at a time. Three streams (and DVD’s) runs $23.98, four: $29.98;
2. Sign up for a second Unlimited Streaming account at an additional $7.99 a month;
3. Forget about Netflix.

People don't mind paying a fair price for a fair service, but they general don't like feeling nickel and dimed. If the streams are all going to the same IP address, it seems excessive (or it seems like it's lacking a simple option to have a multi-stream account.) Anything that results in user frustration isn't good, not for us and not for Netflix.

Which way are you leaning?

UPDATE: Engadget says it might just be a glitch.

According to spokesman Steve Swasey, the policy is still the same and no Netflix member is limited to less than two streams at once. The messages people are seeing indicating otherwise? An "error" the company is correcting.

[Stop the Cap! via Mashable, Engadget. Thanks excaliburca!]

FireCore has announced a major update to its aTV Flash (black) software that runs on jailbroken second generation Apple TV’s. The update (beta 7) now includes music playback, cloud backup and even Last.fm powered artist slideshows.

• A new music player has been built into Media Player, which allows you to stream most music file types from a Mac, PC or NAS drive without using iTunes. During playback, album art, track info, and artist images will automatically be downloaded from Last.fm. Artist images are used in slideshows that can be viewed while music is playing in the background. Support for folder playlists is also included.

• New cloud backup feature that provides a way to easily backup all your 3rd party (FireCore, XBMC, Plex, etc...) settings and data to the cloud. Once backed up, a list of your previously saved backups will be available allowing you to to easily restore one of them if needed. Backups are stored securely in the cloud and will remain linked to the AppleTV's serial number - this means they will always be available even if you update or restore your AppleTV.

• Media Player now features three distinct options for viewing different types of metadata. The the left (<<) and right (>>) buttons can be used to cycle through the views when browsing through your media.

Does anyone still jailbreak their Apple TV? What is the main reason you do it?

[FireCore]

Netflix couldn't come to a deal to keep Starz content on their service, so they'll be losing it next February, but it turns out Starz wanted more than just Netflix's money to stay -- they wanted more of our money too:

Netflix offered Starz more than $300 million per year to renew their agreement, but the pay cable channel was insistent on so-called tiered pricing, according to people close to the negotiations but not authorized to speak on the record. Tiered pricing would require Netflix subscribers who want movies and television shows from Starz and other premium providers to pay more than the standard $8 per month.

Basically, they wanted Netflix to become as expensive as cable so we, the customers are discouraged from leaving cable and living off digital antennas and services like Netflix.

That's nice for Starz, but do you want to pay more for Netflix to keep The Karate Kid on your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Apple TV?

[LA Times]

What's the next iOS device you plan on buying? I'm guessing a lot of the TiPb Nation is waiting for the iPhone 5, but is anyone going to skip it and hold out for the iPhone 6? Maybe you hope that Apple discounts the existing iPhone 4 like usual, or puts out a budget iPhone nano instead?

The iPad 3 sounds like it's not coming this fall after all, but are you planning to get it shows up this spring? Or does a new iPod touch 5 fit your needs better?

What if Apple finally makes a real iOS powered iPod nano, one that works amazingly well as a watch and shows all your notifications? Anyone else besides me really want one? And if they finally let Apple TV go a full 1080p, would that be on your shopping list?

Let me know what you plan on buying in the poll below, and give me the reasons why -- or better yet, why not! -- in the comments below!

Apple has just released iOS 5 beta 6 for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple TV to developers, along with iTunes 10.5 beta 6, and Xcode 4.2 Developer Preview 6.

As with the previous 2 iOS 5 betas, this one is available over the air (OTA) via Software Update in Settings.

No word yet on changes, so let us know if you see anything interesting and jump on over to our iOS 5 Forum for more!

CNET drops a big bottle of killjoy juice on recent rumors that Apple might just be ready to rollout their fabled iTunes Replay service -- the ability to re-download and stream content to iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV and iTunes on Windows and Mac from the iCloud -- or a Netflix-like subscription service.

While Apple has music and now TV available for re-download, at least in the US, apparently they've only got agreements with 4 of the 6 big studios needed to add movies to the mix.

One reason is the HBO window. During specific periods of time--often referred to in the film industry as windows--HBO owns the exclusive electronic distribution rights of films from three of the six top films studios: 20th Century Fox, Universal, and Warner Bros. Any retailer that wishes to sell physical DVDs from these studios during HBO's window is totally unrestricted. But online retailers are legally prevented from delivering movie downloads from the three HBO-restricted studios during HBO's window and they also can't stream titles from those studios. This means that right now iTunes can't stream a movie to a customer during the HBO window that the customer may have purchased outside of the window.

Broadcast windows are also the reason movies and TV Shows sometimes disappear and reappear from iTunes, Netflix, etc. But the bottom line seems to be, at least for now, that iTunes movie re-downloading, streaming, and subscription services are still a long way off.

[CNET]

Apple had finally released iOS 4.3 for Apple TV 2, adding the ability to stream purchased shows via iCloud (I'm betting this is US only?) and watch Vimeo video. As noted by Apple:

• iTunes TV Shows: Purchase your favorite TV shows directly from the iTunes Store, and watch the shows you already own, commercial-free in HD.
• Vimeo: Browse and play videos from Vimeo, access your video inbox, and mark videos you want to watch later.

(Developing...)

Apple has once again pulled a Friday trigger on an iOS beta, this time iOS 5 beta 4 for iPod touch, iPad, iPhone, and Apple TV, as well as iTunes 10.5 beta 5 for Mac and Xcode 4.2 DP 4.

If you're a registered, paid developer head on over and grab it all now. If you spot anything new and noteworthy, let us know in comments, and discuss away in our iOS 5 forum.

UPDATE: We're getting a bunch of reports that iOS 4 beta 4 is showing up as an OTA update. We tried it and it errors out for us but let us know if you have any luck.

[developer.apple.com]

If you're in the US and you subscribe to Netflix, we'd like to know how you feel about the new pricing they announced yesterday? If you're only into streaming, not much has changed. If you want unlimited DVDs as well, however, you need to cough up an extra $6 a month.

Maybe DVDs are a relic to you, or a bag of hurt, and you haven't watched optical media in years. Hey, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, and Apple TV don't support them anyway! Maybe, however, since Hollywood still can't get their digital release act together, they're a beloved part of your home theater experience.

Or maybe it's not about whether or not you watch or want DVDs, but about how Netflix is treating you as a customer that matters? No doubt shipping all those envelopes around the country is getting more and more expensive, but are you perceiving increased value for the increased costs on your end? Or do you feel like you're being weened off the old era before the new one is really ready to replace it?

Are you peeved enough to take your streaming elsewhere? To get your DVDs from a competitor? Or are you going off DVDs altogether?

Vote up top, and let us know how you really feel -- and what you think Netflix should do about it -- in the comments.

Have a Netflix subscription you enjoy for DVDs and iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV streaming? Well they've just announced they're splitting your physical media from your online content, and changing the pricing on you as well. The new DVD-only plans start at $7.99 for 1 DVD at a time. Unlimited streaming remains $7.99 but if you want both unlimited DVDs and unlimited streaming, it'll cost you $15.98 ($7.99 for each, no combo discount).

New members get the new pricing immediately, existing members get it September 1.

“Netflix members love watching instantly, but we’ve come to recognize there is still a very large continuing demand for DVDs by mail,” said Andy Rendich, Netflix Chief Service and Operations Officer. “By better reflecting the underlying costs and offering our lowest prices ever for unlimited DVD, we hope to provide a great value to our current and future DVD-by-mail members.”

I'm guessing there won't be a lot of happy Netflix users following this announcement. Could be worse though, perpetually myopic Hollywood could force them to raise the prices for streaming -- or simply deny Netflix more content -- in the future.

Which plan will you be getting?

[Netflix PDF]

9to5 Mac has uncovered an interesting feature of iOS 5 beta 3 for the Apple TV. The previously unused Bluetooth chip appears to have been activated. It looks like Bluetooth support is aimed at integrating a keyboard into your setup, rather than anything more exciting. The new Bluetooth feature can be found in the normal settings menu, enabling you to pair a keyboard with the usual passcode setup process.

So what could this mean for the future of the Apple TV? Well at the very least we could see the Safari web browser making an appearance. Thinking a bit further outside the box and it all becomes a little more interesting. How about game controllers, similar to the iControlPad that we saw earlier today. Of course you would then need to be able to install apps and games on your Apple TV... See where we are going here?

Apps have always been strongly rumored to form part of the Apple TV’s future. Maybe we will have to wait for the next update of the Apple TV hardware for them to appear. The wait shouldn't be too long as its already strongly rumored to be updated in the fall with 1080p playback and the dual core A5 processor. Either way this could be a very exciting development. Of course, we must remember that features disappear from beta software all the time, but let’s enjoy the possibility just for a moment!

[9to5 Mac]

Apple has just released iOS 5 beta 3 (9A5259f) for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple TV, along with iTunes 10.5 beta 3 for Mac, and Xcode 4.3 Preview 3 for developers.

While in previous years Apple had stuck fairly closely to an every-second-Tuesday beta release schedule, iOS 5 beta 2 hit on a Friday just over two weeks after beta 1, and now beta 3 is on a Monday just under 2 weeks after beta 2. On average, the pacing remains similar, however, and Apple has previously said the release version would come this fall. (Likely September/October to coincide with iPhone 5 and perhaps other new devices.)

Interestingly, they're once again doing a traditional, tethered release. No signs of them testing the bit-differential/delta file update system yet.

If you're a paid, registered developer with Apple, go get it. What if any changes have been made in iOS 5... we'll have to wait and see. As always, we have comments below and a special iOS 5 Forum for your discussion pleasure.

(Reminder: if you're not a paid developer, stay away. Buying slots can get you scammed, and running beta software on your main device can leave you stranded. Wait for fall.)

[developer.apple.com]

Previous years have seen Apple's annual fall music event showcase iTunes and iPod in decreasingly spectacular fashion, last year's exceptions being the iPod touch 4 with cameras and the all new, all iOS-powered Apple TV. This year could be very different, with the possibility of Apple introducing up to 5 new iOS devices to the family at roughly the same time. It would be unprecedented, but so was no new iPhone back at WWDC 2011 in June.

1. iPod touch 5

If anything would usually be considered a safe for the fall music event, it would be a next generation iPod touch. For the last four years, Apple has introduced a stripped down, non-3G version of the same year's iPhone wrapped in iPod touch clothes. So this year we'd expect an iPod touch 5 with an Apple A5 system-on-a-chip (SoC) and enhanced cameras. (Along with fierce demands for 128GB option to finally retire the iPod classic, of course.) Since WWDC 2011 came and went with no new hardware, however, and we don't have a new iPhone 5 to base a new iPod touch 5 on, that challenges all preconceptions.

A new iPod touch definitely makes sense for the lucrative holiday season, but with so much else on their plate, it could end up being massively over-shadowed at best.

2. Apple TV 3

Last year's iOS and Apple A4-powered reboot of the Apple TV in a rental, streaming model at the low price point of $99 turned their previous set top box strategy on its head. An Apple TV 3 (or whatever a 2nd generation of the 2nd generation Apple TV would be called) is certainly a possibility for this fall, especially if the new Apple A5 chip could boost it to a true 1080p powerhouse. Would Apple have 1080p streaming content in place to support it? Would any other new technology, like AirPlay mirroring in iOS 5 make more horsepower make more sense? Quite possibly. There's every indication this is Apple's "hobby" entry into the living room app and console gaming market and they're going to want to hit it hard before competitors catch up. Again, it feels like a safe bet but one Apple could just as easily hold off on for another cycle.

3. iPhone 5

Unlike the last 4 years Apple didn't introduce a new iPhone back at June's WWDC 2011 so it feels like we're overripe for one. The general assumption -- and a lot of rumors -- indicate this fall we'll finally see it. Whether the delay was due to Verizon contacts, iOS 5 delays, or hardware production lead times, Apple probably needs to get a refresh out the door just to keep up with competitive pressure from Google, expired iPhone 3GS contracts on AT&T and other contracts, and the increasingly fashion-concious mobile market. Thinner, lighter, faster, these aren't the things Apple's TV commercials tell us matter most, but they're probably the things that will change the most for iPhone 5. The dual-core, ARM Cortex A9-powered Apple A5 processor is probably a given. An 8 megapixel, 1080p rear camera and FaceTime HD front camera feel likely as well. More RAM, 64GB of NAND Flash storage, and a larger, 3.7-inch screen, are on a lot of wish lists as well. (Hopefully 3D isn't, and we're still probably a year away from LTE 4G.)

The big question is whether or not it will be a major redesign or just a streamlined iPhone 4. Rumors have gone both ways, which isn't unusual given Apple typically tests both less and more ambitious prototypes during the design face, and field tests camouflaged units as production gets closer. I'm guessing we'll end up in between. A tweak, but not a major overhaul. Not yet.

4. iPhone nano

iPhone nano rumors have been around as long as... the original iPhone. There's an iPod nano, after all, and it's the most popular model in the industry. Every other manufacturer makes multiple models, so why not Apple? If they want to move into greater demographics and emerging markets, it's a logical move. Just like Intel Macs and CDMA iPhones, they've probably had an iPhone nano, and other variants, deep in the Apple labs for a while, waiting until they felt was the right time for release.

With that in mind, we keep hearing it's done, it's ready, and it's just waiting on Apple to pull the trigger. What "it" is, however, remains a mystery. Just like neither the iPad nor 11-inch MacBook Air are Netbooks, collectively they effectively address -- and eviscerate -- the netbook market. Apple is as notoriously hard to predict in advance as they are seemingly obvious in hindsight. A barebones feature phone is probably out of the question given the size and power of the App Store and iTunes ecosystems, but could a stripped down, 3- to 3.5-inch iPhone 3GS in new packaging work for the ultra casual and emerging markets? The lower resolution but still compatible screen and the other components, now enjoying huge economies of scale, make it an interesting idea.

(Georgia's still hoping the iPhone nano is a watch that "AirPlays" iPhone information to a more convenient screen.)

5. iPad 2 HD/Pro / iPad 3

Whatever you want to call it, Apple really could release another new iPad this year. Since they called 2011 the year of the iPad 2, iPad 2 HD or iPad 2 Pro (given the MacBook Pro and Mac Pro branding) makes more sense, but either way we might just see a new tablet with a Retina Display this fall. It's not an obvious choice, given how it will have only been 6 months or so since the (original) iPad 2 shipped, and since the "pro" market for iPads hasn't even begun to be established. But Apple doesn't exist in a vacuum. Component pricing and production yield rates could mean a 2048x1536 iPad can't be produced at Apple usual $499 price points, at least not any time soon. And while competing tablets from Samsung, BlackBerry, and HP webOS have failed to gain any real traction, they're going to keep coming. Getting a Retina Display iPad out on the market soon, before anyone else is even anywhere close, just makes competing that much harder, and going with a "pro" level price for those who want and can afford it protects Apple's low cost of entry on the regular iPad 2. It would be a tactical gamble, but Apple has often been utterly fearless when it came to those.

Whether "pro" also means LTE, USB, SD, or any other acronyms you want to throw at it, and whether it mandates a newer battery or even newer A5 chipset remains a really interesting question.

6. There is no 6

Rumors of Apple television sets continue to swirl, and there are always other product areas Apple could and one day probably will explore (maintaining growth takes work). However, the last time rumors popped up about an Apple television, TiPb heard it was a 27-inch iMac and low and behold, that's what we got. Could the latest round of rumors be a harbinger for a 32-inch iMac? No idea. The television business is low margin and everything Apple typically isn't. That's not to say they couldn't revolutionize it the way they did smartphones, but I don't think they'll do it this fall.

FireCore has released an update to its aTV Flash (black) software that runs on jailbroken second generation Apple TV’s. The update includes a host of additional features like a brand new lightweight media player that has been specifically written for iOS devices.

The new media player will enable your second generation Apple TV to play a much wider array of media types without losing the simple Apple TV interface. Performance of HD content has also been greatly improved.

If you're already running a version of aTV Flash (black) the new Beta 6 version can be installed through the Maintenance --> Manage Extras menu on your Apple TV.

The full list of fixes and new features are detailed after the break.

[FireCore]

What's new in Beta6?

General

• Added show/hide options for standard AppleTV menus
• Added option to manually install if no AppleTVs are detected
• Improved auto-update disabling
• Improved installation error handling
• Minor UI adjustments

• Added new lightweight player
• Added recently played items to 'Top Shelf' in main menu
• Added Favorites to main menu
• Added option to manually mark files as watched/unwatched
• Added 'Test Connection' option for AFP/SMB shares
• Added support for DVD subtitles
• Added support for multiple DVD audio tracks
• Added basic support for M2TS files
• Improved overall video playback (especially HD video files)
• Improved thumbnail generation when cover art is not available
• Improved FF/RW controls
• Improved DVD menu and video playback
• Improved DVD playback progress reporting
• Improved memory management
• Improved AFP/SMB streaming
• Improved error handling for invalid files
• Resolved most video stuttering issues
• Resolved energy saver mode issue
• Resolved issue that resulted in some DVDs being displayed in (squished) 4x3 mode
• Resolved numerous DVD playback issues
• Resolved flickering when navigating through certain menus
• Resolved additional conflicts with XBMC
• Reduced number of network connections used
• Minor UI and other miscellaneous fixes

How do you watch videos on your iPhone? When the original iPhone launched -- 4 years ago today! -- it came with an iPod app that could play iTunes/H.264 MP4 movies and video podcasts, and a last minute YouTube app addition for online videos. Fast forward to today and iOS 5 is set to break the iPod app in two, Videos and Music just like iPod touch and iPad, YouTube can be played in Safari and embedded web views via Google's web app, and a host of other sites and services now make apps and web apps as well.

There's Netflix and Hulu, ABC and Global, and BBC and MLB, HBO and Comcast, Ustream and Air Video, and a ton of others.

In addition, since iPhone 3GS, you can now shoot your own videos and watch them in the Camera or Photos app, even Messages and email if other people's videos are sent your way. And now there's the iPad with a big, beautiful 9.7-inch screen to enjoy your videos on as well... or even beam them to your Apple TV via AirPlay.

So with so many video options on iPhone and iPad, what do you find yourself using the most?

Apple has just released iOS 5 beta 2 (build 9A5248d) for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Apple TV, and iTunes 10.5 beta 2 for Mac. It's a rare Friday release for a company that, in the past, has typically released every second Tuesday.

It's also a large release, the iPhone 4 version weighing in at over 817MB (hey, those notifications gotta sit somewhere!).

As always, you need a paid developer account with Apple to get it (don't fall for those UDID slot sale scams!), and installing via Xcode is usually your safest bet.

If you're downloading now, be patient. Apple's servers are no doubt being slammed. When you get it, let us know what you think! And don't forget to head on over to our iOS 5 Forum for the latest discussions!

Update: iOS 5 beta 2 gallery

Would you buy an Apple television? DailyTech is resurrecting that old rumor again this week with a claim that a former Apple exec spilled the beans on the project:

Apple plans to "blow Netflix and all those other guys away" by bundling Apple TV + iTunes inside physical television sets. According to the source Apple is teaming up with a major supplier (our guess would be Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (SEO:005930)), to provide the physical televisions, which will be rebranded as Apple television sets.

They're also claiming a fall launch date to coincide with iPhone 5 and potentially iPad 3, and alongside the usual new iPods and probably an Apple TV with an A5 processor.

The last time rumors of an Apple television hit their peak, we got a 27-inch iMac, so who knows what Apple is really brewing up in the Cupertino labs. A 32-inch iMac? Anything is possible so we'll go back to the question at the top of the post -- if Apple ever did release a television set, would you buy it? Or are you happy with the $100 Apple TV option?

Vote in the poll and tell us how you really feel in the comments below!

[DailyTech]

One of the most exciting features of iOS 5 is the ability to mirror the iPad 2 screen on a high definition TV via an Apple TV. When it is enabled, you can see everything that you see on your iPad 2 on the TV, including videos, games, documents etc, all in real time.

Apple ‘n’ Apps has put together an excellent video walkthrough showing how it all works. The video demonstrates the speed at which the data is transferred between the iPad 2 and the Apple TV. It is very very impressive.

Gaming on the iPad 2 will gain a huge boost with the release of iOS 5 and AirPlay mirroring. It will no doubt enable new innovative ways to play games on your TV and iPad 2, at the same time! Take a look at the video after the break. Let us know what you think in the comments!

[Apple'n'Apps]

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Apple TV – @chrisoldroyd

This week I have gone for a piece of hardware and it's the Apple TV. I have resisted the urge to buy one of these for a while now. When it comes to media players, I am very fond of my Popcorn Hour which plays every video format known to man.

I decided to take the plunge and pick up an Apple TV for my bedroom; mainly for AirPlay. So far it has worked perfectly. One thing Apple always excel at is the user interface. The Apple TV is no exception, it's beautiful, simple and works so well with iTunes on your PC over home sharing or with AirPlay from an iOS device.

I use AirVideo on my PC which reads the hard drives connected to my Popcorn and trans-codes the non supported content on the fly. This makes the Apple TV a perfect solution for me. Sure it sounds a bit convoluted using an iPad with AirVideo and AirPlay but Apple makes it all so simple. I love it!!

[Apple]

TestFlight - @reneritchie

Apple only allows 100 UDID slots for developers to test their apps, and those slots are locked for one year. So, with four generations each of iPhone and iPod touch, two generations of iPad, and any replaced devices along the way, those slots can get jam packed and fast. What's a developer to do? Until recently, not much but lose out on testing and beta testers.

Enter TestFlight. TestFlight is a web-based service that intermediates the app testing model. Instead of developers registering test UDIDs themselves, TestFlight does it for them, provides a profile for the registered device, and then re-distributes the test binary on their behalf via an on-device web app (home screen WebClip).

Now, that does mean developers have to trust TestFlight with their binary, but TestFlight is hoping that in the age-old battle between convenience and security, developers will side with convenience. (They also had the fiendishly brilliant idea to park a breakfast burrito and coffee truck outside the WWDC 2011 keynote line to feed the hungry devs while promoting their service.)

I've had several developers send me TestFlight versions of their apps to test now, and while the process isn't always seamless, it works and its far better than my burdening them with UDIDs when I change devices so frequently. (I've had 2 black iPhone 4's swapped out at the Apple Store and now am on a white iPhone 4, that would be a lot of wasted slots under the traditional model.)

[Web link]

Quick Status - @skeetobite

My pick of the week is Quick Status. This nifty little app is designed for one thing - letting you update your twitter and facebook status at the same time. I often find that I want to post the same status message in both facebook and twitter, but I don't really want to type it in each of them individually. I know you have have facebook mirror your twitter status, but I don't always want the messages posted on both. With Quick Status, you have your choice! You can type in a message, and on the top choose if you want to send it to twitter, facebook, or both. In addition to just using messages, you can also include photos. geotags, and music you are listening to. It also keeps a record of the messages that you have posted, and you can save drafts of messages as well. There is a free, ad-supported version and a paid, ad-free version as well.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

dream:scape - @ JorjLim

dream:scape uses the unreal engine, that is famously used in Infinity Blade and Epic Citadel.

Rather than describe dream:scape as a game, I’d say its more of an explorable story where you play a terminally ill coma patient called ‘Wilson’ who must explore his dreamscape, to uncover the secrets of his life, You must find items along the way to get pass obstacles, like locked doors, a dog... and even an evil car.

While the graphics are nowhere near the quality of other unreal games, like Infinity Blade, and the gameplay isn’t particularly challenging, I find myself picking this purely because of its incredible storyline.

The storyline, music and voice overs combined makes this a great story to explore, and it keeps you hooked, wanting to find out what else happened in Wilson’s life.

Once you've completed the main story, you can freely explore the town of Bastion Falls.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

MiFi wireless router - @Alli_Flowers

Not an app, this week, but an "accessory" of sorts. Generally, I have broadband access everywhere I go. When I travel, even in the worst case scenario, I can buy access. However, once a year, I head up to north Alabama, to a dot on the map where cell coverage is spotty, and I have to leave base and drive 25 minutes just to get to a Starbucks.

Because I know that Verizon has the best coverage in this area, despite having my iPhone with AT&T, I purchased a MiFi router and plan from Verizon. The peace of mind it offered for those two weeks alone, is worth the monthly fee. Of course, I figured I could also use it on a daily basis back at school, where I'm blocked from everywhere that is helpful to a foreign language teacher.

Up to five people at a time can connect to the MiFi router, and you can password protect it so that not everyone who comes within 30 feet can automatically connect. (Of course, this is a feature everyone should set up on any router right away!)

Although, the bandwidth was far from 4G, it did allow me to continue reading TiPb every day, do my job answering customer support email, and send in the daily reports at camp.

Home again, I've already gotten great use from my MiFi router as well. The first time during one of our famous weather-related power outages (who can last 4 hours without internet?!), and the second time when I returned my cable modem and set up the new one. (Why do products that allow you to get online only offer you online help options?)

These MiFi routers can be purchased from any mobile provider, and have rate plans similar to cellular plans, mostly limiting you to a 5GB cap. They are not meant to be used in place of broadband internet at home, but they are a wonderful solution to internet outages, travel, and local blocks.

Carcassonne - @llofte

Perhaps you've heard of the popular strategy board game, Carcassonne? If not, and you like strategy games, you must check out Carcassonne. It is a universal game for iPhone and iPad and will provide you with hours of both fun and frustration.

The general idea of the game is to build a medieval landscape, tile by tile, and claim landmarks with your "meeple" to score points. You can play locally against the AI or against up to 4 of your Game Center friends over the internet. Yes, that's up to 5 people in a single game. There is also a "quick play" option against random opponents where each of your turns are timed. This game really is awesome. If you pick this one up, add llofte and challenge me to a duel! You're going down.

[$9.99 - iTunes link]

HBO GO - @Stubbs69 (Reader's Choice)

HBO GO is an excellent video app that brings all of your HBO shows together in a simple yet elegant package. It's a free universal app that requires you sign in with your credentials and within seconds you are ready to catch up on all your original series episodes, comedy specials, movies, documentaries, and even sports.

What I love about it is the ability to watch old shows such as The Sopranos and Deadwood or grab the newest episode of Game of Thrones soon after it airs. Start it on iPhone on break at work and pick up where you left off on your iPad on the couch at home. Select a show and it brings up the cast and a description, air date, and a list of extras and behind the scenes. Right now, AirPlay only supports audio but hopefully with iOS 5 this fall we can mirror it on our Apple TVs. There are also parental controls and the ability to set it to 3G or WiFi only.

[Free, with HBO subscription - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

If you have an iPad running iOS 5, it looks like you can now sync 1080p videos. Previously, iTunes would refuse to sync 1080p video to iPad, and it still won't sync to an iPhone or iPod touch. However, since the Apple TV also runs iOS, could we be seeing support for 1080p in the near future? Will iTunes begin to support 1080p movies? Will our bandwidth?

A string has also been spotted in the iOS 5 SDK which seems to allow 1080p video-exporting to iMovie, Photos and third-party apps. Does this confirm the rumour that the iPhone 5 will have a 8MP camera which may support 1080p video recording? May the iPad 3 get a better camera too?

What do you think?

[9to5Mac] [9to5Mac]

As promised during the WWDC 2011 Keynote today, Apple has posted betas of iOS 5, iTunes 10.5 (required to install iOS 5), the iOS 5 SDK, Xcode 4.2, and Apple TV OS.

There are versions for both Verizon and GSM/AT&T iPhone 4, as well as iPhone 3GS.

Developer.apple.com is getting slammed, of course, so whether you can get in or not is a different story, but once in it's all there for your developer testing pleasure.

If you grab it, let us know how it works for you, and how you enjoy all the features Apple showed off today!

[]

When Apple finally announced the iOS 5 preview for next Monday's WWDC 2011 keynote, they didn't include Apple TV in the list of iOS devices. Now Apple has never really talked about Apple TV's OS, not back when it was still OS X Tiger, not now that it's iOS. They might just think, like iPhone and iPad CPU specs, it's not something we consumers should worry about. Or it could just be that, because there's no Apple TV SDK, developers don't need any advanced information about iOS for Apple TV the way they do iOS for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. It's just not meant for us mere mortals.

What about iCloud? If that's going to be streaming or downloading all the music, and maybe even the media, we've bought from iTunes, wouldn't that make a huge impact on Apple TV? Sure, it could just end up being yet another item in the long list of Internet source, but it could also become a new and important part of the iTunes menu.

Do you think Apple TV will get iOS 5 and iCloud, and what features would you like to see them bring to Apple's favorite hobby?

Apple today released an update for Apple TV (2010), bringing it to iOS 4.2.2. The over-the-air update looks to be of the bug fix variety:

• Addresses an issue in which audio is not output when playing some video content.
• Addresses an issue in which video is not displayed when playing some content.
• Adds an audio output setting for switching to 16-bit audio for compatibility with some TVs and AV receivers.
• Improves the performance of fast-forwarding and rewinding live events.
• Addresses an issue in which the description information is not displayed for some movies.
• Addresses an issue in which YouTube subscription videos were not ordered by date.

As always with iOS, if you're Jailbroken stay away until the usual tools are updated to support the new firmware or you risk losing your Jailbreak/untether.

If you notice anything else, let us know!

According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is weighing up the possibility of extending its current licensing of AirPlay to include video. Currently third party manufacturers can use AirPlay but only the audio protocol. This is why we are seeing high end stereos and iPod docks with AirPlay but no products that can receive video streamed from an iOS device.

Under the new plan, according to “two people familiar with the project”, Apple will license AirPlay video software to consumer electronics makers this year. This could then be included in TV’s, Media Players, Blu-ray Players etc.

AirPlay is one of the killer features of the new Apple TV. If Apple decides to let other manufacturers use the technology it would surely lessen the attraction of the Apple TV for many. On the other hand, it would make owning an iOS device with AirPlay a very attractive proposition to many more potential users; and open more iTunes accounts too.

What do you think? Would you still buy an Apple TV if you could use AirPlay directly with your TV or Blu-ray ? Let us know in the comments!

[Bloomberg]

Apple TV owners, Apple has just released an iOS 4.2.1 (4.3.1) update just for you. So turn on your television, click on over to Software Update, and start your download. It's a bug fix update as far as we can tell, mostly geared towards fixing the screen flicker and color issues some users have been complaining about.

If you have an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad there's nothing for you (yet), which is interesting. I don't believe we've seen Apple update just one iOS device independently before, have we?

(And once again we'll ask Apple to end the insanity of having a 4.2.1 software that's version number 4.3.1 and just settle on the same number as the rest of the iOS family -- pretty please?)

If you notice anything else new or changed, let us know in comments!

[Thanks Anthony!]

Last night I sat down with my iPhone running iOS 4.3, tapped on the freshly updated version of Air Video, connected to my Mac Pro running the beta version of Air Video server, cued up some AVI and MKV files, and streamed them flawlessly to my Apple TV via iOS 4.3's AirPlay. My iPhone wasn't Jailbroken. My Apple TV wasn't Jailbroken. But with a huge geeky grin plastered on my face I was finally watching all those old home videos and DVD rips that were never before supported, in any way, by Apple and their luddite Hollywood licensors.

iOS 4.3 might be a minor update in many ways but it's also a game changer for Apple and iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users. It turns every one of those devices into a media server (AirPlay) and viewing client (Home Sharing or apps like Air Video) at the same time. And it cuts the tether of iTunes and the shackles of sync to do it.

That an iPad or iPhone had to be the intermediary was cumbersome, that the setup required an on-PC server component was complex, but it was all doable and once done it just worked. If you want to try it out, follow on after the break.

Here's what you need:

1. iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad running iOS 4.3
2. Latest version of Air Video [$2.99 - App Store link]
3. Air Video server 2.4.5 beta [Free - Web link]

Set things up the same way we outlined in our how to use an old iPod touch as an Apple TV tip, but say goodbye to the wires because this is the future and the future is streaming.

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you'd like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to news@tipb.com. (If it's especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we'll even give ya a reward...)