Third-Generation Apple TV Lands With a Thud 222
DeviceGuru writes "Although generally overshadowed by the iPad 3 debut, Apple also introduced the third incarnation of its Apple TV streaming media players this week. Sporting a revamped icon-based UI, the third-generation Apple TV doesn't add much to its predecessor beyond a truly-HD 1080p video output mode. Although Apple TV is still not supported by an Apple Apps Store plug-in apps ecosystem, its new UI (available as a free update for 2nd-generation Apple TVs) does seem to imply that this capability is coming soon. Meanwhile, Roku is gearing up for a $50M IPO, so this cord-cutting story is far from over."
Re:Apple TV is an iPad accessory (Score:2, Informative)
It still doesn't have a USB port
Re:Why the negative headlines? (Score:5, Informative)
I agree with Hadlock. The editors are choosing the articles with negative spin more often. The same subject is often submitted multiple times by different people with different slants, yet the editors are picking out the negative articles more often than the positive ones even when the positive ones come out first.
Re:You're missing the key feature. (Score:5, Informative)
Well except for people like me... I take the train home from work. I'm watching a movie on my iPhone, and it's all over.. all except for the last 15-20 minutes of it. So I get off the train, put on my headphones so I can listen to music from my iPhone/Pandora while walking to my car. When I get to my car, I take off my head phones half way through a song I like, plug in my iPhone to my car stereo, and listen to it on my way home through my car stereo (Kenwood KDC-BY948HD btw). When I get home, I pull into the driveway. Half way through another song, I unplug my iPhone, hit the airplay button and switch the output to my Pioneer VSX-1121 receiver, and now that song picks up exactly where it was only now it's playing in my house. I make make dinner, then sit down in the living room to eat it. I hit the video button, select the movie I was watching on the train, hit airplay, and select "Living Room Apple TV", the receiver stops playing music and the TV starts playing the last 15-20 minutes of the movie I was watching on the train in 7.2 surround sound. If/when that movie is over, I pick another one using the Apple TV remote to stream one directly from my PC in the office.
Could I do that with a laptop/another vendors tablet? Perhaps, I could come up with some bastardization of hardware/software combo that would come close, but nothing I've ever seen comes even close to the simplicity and ease of use, nor one that has a half way decent UI. The Apple TV UI is the best I've seen for a DNLA type player, and I've looked at quite a few.
Re:The iPad is an evolution of the iPhone (Score:5, Informative)
Well, a revolution in one place can inspire a revolution in another, as we saw in the Arab Spring.
You make a good point. But Apple's planning in this is even stronger than you state. In fact Apple had the iPad in development before they even started on the development of the iPhone. It appears Jobs realised that they stood a far bigger chance of success with a new touch based device in the established mobile phone category, than starting in the up to then unsuccessful tablet category. So they ended up doing the phone first, knowing full well that the long game was the tablet.
In a way the two are all part of the same revolution. A revolution against the PC monopoly of computing.