Apple TV - iTunes on your TV

Apple, Inc, as they are now known, introduced another new product besides the Apple iPhone at MacWorld on the 9th of January 2007. The Apple TV will display your iTunes content from your Mac or PC on your Widescreen TV.

Which of course now means movies, as well as your music, photos and podcasts. This cute little box, will sit alongside or instead of your DVD player, and instantly brings your iLife into your living room, wirelessly.

How the Apple TV works

According to Apple:

1. Download music videos, video podcasts and more from iTunes.
2. Sync wirelessly from your Mac or PC.
3. Watch everything on your widescreen TV.

Seems pretty easy.

Apple TV Specifications

Apple TV Processor and storage

• Intel processor
• 40GB hard drive for storing content locally
• Up to 50 hours of movies and TV shows
• Up to 9,000 songs
• Up to 25,000 pictures

Apple TV System requirements

• Mac or PC
• iTunes 7
• Mac: Mac OS X v10.3.9 or later
• PC: Windows XP Home/Professional (SP2)
• AirPort Extreme, Wi-Fi 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n wireless network6 (wireless video streaming requires 802.11g or 802.11n), or 10/100BASE-T Ethernet network

Apple TV Ports and interfaces

• HDMI (video and audio)
• Component video
• Optical audio
• Analog RCA stereo audio
• 10/100BASE-T Ethernet
• USB 2.0 (for service and diagnostics)
• 802.11n wireless networking
• Built-in IR receiver (works with included Apple Remote)

What's in the box?

• Apple TV
• Apple Remote
• 10 iPod Universal Dock Adapters
• Power cord
• Quick Start guide

Looks very promising, and unlike the iPhone, is available to buy now for 299 USD or £199.

Apple TV Press Release

"Apple TV is like a DVD player for the 21st century - you connect it to your entertainment system just like a DVD player, but it plays digital content you get from the Internet rather than DVDs you get from a physical store. Apple TV plays the same iTunes content that users enjoy on their computers and iPods, so now they can even watch part of a movie in their living room, and watch the rest later on their iPod."
Apple CEO - Steve Jobs

Apple TV has a 40GB hard drive to store up to 50 hours of video, 9,000 songs, 25,000 photos or a combination of each and is capable of delivering high-definition 720p output. Apple TV is easy to connect to a broad range of widescreen TVs and home theater systems and comes standard with HDMI, component video, analog and optical audio ports. Using high-speed AirPort 802.11 wireless networking, Apple TV can auto-sync content from one computer or stream content from up to five additional computers right to your TV without any wires.

Apple TV Links

• Apple TV Home
• Apple TV Press Release
• Apple iPhone

Apple iPhone - Have Apple reinvented the phone?

Apple Computer Incorporated's CEO Steve Jobs announced a new product on Tuesday 9th January 2007 at MacWorld, that could be as revolutionary as the Apple Macintosh or the Apple iPod. 1984's Macintosh certainly changed personal computing, but the new Apple iPhone could revolutionise your whole life.

The Apple iPhone is not just a phone. It is the world's first wide-screen iPod; it runs Mac OSX, it switches views from landscape to portrait automatically when you swivel it; it displays your photos; it takes photos, it is a contact manager. It is the natural convergence of everything digital, the ultimate smartphone.

Smartphone

It does proper push email like the Blackberry but instead of tiny plastic keys, Apple have created their take on the touch screen. It seemed to work well with Steve Job's keynote and I like the way it works with the iPod too. This is the point Apple have created a device, pointed to by David Siegel in 1999. This new iPod, is first and foremost a great communicator. It can send and receive emails, host conference calls, dial and receive telephone calls, when the phone rings, your music stops, when you end the call, it starts again.

Safari built in

If it is as good as a phone as a Nokia, then Apple surely have created a winner. A really fantastic, portable device. Available in 4 or 8GB versions, this looks like being the must-have gadget for 2007, especially at Christmas, and Santa, I know what's on my list. Do you want it now?

Apple might just have reinvented the phone

If it works, as well as it looks, I believe Apple Computer International may have just, as they claim, reinvented the phone. We will know come June in the USA, Europe in Q3, and Asia in 2008 for ourselves if Apple have cracked it. I think it is significant that Apple have reinvented their name too. From Apple Computer International to Apple, Inc. I like to think this will allow them new possibilities.

Apple iPhone Resources

• Apple iPhone
• Discuss Apple iPhone
• Discuss MacWorld 07
• Watch the MacWorld 07 keynote