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Our Latest Posts About: Apple TV

Is Apple TV... The Future of Television?

Wednesday, January 4, 2017 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

I love Apple TV, but I wouldn't call it "The Future of Television"

When Apple introduced the latest generation of Apple TV, they called it "The Future of Television?". Are they kidding? It's not even close, but here are a few of the things Apple should consider for the next generation.

1. Integrated Cable Converter Box. Switching between Apple TV to a cable converter box is a pain in the neck, especially for people who are technology challenged and people who simply hate looking for a second remote just to change HDMI ports.

2. Integrated HDMI Switching. A typical family has quite a few HDMI devices. In many cases, they even have more devices than they have ports, which makes it a challenge to switch between Cable / Satellite TV Boxes, Blu-Ray players, Gaming Consoles,... [More]

Continue...Is Apple TV... The Future of Television?...

Play Apple Movies and Music on Non-Apple Devices

Monday, July 11, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Apple needs to allow people to play their digital media purchases on non-Apple devices.

Apple's Greed is Ruining Apple TV

Thursday, May 12, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Apple TV would be so much better if Apple wasn't so greedy.

When Apple introduced the latest generation Apple TV, I was pretty excited because they said it would have an App Store, just like iOS and OS X. To me that was a huge breakthrough because unlike the previous generation, it means that it can finally run third party Apps. The only problem is that most of the Apps are pretty lame.

This was a big letdown because I assumed it would only be a matter of time before my favorite video services like Amazon Instant Video and Vudu were finally available on my Apple TV. Even after al this time, neither company have Apps, and there's no indication they will be appearing any time soon.

I also hoped to see shopping Apps from companies like Amazon. eBay, and Walmart. Once again... [More]

Continue...Apple's Greed is Ruining Apple TV...

Apple TV Should Be 4K

Monday, May 9, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Apple dropped the ball when they decided NOT to include 4K support in Apple TV.

Why is Apple making such a big fuss over the fact that the iPhone can shoot 4K video, when they don't actually have a platform for people to actually see their creations in 4K?

For what it's worth, every video you shoot in 4K will only show in 1080p on your iPhone itself... and 1080p on your TV, unless you use another brand of streaming box, such as Sony or Roku. While it wouldn't surprise me if the Apple TV was an older generation, but the generation that is being sold right now just came out at the end of 2015, and it's not likely to be replaced with a newer model for quite a while.

This gives the competition in the increasingly crowded TV streaming device market quite a head start. The issu... [More]

Continue...Apple TV Should Be 4K...

The REAL Reason Apple TV Doesn't Have a Web Browser

Saturday, April 9, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

There's only one reason Apple doesn't include a web browser in Apple TV... MONEY!

As a followup to a previous post, Apple TV Needs a Web Browser, there's actually a reason Apple doesn't include it, and it has nothing at all to do with the hardware or software. It's just plain greed.

Apple TV Should Include a Web Browser

Wednesday, March 30, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

What good is using Siri on an Apple TV if you can't ask it questions about anything but movies and TV shows?

When I first heard that the all new Apple TV had Siri voice control, the first thing I assumed was that it would include a web browser. After all, if you ask Siri for something on your mobile device, most of the time the result is a web page. So wouldn't it make sense for Siri to return web pages on the TV? What's so complicated about that?

Apple TV is fundamentally an iOS device without a screen, so in theory it would be easy to port just about any iOS App, such as the Safari Web Browser to Apple TV, asa long as you work out a decent user interface. While I admit it may be a bit awkward without a touch screen, keyboard or mouse, it's far from impossible. The touc... [More]

Continue...Apple TV Should Include a Web Browser...

iCloud Photo Support For Apple TV

Friday, January 29, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Why can't you see your entire iCloud Photo Library on the new Apple TV?

The newest generation Apple TV has the same icon as the Photos App that runs on iOS and OS X, but it's nothing at all like the Photos App on the Mac, iPhone or iPad. I can understand why it doesn't fully support things like photo enhancing, but it should at least give you full access to your entire iCloud Photo Library.

Right now, I've got nearly 20,000 photos in my iCloud Photos Library, but the Apple TV Photos App just shows the latest photos, and it really doesn't have any features to search the library.

Since the newest generation Apple TV has just about the same storage capacity as most iPhones (up to 64 GB), it should have plenty of room to keep thumbnails of your entire photo library, just like... [More]

Continue...iCloud Photo Support For Apple TV...

Facebook for Apple TV

Wednesday, January 27, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Stay connected from your sofa.

There should be a Facebook App on the new Apple TV.

Before Facebook came along people just sat on the sofa every night stared at the TV. Now they sit on the sofa and stare at their mobile phone so they can use Facebook, so doesn't it make sense for Facebook to release an Apple TV App? Then everyone can stare at their TV again.

Now the Apple TV has an App Store, you'd think Facebook would be one of the first Apps released because it's one of the most popular Apps of all time. Initially, I assumed it was just bad timing, but it's been quite a while and there's still no indication that they are releasing an App.

I realize a lot of people wouldn't be comfortable typing with the Apple remote control, but even without a Bluetooth keyboard, peo... [More]

Continue...Facebook for Apple TV...

VUDU For Apple TV

Wednesday, December 30, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Why isn't VUDU available on Apple TV?

Back in the 90s, I made the mistake of buying a lot of DVDs because they were clearly superior to VHS, and I assumed I would never want anything better. When HDTV, Blu-Ray, and streaming services came along, I suddenly realized my entire library was quickly becoming out of date, so I stopped buying DVDs.

Rather than re-purchase all my movies in Blu-Ray, I decided to give Walmart's VUDU service a try. Besides giving you the option to purchase HD movies that your can stream online, VUDU allows you to pop your original DVD into your computer, then pay $2 to add the same movie to your VUDU account. They even let you upgrade your old DVD version to full HD for $5, so I started getting HD versions of some of my favorite movies.

So now I

... [More]

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Why Does Apple TV Have a Useless USB Port?

Tuesday, December 15, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Apple has a reputation of eliminating unnecessary features, but somehow the Apple TV still has a non-functioning USB port.

If you look on the back of the current and previous generations of the Apple TV, you'll find a USB port. According to Apple, that port is for maintenance purposes only, and it has no purpose for consumers.

If it's not there for customer access, why bother putting it there in the first place? I'm sure that if Apple actually needed to repair an Apple TV, they could simply connect to it using Wifi or wired Ethernet. Under the slim chance that whatever service they may need can't be done by connecting via the WiFi or Ethernet, they could just as easily placed a low cost diagnostic connector on the inside.

The most frustrating thing is knowing that the "U... [More]

Continue...Why Does Apple TV Have a Useless USB Port?...

Browsers For Apple TV

Monday, December 14, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Surf the web from your sofa

I find it pretty hard to believe that the "Future of Television" doesn't include a way to surf the web. Isn't that strange?

A lot of people may be speculating why Apple didn't include the Safari web browser as a standard feature. Apple TV would be the perfect platform for bringing the web to your living room. You could ask Siri a question, and go directly to a web page with the answer.

Adding a browser to the Apple TV should be super easy. Under the hood it's basically an iPhone or iPad without the built-in screen, so there must be some other reason they didn't include it. Then it hit me. MONEY.

It looks like the only reason they don't include a browser is because unlike shopping Apps, they can't earn a percentage of sales when people

... [More]

Continue...Browsers For Apple TV...

FaceTime for Apple TV

Sunday, December 13, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Make video calls from your living room, just like Marty McFly!

Although we still don't have flying cars and real Hoverboards, some of Back to the Future's predictions about 2015 have actually come true, including wide screen flat screen TVs and video calling. However, in the movie, video calls were't made on computers or mobile phones, they were on were made on the TV.

Because Apple TV is based on the same operating system as iOS that powers the iPhone and iPad, implementing FaceTime on Apple TV should be pretty straightforward, all they need is a camera.

Obviously they can't embed a camera into the box itself, but it should be easy to pair it with a WiFi or Bluetooth WebCam, or even plug one into the USB-C port on the back.

Let's face it, FaceTime is nice, but isn... [More]

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Play From USB on Apple TV

Saturday, October 3, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Why doesn't Apple TV let you use the USB port for your own files?

When the first generation Apple TV was released in 2007, there weren't many streaming services, so they focused on the ability to store your own movies on it the built-in hard drive by syncing with iTunes. They originally offered a 40 GB and 160 GB version, but they eventually dropped the 40 GB version so people could store a lot more content.

When the next generation was introduced, they eliminated the hard drive entirely, so they could focus on streaming from online services. Without the hard drive, it became more complicated to play your own movies, because you had to setup your computer as an iTunes server.

Although there has been a USB port in every generation of Apple TV, it can't be used to play your... [More]

Continue...Play From USB on Apple TV...

Amazon Prime Instant Video Support on Apple TV, Android and Chromecast

Friday, October 2, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

What are they waiting for?

The future of television is streaming, and there's a war going on to control it.

The first winner is Netflix. When they transitioned their focus from shipping physical DVDs to streaming movies over the Internet, they quickly became the gold standard in online streaming. One of the reasons for their growth was nearly universal support for playing their content on just about every platform in existence. You can play Netflix content on every computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone, game console, BluRay player and dedicated streaming box in existence.

Now that Google, Apple and Amazon have entered the streaming market, they took an entirely different approach, because all 3 of them are also producing their own streaming devices. Amazon has Fire TV, G... [More]

Continue...Amazon Prime Instant Video Support on Apple TV, Android and Chromecast...

Apple TV Should Support 4K Video

Saturday, September 12, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

4K TVs look amazing... with 4K content.

As the prices of 4K TVs continue to drop, consumers are having a hard time finding content that takes advantage of the resolution. Right now, the only way to get 4K content is to stream it online, or create it yourself.

This week Apple released the new iPhone 6s, which can shoot 4K video, and a new iPad that's powerful enough to edit it. The problem is that the new Apple TV doesn't play 4K videos in their native resolution. So, if you want to see your own 4K videos, or the latest Hollywood movies in full resolution, you'll need to buy a third party media player.

Considering Apple's support for 4K, and even 5K video in the Mac and iOS platforms, leaving it out of the new Apple TV is a pretty big mistake. While the new Apple TV will... [More]

Continue...Apple TV Should Support 4K Video...

Apple TV Should Support Amazon Instant Video

Tuesday, February 3, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

What are they waiting for?

One of the things holding Apple TV back from widespread use is the lack of support for Amazon Instant Video. While it's still a great way to play photos and videos from your phone, a lot of people buy it just to play streaming movies using services like Netflix. Now that Amazon Instant Video has a lot of original and exclusive programming, a lot of people are forced to purchase other devices, such as Roku because it works with all the biggest video streaming services.

The heart of the problem is that Apple doesn't like putting subscription services on Apple TV unless they get 30% of the revenue, but since the revenue for Amazon's Instant Video service is linked to Amazon Prime, which extends beyond just streaming videos, they have to way to quanti... [More]

Continue...Apple TV Should Support Amazon Instant Video...

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* Note: The ideas on "Idea of the Day" were posted without any formal research into existing inventions.

In some cases, patents may already exist for these ideas, in other cases, there may not be any existing patents and you are free to develop and explore the viability of developing and patenting the ideas.

The authors make no claim that any of the ideas are safe, practical, or suitable for any particular purpose. You are responsible for the results of trying, developing, patenting or using any of the ideas on this site.

For some people, our ideas are just an interesting read, but our goal is to encourage you to take action. If you see an idea that you like, do something with it... Take action.

- Joe

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Idea Of The Day. A new Idea Each Day. Some Don't Suck.

Our Latest Posts About: Apple TV

I love Apple TV, but I wouldn't call it "The Future of Television"

Apple needs to allow people to play their digital media purchases on non-Apple devices.

Apple TV would be so much better if Apple wasn't so greedy.

Apple dropped the ball when they decided NOT to include 4K support in Apple TV.

There's only one reason Apple doesn't include a web browser in Apple TV... MONEY!

What good is using Siri on an Apple TV if you can't ask it questions about anything but movies and TV shows?

Why can't you see your entire iCloud Photo Library on the new Apple TV?

Stay connected from your sofa.

Why isn't VUDU available on Apple TV?

So now I

Apple has a reputation of eliminating unnecessary features, but somehow the Apple TV still has a non-functioning USB port.

Surf the web from your sofa

It looks like the only reason they don't include a browser is because unlike shopping Apps, they can't earn a percentage of sales when people

Make video calls from your living room, just like Marty McFly!

Obviously they can't embed a camera into the box itself, but it should be easy to pair it with a WiFi or Bluetooth WebCam, or even plug one into the USB-C port on the back.

Why doesn't Apple TV let you use the USB port for your own files?

What are they waiting for?

4K TVs look amazing... with 4K content.

What are they waiting for?

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