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Apple announced yesterday the new AppleTV. Let’s call it AppleTV take two. The new AppleTV leverage the Apple A4 processor found in the new iPod Touch, iPhone 4 and iPad. This make the AppleTV the forth platform based on this processor. I speculate that the new ATV platform is also running a variant of the famous iOS running on all other hardware using the A4 processor. This is the only sensible conclusion that one can make. Why would Apple develop a new OS for the A4 processor when it already has a successfull and expendable one with iOS. This make the new AppleTV solution a single application based solution on top of iOS 4.x. I reckon that Apple could easily change this and allow the platform to leverage the App store to “augment” the offering. In my mind this is the only way Apple can turn the “hobby” in a fully viable commercial solution. With an iOS underpinning Apple will be able to quickly add new features to offer a leading advantage over the Rocku and GoogleTV platform. I expect many updates to come for the platform to add features like “content search”, DVR integration over the network or attached hardware (why do you think Apple left a diagnostic “USB” interface on the unit?). Not because they needed it to diagnose problems… but rather such that they can use it to eventually expand the ATV solution. Could this port be used to drive an external DVR appliance that would record TV shows? This would make sense given that Google is touting integration with customers DVR. At the moment the product make sense to watch movies, TV shows, listen to music and watch photo… but it could do much more. Given that Apple included enough flash memory the ATV hardware could do whatever the iPod/iPhone can do this thing could do too. Think weather application, games, internet surfing, social network integration. Anything that does not require too much typing is possible here via the simple included remote. Pair the unit with an iPad or iPod/iPhone device (existing Remote application) and you now have a terrific combo for gaming with powerful multi-touch and gyro controllers. The 1st integration of this can be seen with AirPlay. I am sure there will be many more coming over the moths to come. So what do I wish Apple will do? It really boils down to one thing: allow developers to write application for the Apple TV and distribute them through the App store. It does not need to look like the existing iOS GUI. It could be build within the Apple TV UI. Just add an application section. If Apple does this it would be killer solution. Apple probably want to do this but is not just ready yet. Think of the original iPhone release when you could only get Apple’s own application for it… Now think Apple TV. Google foray in the TV space probably took Apple by surprise and they have been scrambling to put to market the product 1st, beating Google to the finish line. They will now take some time to rest and come up with a well taught through solution for and Apple TV application store offering. New UI guidelines, API, etc. This thing isn’t like a phone, it is a 32+ screen system… so it deserve new UI elements and guidelines. What was good for the iPhone/iPad won’t work for it. Let see where the Apple TV take 2 is a year from now. I bet it will be a LOT better. Until then, enjoy the revolution through your new Apple TV. At 99$ I know I will get one and see it evolve over the years, thank’s to Apple frequent free upgrades. 
The BBCs Mark Thompson has said that the BBC aims to launch an international commercial version of the iPlayer within the year. “Within a year we aim to launch an international commercial version of the iPlayer,” said the BBC director general at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival. Thompson then followed up those comments with further news in his keynote speech that:”We also want to find a way of letting UK licence fee payers and servicemen and women use the UK iPlayer wherever they are in the world. “Currently the BBC iPlayer is only available to UK residents in the UK with visitors outside the UK Internet world barred from accessing the service.Thompson held back however from detailing how the service would work, or whether it would it would be a chargeable offering outside of the UK. via BBC iPlayer going global – Pocket-lint.
Just like they always do come fall time, Apple will be holding a “special event” on September 1st out in San Francisco, and we’ll be on the ground reporting live. Think we’ll see that new Apple TV we’ve been hearing about? Some iPods? One more things? Yes, probably. via Apple to hold ‘special event’ September 1st… we’ll be there live! — Engadget. Gmail voice and video chat makes it easy to stay in touch with friends and family using your computer’s microphone and speakers. But until now, this required both people to be at their computers, signed into Gmail at the same time. Given that most of us don’t spend all day in front of our computers, we thought, “wouldn’t it be nice if you could call people directly on their phones?” Starting today, you can call any phone right from Gmail. Calls to the U.S. and Canada will be free for at least the rest of the year and calls to other countries will be billed at our very low rates. We worked hard to make these rates really cheap (see comparison table) with calls to the U.K., France, Germany, China, Japan—and many more countries—for as little as $0.02 per minute.
Dialing a phone number works just like a normal phone. Just click “Call phone” at the top of your chat list and dial a number or enter a contact’s name. via Call phones from Gmail – Official Gmail Blog. Samsung today released a teaser video for their upcoming “Galaxy Tab” touch-screen tablet device. Samsung’s latest entry into the tablet market will feature a 7 inch AMOLED display, video calling take that, iPad!, Android 2.2 Froyo, e-reading, and HD movie playback. The device looks very interesting in the promotional teaser, and is reportedly lighter than the iPad according to a first-hand account. The device will be officially unveiled at a conference in Berlin on September 2, 2010. Time will tell if this is another JooJoo Fail or a true-iPad competitor.
via The Mother Lode: Welcome to the iMac Touch – Patently Apple.
The team at Livestation and Boxee got together over the last few weeks to cook up an amazing Boxee app that allow Boxee users to get access to both free-to-air channels like Al Jazeera and BBC World News or the subscription based ones like CNN International, CNBC or Bloomberg. The Livestation app for Boxee can be found by searching for ‘live news’ on Boxee. Boxee (http://www.boxee.tv) have built a pretty awesome media interface that runs on computers to display video/pics/audio on TV sets or on computers using a 10-foot approach (using the mouse as a remote). Livestation also has an iPad optmised-html5-bells-and-whistles version of the Livestation service. Point the iPad browser tohttp://www.livestation.com and press play!
I created a Google Code project called terminateall so you can take a look at the code and possibly enhance it if you wish. Again, note that this application will terminate all other OSX users sessions so you get back all the system processing power to yourself. Useful when other users have left a browser session open with some Adobe Flash animation running. I am a new iPhone 4 owner but not a really happy one. I got my iPhone 4 upgrade done at a Rogers Wireless authorized dealer and thay gave me great service… the problem is that the Rogers upgrade system would not allow the rep to charge me the right amount… 159$ that I was confirmed to be elegible to by Rogers own web site. I ended-up paying 359 for the upgrade. I really hope Rogers will fix this on their own. Rogers systems where, again, overloaded by all the people trying to get new iPhone 4. Here is a video of the lineup: < |
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I did some adjustments to the small utility “Terminate All” to make sure all users left over processes are terminated. I also changed the way I build the list of users to terminate and how the termination look is performed.