Posts tagged with "apple tv"

Use Dribbble and Instagram as an Apple TV Screen Saver

 

Tired of stock images of plants and animals when your Apple TV screen saver comes on? Why not make it a little more personal with some ingredients from Dribbble and Instagram? With a little IFTTT magic you can have your Apple TV showing your Dribbble and Instagram feeds with just a little fun hacking.

The interactive team over at BlingBlog.tv created a way to make this happen by using Dropbox and IFTTT then sprinkled some recipe magic to make this happen. I tried it last night and it worked perfectly; it only took me about 15 minutes to set up from start to finish. Here are the ingredients and the recipe:

Step 1: Dropbox
You’ll need a Dropbox account if you don’t already have one, but who doesn’t these days? If you don’t, you can sign up for free here.

Step 2: IFTTT
Okay, not everyone has an IFTTT account but you will need one to continue with this tutorial. IFTTT is a great service that lets you build recipes from many different web services. It’s free, so do yourself a favor and sign up if you already haven’t. When you do have an IFTTT account, you can continue.

Step 3: Get your ingredients together
To make the recipes that BlingBlog.tv created, some IFTTT channels will need to be activated. Go here to activate the RSS Feed Channel, the Dropbox Channel, and if you want Instagram, activate its channel as well.

Step 4: Recipes
Anytime a new item is added to Dribbble’s popular feed, or your own follow feed if you have an account, it is downloaded to Dropbox. If you have the Instagram channel activated, you can pick a few different users as well to really mix up your screen saver. IFTTT will save an Instagram picture every time that user account posts a new picture. Here are the links here and here that BlingBlog.tv posted if you want to modify or use their recipes. Note that you will need to make sure every recipe points to the same Dropbox folder. Every one of my recipes for this tutorial point to my Dropbox/IFTTT/Instagram folder, even my Dribbble feed.

Step 5: Screen Saver Info
Did I mention this also works on your Mac? Just point to your Dropbox folder via the screen saver system prefs and you’re done with this tutorial. For your Apple TV, you will need to turn on iTunes’ Home Sharing on the Mac that has the Dropbox folder. After that is done, navigate to File > Home Sharing > ‘Choose Photos to Share with Apple TV…’ in iTunes and navigate to the same Dropbox folder (see image below).

Then, go to your Apple TV > Computers menu and add your Apple ID to link to your Mac’s photo library if you haven’t already done so. Now, go to Screen saver and choose your user Photo library as the source. Here is a resulting picture from my own Apple TV using this recipe. As you can see, it’s showing images saved from the IFTTT recipe – I like the origami effect the best. So, if you get tired of looking at your photos or the boring stock ones that Apple ships, try this recipe for some inspiration!

Here are some FAQs that BlingBlog posted:

  • At the beginning of the week, delete all of the stuff from last week. Sometimes, it’s hard to let go, but this screensaver isn’t for nostalgia; it’s for inspiration. Bring on some new stuff!
  • IFTTT/Instagram recipes only let you choose one user per recipe. We have 3 or 4 different ones going.
  • You aren’t limited to just dribbble or Instagram, IFTTT can also hook up to Flickr or any other photo streaming service that has an rss feed.
  • Apple TV doesn’t automatically update as new images come in, so you have to stop the screensaver and repeat Step 5 from above. And make sure your iTunes is open when it is refreshing the feed.

Hulu Plus Arrives on Apple TV→

Hulu Plus Arrives on Apple TV

Dallas Mahrt, Senior Software Developer at Hulu:

Hulu Plus arrives on Apple TV today.

To start watching Hulu Plus shows instantly, find “Hulu Plus” on the Apple TV home screen. If you are a Hulu Plus subscriber, simply enter your username and password to start streaming […]

If you don’t already have a Hulu Plus account, you can sign up at Hulu’s website or register via iTunes, in which you’ll be charged $7.99 as a monthly reoccurring subscription fee after a 1-week trial. While Hulu has limited advertising, the affordable monthly subscription gives cable cutters the option to watch current seasons of their favorite programs on demand and in HD from major networks such as ABC, FOX, and NBC. Philip Elmer-DeWitt of Fortune writes that Apple’s 30% cut likely delayed Hulu’s availability on the Apple TV, and that Hulu aims to provide a proper alternative as web users can now watch Hulu content for free from OS X Mountain Lion through AirPlay.

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Brightcove Gives Developers A Tool To Create Dual Screen Apps With AirPlay

Brightcove today unveiled their ‘App Cloud Dual-Screen Solution for Apple TV’ which is effectively a development kit that allows developers and media publishers to easily create “dual-screen” apps that utilise AirPlay. It enables an Apple TV to effectively become a second screen in which different content can be showed, but synchronised to what is shown on the iPad or iPhone. As highlighted in the demonstration video below, this tool could be used to create interactive quiz games or perhaps an app that plays a video on a TV and display additional information on the iPad or iPhone.
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Regarding Apple’s Edge and the new Apple TV Interface

Alongside a hardware update that supports 1080p playback, the new Apple TV introduced a brand new grid-like interface that draws upon influences from iOS. Where previous Apple TV interfaces were more or less clickwheel-iPod inspired, the new interface replaces sleek and jewel-like menus for a series of colorful icons that provide quick menu access to Netflix, TV Shows, and MLB.TV just to name a few. However, the interface is now at the center of brief controversy around Apple’s design decisions and the absence of Steve Jobs.

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The New iPad Keynote Roundup

iLife on 3 3rd Gen iPads

iLife on 3 3rd Gen iPads

Today’s one of those days when I can sit happily at my desk and know that the tech press didn’t win. Despite the mounting evidence, the alleged photographs of bits and pieces, and the last minute rumors of x-chip and y-feature for a gadget we seemingly knew everything about, Apple still managed to pull a fast one that was so obvious it makes even the most certain journalists curse under their breaths. iPad. You should have seen it coming right? Even the iPad 2 was simply referred to as the iPad on its aluminum shell. iPad. Even if it was just a little surprise, it’s a simple reminder that not even those with the best sources can fully beat Apple at its own game. As long as this continues to be true, I’m pretty sure that means Apple is doing alright.

With that said, let’s check out all of the great stuff Apple just launched.

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My Educated Guess On What The Next Apple TV Will Be

I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use,’ [Steve Jobs] 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.

In the past two months since Walter Isaacson’s biography hit the bookshelves and people read that paragraph I quoted above, rumours of an Apple TV have hit a fever-pitch. Only a few people really know what Jobs meant by the quote and what his intentions were, but regardless, many people have speculated on what it is he “finally cracked”.

I’ve been following along closely to the discussion because I’m fascinated by where the TV industry is inevitably headed and because I want to see how Apple will come into another new industry and try to disrupt it (presuming they do, of course). More than that, I am some what of an outsider to the latest developments in the TV industry - living in Australia where TV content offerings are years behind that of the US and (to a lesser extent) Europe. Local TV stations have (forever) been slow in acquiring US content, taking weeks, months, if not years to show a popular US series and our online choices have been minimal - with the exception of ABC iView and some dismal options from other networks.

So it is with this point of view, that I want to take a crack at figuring out what exactly this new Apple TV will be, why Apple wants to build one and how it might change our consumption of content. Jump the break to read it all.

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WSJ: Apple Talks With Media Executives, Apple TV Plans Moving Forward

A report today in The Wall Street Journal suggests that Apple is getting closer to launching a product that will represent the company’s vision for the future of TV. Sources have told the WSJ that Apple executives have met with media executives at several large media companies in recent weeks.

Eddy Cue, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, and the other Apple executives discussed their vision for the future of TV, outlining ways their technology could “recognise users across phones, tablets and TVs”. The WSJ also noted that in at least one meeting, Apple executives also described technology that could respond to a users voice or movements to search for a show or change channels. Apple did not go into specifics about what its plans were during the meetings, staying “vague” and not making any proposals to license shows for any new “Apple TV”.

Still, the talks—some of which were made at the request of media companies seeking an update on Apple’s plans—suggest that Apple’s TV strategy is advancing.

What Apple did discuss was about new ways that a user could stream content to multiple devices, allowing them to start watching a video on a TV and then move to another device, with that user’s pause point being synced with that other device such as a smartphone.

[Via The Wall Street Journal]

TV Purchases & Streaming Now Available For Australian, Canadian & UK Apple TV Owners

Owners of the Apple TV in Australia, Canada and the UK were given a nice surprise today with an over-the-air update enabling TV Shows to be purchased and watched directly on the device. It was a curious absence from the Apple TVs in those countries because although users could purchase TV shows from iTunes and on iOS devices (even stream it to the Apple TV with AirPlay) - until now they couldn’t purchase TV content directly from the Apple TV.

Apple hasn’t made any announcement about the update, but prices remain the same as they did previously. The update also introduces the “cloud locker” feature that was introduced with version 4.3 on the US Apple TV. If you are unaware of this feature, it allows you to play previously purchased TV content (the same feature is available for music, apps and books) - all thanks to iCloud.

[Via Engadget]

New Apple TV Model References Found in iOS 5

In our “Let’s talk iPhone” event rumor roundup, we noted Apple could announce a new Apple TV on stage. Earlier this year, a number of separate reports have suggested Apple was working on a new Apple TV with A5 CPU (the same of iPad 2 and iPhone 4S) to enhance the device’s processing capabilities and allow for full 1080p playback. The current Apple TV model packs and A4 processor (iPad, iPhone 4) and plays back video up to 720p, but as we know the October 4th event didn’t see any Apple TV updates among iPod, iOS 5, iCloud and iPhone 4S announcements. A rumor from July even suggested Apple was working on a new video format called HD+ to launch this fall in the iTunes Store alongside a new Apple TV model.

According to a code string found in iOS 5 by 9to5mac, a new AppleTV3,1 is in the works, and it should be an updated version with upgraded internals such as the aforementioned A5 processor. The existing Apple TV model is referenced as AppleTV2,1 – Apple typically uses this kind of references to prepare iOS for upcoming devices. References in the iOS filesystem are never 100% accurate, but new devices found in the past through code strings have turned out to be real most of the time.

With Apple pushing towards 1080p video content with the new iPhone 4S camera and AirPlay Mirroring made possible by the A5 CPU, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a refreshed Apple TV with faster CPU and more powerful video processing capabilities. As a side note, Apple recently started selling the current-gen Apple TV in more European countries.