back to article Jailbreaker alert: Apple TV runs iOS

The word is out: Steve Jobs' hobby, the Apple TV, runs iOS — which is an interesting revelation for both jailbreakers and productization prognosticators. This news comes from The Unofficial Apple Weblog, TUAW, which reports that an unnamed tipster has discovered a configuration descriptor in the recently released iOS 4.1 beta …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Shane Sturrock
    Jobs Halo

    AppleTV unsuccessful?

    In terms of absolute sales I guess the ATV was unsuccessful largely because people couldn't see it for what it was and always wanted it to be a full media centre PC. The fact is, in my AV system I have a TiVo, Blu ray, Xbox 360 and ATV and the ATV gets by far the most use. I've encoded all my DVDs for it and stuck them in iTunes on an old Mac with a 1.5TB drive attached so we're never short of something to watch.

    The instant access beats the heck out of DVDs and the simple UI makes for a very neat device perfectly designed for what it does and even my three year old son can use it. I'm sorely tempted to get one of the new ones for a second room since most of my material is streamed but I'll keep the original if only for its ability to buy movies directly from iTunes.

    Everyone I've shown it to has been amazed but then the same is true of my TiVo and that failed in the UK market too sadly.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Down

      RE: AppleTV unsuccessful?

      I have a mac mini connected via HDMI. An Apple TV would be quite inferior.

      1. martin burns
        Jobs Halo

        Direct connection

        It's better via AppleTV because:

        1) AppleTV interface is better then FrontRow

        2) Being able to access the Mac interface separately means you can also hook up an EyeTV for TV recording and Handbrake for DVD ripping, without interrupting the TV connection/viewing.

        3) When you have multiple ATVs connecting to a single iTunes instance/db you have some very nice optimisation

    2. The Other Steve

      Fuck the haters

      Whoever down voted that seriously needs to switch to decaf.

    3. DrXym

      More likely reasons

      The first Apple TV was underpowered, expensive, tied to a download service which few people could access in a timely fashion, and for a while you couldn't even buy content on the device - you had to buy it on a PC and transfer it to Apple TV. It was a complete mess.

      Apple have rectified some of the issues and introduced others. The device is still underpowered (no 1080p video), but at least it's cheaper. Problem for Apple is they're no longer king of the dunghill. There are quite a few streaming devices and there are bound to be more coming. I'm sure eventually the device might offer apps and potentially IPTV or other services, but at the moment it's nothing to write home about.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Shane Sturrock

      Round of applause for wasting money then Shane. If you have an Xbox360, all you have to do is properly enable the device extension from your windows PC anywhere on the same network and you could go without that old mac with the 1.5TB HD and the Apple TV box.

      Mine is configured so that any media I download or save into my video library on my PC is automatically available in the living room on the Xbox. No need for a DVD player, TiVo or anything else to clutter up the room.

      Thanks Microsoft for making products that just work.

      1. JEDIDIAH
        Linux

        ABA -- Anything But AppleTV

        > Round of applause for wasting money then Shane.

        Agreed.

        > Mine is configured so that any media I download or save into

        > my video library on my PC is automatically available in the

        > living room on the Xbox.

        Got the same setup with MythTV. XBMC will do this too.

        > Thanks Microsoft for making products that just work.

        Even a proper Mac will do the right thing here. You don't

        have to go running to Microsoft. You just have to be willing

        to not drink the (apple flavored) cool-aid.

        Open systems play more stuff and allow for simpler connectivity.

        The "just work" without being horribly limited in order to achieve that.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Actually Sky...

      ....bought the "rights" to TiVo in the UK to prevent them from promoting and furthering the product in the UK. It's a shame as it took Sky 11 years to replicate the "watch TV whilst viewing a menu and getting info on a program other than the channel I happen to be on" that TiVo had years ago........

      FAIL: Sky and it's so called "Innovation". I don't want frikkin 3D - I want a box that doesn't reboot just 'cos it's recording 2 HD programs whilst I am watching a recorded HD program

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    what it really is...

    Is an iPad for your home that comes with a 65inch screen. When the remote control is an iPhone app, then, they'll own your living room.

    1. h 6
      Jobs Halo

      App

      There already is an app for that.

      Ipad or iPhone can control it and stream content to it. If I had an HDMI tv I'd prolly get one.

    2. martin burns
      Jobs Halo

      iPhone Remote

      The iPhone Remote app is just that; works just as well as for controlling an iTunes instance.

    3. StooMonster

      720p pwnage

      But they should really offer native 1080p resolution for likes of iBook or rumoured news-stand and even web-browsing, rather than limiting to 720p then being upscaled by display.

  3. mafoo

    linux

    Rumor has it it has 16 gb of flash memory. Combined with the usb port it could make a nice little arm linux box.

    1. Giles Jones Gold badge

      Why bother?

      But why bother? you can buy a beagleboard for that. It's fairly well documented and easy to adapt to numerous tasks. It'll even run RiscOS if you like that sort of thing.

      1. Goat Jam
        FAIL

        Sounds fantastic

        Now, I am all for open systems etc. I don't own any Mac or Windows PC's at all but this advice is just ludicrous.

        The new appleTV is a $99 device that comes with an ARM processor, Flash storage, wired and wireless networking built in. All this is packaged up in a living room friendly package that won't have the wife looking at you sideways every time she steps into the room.

        On the other hand, the beagle board is a basic PCB with a USB port and a CF card socket, doesn't include luxuries such as a power supply and costs pretty much the same amount as the apple TV and needs a whole lot of extra time and money spent on it to make it functional. On top of that it needs to be hacked into a dinky little project box of some sort and will not pass muster with the missus under any circumstances.

        I know which option I would choose and it ain't the Beagle board.

  4. John Sanders
    Linux

    XBMC Owns the living room

    This apple TV thing is only good for one thing...

    The penguin.

    That's only what any little non-standard box is useful for. Unless you're the kind of person that enjoys his children spending money on online entertainment shops.

    1. Anton Ivanov
      Linux

      That is valid for most of apple hardware

      Typing this on a Debian running on a original TiBook G4 by the way.

      Apple in general makes fine hardware which shines even better once you let the penguins roam on it. The original powerbooks which crawled uner OS9 and spent most of their time swapping under OSX can still run circles around most modern Intel machines till this day once you put a Linux on them. The one sitting on my lap compares very favourably with my work machine which is a 1.8GHz dual core Core2 HP. It is light years ahead of the two other 2003-2004 machines I have in the house.

      It is a pity IBM never managed to solve the thermal issues with powermac. Otherwise we would have had some alternative to the horrid x86 and x86_64 ISAs.

  5. OMcDonald
    Thumb Down

    This is a surprise?

    I recall that the rumours prior to the announcement were far more specific, identifying that indeed it does run on an A4 CPU with 16 Gb of flash and would run iOS.

    Sure some people will want to jailbreak it. This I don't quite get. The device does a job, and it will either do it well (likely since this is the paradigm Apple works on), or it won't.

    My only regret is that it doesn't do 1080p, however if I want 1080p I'll buy the bluray disc.

    I have one on order, and it is replacing my need for cable/satellite TV.

  6. Adam T
    FAIL

    720p

    title says it all. fail.

  7. Individual #6/42
    Jobs Halo

    It's very close to failing

    Steve seems to be selling us a TV box that can download games and use a touch and motion sensitive controller with second screen. Smart but it's now all about the content.

  8. LinkOfHyrule

    I hope it can do

    I hope it can do HD farts with surround sound!

  9. Bruce Hoult

    Never in doubt

    That the new AppleTV runs iOS has been obvious since the moment it was announced. The only real question is how long it takes until version 1.x (2.0?) gives access to the AppStore.

    The more interesting question is whether the new Nano run iOS too, or whether they went to a heck of a lot of trouble to recreate a pixel perfect copy of a lot of the iOS user interface just for it. Apple doesn't usually duplicate efforts like that — their development teams and R&D spending are absolutely tiny compared to a Microsoft or Google.

    1. NHS IT guy
      Jobs Halo

      Not the nano

      Apple have confirmed that the new nano does not run any variant of iOS, but rather a smaller custom built OS to ape iOS.

  10. Neal 5

    But

    Does it come with that fuckoff iscreen jobbsy is using or do I have to lay $99 for the iTV and another $99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 to be able to watch, coz the only supported screen will be an iscreen.

    1. NHS IT guy
      Thumb Down

      You sir...

      Are a douchebag.

  11. Tempest
    Unhappy

    One Hack fixes all?

    If Apple settles on a single OS, hacking one device will make it easier for the other devices.

    It might encourage malware writers, too.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      One Hack to Rule Them All

      This sounds amusing. You take your iPhone out with you... walk near someone who has a virus... ports to your phone, which you're not using. No idea that it's infected until you get home, by which time it has synced up with your Apple TV since it is the remote for it. Apple TV transmits the virus to your media storage on your Craptop, which sends it off the iPad. Isn't it grand?

  12. martin burns
    Go

    Catchup TV apps & other streaming rentals

    This will get interesting when there are apps for

    1) iPlayer

    2) SeeSaw

    3) alternative rental services that work outwith the US (LoveFilm in the UK)

    1. TeeCee Gold badge
      Jobs Halo

      Re: Catchup TV etc...

      I hate to say it, but I suspect there'll be an app for that.

      Seriously, why not? As it runs iOS I'd have thought that "other services" could be implemented on a "download the app" basis, once they've jumped through all the hoops to get the blessing of Jobs on their apps of course. I believe there's already an iPlayer app for iPhone and iPad and I wouldn't be surprised to see this crop up as a download for ATV too.

      That would make it very interesting indeed. "Game changing" even.....

      I think this is the first time I've used *that* icon. I feel a strange need to bleat now.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    am i the only one thinking....

    that this means you do not need to follow Jobs diktat that you must buy a separate apple device for every purpose, now you can have a phone, an ipod, a TV streaming device and tether modem for your laptop all in an iPhone..... finally its looking useful!

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Alternatives

    XBMC has been doing me service for years.

  15. Robin Szemeti
    Jobs Horns

    Now way Jose!

    Sorry, but Stevo has already shown himself to be unsuitable to be in charge of anything important.

    It was bad enough when he suddenly took a jobsonian dislike to various apps on the iPhone/iPad and pulled them, or simply refused to allow them on in ht efirst place, for no other reason than "it wasnt to Stevo's liking" ...

    And you want to let him loose with the same megolomanical power with your TV? .. "hey what happened to those scenes from the movie?" "sorry, Stevo doesnt approve of <insert his latest dislike here>" ... "hey, the news ... what happened to the item about <blah>" .. "sorry, Stevo doesn't support <whatever> so the item was pulled" etc.

    Frankly, letting Steve Jobs loose with any sort fo control over what appears on the nations TV streams is about as terrifying as it gets. Maybe he missed the boat for a lead role in Orwells 1984, but he's catching up fast!

  16. simonhutch
    Thumb Up

    Perfect way to sell more apps

    I was wondering why there was no mention of apps on the apple tv. This will be the next big announcement I'm sure, as there's so many possible uses. Spotify, facebook, iplayer, games etc.

  17. SlabMan

    AirPlay

    If you have an iOS device, it will wirelessly send any H264 video to the Apple TV. There doesn't need to be a load of intelligence or different apps in the aTV as they're all in the handheld device. The aTV still needs to run apps like iPlayer though, as it would be silly to run this on the handheld and then resend the stream to the TV. I would expect iPlayer for the Apple TV in the next software update

    1. StooMonster

      Streaming any (low complexity) H.264 video

      Yep, I've read that one will be able to stream iPhone/iPod/iPad BBC iPlayer to the Apple TV v2.0 which could be interesting; but would be better with an App on device. =)

      Actually, a YouView (formerly Project Canvas) app on Apple TV would be pretty neat.

    2. JEDIDIAH
      Linux

      Take the most complicated and proprietary option possible...

      > If you have an iOS device, it will wirelessly send any H264 video to the

      > Apple TV. There doesn't need to be a load of intelligence or different

      > apps in the aTV as they're all in the handheld device.

      This is really quite stupid. Instead of having all of your bulk power in a box that is stationary and plugged into wall power and perhaps wired networking, you have it all in your phone. You're much better off having a dumber portable device and a more powerful stationary.

      All of the proprietary approaches to moving iPod data around are really silly when all you need is simple file sharing and a player next to the TV that can actually play everything.

      Plus there is wireless HDMI too. So there's no need to use an Apple specific protocol for this either.

  18. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
    Joke

    "iProd"

    is that what Ian Paisley uses to listen to his music?

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like