also, a wiimote or pro controller are lightyears more sophisticated than the tiny apple remote. (and mfi-controller are not standartised) and a single big ps4 game would be bigger than the available storage on a 32gig apple-tv. i don't think they are taking gaming seriously - they are just throwing stuff at the wall to see, what sticks. the big three have nothing to fear from this. but it will probably comprte with the few gaming customers of amazon fire tv, roku and ouya
According to the SDK, the largest thing you will be allowed to load into memory at one time will be 200 MB; but they have a "paging" system worked out (one of the reasons that TVOS is NOT exactly iOS), which is geared toward staging and downloading content that is larger than "allowed". Time will tell how seamless that works.
There will be standard game controllers for the Apple TV. I suppose those would do OK, once games support them. http://www.apple.com/tv/games-...
Still, I think Apple is aiming more for the "casual" gaming crowd.
I took a short cruise through the AppleTV SDK the other day, and I am almost sure one of the APIs is geared toward handling dedicated Game Controllers.
Now what will Apple have? Unless they can create original content, they've got nothing.
Just like with the iOS games (and other Apps), Apple, per se will create little in the way of "content". That will be up to the droves of third-party Developers.
And don't you worry; Apple was VERY smart to have an SDK available on day minus 30 or so; so when the new AppleTV actually hits the shelves, there will magically already be a bunch of Game Titles ready to hit the market alongside it.
Well, Slashdot ate my nicely-composed reply; but suffice it to say that they had a price point to hit, a feature list to hit, and a release date to hit, and so, this is what we have. For now.
But remember, this box also has a complete SDK, a unique remote (with the possibility of using other devices as remotes/controllers) and voice-recognition (with dual microphones for noise cancelling), and solid Ethernet capabilities. Will it be able to play local audio/video content? You bet. Will it be able to play streamed content? Yup. Will it be able to receive AirPlay content? Just like the previous model. Will it have "Channels", like Hulu, HBO, NetFlix? Sure. Will it do Surround audio? Up to 7.1 . Will it support Interactive, or "Enhanced" Channels (like the NFL Channel)? Saw it in the Demo. And most importantly, Does it have App capabilities? Oh, yes!!!
Could it support 4k video? Next model.
Would I like to see more video/audio formats? Sure, who wouldn't?
Would it be nice to have a USB and SDXC Card slot? Maybe.
But it really IS a pretty good start.
The thing is, Apple has to release a PRODUCT. It has to work like an appliance; not like the typical HTPC, which is not only typically too "computer-y", but is usually hideously unreliable, compared with something like a Microwave oven or DVR. Apple would get laughed off the planet if they released something as complicated and unreliable as most HTPCs are, at this point in time. That means that the OS has to be rock stable, even when running third-party apps, the CODECS have to be rock-stable and fast, the networking has to be flawless and fast, the display subsystem has to be well-behaved, etc, etc.
So, you can consider this more of a "1.0" (or possibly 1.1) device, with much more to come. But if I know Apple, they will continue to add capabilities and features through OS and App updates, and Developers are ALREADY flocking to the platform; so, by this time next year, AppleTV will be MUCH cooler than it is right now, guaranteed.
Apple knows the power of Apps, and everyone knows that they have an INSURMOUNTABLE lead in that regard, period!
If you count every microcontroller and microprocessor-based project I have designed and built from scratch, it would number in the many dozens
I love how vague you leave that with no proof. I'll interpret that to mean you slapped together a few simple breadboard timers and/or clocks. You know, the kind of stuff that many children have done.
As WC Fields once said "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit."
I am just getting tired of having to "defend" against this bullshit; to the point that I saved off my by now "canned" reply, to wit:
I'm really getting tired of this/. meme. Perhaps I just need to publish my resume (which, unabridged, runs about 7 pages) as part of my User Profile...
Not to sound big-headed; but the short story is that I am an Embedded designer with almost 40 years of paid hardware and software development experience on a wide variety of microcontroller platforms, from 6502 to ARM9 Cortex (and many others in between), mostly in Assembly and C. Although I have done quite a wide range of applications, my forte and first love lies in real-time process control. So, to say that I have done more than my fair share of fiddle farting around would be an extreme understatement. Oh, and BTW, some of that Development, including software development, CAD for schematic capture and PCB development, some LabView stuff (BTW, LabView was for years a Mac-Only system), and other stuff was done on Macs.
But, because the Embedded market has in recent years devolved into little else besides chasing short-term contract work (which doesn't work well when you have a house, and family to drag all over the country), I currently am employed doing Windows Application Development for a small local company. This also means that I do a fair bit of Windows Server admin stuff on pretty much a daily basis. Oh, and BTW, I am also a Certified SQL Server admin.
So with all due respect, you don't know anything about my credentials. Now you do.
LOL! Neither Linux nor BSD are reverse engineered from UNIX, they are UNIX-like.
This is why you use a Mac. You don't understand technology. Literacy doesn't seem to be your strong point either since you don't even understand the definitions of the word "lift".
St. Linus says he was trying to emulate UNIX, or rather, minix. The definition of reverse-engineering is, in essence, to create something that emulates the operation of a prior thing, but without using the actual design documentation (I.e., source code in the case of software). Otherwise, it is simply plagiarism, or, in the case of copyrighted works, copyright infringement. Frankly, I don't know the copyright status of all the UNIX bits that are emulated in Linux; but at the very least, it Linux the very definition of "reverse engineering". Here's a pretty dispassionate discussion on the topic of Linux' heritage. It calls Linux a "UNIX Clone". In my book, that means it must've evolved primarily from either Frank plagiarism, or at the very least, reverse-engineering. Spin all you like; but that's the short and long of it.
As far as "not understanding technology" just because I enjoy using Macs, it seems that I have to "defend myself" against this Slashtard meme on a semi-weekly basis; to the point where I have simply saved-off my by now "canned" response, to wit:
I'm really getting tired of this/. meme. Perhaps I just need to publish my resume as part of my User Profile...
Not to sound big-headed; but the short story is that I am an Embedded designer with almost 40 years of paid hardware and software development experience on a wide variety of microcontroller platforms, from 6502 to ARM9 Cortex (and many others in between), mostly in Assembly and C. Although I have done quite a wide range of applications, my forte and first love lies in real-time process control. So, to say that I have done more than my fair share of fiddle farting around would be an extreme understatement. Oh, and BTW, some of that Development, including software development, CAD for schematic capture and PCB development, some LabView stuff (BTW, LabView was for years a Mac-Only system), and other stuff was done on Macs.
But, because the Embedded market has in recent years devolved into little else besides chasing contract work (which doesn't work well when you have a house and family to drag all over the country), I currently am employed doing Windows Application Development for a small local company. This also means that I do a fair bit of Windows Server admin stuff on pretty much a daily basis. Oh, and BTW, I am also a Certified SQL Server admin.
So with all due respect, you don't know anything about my credentials. Now you do.
Care to retract your fallacious and misinformed generalization regarding Mac Users?
Oh, and does this also mean that the plethora of people who show up at hacker conferences sporting Mac laptops also "Don't understand technology?" Or are you going to claim that they don't count, just because they dual-boot a Linux Distro on their MacBooks?
Oh, and as far as the definition of "lift" in this context? Essentially, it is a synonym for "steal". To take without permission. Much like Linux was "Lifted" from UNIX.
As I said before, Apple "lifted" NOTHING from Linux, nor from any Open Source project. In fact, they have CONTRIBUTED quite a bit back to the F/OSS "Community". Would you like to see a list?
I probably will not buy a wireless mic since I've got a method that works. Also there are occasions when I want the sound track of interview to continue while I splice in a different video clip, and I think that would be more difficult if I was recording the audio on the camera.
Are you planning on doing your editing IN the camera?!? If not, what you say makes no sense.
Just use a NLE suite (I know they all suck on Linux; but, that's what you want), and if you can't "eyeball" the sync (your brain is QUITE sensitive to even small video/audio sync mismatches; so you SHOULD be able to pretty quickly get to an acceptable result), then do what another poster said, and use a "clapboard". Or just frickin' have someone stand in front of the damned camera (fairly closely) and clap their damned hands, FFS!
The advantage to everything being digital nowadays, is that, even with consumer-grade audio and video equipment, once you get stuff in sync at the beginning, pretty much everything STAYS in sync, even without SMTPE timecode, etc.That might not be true of an hour-long clip; but it works for anything I've ever tried.
While I do have a good video camera that will accept a microphone, more than 90% of the time I use a separate device for audio recording. It is very rare that a microphone attached to the camera can be optimally positioned. A separate audio recorder is the answer to many vexing problems.
Actually, if you have seen any of the pro-level portable cameras, most of them have a separate wireless transmitter module that can accept a balanced mic/line level through an XLR, and usually a 1/4" (TRS-balanced?) input as well. This gets transmitted back to the camera, in lieu of the built-in mic signal.
Android Pay is an NFC-based payment system baked into Android. Consider that even if Google wanted to, it is unlikely that Apple would ever allow something like Android Pay in iOS considering it competes directly with Apple Pay.
If someone has an iPhone, why in hell would they want/need Android Pay? There is zero advantage, and considering Google's reputation for Data Mining, there is nothing to recommend it to iOS users, period.
My guess is that any credit union or bank worth their salt that is currently accepting Apple Pay will likely accept Android Pay as well some time in the near future.
Mmmm. With the plethora of credential-stealing Apps and exploits like in StageFright on the Android platform, who in their right mind would use this?
And before you start the Apple Hate Machine, please point to ONE actual, non-theoretical exploit involving an individual and ApplePay.
Reality: I built my first computer from actual ICs on a wire-wrapped board in the 80's.
I'm not talking about something with the power of an Apple 1; and neither were you. But now you want to move the "Geek" goalposts, ok.
I have been a paid embedded designer for nearly 40 years, since around 1978. If you count every microcontroller and microprocessor-based project I have designed and built from scratch, it would number in the many dozens, and would stretch back to 1978 or '79.
I think Apple TV is over kill for what most people want in a entertainment device. Many just want a streaming device and not a full blown device that runs apps and other crap.
And if you'd watched the Keynote, you'd know that they are continuing to sell the current model AppleTV for $69, which meets the needs you mentioned.
This is excellent news for me. I have a Synology and a 10.6.8-based original Intel Mac Mini that just acts as an iTunes and Crashplan server. All my films converted from DVD/blu-ray are stored on the Synology, but I need iTunes running to be able to access it on the Apple TV. With this I should be able to use Plex on the Synology and remove the need for iTunes. Crashplan can also be made to run on a Synology, so I can completely eliminate the need for that Mac Mini.
With a few more apps, like Amazon Instant and BBC iPlayer, this thing could then completely cover what I do. One caveat - just please, please, please give me paid app options and not freebies with adverts in the UI.
My big question is: Why doesn't Apple just create an iTunes daemon, so you don't have to do hinky shit like "create a user account and run iTunes on it all the time"; which inevitably leads to whining by the OS if you have to Restart the "server" computer? Could it be THAT difficult to create a faceless version of the iTunes app that launchd launches when needed, and that has iTunes Sharing always on? Heck, just a small tweak to the iTunes Library database and it could have user-specific Libraries, too, with some items being "globally-acessible" (all users) and others only by a certain user (or users?).
All that is good in OS X was lifted from open source software. Apple didn't do anything but slap a crappy Fisher-Price interface on top.
And EVERYTHING in Linux was RIPPED-OFF (reverse-engineered) from UNIX. Now what?
I think you owe a LOT of UNIX Devs (who's work DIRECTLY lives on in OS X) a big, fat apology!
And BTW, by definition, you can't "lift" ANYTHING from OPEN SOURCE software, unless you violate the terms of the licensing. And I'm SURE that Apple hasn't done that, or there would be FOSSHeads aplenty citing example after example of same in EVERY Apple-Oriented Slashdot article.
And finally, I'd MUCH rather have that "Fisher-Price" UI than what MS is foisting, or the "well, maybe the next revision will be better" F/OSS Linux interfaces. Any of them.
where is the Big Screen 75" Apple TV with optional iPad remotes
Apple already DID the Computer/TV thing a few DECADES ago. No one bought it, even though it was actually a pretty cool solution for a kid's room or a dorm room.
As has been discussed here before, Apple is VERY smart to NOT get into the nearly-zero-profit game of Television-designing-building. Instead, they are marketing an ARM-based iOS-variant microcomputer as a Set-Top Box. MUCH wiser decision. They get all the capabilities that make a "computer TV" special, with none of the baggage of building the display, tuner, HDMI-switching stuff.
And I would imagine, there will be an App for your iPhone/iPad for the new AppleTV, just like there is one for the current model. For one thing, Apple recognizes, right in the TVOS Developer Docs, that, for example, gaming on the new AppleTV is fundamentally different from gaming, even networked gaming, on the iPhone/iPad.
So, a Macintosh isn't a "Geek" computer; but a Hackintosh is?
Oh, and how's that "Assemble a laptop from parts" Project coming?
Go back to 1990, fucktard. I've built many a white-box computer myself; and so I know that the level of "Geekiness" it takes is just above someone who can plug a network cable into a router.
Call me when you can DESIGN a motherboard; not when you can mailorder some stuff that someone else recommended in an article, plug in all the clearly-marked, impossible-to-plug-into-the-wrong-socket cables and twist some Phillips screws. Wow! I R A Geek!
Please! There is Ikea furniture that's harder to put together than a typical tower computer. And you think THAT makes you a GEEK?!?
That is not necessary, but thank you for the advice.
When you pay for PRISM it reinforces the bad behavior. I'll take my chances with an open source OS. I'd rather take the option to make my own security mistakes than have them built-in as features of a product I'm paying money for.
I love a good Conspiracy Theory as much as the next person; but seriously, other than the infamous leaked PowerPoint document, which you have to admit may or may not be genuine (especially since the Apple "bubble" is dated completely differently than the rest), what evidence do you have that Apple (or anyone else for that matter) participates willingly, or even non-willingly, in the PRISM program?
Slashdot Mirror
also, a wiimote or pro controller are lightyears more sophisticated than the tiny apple remote. (and mfi-controller are not standartised) and a single big ps4 game would be bigger than the available storage on a 32gig apple-tv. i don't think they are taking gaming seriously - they are just throwing stuff at the wall to see, what sticks. the big three have nothing to fear from this. but it will probably comprte with the few gaming customers of amazon fire tv, roku and ouya
According to the SDK, the largest thing you will be allowed to load into memory at one time will be 200 MB; but they have a "paging" system worked out (one of the reasons that TVOS is NOT exactly iOS), which is geared toward staging and downloading content that is larger than "allowed". Time will tell how seamless that works.
There will be standard game controllers for the Apple TV. I suppose those would do OK, once games support them. http://www.apple.com/tv/games-...
Still, I think Apple is aiming more for the "casual" gaming crowd.
I took a short cruise through the AppleTV SDK the other day, and I am almost sure one of the APIs is geared toward handling dedicated Game Controllers.
Now what will Apple have? Unless they can create original content, they've got nothing.
Just like with the iOS games (and other Apps), Apple, per se will create little in the way of "content". That will be up to the droves of third-party Developers.
And don't you worry; Apple was VERY smart to have an SDK available on day minus 30 or so; so when the new AppleTV actually hits the shelves, there will magically already be a bunch of Game Titles ready to hit the market alongside it.
Sad that there are that many stupid people still allowed to walk around unattended in public.
I know; but there might still be hope for those like you yet.
Apple Newton -> iPhone, like whatever dude.
Well, Slashdot ate my nicely-composed reply; but suffice it to say that they had a price point to hit, a feature list to hit, and a release date to hit, and so, this is what we have. For now.
But remember, this box also has a complete SDK, a unique remote (with the possibility of using other devices as remotes/controllers) and voice-recognition (with dual microphones for noise cancelling), and solid Ethernet capabilities. Will it be able to play local audio/video content? You bet. Will it be able to play streamed content? Yup. Will it be able to receive AirPlay content? Just like the previous model. Will it have "Channels", like Hulu, HBO, NetFlix? Sure. Will it do Surround audio? Up to 7.1 . Will it support Interactive, or "Enhanced" Channels (like the NFL Channel)? Saw it in the Demo. And most importantly, Does it have App capabilities? Oh, yes!!!
Could it support 4k video? Next model.
Would I like to see more video/audio formats? Sure, who wouldn't?
Would it be nice to have a USB and SDXC Card slot? Maybe.
But it really IS a pretty good start.
The thing is, Apple has to release a PRODUCT. It has to work like an appliance; not like the typical HTPC, which is not only typically too "computer-y", but is usually hideously unreliable, compared with something like a Microwave oven or DVR. Apple would get laughed off the planet if they released something as complicated and unreliable as most HTPCs are, at this point in time. That means that the OS has to be rock stable, even when running third-party apps, the CODECS have to be rock-stable and fast, the networking has to be flawless and fast, the display subsystem has to be well-behaved, etc, etc.
So, you can consider this more of a "1.0" (or possibly 1.1) device, with much more to come. But if I know Apple, they will continue to add capabilities and features through OS and App updates, and Developers are ALREADY flocking to the platform; so, by this time next year, AppleTV will be MUCH cooler than it is right now, guaranteed.
Apple knows the power of Apps, and everyone knows that they have an INSURMOUNTABLE lead in that regard, period!
If you count every microcontroller and microprocessor-based project I have designed and built from scratch, it would number in the many dozens
I love how vague you leave that with no proof. I'll interpret that to mean you slapped together a few simple breadboard timers and/or clocks. You know, the kind of stuff that many children have done.
As WC Fields once said "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit."
I am just getting tired of having to "defend" against this bullshit; to the point that I saved off my by now "canned" reply, to wit:
/. meme. Perhaps I just need to publish my resume (which, unabridged, runs about 7 pages) as part of my User Profile...
I'm really getting tired of this
Not to sound big-headed; but the short story is that I am an Embedded designer with almost 40 years of paid hardware and software development experience on a wide variety of microcontroller platforms, from 6502 to ARM9 Cortex (and many others in between), mostly in Assembly and C. Although I have done quite a wide range of applications, my forte and first love lies in real-time process control. So, to say that I have done more than my fair share of fiddle farting around would be an extreme understatement. Oh, and BTW, some of that Development, including software development, CAD for schematic capture and PCB development, some LabView stuff (BTW, LabView was for years a Mac-Only system), and other stuff was done on Macs.
But, because the Embedded market has in recent years devolved into little else besides chasing short-term contract work (which doesn't work well when you have a house, and family to drag all over the country), I currently am employed doing Windows Application Development for a small local company. This also means that I do a fair bit of Windows Server admin stuff on pretty much a daily basis. Oh, and BTW, I am also a Certified SQL Server admin.
So with all due respect, you don't know anything about my credentials. Now you do.
LOL! Neither Linux nor BSD are reverse engineered from UNIX, they are UNIX-like.
This is why you use a Mac. You don't understand technology. Literacy doesn't seem to be your strong point either since you don't even understand the definitions of the word "lift".
St. Linus says he was trying to emulate UNIX, or rather, minix. The definition of reverse-engineering is, in essence, to create something that emulates the operation of a prior thing, but without using the actual design documentation (I.e., source code in the case of software). Otherwise, it is simply plagiarism, or, in the case of copyrighted works, copyright infringement. Frankly, I don't know the copyright status of all the UNIX bits that are emulated in Linux; but at the very least, it Linux the very definition of "reverse engineering". Here's a pretty dispassionate discussion on the topic of Linux' heritage. It calls Linux a "UNIX Clone". In my book, that means it must've evolved primarily from either Frank plagiarism, or at the very least, reverse-engineering. Spin all you like; but that's the short and long of it.
/. meme. Perhaps I just need to publish my resume as part of my User Profile...
As far as "not understanding technology" just because I enjoy using Macs, it seems that I have to "defend myself" against this Slashtard meme on a semi-weekly basis; to the point where I have simply saved-off my by now "canned" response, to wit:
I'm really getting tired of this
Not to sound big-headed; but the short story is that I am an Embedded designer with almost 40 years of paid hardware and software development experience on a wide variety of microcontroller platforms, from 6502 to ARM9 Cortex (and many others in between), mostly in Assembly and C. Although I have done quite a wide range of applications, my forte and first love lies in real-time process control. So, to say that I have done more than my fair share of fiddle farting around would be an extreme understatement. Oh, and BTW, some of that Development, including software development, CAD for schematic capture and PCB development, some LabView stuff (BTW, LabView was for years a Mac-Only system), and other stuff was done on Macs.
But, because the Embedded market has in recent years devolved into little else besides chasing contract work (which doesn't work well when you have a house and family to drag all over the country), I currently am employed doing Windows Application Development for a small local company. This also means that I do a fair bit of Windows Server admin stuff on pretty much a daily basis. Oh, and BTW, I am also a Certified SQL Server admin.
So with all due respect, you don't know anything about my credentials. Now you do.
Care to retract your fallacious and misinformed generalization regarding Mac Users?
Oh, and does this also mean that the plethora of people who show up at hacker conferences sporting Mac laptops also "Don't understand technology?" Or are you going to claim that they don't count, just because they dual-boot a Linux Distro on their MacBooks?
Oh, and as far as the definition of "lift" in this context? Essentially, it is a synonym for "steal". To take without permission. Much like Linux was "Lifted" from UNIX.
As I said before, Apple "lifted" NOTHING from Linux, nor from any Open Source project. In fact, they have CONTRIBUTED quite a bit back to the F/OSS "Community". Would you like to see a list?
A wireless mic would solve a lot of problems.
I probably will not buy a wireless mic since I've got a method that works. Also there are occasions when I want the sound track of interview to continue while I splice in a different video clip, and I think that would be more difficult if I was recording the audio on the camera.
Are you planning on doing your editing IN the camera?!? If not, what you say makes no sense.
Just use a NLE suite (I know they all suck on Linux; but, that's what you want), and if you can't "eyeball" the sync (your brain is QUITE sensitive to even small video/audio sync mismatches; so you SHOULD be able to pretty quickly get to an acceptable result), then do what another poster said, and use a "clapboard". Or just frickin' have someone stand in front of the damned camera (fairly closely) and clap their damned hands, FFS!
The advantage to everything being digital nowadays, is that, even with consumer-grade audio and video equipment, once you get stuff in sync at the beginning, pretty much everything STAYS in sync, even without SMTPE timecode, etc.That might not be true of an hour-long clip; but it works for anything I've ever tried.
While I do have a good video camera that will accept a microphone, more than 90% of the time I use a separate device for audio recording. It is very rare that a microphone attached to the camera can be optimally positioned. A separate audio recorder is the answer to many vexing problems.
Actually, if you have seen any of the pro-level portable cameras, most of them have a separate wireless transmitter module that can accept a balanced mic/line level through an XLR, and usually a 1/4" (TRS-balanced?) input as well. This gets transmitted back to the camera, in lieu of the built-in mic signal.
Android Pay is an NFC-based payment system baked into Android. Consider that even if Google wanted to, it is unlikely that Apple would ever allow something like Android Pay in iOS considering it competes directly with Apple Pay.
If someone has an iPhone, why in hell would they want/need Android Pay? There is zero advantage, and considering Google's reputation for Data Mining, there is nothing to recommend it to iOS users, period.
My guess is that any credit union or bank worth their salt that is currently accepting Apple Pay will likely accept Android Pay as well some time in the near future.
Mmmm. With the plethora of credential-stealing Apps and exploits like in StageFright on the Android platform, who in their right mind would use this?
And before you start the Apple Hate Machine, please point to ONE actual, non-theoretical exploit involving an individual and ApplePay.
Apple Pay only works with cards from certain banks because they force the bank into an agreement
How does Apple force any bank into anything?
They don't have the power of arrest, nor sanctions, nor anything else for that matter.
Haters gotta hate.
Reality: I built my first computer from actual ICs on a wire-wrapped board in the 80's.
I'm not talking about something with the power of an Apple 1; and neither were you. But now you want to move the "Geek" goalposts, ok.
I have been a paid embedded designer for nearly 40 years, since around 1978. If you count every microcontroller and microprocessor-based project I have designed and built from scratch, it would number in the many dozens, and would stretch back to 1978 or '79.
Now what?
Apple TV? That still a thing? And what ever Plex is. I guess the 13 people, that have an Apple TV will be happy for something new.
Yeah, more like 25 MILLION. And that was BEFORE the new model came out.
Apple needs to bring more to the party. Like a la carte cable channels. That would be "One More Thing..." that would make me drop the cash.
You mean like this, which they have had working for a bit, or this which they have been working on for most of this year?
I think Apple TV is over kill for what most people want in a entertainment device. Many just want a streaming device and not a full blown device that runs apps and other crap.
And if you'd watched the Keynote, you'd know that they are continuing to sell the current model AppleTV for $69, which meets the needs you mentioned.
This is excellent news for me. I have a Synology and a 10.6.8-based original Intel Mac Mini that just acts as an iTunes and Crashplan server. All my films converted from DVD/blu-ray are stored on the Synology, but I need iTunes running to be able to access it on the Apple TV. With this I should be able to use Plex on the Synology and remove the need for iTunes. Crashplan can also be made to run on a Synology, so I can completely eliminate the need for that Mac Mini. With a few more apps, like Amazon Instant and BBC iPlayer, this thing could then completely cover what I do. One caveat - just please, please, please give me paid app options and not freebies with adverts in the UI.
My big question is: Why doesn't Apple just create an iTunes daemon, so you don't have to do hinky shit like "create a user account and run iTunes on it all the time"; which inevitably leads to whining by the OS if you have to Restart the "server" computer? Could it be THAT difficult to create a faceless version of the iTunes app that launchd launches when needed, and that has iTunes Sharing always on? Heck, just a small tweak to the iTunes Library database and it could have user-specific Libraries, too, with some items being "globally-acessible" (all users) and others only by a certain user (or users?).
I wonder if this will be as big of a flop as their current iOS port that crashes after a few minutes of playing content.
Or their OS X version that crashes, well, whenever it feels like it.
Will that play her VHS tapes?
There's an App for that! [j/k]
All that is good in OS X was lifted from open source software. Apple didn't do anything but slap a crappy Fisher-Price interface on top.
And EVERYTHING in Linux was RIPPED-OFF (reverse-engineered) from UNIX. Now what?
I think you owe a LOT of UNIX Devs (who's work DIRECTLY lives on in OS X) a big, fat apology!
And BTW, by definition, you can't "lift" ANYTHING from OPEN SOURCE software, unless you violate the terms of the licensing. And I'm SURE that Apple hasn't done that, or there would be FOSSHeads aplenty citing example after example of same in EVERY Apple-Oriented Slashdot article.
And finally, I'd MUCH rather have that "Fisher-Price" UI than what MS is foisting, or the "well, maybe the next revision will be better" F/OSS Linux interfaces. Any of them.
where is the Big Screen 75" Apple TV with optional iPad remotes
Apple already DID the Computer/TV thing a few DECADES ago. No one bought it, even though it was actually a pretty cool solution for a kid's room or a dorm room.
As has been discussed here before, Apple is VERY smart to NOT get into the nearly-zero-profit game of Television-designing-building. Instead, they are marketing an ARM-based iOS-variant microcomputer as a Set-Top Box. MUCH wiser decision. They get all the capabilities that make a "computer TV" special, with none of the baggage of building the display, tuner, HDMI-switching stuff.
And I would imagine, there will be an App for your iPhone/iPad for the new AppleTV, just like there is one for the current model. For one thing, Apple recognizes, right in the TVOS Developer Docs, that, for example, gaming on the new AppleTV is fundamentally different from gaming, even networked gaming, on the iPhone/iPad.
Lenovo or Dell aren't geek computers.
True geeks assemble their computers from parts.
So, a Macintosh isn't a "Geek" computer; but a Hackintosh is?
Oh, and how's that "Assemble a laptop from parts" Project coming?
Go back to 1990, fucktard. I've built many a white-box computer myself; and so I know that the level of "Geekiness" it takes is just above someone who can plug a network cable into a router.
Call me when you can DESIGN a motherboard; not when you can mailorder some stuff that someone else recommended in an article, plug in all the clearly-marked, impossible-to-plug-into-the-wrong-socket cables and twist some Phillips screws. Wow! I R A Geek!
Please! There is Ikea furniture that's harder to put together than a typical tower computer. And you think THAT makes you a GEEK?!?
Whatever.
Why would he? He wasn't talking about toys.
So you consider OS X, which is a fully POSIX-Compliant, Certified UNIX (something NO Linux will EVER be) OS a "Toy"?
Wow. You Slashtards ARE ridiculous.
That is not necessary, but thank you for the advice.
When you pay for PRISM it reinforces the bad behavior. I'll take my chances with an open source OS. I'd rather take the option to make my own security mistakes than have them built-in as features of a product I'm paying money for.
I love a good Conspiracy Theory as much as the next person; but seriously, other than the infamous leaked PowerPoint document, which you have to admit may or may not be genuine (especially since the Apple "bubble" is dated completely differently than the rest), what evidence do you have that Apple (or anyone else for that matter) participates willingly, or even non-willingly, in the PRISM program?
And if you're using a laptop that's not a ThinkPad or a Dell Latitude, turn in your geek card now.
Is that why you see so many MacBooks at "Geek" events?