FireCore has released an update to their aTV Flash (black) for Apple TV 2. aTV Flash (black) 1.6 adds integrated subtitle downloads (courtesy of OpenSubtitles.org), support for purchased iTunes content, expanded codec support, refined video playback, improved networking, Wake-on-Lan (WOL), additional translations and a bunch of other improvements and bug fixes.
Tim Cook took the stage at the D10 conference this year to discuss Apple Inc., iOS, Samsung, lawsuits, patents, Steve Jobs, and the almighty Apple TV. The new head of Apple made one thing abundantly clear; the Apple TV is no longer a “hobby” project: ”This is an area of intense interest for us,” Cook said, referring to the TV business. We’re going to keep pulling this string and see where it takes us.”
Daring Fireball’s John Gruber speculates on his blog that an unusually high number of “To Be Announced” sessions on the WWDC schedule this year (particularly in Presidio, the biggest room for sessions in the building) implies that Apple will be announcing something big and his guess is a new developer platform and apps for Apple TV:
According to BGR, Apple is planning to unveil a brand new version of the Apple TV operating system next week at WWDC. A “trusted source” has told BGR that the new OS will be much more feature-complete than the current Apple TV OS and that it’s apparently the one that the long rumored Apple TV set will run.
The new Apple TV operating system is supposed to make use of the new “control out” API:
We all know we can watch live sports online, but sometimes it’s a right mission to get to where you want to go or find a good link to watch live sports right on the Apple TV. Well, this is where SportsDevil, an XBMC addon, comes into its own!
Apple’s long-rumored television set may soon become a reality, as China Business News reports that Foxconn, Apple’s Chinese manufacturing partner, has already started a pilot production of the new Apple HDTV:
Insider sources told China Business News that a Foxconn factory in Shenzhen has received orders for an Apple “smart TV” and is producing them on a trial basis.
