Apple TV, which has recently taken the #1 spot of top-sellers in the TV and Video category on Amazon, is experiencing a surge in sales in recent months and developers like Firemint, Splitmo or Cerebral Gardens are taking notice.

“We are excited about how popular Apple TV has become as a way to enjoy content without paying high cable bills,” said Rob Witman, founder at Splitmo, makers of Air Show, a photo sharing and editing tool for iPad and iPhone via HDTVs. “And we are taking it a few steps further. We are focused on letting customers enhance their devices and use their HDTV and iPad for a shared video and entertainment experience. Companies like us see an opportunity to create very cool experiences to share on the big screen using platforms like Apple TV.” Apple has sold 5 million Apple TVs in fiscal 2012.

Also read: Air Show HD – Review

Cerebral Gardens is a developer that leverages AirPlay‘s dual screen capabilities with their popular app Party Doodles for iOS. “Apple’s AirPlay technology opens the door to all kinds of innovative app ideas that aren’t possible on other platforms,” said Dave Wood, president at Cerebral Gardens.  ”Being able to wirelessly connect a big HD screen to a mobile device enables developers to create a much more immersive experience for their customers.”

Also read: Apple TV gaming: Party Doodles for iPad and Apple TV

Whether it’s multi-player games like Firemint’s Real Racing 2 HD, which offers a split-screen gaming experience from iPad to HDTV, or MetalStorm: Wingman from Z2Live that features seamless AirPlay compatibility, an ecosystem of games and tools is emerging around Apple TV.

Also read: Real Racing 2 HD First to Support Wireless Gaming over AirPlay on Apple TV 2

Witman says that Splitmo has a few additions to Air Show in the works like stickers, art and freehand (you can already share your HDTV-edited photos through the app on Facebook and Twitter). He say that Splitmo is also rolling out some “unique mobile to HDTV products” in the coming months that will add to the growing array of offerings that enhance the Apple TV experience for customers.

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One of the new features in iOS 6 beta 2 for Apple TV is the ability to reorder the icons on the main menu, as spotted by MacMagazine.com.br (via MacRumors):

The feature is accessed by holding down the center Select button on the remote for several seconds, after which the selected icon begins to wiggle as is seen on other iOS devices when in reorder/delete mode. The wiggling icon can then be moved by using the directional buttons on the remote, with other icons automatically adjusting to make room for the icon being moved.

One difference in icon reordering between the Apple TV and other iOS devices is that the lack of a touch interface means that only one icon at a time can be selected and moved on the Apple TV. There is also no sign yet of an ability to delete or hide unused icons on the Apple TV menu.

Is Apple preparing apps for Apple TV? CNET notes that Apple introduced a similar feature in iPhone OS in 2008, just ahead of an SDK that let developers build their own apps.

iOS 6 Apple TV update will be released this fall.

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“The mythical Apple television set that everyone talks about is already here,” said Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Brightcove, in an interview with The Verge. Brightcove, a provider of cloud content services, has just unveiled the App Cloud Dual-Screen Solution for Apple TV. The new solution enables media publishers to develop apps for the iPhone and iPad that simultaneously control content, data and information presented on an HDTV while displaying synchronized content on the iPad or iPhone.

The dual-screen solution leverages Apple’s AirPlay technology, which allows viewers to use applications that simultaneously present content, interactive options and data on both the touch device and an Apple TV.

Brightcove’s new Dual-Screen App Solution will be included in the new App Cloud SDK and available to the open source community, enabling content owners to build dual-screen apps for Apple TV.

The availability of the dual-screen solution coincides with Brightcove’s introduction of App Cloud Core, a free developer edition, also announced today. App Cloud Core enables developers to build an unlimited number of mobile applications using HTML5 and JavaScript.

Although dual-screen apps for iOS and Apple TV (AirPlay-enabled apps) already exist, thanks to an open source SDK, it will be now easier to create such apps for Apple TV.

[image: The Verge]

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Tim Cook’s interview at D10 conference and BGR’s report that Apple may introduce Apple TV SDK at WWDC 2012 led TechCrunch’s Josh Constine to believe Facebook will soon come to the Apple TV. Constine argues that our friends’ high-resolution photos and videos would look “great blown up” on a big screen and that “Facebook TV could be a more natural place for display ads.” He also thinks Facebook app could be a selling point for Apple’s new TV hardware (whatever it will be: an updated set-top box or a standalone Apple TV set):

Facebook’s got the world’s biggest archive of photos, with 250 million posted each day, and allows for high-resolution uploads that’d look great blown up on a big screen. Imagine the photos from your news feed turned into a slideshow on your Apple television. Or the videos shared by friends streamed back-to-back. Even simple text status updates and their comments shown full-screen could be a pleasant laid-back experience. It could update reverse chronologically in real-time so you could leave it on to always see the latest content.

And while Facebook is struggling to make money on small mobile screens, Facebook TV could be a more natural place for display ads. Advertisers have been demanding a bigger, flashier ad formats that Facebook TV could host. We’re so used to watching commercials on TV that a glossy still ad every 10 minutes or 10 photos, or the occasional fifteen-second pre-roll might not seem out of place.

BGR reported on Friday that Apple will introduce an Apple TV SDK and Apple TV App Store at WWDC 2012.

Apple will kick off WWDC with its keynote presentation today at 10 a.m. PST. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ for the latest updates on WWDC 2012.

[source: TechCrunch]

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Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!

Is the Apple TV about to get its own App Store? According to BGR, Apple will introduce an Apple TV SDK at WWDC 2012. Apple TV software development kit would allow third-party developers to make apps for Apple’s set-top box.

BGR reported last month that Apple is planning to unveil a brand new version of the Apple TV operating system 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.

At this year’s D10 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook made clear that Apple TV is no longer a “hobby” project for the company: ”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.”

China Business News reported in May that Foxconn has already started a pilot production of the new Apple “smart TV”.

Apple will kick off WWDC with its keynote presentation today at 10 a.m. PST. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ for the latest updates on WWDC 2012.

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Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!

Apple has just released a minor software update 5.0.2 (9B830) for the 2nd and 3rd generation Apple TV. Apple’s support web page has not been updated but according to The Mac Observer, Apple TV 5.0.2 includes an Australia-specific issue with Parental Controls: the patch “addresses an issue which caused content restrictions to be incorrectly applied for the iTunes Store in Australia.” There are no new features added.

nitoTV tweeted that 5.0.2 firmware is still vulnerable to the pod2g’s untethered jailbreak for the Apple TV 2, so we can expect the updated version of FireCore’s Seas0nPass for Apple TV 5.0.2 soon. Seas0nPass has been updated for Apple TV 5.0.2. Still untethered.

According to ModMyi, the quiet nature of the software update “could prove essential to a bigger software release or product refresh coming out of WWDC next week.” BGR reported last week that 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.

Daring Fireball’s John Gruber believes Apple will be announcing something big at this year’s WWDC and his guess is a new developer platform and apps for Apple TV.

Apple will kick off WWDC with its keynote presentation at 10 a.m. PST on June 11^TH .

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ for the latest updates on the WWDC 2012.

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Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!

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:

Apps for Apple TV is just a guess — I’ve heard not a single whisper about such a thing from any Cupertino area little birdies. But it’s one of the few things I can imagine that would be big, new, and different enough to warrant that much attention at WWDC. Combine these holes in the session schedule with Jonathan Geller’s report at BGR — and I’ll put five bucks down on this actually happening.

Yesterday’s BGR report claimed 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.

Gruber believes that Apple’s “hobby” is “catching on”:

I can’t think of anything Apple could do to make it more interesting and popular than to open a new branch of the App Store for it.

China Business News reported on Monday that Foxconn has already started a pilot production of the new Apple “smart TV”.

Check out this video to find out how Business Insider’s Jay Yarow sees the feature of Apple TV:

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ for the latest updates on the WWDC and the rumored Apple TV set.

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Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!