Get more from your shiny box of joy
Brought to you by the developers of Remote HD, AirServer is an advanced AirPlay/AirTunes receiver that lets you seamlessly stream audio, videos, photos, and photo slideshows to your Mac or iOS device. Recently updated to version 4.2 and optimized for the iPad 3, AirServer now features on-the-fly video post processing, Apple TV 3 full HD support, and improved gaming performance (FPS) over mirroring.
The default remote control for your Apple TV is small, slick, and smooth. To many users, of Apple‘s “hobby” device, it is also thought to be too small and somewhat limited in features. For those of you have found the Apple TV to be limited only by its remote… you have likely found the iOS remote to be a decent alternative to Apples’ hardware offering. Though this iOS remote can help fill the void, eventually you will want to control your Apple TV while using your iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod) device for something else.
Firecore has just updated Seas0nPass to support a TETHERED jailbreak of the new Apple TV 4.4 (iOS 5) software (also supported is the 4.4.1 update). A tethered jailbreak means every time there is a need to reboot your Apple TV, you will have to connect it to a computer. The new Seas0nPas doesn’t support XBMC, Plex, Remote HD and Rowmote plugins yet, so think twice before deciding to upgrade to 4.4 and run the jailbreak.
If the support for Media Player, Couch Surfer, NitoTV, Last.fm, Weather, RSS Feeds and Overflow and the new Apple TV 4.4 features, like AirPlay Mirroring, Photo Stream, NHL and WSJ Live are enough to convince you to update, you can then jailbreak your atv following these steps:
There are apps in the App Store that can do similar things (e.g. IMDb, Fandango), but Showreel is claimed to be the first AirPlay-enabled app that lets you watch full length HD movie trailers on Apple TV 2. Although the developer promises to “showcase nothing but the latest and greatest movies”, the movies are, well, not the latest releases and the collection is still quite small. On a good side, trailers are updated weekly, there are no ads and pre-trailer commercials, and the browsing experience on iPad as well as viewing trailers on the big screen in 720p is great. The app is iPad only.
Not later than yesterday, we wrote about Apple’s rumored plans not to push any hardware update for the Apple TV this fall and instead focus on software updates… and here it is: the Coupertino-based company just released Apple TV Software Update 4.3 (build 8F455) that adds Vimeo support and – more importantly – the ability to purchase TV shows from iTunes directly from your Apple TV.
Apple has already confirmed that shows purchased on Apple TV can be re-downloaded on other iOS devices (TV shows has been added to the “Purchased” sections of iTunes on both iOS and Mac/PC applications). All the shows previously purchased on other iOS devices or with iTunes automatically show up as available to play on Apple TV.
AppleInsider reports that Apple sold half a million Apple TVs in Q2 2011 but it’s not planning a hardware update for the device this year.
Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo told AppleInsider that “his industry checks have turned up no evidence that Apple plans push a hardware revision to the Apple TV into production during the third quarter [2011].”
Instead, Apple will probably focus on software updates. The company already announced that iOS 5 will feature AirPlay mirroring that lets wirelessly display everything you do on your iPad 2 right on your HDTV through Apple TV 2. It is believed that this feature will be also available for iPhone 4 and upcoming iPhone 5.
