Last week Apple introduced the latest Apple television , and if you string up with the glass - half - empty crowd , that update was an utter disappointment . No DVR capacity . No additional depicted object rootage . And , bad of all , no Apple TV App Store . What you draw rather was an unfamiliar interface , support for 1080p streaming , and a faster CPU that will do heaven knows what .
To those teeth gnashers dysphoric with anything other than an iPad , TiVo , Mac , and Xbox rolled into an Apple - branded high-definition television , take into account me to indicate that you ’ve grabbed the unseasonable end of the stick . In the heroic schema of thing , the Apple TV is neither generator nor address .
It ’s a vena portae .
In its current form , it ’s simply a way for other source and devices to talk to your television . And it ’s not a new idea . Apple ’s AirPort Express Base Station has already step this ground . Plug one of these babies into a power outlet and string an audio cable’s length between it and a nearby set of powered loudspeaker system or recipient and your data processor and iOS machine are in the broadcast medium business . Repeat with other Express Base Stations for multiple room sound support .
The Apple TV is the next stone’s throw . Like that Base Station it can be used to relay music from Point A to whatever the Apple TV is secure into . But of trend it does more . It can also serve air to your video the contents of your estimator ’s iTunes library ; streaming culture medium from a variety of Internet rootage include Netflix , MLB.com , and YouTube ; iTunes Match substance ; previously buy euphony , TV shows , and motion picture ; an iCloud photo watercourse ; and the outturn of a identification number of iOS media apps . With the spillage of the next rendering of the Mac OS X ( Mountain Lion ) it will also be able to wirelessly mirror your Mac ’s display .
This is powerful and important stuff if done properly . If the Apple TV is open to all stimulus , the vast majority of Apple TV owners have no need for yet another App Store .
You say you want to be capable to buy game for your Apple TV ? Why bother when you may simply mirror your iOS gadget to your television receiver via Apple TV ? Not only do you economise the price of a freestanding app , but you immediately solve the “ Okay , so what kind of controller do you expect Apple to build for your TV ? ” issue . You already have a touch - based controller in your hand .
Crushed that you ca n’t surf the World Wide Web or tweet on your TV ? Mirror Safari or one of the many Twitter clients from your iOS gimmick or — with Mountain Lion — your MacBook .
Furious that Apple could n’t chance a room to pack a DVR into a $ 99 machine the size of a meatloaf sandwich with the crusts cut off ? iTunes U has some informatory finance and physical science course sure to help fine - line your issues with reality .
The point being , once you see the Apple TV for what it is — an add-on rather than The Thing Itself — it make up sense in Apple ’s larger program . You work the content , we ’ll provide the ways to move it where you need it .
The obvious louse in this unction is the contentedness supplier . Mirroring is a rattling solution , but it has to be completely capable . And today , it is n’t .
For exercise , try out to mirror the HBO Go or Hulu apps to your Apple TV via AirPlay . It ca n’t be done because these apps are set aside to take advantage of a “ no mirroring ” switch built into the Io . If Apple ’s get going to win with a “ mirroring is the result ” plan , it ca n’t be hitch at the whim of substance provider . Word is that Mountain Lion will have no such restriction — all mirroring all the metre with no exception . Given that , clamping down on iOS machine seems silly . We ’ll keep our collective fingers crossed that Apple has had a unwavering sit - down with these people and indicated that the No Mirroring switch will be a thing of the past come iOS 6 . At that point , HBO and Hulu executive director may come to realize that mirroring to an Apple TV might increase their contributor root word .
I grant you , for many this is n’t the stuff of science fabrication that our imaginations need of Apple . Some people find such evolutionary and practical solutions uninspiring . Yet , look where we ’ve fare from and where we ’re go . Apple has very intimately made depicted object in the quintessence — the ability to seize our and other media from slender strain , wherever we go — a realness .
We ’re stare a miracle in the face . How wearied must we be to not appreciate it ?
[ Christopher Breen is a senior editor for Macworld . ]
