Mac mini gets HDMI, promo push for TV
Posted on June 16, 2010
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How about a robust home media center for $699? You got it, sort of.
Apple just revamped its Mac mini line, adding HDMI ports for high definition output. That means Hulu, Netflix Watch Instantly, YouTube, the iTunes store and the rest of the gang appearing nightly on your big-screen TV, without hassles or compromises.
Meanwhile, the old school Apple TV device is doing a disappearing act on the company’s retail site, amid rumors that a $99 version of the set-top box is in the wings — supposedly “an iPhone without a screen.” (Tech Crunch points out that the old Apple TV box is listed as an iPod accessory now …. WTF.)
Steve Jobs addressed the marriage of computers and TVs the other day, giving no hint of the mini plan. He was downbeat on chances for a successful set-top box. “I’m sure smarter people than us will figure this out,” he said. Stay tuned for Apple’s real home-entertainment strategy, a mystery so far.
The new Mac mini should play nicely with the current home entertainment center. The aluminum “unibody” shell (like the checks in at a sleek 1.4 inch height. No dingo balls, just an optical drive in front, for DVDs, CDs. Sorry, it doesn’t play Blu-rays.
In back, in addition to the HDMI plug-in, there’s a mini display port and a SD slot for pictures and home videos. Audio output comes via a minijack, nothing more serious, although audio also flows via the HDMI set-up. The power brick is gone, too, replaced by your standard household plug. (Also Firewire and USB ports, of course.)
The HDMI supports up to 1920×1200 resolution, way more than modern man requires. Apple says there’s “a handy control that lets you easily adjust the output … to fill even the biggest HDTV screen.” The graphic capabilities also benefit from an upgrade targeted at gamers.
The new Mac minis come with 2.4 or 2.66 Intel Core 2 Duo chips, depending on what you spend. Up to 8GB of system memory, with additional cards easily inserted via a round detachable panel on the bottom of the box.
Update: Macworld has a crisp write-up on the pros and cons of using the Mac mini as a media server.
Jobs: Interactive TV a sucker’s play
Posted on June 2, 2010
Filed Under Apple | 1 Comment
Apple chieftain Steve Jobs says the marriage of the Internet and television won’t be happening soon because of “the problem with the TV market.”
Talk to TiVo, Vudu, ReplayTV and others about their costly disappointments in interactive TV, he suggests.
Oh, and be sure to “ask Google in a few months,” he added, serving up the snark. (Google TV debuts in the fall.)
Jobs talked about Internet video and television as part of a wide-ranging 90-minute session at Walter Mossberg’s D: All Things Digital conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. (technically, the Wall Street Journal).
A member of the audience asked if Jobs had plans to “blow out television” by making the medium interactive.
No, he said. “It’s not a problem of technology, It’s not a problem with vision.” It’s a matter of market fundamentals:
“The television industry fundamentally has a subsidized business model that gives everyone a set-top box for free or for $10 a month. That pretty much squashes any opportunity for innovation because nobody’s willing to buy (an expensive) set-top box,” Jobs said.
“A lot of people have tried. (But) you just end up with a tableful of remotes and UIs.”
What would it take? “If you can go back to square one and tear up the set-top box and redesign it from scratch with a consistent UI across all these different functions — and give it to the consumer in a way that they’re willing to pay for it. And right now there’s no way to do that.”
Jobs noted that there was no one national cable company, making technical standards a big problem. With international markets, the standards for television hardware is “very balkanized.”
He said Apple made its choice to stay clear of the interactive TV battles a long time ago:
“We decided what problem do we want the most — a better TV or a better phone. And the phone won out — there was no chance to do a better TV because there was no way to get it to the market. … The TV is going to lose until there’s a viable go-to-market strategy, otherwise you’re just making another TiVo.
“I’m sure smarter people than us will figure this out,” he concluded.
Jobs’ company has the underwhelming Apple TV, which he usually refers to as a hobby.
Reports last week said a simple $99 version is coming that would be an “iPhone without a screen” — complete with apps and streaming video, some of it in 1080p HD. Presumably, for example, that means Netflix’s Watch Instantly app would be aboard.
Jobs apparently was not asked about the new Apple TV during the conference session.
Mark Cuban, another All Things Digital speaker, had similarly downbeat things to say about the online video business.
Apple TV vs. Google TV: main event
Posted on June 1, 2010
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Apple isn’t talking, but some deep throats are, confirming Engadget’s report that the new Apple TV will be an “iPhone without a screen.”
That means iPhone/iPad apps on your TV screen of choice. With the iPhone 4’s new operating system routing video streams from the cloud, some in 1080p HD.
It gets better: The price for the new Apple TV will be $99, according to Engadget.
If true, this means the death of Apple TV as we know it … and don’t love it. The unveiling of Google’s TV effort at roughly the same time as this Apple news leak appears to be a coincidence, however.
The old Apple TV (pictured) — old meaning it was never updated — never caught on and was subsequently excused as “a hobby” by Steve Jobs.
Google TV debuts in the fall, with Android apps. It will run on cable boxes and Sony HDTVs, along with other entertainment hardware TBA.
The Apple TV box would be right in line with the Jobs aesthetic — power in and video out, Engadget says. The Apple Time Machine feature allows for external hard drive storage, if you like. There’s a mere 16GB of flash memory on the TV box, meaning it’s all about the cloud.
Apps, among many other functions, provide a world of addictive games, as TechCrunch points out. Assuming they look snazzy in living room resolutions, we’re looking at an industry shake-up on the casual games front. (One possible victim of the dueling TV systems: Microsoft’s Xbox Live.)
The Apple TV streaming also will allow for easy access to your iTunes treasures — not all that difficult to achieve now via AirPort, but a bother nonetheless.
The price difference might be the first front: Google TV’s devices (inside Sony HDTVs, for example) would run on the expensive Intel Atom chips. Apple TV would rely on the company’s new A4 chips, already showing their economy on the iPad.
Meanwhile, the Fire Horse Trail blog has a somewhat creepy post about the privacy implications of the Google TV ad model.
Know how targeted ads follow you around on the Web? Coming soon to a TV near you, eventually.
Soon the TV ads will be greeting you by name, meaning the world of “Minority Report” is not so far away.
Hulu disses HTML5, bows new player
Posted on May 15, 2010
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Steve Jobs says Flash has no place in the future of Internet video. Hulu says … Huh?
The big-media video site just confirmed that it’s sticking with Flash — and passing on HTML5 — meaning iPad owners won’t be getting their must-see TV from Hulu anytime soon.
“We continue to monitor developments on HTML5, but as of now it doesn’t yet meet all of our customers’ needs,” according to Hulu’s blog.
HTML5 falls short in ad reporting, security, quality of video, buffering correction and “dozens of other things,” Hulu says.
Adobe’s Flash requires plug-ins to work on browsers. HTML5 advances the basic code that’s behind the curtain of all web sites, allowing for lots of goodies, including direct online video.
With HTML5, viewing becomes just another part of the web-page browsing experience — no plug-ins needed. That means open source, as Apple loves to point out. That also means Adobe won’t be raking in the cash for its proprietary Flash.
Hulu, meanwhile, has busted out with a new player scheme that’s looking kind of buggy based on user feedback. The home page and the TV and movie pages have been face-lifted with a new focus on personalization.
The changes to the Hulu video player include:
- Adaptive bitrate streaming — allows for dynamic shifting of video bitrates and resolution in order to smooth out the viewing experience. You do have the option of a fixed resolution, say 480p, but don’t come crying to Hulu if the image is all stuttery.
- Ad volume normalization.
- Closed captioning display options — Adds yellow text, if you like.
- Timeline thumbnails — A preview image pops up, as with some DVDs. Sorry, you’ll still have to watch the ads.
- A bigger player — The native resolution is now 729×404, an increase of about 25%.
- “Chromeless” player — No controls visible as a default. Timeline opens on mouse-over.
- Plus some minor design and ergonomic changes that’ll bug everyone in the short term.
The old ad thumbs-up-thumbs-down scheme is now “Ad Tailor.” The intrusion factor is upped by multiple-question surveys that’ll pop up “occasionally.” You have the option of watching an ad instead, so pick your poison. “The more efficiently we can match ads up with users, the more everyone benefits,” Hulu promises.
Google and Apple are the high-profile fans of HTML5, which remains in the standards process but looms over the web like the mothership in “V” — viewable on Hulu, in Flash.
YouTube tops 13 bil online videos in March
Posted on May 3, 2010
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YouTube served up more than 13 billion videos in March, with almost 42% of all online viewings coming on Google-owned sites.
That means YouTube and some piddly other G sites, according to the way web video metrics provider ComScore figures it.
Hulu came in a way-the-hell-back-there second, with 1.1 billion videos watched, good for a 3.4% share.
Overall, more than 180 million people in the U.S. watched online video in March, averaging a whopping 96 vids per peeper. The number of Internet watchers was up slightly from February.
Following YouTube and Hulu in number of videos viewed in March were Microsoft, Yahoo and CBS Interactive.
Hulu, meanwhile, hit another record in average hours of content watched. The average Hulu viewer streamed almost 27 videos, adding up to 2.6 hours of eyeball time. The hourly rate was up .2 from February.
YouTube underwent a redesign of its web site in recent months, with the video player getting a face-lift last week. April’s numbers will reflect the redesign effect on viewership, if any.
