WEBVTT - Apple TV 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.960 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:17.760 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:20.160 Welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Polite and 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:23.200 I'm an editor how stuff works dot Com, sitting across 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:26.439 from me as usual as senior writer Jonathan Strickland. All 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:28.720 I wanted was to be the big shot for once. 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:34.000 Take my remote. Nice. That was a good choice for 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:37.600 today's episode, which is going to be about a topic 0:00:37.720 --> 0:00:43.200 we have been asked about, um several times, more so recently. Yes. 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:48.120 And that topic is Apple TV. Yes. And the reason 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:52.440 why I think it's been more interesting recently than it 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:54.880 used to be in the past was this thing's been 0:00:54.920 --> 0:01:00.720 around for four years now and uh, inn't really I mean, 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:04.520 it's it's always been a hobbyists kind of device. Steve 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:06.840 jobs is even kind of referred to it as sort 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:11.039 of a hobby Yeah, that's true. Um, but and it's 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:13.760 and I think it's it's fair to say, Uh, we're 0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:15.720 not really going to focus We're going to focus on 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:17.520 the Apple TV, but that's not going to be the 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:20.360 only type of device like it. We're going to talk 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:24.000 about because Jonathan and I agreed that the functionality of 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:26.919 the current generation of Apple TV is one of really 0:01:27.120 --> 0:01:34.720 several different, reasonably similar devices. Um. But Apple TV uh 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:38.640 started out as let's see what's what's the best way 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:42.600 to put it. It's not really a DVR, UM and 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:47.720 it's not really Uh it doesn't play DVDs. UM, it's 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:54.400 not really it doesn't record stuff, but it will let you, uh, 0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:59.560 it will let you download and um play shows on 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:02.840 your t Well, technically the first one would let you 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:05.240 download and play shows on your TV. The current one 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:07.920 allows you to play shows on your TV that you've 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:12.560 downloaded to a computer. Yes, and we'll we'll get into that. Yeah. 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:14.600 The first the first generation, actually the first couple of 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:20.160 generations of the Apple TV were uh, fairly large devices. Um. 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:22.880 And they were really intended to be used with the 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:27.079 iTunes store. Yeah. It's a set top box. So it's 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:29.160 similar to things like you know, you think of your 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:33.200 VCR if you have an ancient technology in your home 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:36.440 and I do, or DVD player or Blu ray player 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:41.200 or Heaven help you, your HD DVD player UM or 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:44.120 cable box, cable box. Yeah, these are all set top boxes. 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:46.919 I mean, we're any any home theater enthusiast is very 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:49.320 familiar with this kind of stuff. It's the stuff you 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:51.800 plug into your TV, right, that gives you access to 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:56.079 extra content. And Apple TV is kind of uh, well, 0:02:56.120 --> 0:03:01.040 it's it's Internet protocol TV device. That's that's true, and 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:06.280 but it's a very specific focused one, right, Like you 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:07.880 were saying, it really had a lot to do with 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:11.880 the iTunes Store, Yeah, it was specifically. That was one 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:15.320 of the things I think that Apple wanted to do 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:19.160 when it first started to add video content to the 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:22.600 Apple Store the iTunes Store, because um, you could watch 0:03:22.680 --> 0:03:27.400 those shows on your computer. Um. But I think that 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:31.120 Apple was smart in realizing that not everyone wants to 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:33.240 do that, or at least not all of the time, 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:36.480 especially if you want to watch something with a group 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:39.840 of people. Uh, most computers, depending on I mean, if 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:42.280 you have an iMac, then you may have a computer 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:45.240 with a screen large enough so it's like a small TV. Sure, 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:48.880 but but most folks would would say, you know, there's 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:53.160 all this great content that Apple has access to, but 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:55.600 I can't watch it the way I want to, which 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:57.640 is on the biggest screen in my house, and for 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:02.040 most of us, that's the TV. Yep. Yeah, and um yeah, 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:05.080 I mean there they were. They were offering uh rentals 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:09.560 and uh even shows and movies that you could buy 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:12.240 and download to your computer. But the question is, how 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:14.760 do you get that to your TV? Like I want 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:15.920 to watch this and I want to watch it on 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:20.200 my TV. And those shows were in HD well seven 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:25.080 twenty uh you know, not the full ten eight e UM, 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:27.040 so I mean they were they were good enough to 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:29.360 watch on a TV, but like, how do you do that? 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:31.440 I mean, you could plug your computer and your TV, 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:33.640 but I mean, what a what a headache? And the 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:36.400 Apple TV was the original Apple TV was intended to 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:41.960 facilitate that, Yeah, because we were still in an era 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:44.720 where a lot of people find the idea of hooking 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:47.560 a TV or hooking a laptop or any kind of 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:50.720 computer to a TV to be intimidating. Yeah, and it's 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:55.480 and the connections are not always don't always make sense. 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:57.560 And there's usually some sort of setting you need to 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:00.120 put on your computer so that the display show is 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:02.600 up properly. And then you know, depending on the type 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:04.479 of computer you have, you may choose one setting and 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:06.919 suddenly you don't have a screen on your computer anymore. 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:09.359 It's up on the TV, but it's harder to navigate. 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:12.280 There are a lot of reasons why people have avoided it. 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:15.679 And uh and the set top box approach just takes 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:18.320 all that guesswork out, so it makes it much more 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:21.360 consumer friendly. Yes, yes, now if this, if this sounds 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:23.960 silly to you, you may be techier than a lot 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:26.520 of other people. And then there there's a wide range 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:31.480 of uh, technical expertise out there, and and this, this 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:33.520 device is supposed to make it easier for people who 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:37.400 aren't comfortable, um, navigating that or or setting up their 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:43.240 own myth TV DVR at home. Um. So uh, you know, 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:46.680 and faced the original Apple TV faced quite a few limitations. 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:49.520 I mean, really there was you were you were stuck 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:55.479 with predominantly iTunes content. Not that there wasn't, you know, 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.279 fair a fair amount of it, but I mean, in 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:02.479 the intervening years he saw a number of other developments 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:07.159 like Netflix offering streaming movies for example. That that was 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:10.440 most recently the probably one of the most recent additions 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:13.080 to the Apple TV line, that happened back in September. 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:16.960 But before that, you like you were saying it was 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:22.640 mostly iTunes. You had some YouTube and Flicker accessibility as well. 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:24.960 I'm thank you for saying that, because I wanted to 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:28.360 point out that I should have pointed out, or that 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:32.480 you weren't limited just a video. If you had photos 0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:35.240 on your computer that you wanted to do it. Maybe 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:37.960 you're having a party in honor of somebody, about wedding shower, 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:40.039 for example, and you wanted to show photos of the 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:42.320 couple on your TV. You could do that with Apple 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:45.080 TV because it would read you know, your photo library 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:46.599 that's on your computer, and you could you could set 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:49.520 up a slide show or or you know, play music 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:52.200 from your iTunes thing through your TV was so it 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:54.920 wasn't It wasn't just for video. It's just that, Hey, 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:57.080 it's your TV. That's what you use it for. Right. 0:06:57.200 --> 0:06:59.719 But but yeah, and we we saw Hulu, the debut 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:04.239 of lou Um for computers and other streaming media different 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:08.200 than networks. A lot of them offer some content, either 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:11.360 clips or even full shows recent shows. And as this 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:15.640 went on, I think Apple's said, you know, was going well, 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:19.440 the device works pretty well. A lot of people, actually, 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:22.680 depundits have been declaring Apple TV dead for years. They 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:25.160 kept wondering when Apple was gonna cut it loose and 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:28.520 then let go. Every time there's been another announcement, there's 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:30.640 been a prediction that the one thing that will not 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:33.200 get an update is Apple TV. And of course, you know, 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:36.160 we saw that in twenty ten that Apple TV had 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:38.280 a major update. So Apple is not ready to pull 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:41.000 the plug just yet. Yeah, and then the newest Apple 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:45.600 TV is significantly different. It's it's considerably smaller. It's it's 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:49.120 meant to stream content. Yea. So when it wasn't necessarily 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:51.840 before it it had some on board storage before, but 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:55.840 now it's it's an interface, right. Yeah. The previous the 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.880 original Apple TV had forty gigabytes of storage space, so 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:03.120 you would actually store media on that device and then 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:05.280 watch it directly to your TV. And the big, big 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:08.480 benefit to that is that with with something that's stored 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:11.240 that's saved to the device, you don't have to worry 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:14.680 about buffering as much as it can stream the content 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:17.600 directly to the display. Yes, and if someone with with 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:21.440 young kids, I can tell you that buffering is really 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:24.280 irritating to young kids. It's not. It's kind of irritating 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:27.000 to me too, I know. But whenever I watch anything 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:29.800 where there's a buffer, and I'm like, oh, come on, 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:34.199 I want my gratification to be instant like my oatmeal. 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:37.320 You know that sounds remarkably like what my kids say, 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:40.800 except for the oatmeal and instant gratification. Gen x er 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:43.880 I never grew up so at any rate. The the 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:48.679 forty gigabyte model was eventually replaced, actually not that long afterwards, 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:51.400 with a hundred sixty gigabyte model, So then you had 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:53.800 a model that could store even more media. So you 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:57.480 know that that had because the forty gigabytes. It sounds 0:08:57.480 --> 0:08:59.040 like a lot, but if you want to have a 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:01.319 lot of movies on their television shows, especially if you 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:04.200 want something that's in high definition, that space gets eaten 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:07.199 up pretty quickly. Yeah, and it did. Um. Even the 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:12.240 first generations of of Apple TV before last year's major 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:18.079 update required a sixteen sixteen by nine HD form factor 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:21.240 um and a DV I or h d M I 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:26.959 or at least a composite cable the original ones did. Yeah, 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:28.920 so that pretty much rules me out because I am 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:31.440 still using a standard definition TV at home right. Yeah, 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:33.360 So in order to watch Apple TV, you had to 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:35.600 have an h D t V. You could not You 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:39.160 couldn't watch it without an HDTV and there I remember 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:41.840 one of the criticisms I read of Apple TV was 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:45.760 that not all the content that you would get from 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:51.200 Apple TV really took advantage of that HDTV. So, in 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:54.600 other words, the content you're watching was not necessarily high definition, 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:57.440 even though you were required to have a high definition 0:09:57.480 --> 0:09:59.480 television to watch it. That that is correct, And I 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:02.000 know there and before people write in and say, well, 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:04.679 I have a you know, standard definition TV, and I 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:08.400 can watch it. Yes, I know that technically it is 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:12.800 possible to use at least the earlier Apple TVs with 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:16.440 a standard definition TV, but it wasn't really intended to 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:19.120 do that and wouldn't necessarily be the best experience I 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:23.320 have seen people actually make it happen. Um and yeah. 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:26.960 In other words, that's not an out of the box thing, no, no, 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:32.600 um and um and getting to the bridge between the 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:36.280 debt the versions um. In addition to the content itself, 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:40.760 other people started introducing things and it started becoming more common, 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:42.760 as as Jonathan and I did a podcast some time 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:46.960 ago on building your own DVR, and and as more 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:50.920 people did that, Uh, some people started making open source 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:56.400 software for doing that, and uh, people like Boxy started 0:10:56.440 --> 0:11:00.800 developing similar devices the Boxy Box. But even you know, 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:04.000 I have Boxy on my Macintosh at home, and you 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:08.920 can stream video content on the computer and listen to 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:13.040 Pandora and do all those kinds of things. Jonathan and 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:15.199 I can can tell you too from c E s 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:18.800 experience that people were already were experimenting with how are 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:20.920 you going to get your you know, how can you 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:24.240 watch YouTube on your plain old regular TV just connected 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:26.880 to the internet and you know, update your widgets and 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:28.600 find out what the weather is and look at your 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:32.040 photos and do all these things. And I think, um, 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:33.920 you know, with with this, Apple saw the writing on 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:35.800 the wall and it was time to update the Apple 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:38.600 TV and make it a different type of device, which 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:41.920 is why now it is what it is. But that 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:45.640 that's that's also spawned so many different devices like the 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:51.479 Roku player and the Boxy Box and homebrew, uh DVRs 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:53.880 and all kinds of other stuff. Yeah, so the the 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:56.600 new one, uh you know, the old one you could 0:11:56.600 --> 0:11:58.800 store the media on, like we said, you could also 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:02.520 stream media your computer from your computer through the Apple 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:04.679 TV to your television, so it kind of acted as 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:08.360 a middleman in that situation, and you could do both 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:13.160 a wired or wireless connection. The new one is um does. 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:15.800 It's got some new features, but it's also a little 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:18.679 more limited. It's it's like a square. I mean it's 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:21.719 like a four inch square, although not I don't think 0:12:21.720 --> 0:12:23.640 it's quite four inches. If you if you go to 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:26.560 the Apple website um to look at the Apple TV, 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:28.640 one of the press photos that they have on the 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:30.800 side is somebody holding it in the palm of their hand. 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:34.440 It's it's considerably smaller than the original, has no fan 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:38.200 in it, right, so it doesn't make any noise. It's uh. Yeah, 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:40.640 So some people would say it's underpowered, but really Apple 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.920 would say, no, no, we don't want to crank the 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:46.960 power up for two reasons. One, it's not necessary because 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:50.199 it's it's a thin interface. And to if you crank 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:52.040 up the power, you generate more heat, and it can 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:54.680 generate more heat, then you need a fan, which means 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:56.240 then you have to add more elements to it, which 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:59.360 means it has to be larger. So this was a 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:03.679 calculated move on Apple's part. Uh. And as for connections, 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:06.760 it has an Ethernet port, so you can you can 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:10.320 hardwire it to your your home network. It's also has 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:13.040 Wi WiFi capability, so you don't have to do it 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:16.880 that way. Um. It's got h D M I so 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:21.600 that's that's your your output to whatever device you have. 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:26.120 It also has optical audio ports, yes, so it's it's 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:30.640 designed for uh, newer media, you know. It's it's designed 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:35.839 for high quality, high definition viewing experience. And it's not 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:40.480 limited anymore, as as Jonathan pointed out earlier to uh 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:44.880 to just iTunes, you have the ability to check out 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:48.000 movies and I mean rent movies and and to um 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:51.480 uh and buy them movies and TV shows through iTunes 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:54.600 as you were before. But they've added uh, you know, 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:58.040 Netflix to the the account. Flicker you can also use 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:01.360 with it um and of course Apple is mobile me yes, 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:03.719 um so if you have content there online you can 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:06.959 you can stream it from the cloud and YouTube. UM. 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:11.679 So it's definitely not a an Apple only device anymore, 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:14.400 although people would still probably argue, in fact, I have 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:17.520 heard this argued as as recently as yesterday, that the 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:20.640 Apple TV device is really best for people who have 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:25.160 kind of the Apple ecosystem going on. So it's like 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:28.760 all Apple products really. Apple's apples famous for these closed 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:32.760 systems where they develop technology that works really well within 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:37.080 that closed system, but are not necessarily designed to allow 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:42.600 outside uh influences into that system. For example, with Apple TV, yes, 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:46.160 you get access to Web two content that's on the web, 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:49.680 so for example the Netflix streaming stuff or even the 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:53.680 iTunes stuff, you have access to Internet content, but you 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:56.600 don't have unfettered access. In other words, you're not going 0:14:56.640 --> 0:15:00.200 to be surfing the Web through Apple TV on your 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:04.240 television because that's not what that's designed to do. Now. 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:06.640 And it's it's funny that you that you would say 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:10.320 that about the the ecosystem, because I mean, it's no 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:16.480 secret that Apple um keeps everything very closed UM. But 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:19.440 I think that the the idea of the ecosystem and 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:22.160 having the products work together is certainly not an Apple 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:24.640 specific thing. I mean, if you look at the way 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:28.560 the Google products work together and the way Microsoft uh, 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:31.240 you know, Internet Explorer was bundled in, but it worked 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:34.800 very well within Window, works very well within Windows and 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:38.360 and Microsoft Office, and they all have the similar look 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:40.280 and feel. I think they've all learned from one another 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:42.760 and once maybe if it once they open it up, 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:45.400 they realize, you know, well, yeah, people want it open. 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:48.880 But if we make it you know, where everything works 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:51.800 together just so they'll come in and they won't want 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.720 to leave. So I mean that that's that's it's a 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:57.880 it's a balancing act, right, it's a criticism against Apple, 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:01.800 but it's not that that idea is not Here's what 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:04.600 I'll say about Apple, although well, in a few minutes 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:08.920 will probably end up talking about how this could change too. Um. Apple, 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:12.600 I think of them as a pioneer of this ecosystem idea. Okay, 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:15.520 the idea of if you buy our computers, and if 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:18.040 you buy our personal electronics, and if you buy our 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:23.479 television uh streaming solution, then you're gonna have the best experience. 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:26.680 So you should just buy our stuff. Sure, right, But 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:29.200 a lot of other stuff will still work with other systems. 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:32.480 For example, you can use an iPod with an IBM, 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:37.720 right um, And you can stream content from iTunes to 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:40.640 an Apple TV even if you're not running a Mac. 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:47.800 So Apple's less uh, they're they're less restrictive than some 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:52.280 other systems. Are systems. I saw at CES that ecosystem 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:57.240 would only work with one company's products. So, in other words, 0:16:57.240 --> 0:16:59.920 like Apple's approach and even Google's approach, to some extent, 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:02.920 it's you're going to get the best experience if you 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:04.919 go with our stuff, but if you really want to, 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:08.359 you can mix it up, right, whereas other companies say no, no, no, 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:11.320 no no, our stuff will only work with our stuff, 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:14.359 so don't buy anything else because it won't work with 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:17.919 our system. So so there's something there. Now. When I 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:20.000 said we'll talk about it in a minute, there have 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:23.879 been some rumors that as early as this year, this 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:30.119 year being that Apple will unveil its own Apple branded 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:35.959 television set. Really, yes, I actually hadn't turned you hadn't, Okay, 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:40.920 So it doesn't surprise me though, because um, a few 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:45.000 years ago they did buy a screen manufacturer, and uh, 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:47.399 you know they they've been making their own monitors for years, 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:52.840 so they certainly know a lot about about the screen technology, 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:55.280 and they certainly know a lot about video content. And 0:17:55.359 --> 0:18:00.160 on their on their most recent shareholder call, they out 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:04.199 about a four billion dollar that's billion with a buh 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:08.920 investment in display technology. That's kind of what set off 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:11.280 this rumor, and the rumor was pretty much started by 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:15.280 Gene Munster of Piper Jeffray and UM. He's an analyst 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:19.879 who in yeah, who said that that he just that 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:23.560 it appears that Apple is positioning itself to unveil a 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:28.960 big new product, and that his suggestion is, I'll quote directly, 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:31.880 we see potential for Apple to offer best in class 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:35.800 software and hardware and charge a premium, and that the 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:39.439 television was the next natural step. Now, if that were 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:42.199 the case, Apple would be following suit with some of 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:44.399 these other companies. I was talking about where you have 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:50.000 a full ecosystem, where you are highly encouraged to stay 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:53.920 within the brand in order to fill out that ecosystem. 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:55.520 So we're talking about you know, you have the same 0:18:55.560 --> 0:19:04.000 brand television, computer, portable devices. So it makes sense from 0:19:04.040 --> 0:19:07.359 that standpoint. I don't I don't know how confident I 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:13.239 would be in this particular um uh prediction. Yeah, I 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:16.840 don't know. Um, But there are a lot of predictions 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:19.640 if you follow tech as we do, and a lot 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:22.679 of you do. UM, there are a lot of predictions 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:26.080 that are completely off the wall. And I would say 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:28.880 that although I don't necessarily believe it will happen, that's 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:31.000 not so off the wall that that's within the realm 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:33.520 of possibility. And then it's not like predicting Apple would 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:38.520 come out with some sort of like tablet device or something. Okay, 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:43.520 So there is also a rumor going around that Apple 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:46.760 maybe getting using looking in a way to use the 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:52.359 Apple TV as a game device of some type, maybe 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:58.040 more like on Live where you can it isn't actually 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:01.919 a game console itself, but it will basically be I 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:05.199 guess what would you call it a network gateway. You 0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:08.200 can use it to play games online, and it would 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:10.240 serve as the device that would allow you to do that. 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:13.960 It's kind of again sort of cloud based gaming where 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:16.399 the games are running on on the back end, and 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:19.320 the Apple TV would just act as a thin client 0:20:19.400 --> 0:20:22.679 to allow you to access it. Uh. Yeah. This comes 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:26.880 out of a report from Engadget Ross Miller and uh 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:32.320 Miller said that some some a person who was working 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:36.639 with the iOS four point three beta release that's you know, 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:39.880 the operating bring system that Apple TV uses as well 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:43.640 as other devices. Um, I think iPads, io S four 0:20:43.760 --> 0:20:47.720 right iPhone four too, I suppose. So the iOS four 0:20:47.760 --> 0:20:54.640 point three beta release, according to some unnamed snooper um 0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:58.000 there there are elements of code in there that hint 0:20:58.440 --> 0:21:01.960 to some sort of online game mean experience. So this 0:21:02.000 --> 0:21:06.320 has led people to suggest that we could see anything 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:12.160 from Angry Birds hitting televisions. So again we talk I 0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:15.760 was thinking of some actual angry birds tis if you've 0:21:15.800 --> 0:21:17.840 ever been in the house with a with a ticked 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:23.800 off cockatoo. Um. But no, no, no, the game angry Birds. Um, 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:26.480 there's been talk about something just as simple as that 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:30.480 we're talking about, like casual games. There's that possibility, and 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:32.760 then there are other possibilities that say, well, you know, 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:34.879 the the Apple TV. One of the other things that 0:21:34.920 --> 0:21:39.600 has in it is a Bluetooth receivers transceivers, so you 0:21:39.640 --> 0:21:44.000 could have a Bluetooth controller and uh, with the right firmware, 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:48.040 you just use the controller and you could play video games, 0:21:48.200 --> 0:21:52.040 um through your Apple TV. Now the Apple TV, the 0:21:52.080 --> 0:21:55.600 current one, you know, we talked about the first to 0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:58.920 having forty gigabytes and then a hundred sixty gigabytes of storage. 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:02.600 The and one is much more limited. It only has 0:22:02.640 --> 0:22:06.359 eight gigabytes because it's meant as a streaming device, not 0:22:06.520 --> 0:22:10.240 as a storage device. So that suggests the whole cloud 0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:13.359 based system for gaming, because if you were to download 0:22:13.359 --> 0:22:14.840 a game, you would only be able to download a 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:17.720 few before you filled up that eight gigabytes. A gigabytes 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:19.560 still sounds like a lot to me because I grew 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:23.160 up in an era where a single gigabyte of storage 0:22:23.280 --> 0:22:28.679 was unthinkable when I had my computers. Um, but today's world, 0:22:28.720 --> 0:22:30.720 you look at some of the more advanced games and 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:34.000 a gigabyte is not even near enough to hold the 0:22:34.160 --> 0:22:39.639 entire game. Yeah. Yeah, and um the new Speaking of streaming, 0:22:40.160 --> 0:22:43.760 the the new Apple TV has the ability to work 0:22:43.800 --> 0:22:48.440 with an iPod Touch or iPad or iPhone UM to 0:22:48.880 --> 0:22:52.640 stream via airplay from that device. So if you have 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:55.760 movies or shows that you have downloaded to your other 0:22:55.800 --> 0:22:59.800 iOS device, you can select airplay and send it to 0:22:59.800 --> 0:23:02.280 your Apple TV and then watch it on your actual 0:23:02.320 --> 0:23:06.200 TV instead. Um, which is which is a pretty neat 0:23:06.200 --> 0:23:09.840 feature as well. Um. And really this seems to be 0:23:10.640 --> 0:23:16.439 while there there are some similarities in this ecosystem from 0:23:16.560 --> 0:23:20.000 the others there. Uh, Apple is kind of different in that, 0:23:20.119 --> 0:23:22.920 I mean they they are serving as the content provider 0:23:22.920 --> 0:23:28.200