Ep 9 - Apple TV Refresh

Command Tab

Coming up here on October 16th, 2014, Apple is set to announce a few new products. Many top execs at Apple have been touting this product line-up all year long, building up the hype and making all us nerds giddy inside. They have released an invitation to the press for an event to be held at 10am Pacific, in their intimate Town Hall auditorium. The invitation shows (as pictured above) a sleek rainbow colored Apple logo with the tagline “It’s been way too long.” Very often nowadays they will release tagline like these that tease what’s to come, but this one seems like more of a head-scratcher than most. What could that mean? Well, to be honest it could mean a whole lot. Most likely it does. The Apple TV seems the most likely update to me, since some developers have recently reported that the 8.1 beta 2 has HomeKit support for the Apple TV (released as a Developer Preview earlier this week). It's been a long time since that thing has been updated. And honestly I find the Apple TV's interface to be horrible, but it's fundamental features are hard to go without after you get used to using them. Things like Airplay and Netflix just ready to go on the same device gets me every time. Since the Apple TV is already in thousands of people's homes already, why not add a super awesome software update that brings things like HomeKit connectivity to control the rest of the house, and continuity features to take what I'm watching on YouTube and watch it on my television? (Natively, not streaming from my phone with Airplay. ) Things like that will make this thing the cornerstone to Apple's ecosystem. An Apple TV refresh seems like the "I think we've finally cracked it..." comment Steve Jobs made in his biography about the TV experience. If you haven’t read that book (by Walter Isaacson, called Jobs, it’s on the iBooks store here: (Link)) On this thing there might be a new interface that makes it way easier to get to the content you want without clicking into menu after menu, there might be a new content platform that way out-performs and out-shines the competition, possibly something more a-la-cart where I pay for what I want rather than pay for everything and watch two shows, and it will control your home from anywhere you are. So this little box will be the hub that connects you while you’re on the go to your home. Turn off the lights, lick the door, etc. act as your living room media consumption platform, and act as an extension to your other devices seamlessly. Why not? It's been way too long since the television experience has been rethought. That’s what this tagline means.