Remember when Foxconn got loose lips and started popping off about a certain Apple HDTV that’s in development? Seems like someone at Apple put the fear of god into its manufacturing partner, because all of a sudden, Foxconn is claiming that they had “neither confirmed, nor speculated” about any such thing.
One of the more notable gaps in Apple’s local media lineup has been the ability to download TV episodes in HD. Movies have been on sale in HD for quite a while, but TV for Australian iTunes account holders was a strictly SD affair. That has finally changed, with Apple adding some HD TV shows to the local iTunes Store.
Speaking at a conference in LA on Saturday, CBS CEO Leslie Moonves explained how Steve Jobs approached him with a pitch for an Apple subscription content service. Moonves, however, wasn’t convinced, and he decided to turn Jobs away.
The BBC might be somewhat of a staid UK institution, but perhaps not for long. Paid Content suggests that the media group is planning on launching a new download-to-own service, pitting itself against iTunes in the process.
Apple has recently integrated its Genius recommendation system, already an iTunes staple, into the Apple TV environment via a silent update. The service will be available for both episodic content as well as movies, based on your previous content purchases. It’s accessible from the new Genius menu option for the 4.2 million or so households that have purchased the Apple TV so far. [Apple Insider]
According to a slide uncovered by The Verge, Best Buy is asking its customers for thoughts on a 42-inch, $US1500 Apple HDTV. And it sounds dreamy: runs iOS, full App Store and iCloud support, an iSight camera. Too bad it’s all probably just a guess.
Apple has filed a new patent application, an Apparatus and Method to Facilitate Universal Remote Control. In the application, Apple claims that current remotes are cluttered, so they propose using a touchscreen that can automatically detect every AV device near you. Really?
Nuance, the amazing voice-recognition technology behind Siri and other voice-recognition software on phones, has announced that they’ll be bringing their voice tech to TVs now with Dragon TV. Basically, Nuance wants you to talk to your TVs. And since Apple is supposedly making an HDTV that let’s you talk to the TV, this is getting VERY interesting.
Rumours about a fully fledged Apple TV have circulated for years. But things have hotted up recently thanks to hints in Walter Issacson’s Steve Jobs biography, rumours about upcoming technology and hotly anticipated media announcement later this month.
