“When Apple launched only a puny update to its fourth generation Apple TV back in May (as reported here), you couldn’t help but feel that the tech giant was just treading water ahead of unveiling much more substantial new features at its Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco,” John Archer writes for Forbes. “And so it’s proved, with Apple using its traditional opening WWDC presentations to launch a genuinely substantial raft of new Apple TV features – two of which, at least, finally potentially put a beating heart into Apple’s previously rather lifeless box of TV tricks.”
“The single most important feature is the addition of ‘live TV’ services to Apple TV’s app offering,” Archer writes. “Apple has done deals with, among others, Dish Network for its Sling TV platform (which is launching now, complete with a discounted Apple TV purchase price deal detailed here) and Fox for its Live Fox Sports Go service (launching later in the summer), bringing dozens of live channels to Apple TV users via the fourth generation box’s app-based tvOS platform.”
“The other really major new tvOS feature Apple announced at the WWDC is support for games that require an MFi joystick to play,” Archer writes. “Apple itself didn’t make a particularly big deal out of this development, but for me allowing game developers to break free of the shackles imposed by the previous requirement to ensure that all games were controllable via the main Siri remote has massive implications for the quality, variety and sophistication of the games Apple TV might now be able to deliver.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: With each update, since its inception, Apple TV gets ever more intriguing. Hopefully, Apple will next drop skinny bundles and a 4K-capable Apple TV on us this autumn!
SEE ALSO:
Apple TV’s new single sign-on may not work with your pay TV provider – June 13, 2016
Sling TV launches on Apple TV – June 13, 2016
Powerful new Siri capabilities and single sign-on coming to Apple TV – June 13, 2016
Hmmmmm no invitation to beta test tvOS.
Do you “have” to be a developer?
Yes
No 4K still? Wow, that’s really sad.
My Apple TV had 4K. I know this for a fact. I really enjoyed watching 4K Netflix content. My roommate and I even maxed out our internet speed to accommodate for the 4K output on my Apple TV.
Then today, I noticed people complaining about no 4K. So I took a look at my Apple TV.. It was gone. I felt nauseous, almost panicked. My reality had completely shifted.
I went and did research on this, and found out about the Mandela Effect. I am convinced now that I am from another dimension, as per the multiverse theory of quantum mechanics. I somehow shifted into this dimension where there isn’t 4K support.
I believe that CERN has disrupted the space time continuum and WWDC created a ripple that bumped me from one universe to another. That is the only explanation I can think of. I miss my Apple TV with 4K.
I think the most intriguing improvement is the Siri enhancements. Being able to search for content based on topic and then refining the search with follow-up queries will be extremely useful. For example, let’s say a user asks Siri to search for movies or television shows based on surfing. The user could further refine the search by asking for content made since 2000, or mainly filmed in Hawaii, etc. Craig showed Siri was able to do these additional queries on the Mac, so I’m assuming this functionality is going to be available on all the OS’s like tvOS. Hopefully, additional information will be revealed as the week progresses.
On a side note: I’m hoping Instagram, Snapchat and others will be able to incorporate the neural networking functionalty in combination with Siri. For example, it would be cool if a social app was able to filter Siri requests based on specific criteria like activities, physical characteristics, etc. For example, it would be cool to ask Siri something like this: “Siri, in Instagram show girls styling in bikinis, dancing on boats and eating ice cream from the last week. Refine that search to within 50 miles from me.” And then life just got a whole lot more interesting…
I was really digging that but oh dear, somehow that last bit just sounded so tacky… I hope you aren’t a closet stalker. How long will it be before siri will be able to do the stalking itself based on a set of parameters with its very own digital plastic mac.
AppleTV lost me when they dropped the Toslink output. That and I find talking devices completely irritating. Sticking with my 3rd gen ATV, forever, it appears.
Hey Brau, receivers with HDMI inputs are not that expensive any more, join the 21st Century and get a receiver that doesn’t depend on an ancient Toslink audio connection… its time to get over it..
Hey Macinfo, when an HDMI cable can reliably send an audio signal more than 10 metres, let me know. Meanwhile I have to rely on bandaids to split the audio and video signals because the video projector is at the opposite end of the room from the audio equipment.
Apple’s careless removal of features is just another indication that Apple is no longer premium nor are they interested in the best possible user experience.
At the WWDC today Apple announced Apple TV features that should have been there two years ago. And still Apple TV lags behind the competition.
Removal of ancient features is not an indicator of providing an optimal user experience, since Toslink cannot carry HD or 7.1 Audio. If you cannot get a HDMI cable to carry audio 30 feet, would seem to me you have an equipment problem or getting cheap HDMI cables, Good luck with that..
Speak for yourself. My non-HDMI Marantz receiver from ~ 2000 cost a few K and is still a phononemal receiver and amplifier. No HDMI, no HD audio but sill full DTS ES 6.1 and Dolby EX 7.1 capable (it was a little ahead of its time).
To replace it with Something of equivalent quality would not be cheap. I have a wife and 2 kids now and other priorities. Sure I’d love one but back then I had the cash flow to spend on toys like that. Anothing thing, HDMI receivers were a big headache for several years thanks to hdcp and evolving HDMI standards and features.There were and likely still are compatibility issues with lots of hardware, TVs etc.
And hey, how many modern receivers are full HDMI 2.0 compliant? Not sure I’d trust a “cheap” one to support future needs.
We should not require HDMI for a pure audio signal. It’s BS to impose something like that
I guess we will never see a sling box app. Now