“The center of a connected smart home could soon be the Apple TV, as Apple’s latest beta software officially brings HomeKit support to its $99 streaming set-top box,” Neil Hughes reports for AppleInsider.
“As first discovered by AppleInsider, Apple’s own notes for Apple TV Software beta 2 released on Tuesday note that the pre-release build “includes support for Family Sharing and can be used for testing AirPlay and HomeKit with your iOS apps,” Hughes reports. “Apple had acknowledged as much in one prerelease version of the Apple TV operating system, but appeared to remove the functionality when released last month. In other previous beta releases, HomeKit support was included, but Apple did not acknowledge that support was baked in to the Apple TV operating system.”
“Serving as a remote access peer will enable the Apple TV to help control connected accessories when they are away from home. When a user is accessing their smart home remotely, Apple’s system reportedly scans available remote access peers and searches for the one with the lowest latency,” Hughes reports. “HomeKit support in the Apple TV is yet another sign that the company’s streaming set-top box is likely to become Apple’s official hub for a connected home. ”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Edward W.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Why the Apple TV HomeKit update makes ‘Apple Television’ more likely – September 23, 2014
Apple TV gets HomeKit support, now armed and ready to be the hub for the smart home – September 22, 2014
All this was said back in June here:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/2292645-apples-new-strategic-centerpiece
“HomeKit support in the Apple TV is yet another sign that the company’s streaming set-top box is likely to become Apple’s official hub for a connected home. “
NOT a television!
Long live AppleTV!
Remember this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9046oXrm7f8
Then you know that Apple TV is right on track since 2001. 😉
With all the different sizes people legitimately want to buy – for different sized houses and different rooms, it seems pointless for Apple to release a screen. There’s not a huge amount they can do. What is displayed on that screen and how is something Apple can work with, and without the screen the price is far lower and something people will likely be happier to upgrade more regularly (or at least move old ones to other rooms).
So how is this all going to work given that many wifi networks are so flakey. My network in a two storey home with all the latest Apple ac gear and very strong signal throughout often has trouble streaming movies and music from various sources to my Apple TVs. This is not uncommon according to many people I know. Works 90% of the time but that remaining 10% when it drops out or becomes unresponsive for a while is it’s achilles heel. The more items we load onto wifi the more frequent and frustrating will be these outages.
I’ve tried several times lately, but canno’ update me Apple TV. It goes for hours with the spinning gear, nothing. I’ll try again right now…
Whenever my hardwired ATV3 gives me the spinning gear, I give it the Settings > General > Restart. Needing a manual Restart is my first indication the ATV3 has been receiving updates from the mother ship. Oh, how I wish it had a faster chip and more storage.
Have the 2nd gen TV….
Waiting a long time for a hardware upgrade!
You do realize that there are 4 versions of the AppleTV?
AppleTV 1 – Harddrive based about size of original MacMini just thinner
AppleTV 2 – Flash Based with 720p support
AppleTV 3 – Flash based with 1080p support
AppleTV 3 rev2 – with minor internals changes