AppleTV Changing Back To iTV? With Apps? Hmm…
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything about AppleTV. Or Boxee. When Boxee came out for OS X, it took the desire (or need) out of wanting to get a dedicated AppleTV for the purpose of using Boxee. And, to be honest, while the form-factor is intriguing, I can’t see it in my entertainment center and I have little desire to purchase a Boxee Box. We’ve settled into a comfortable routine with our Netflix queue and Netflix instant watch offerings for watching movies that we didn’t want to wait for in the queue and especially to catch up on past episodes of Lost or 24 without commercial interruption (which is essential when you’re trying to catch up on multiple seasons before series finales). Hulu and Boxee apps for OS X, or even surprisingly, the network sites like FOX and ABC, have been sufficient to watch any current season episodes of anything. Of course, now that Lost and 24 are finished, there’s only an occasional Lie To Me or Kitchen Nightmares that I care to watch. And if we really like something, like BBC’s Elizabeth Gaskell Collection box set (don’t look at me like that), we’ll invest in the DVDs. As for gaming, we’re still using our almost 10-year old GameCube! So, admittedly, we are not the ideal demographic in this space—or, are we? Now, with all the new rumors surrounding AppleTV’s change back to iTV and being brought over to the iOS platform with the promise of apps similar to iPad and iPhone—will the game be changed? Will we finally take the plunge? That all depends…
Glossy vs. Matte: is the Battle Over?
So, the battle seems to be over and the glossy coup d’état will be complete with the final inclusion of the 17″ MBP into the glossy-only family of Macs. The only remaining stragglers will be the aging (20, 23 & 30) Cinema Displays–excluding the new, glossy, 24″ LED Cinema Display that is exclusively for the new Mini DisplayPort equipped MB and MBPs of course. Apple looks like it has sacrificed a professional production necessity and caved to the subjective aesthetic that “glossy appeals to more people”. What happened to the simple Mac mantra, that “Macs were for people that actually got work done”? Or at least the distinction between common, everyday MacBooks and iMacs and MacBook PROS and Mac PROS. All Mac users are now being shoehorned into the whole touchy-feely, Windows-switching, mesmerized zombies that have been plugged into the Cupertino Reality Distortion Field™ to just drool over eye-candy and fork over our money (a lot of it). I’m afraid Apple might be losing a bit of the “PRO” distinction in their products by not offering a matte option on their “PRO” products. But there is some good news in it for me…
Boxee Makes AppleTV Intriguing for First Time
I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a true videophile. We do not have a monumental HD altar dedicated to the pantheon of gods emanating from Hollywood. We have consciously downplayed the role of the television in our household to focus on more profitable, mind-challenging activity such as; conversation (how novel!), reading and game playing (physical games like cards and board games — not Wii, PS3 or Xbox). In fact, with the exception of a couple of 20″ and 24″ computer LCDs, we don’t even own an HD set.
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