by Bob Starr, Jul 2 2010 // 4:30 PM
Welcome to this week’s On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage this week. Let is know if we missed something interesting. Otherwise, on to the links!
• Mel Gibson is, apparently, still a racist. Who knew? Oh yeah, we did.
• You will not see any more Sex and the City movies. Yes, try to console yourself.
• Do you like Toy Story? How about porn? If so, this is for you.
• The Twilight Saga: Eclipse opens bigger than The Dark Knight. Suck it nerds.
• In other movie news, people really hate The Last Airbender.
• Here’s a preview of that show where people act stupid and have stupid nicknames. Which one? Take you’re pick.
• Apparently, men are attracted to women with small feet. Really, it’s science and stuff.
• Apple is apparently reworking the Apple TV yet again. When do we abandon this device and move on?
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Posted in: Movies · News · On The Radar · TV
Tagged: Apple, Apple TV, Christina Hendricks, iPhone 4, Jersey Shore, Johnny Depp, M. Night Shyamalan, Mel Gibson, Porn, Sex and the City, Sorcer's Apprentice, The Last Airbender, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Toy Story, Wonder Woman
by Chris Ullrich, May 28 2010 // 2:04 PM
As someone who purchased an Apple TV I find the device somewhat useful. Sure, its sorta a pain to have to sync your movies and TV programs to iTunes but it does make a pretty good streaming video server. Although, it does have its limitations, including the rather small size of the internal storage, and is rather costly for what it really does.
Well, according to a pretty well confirmed rumor over at Engadget those limitations, and the high price, are about to change. Apple is reportedly hard at work on developing and rolling out a brand new version of the Apple TV which will resemble, both is form and in specs, the fourth generation iPhone. It will be an iPhone-like box without a screen which will run the iPhone OS and serve content. It will have very few ports — possibly only HDMI and power — and it will reportedly cost only $99.00.
Video output for the device will be up to 1080p, it will have up to 16GB of internal storage and an Apple A4 processor. I know what you’re thinking. Only 16 GB of internal Flash storage? That’s too small.
Well, fear not, Apple has you covered because the device will reportedly store all media on “the cloud” much like other services from Netflix, Microsoft and Amazon do. The difference here is that with Apple’s offering, you will be able to get “instant on” 1080p content delivered directly to your giant plasma TV.
Does that sound pretty cool or what? Oh, and did I mention the thing will reportedly cost only $99.00? Yeah, they’re gonna sell a few of these. . . quite a few. Can’t wait to see how this device stacks up against Google’s upcoming GoogleTV.
Posted in: Apple · Hardware · Movies · News · Software · Tech · TV
Tagged: 1080p, Amazon, Apple, Apple TV, Cloud Computing, Google TV, Hardware, HD, iPhone, iPhone OS, iTunes, Microsoft, Movies, Software, Streaming Video, Tech, TV, Video
by Joe Gillis, Nov 24 2009 // 1:15 PM
Apple rarely, if every, discounts its products so this latest “leaked” brochure, which seems to showcase the consumer electronics giant doing just that should be taken with one of those ginormous grains of salt. Still, if true, these deals do look pretty sweet and seem far more reasonable than other reported “deals’ being shown around the Internets.
If its a little difficult to see the fine print, we’ll give you a hand and highlight some of the deals. They are available only at Apple’s online store, and include iMacs starting at $1098, iPod nanos starting at $138, iPod touch starting at $178, MacBook Pros starting at $1098, Apple TVs starting at $208, Airport Express starting at $88, Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboard going for $64 each, and a whole lot more.
We realize that the deals are pretty hard to read over there on the right, so be sure and click through to see a much larger version. Good luck on Friday and be safe out there.
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Posted in: Apple · Gear · Geek · Hardware
Tagged: Airport Express, Apple, Apple TV, Black Friday, iMac, iPod, iPod Touch, MacBook Pro, Magic Mouse, Wireless Keyboard
by Joe Gillis, Sep 14 2009 // 4:15 PM
Even though the Apple TV was basically ignored at last week’s music event where we did get new iPod Nanos and other cool goodies, it seems that the device’s time has now come. Today over at the Apple Store, the company has made a few changes to its Apple TV lineup to get in step with some as-yet-unknown strategy.
The original 40GB model has been dropped and the 160GB model is now available for $229, down from $329. Now that these changes have been rolled out, what does this mean for a device that some consider a bit expensive and redundant in the age of Netflix streaming, Hulu or torrents? Over at AppleInsider, they’ve speculated that the iTunes LP format and iTunes Extras released last Wednesday are specifically designed to deliver content to Apple TV.
They’ve also noted that the content is scaled for 1280 x 720 resolution, which is the native resolution of the Apple TV. They’re are also html meta tags in the new content — “hdtv-fullscreen” and “hdtv-cursoroff” — which may indicate that these new formats were designed for the device. Whatever happens, its pretty clear that the Apple TV needs a refresh, and not just in capacity.
So, what can we expect from the device in the near future? In my perfect world we would see and Apple TV with Netflix streaming, access to the web for Hulu, a larger HD and a Blu-ray player built in. Will we actually get such a device? I wouldn’t hold your breath.
Posted in: Apple · Gear · Geek · Movies · News · TV · Web
Tagged: Apple TV, HD, Hulu, iTunes, iTunes Store, Netflix