Ten days after updating the Apple TV’s software to version 3.0, Apple has released version 3.0.1 along with an alarming warning about users’ content “temporarily” disappearing.

From the uninformative and unintentionally hilarious support document, if you are running Apple TV 3.0 and “all of your movies, TV shows, and songs appear to be missing” or “all of your movies, TV shows, and songs appear to be present,” you should update to version 3.0.1 immediately.

In a letter to unlucky Apple TV users, the Apple TV team (at least those that still have jobs) gave instructions for updating.

1. Reboot your Apple TV (unplug the power cord and plug it back in)
2. Select Settings > General from the main menu
3. Select Update Software
4. Select Download and Install

After a restart, the problem of disappearing content should be solved. That’s the good news. The bad news is there are still a number of problems with the 3.x software.

Philip Elmer-DeWitt at Apple 2.0 beat me to the Apple Support Forum and found 10,000 page views for the missing content discussion, as well as continuing complaints after updating to the latest version. Reported problems include the Apple TV no longer syncing with iTunes, surround sound problems, new purchases not showing up, as well as performance issues.

It appears Apple’s “hobby,” as the Apple TV has been described by company executives, could use a little more developer attention, not to mention a purpose besides being an iTunes Store kiosk.

Following a presumably unintentional disclosure in the terms of service for the iTunes Store, Apple has released Apple TV 3.0, as well as a corresponding update for iTunes.

As previously reported, Apple TV 3.0 supports iTunes LP and iTunes Extras, and does so with a new look. According to Eddy Cue, Apple VP of Internet Services, the new interface “gives you instant access to your favorite content.” The new interface continues an evolution away from Apple’s other media software, Front Row.

In addition to the “widescreen” interface, Apple TV 3.0 also includes Genius Mixes, Internet radio, and photo enhancements. For the latter, users can now flip through photos grouped by event, while face recognition software similar to iPhoto puts “snapshots” of each person named on a corkboard background. It’s sort of like wanted ads at the Post Office.

As for iTunes, besides supporting Apple TV 3.0, the 90 MB update adds “an option for a dark background for Grid View, and improves support for accessibility.” What’s not mentioned in the support note is that iTunes has once again been fixed to keep Palm from leeching off Apple via the Pre syncing with iTunes. Get a life, Palm.

That would probably be good advice for the Apple TV, too. While additional features are always good, features people really want are even better. Is the Apple TV really going to be the last one in the living room to support Netflix without hacks like XBMC?

Apple recently introduced two new formats, iTunes LP and iTunes Extras, which deliver additional content to album and movie purchases, respectively. Apple also only just updated the iTunes Store Terms and Conditions agreement, and AppleInsider spotted some key changes in that document that point to an upcoming Apple TV update that will support the new formats.

It seems inevitable that the new bonus material featured in LP and Extra releases, which includes things like photos, videos, mini-documentaries and commentary, would become accessible on Apple’s home theater device, but this is the first official confirmation that it is in fact on the way. It would seem to suggest that we’ll see the update sooner rather than later, too.

Both iTunes LP and iTunes Extras are based on the TuneKit JavaScript format, which uses HTML, CSS and other open web standards. It’s designed for a 1280×720 pixel resolution, which fits perfectly with HD TV sets and the HD output resolution of the Apple TV.

While it may not come as a surprise, a new major update for the Apple TV firmware would be the first big one since the “Take Two” 2.0 update that came at Macworld Expo in January 2008. Other things expected to arrive with it include Quicktime X and the HTTP Live Streaming protocol, both of which were recently introduced as features of OS X Snow Leopard.

It sounds like it’s shaping up to be a decent little upgrade for Apple’s main foray into the living room, but it doesn’t really sound like anything that’s going to turn heads among people who are on the fence about buying the device. Apple has recently taken some steps to increase Apple TV sales, including getting rid of the 40 GB model altogether and dropping the price of the 160 GB version. Which is great, but there’s still a lot more Apple should be doing to make the device viable.

Like the Mac mini, the Apple TV seems to be lagging behind other Apple offerings in terms of the tech behind it and its software capabilities. Many new TVs coming to market now offer built-in functionality comparable to a lot of what Apple TV brings to the table, beyond access to the iTunes Store and all of its associated content. And HD-capable nettops from companies like Asus offer a fully functional home theater PC at a comparable price, with better storage options and more.

A software update is great, but Apple needs to do more than just what’s expected to breathe some life back into its least exciting device.

Apple’s brand new 27-inch iMacs come with an interesting feature: the ability to act as a display for connected devices via the built-in DisplayPort connection. This means that, with the proper adaptors, you can connect an array of home theatre devices to the iMac, including Blu-Ray players. The screen has also moved to the HDTV standard 16:9 ratio and it’s wall mountable. All of this makes me think one thing, my next HDTV may be an iMac.

The setup would be relatively straightforward. The new iMacs already come with wireless mouse and keyboard, so controlling it from your couch isn’t a problem. Add a tuner attachment from Elgato to get your cable on the iMac, as well as DVR capabilities. Plug in your Blu-Ray player via DisplayPort and then install any of the plethora of multimedia interfaces available for the Mac. My personal favorite is Boxee.

None of this is particularly groundbreaking, you could have done something very similar with a bit more hackage the day before the new iMacs were announced. But it does lead one to start thinking in an interesting direction. There’s no doubt that the computer and the television are moving towards convergence. Apple’s made its first play for the digital living room with the Apple TV, to less than impressive results, as we’ve discussed before. It’s also a company that learns from its mistakes and has a history of taking small, evolutionary steps that can, in a few years, add up to some really exciting changes. Just look at how they’ve handled multitouch.

Combine these small steps with the slow death of desktop computers and Apple has to be thinking about what the future of the iMac will be. What would be the next steps toward a real iMac as HDTV? Well, you’d need to integrate the tuner, and you’d definitely have to offer a large range of sizes, while simultaneously dropping prices. This wouldn’t be quite as hard as you might imagine. The current 27-inch iMac is much more powerful than you really need, and the cost of LCD displays is quickly dropping. Integrate the Apple TV’s media interface and tweak OS X a bit to make it easier to control from ten feet away and you’re almost there.

Do I think this is definitely the direction Apple is moving with the iMac? Not necessarily, but its actions thus far have certainly got me thinking about it and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Apple make a strong play at the high-end of the HDTV market. In a few years you may be able to buy 30, 40 and 50 inch iMacs, at a premium over standard HDTVs, but with a lot more functionality built-in. It’s certainly Apple’s style to go into an industry and try to slice off the top 10 percent of market share, which also happens to include the lion’s share of the profits. It’s done it in computers, it’s done it with cell phones, why not with HDTVs?

Looking through Apple’s current lineup of products, there’s one that stands out as the sad little orphan: the Apple TV. Apple itself has gone out of its way to lower expectations for this product, with Steve Jobs calling it a “hobby.”

The problem with the Apple TV is that its feature set just isn’t particularly compelling. Streaming my music to my television? My television is for watching stuff, not listening to stuff. Renting movies? Netflix or my local video store offer a much larger selection with better prices and terms. Buying movies and television shows? TV is free and DVDs are cheaper and more flexible than iTunes movies.

As you can see, the Apple TV has a problem. Behind that slick interface is a product that’s outclassed by competitors like Tivo, Roku and game consoles. So how can Cupertino save Apple TV? How about turning it into the center of your digital media life? Today, the Apple TV acts as a peripheral component of your computer, instead let’s turn the tables and turn your computer into a peripheral component of the Apple TV.

How It Would Work

Here’s how I imagine it would work. Turn on the Apple TV and it would immediate scan your networks, both wired and wireless, for Apple devices. After a simple pairing process, the Apple TV would immediately begin copying every piece of digital media found on any paired Mac to its own hard drive. If you have two or more computers in the house, it would compare your libraries and combine them so that you have a central repository for all of your digital media. You could then choose to synchronize missing items back to individual computers automatically, or copy items manually from the Apple TV to your Mac.

Apple has already taken a step in this direction with iTunes 9, which can tell you if other computers in the house have music you lack, and even synchronize automatically. The problem with a direct computer to computer solution is that with the growth of laptops, the amount of time two computers are in the same place and turned on is much less. With an Apple TV you have what amounts to a single-use computer that always sits in the same place and can handle all of the synchronization needs.

In fact when you think of the Apple TV as a computer, the possibilities become much greater. While you’re away, the Apple TV could download new television episodes and podcasts, which would be automatically synchronized to your laptop when it arrives back home. It could also monitor your iTunes account, so if you purchase a song on your iPhone while out and about, the Apple TV would automatically download that song and share it with computers at home before you even get back. And while we’re at it let’s also download software updates for your Mac and have them available for install when you walk in the door.

Hub for iPhone and iPod

Of course Macs are hardly the only Apple device on which we want our digital media. There’s no reason why an Apple TV couldn’t sync directly with your iPod or iPhone. Mac users have been hoping for wireless sync for a long time, but the slow speed of wireless networks have been a problem. Once again you can take advantage of an always on device. There’s no need to set up sync between your Mac and iPhone, instead the minute you walk into your home your iPod/iPhone would begin synchronizing with the Apple TV. If there’s particularly large content, like television shows or a movie, the synchronization could happen overnight while you sleep. You could wake up in the morning and walk out of the house with all the latest content in your pocket. Oh, and let’s also have the Apple TV download any app updates and install them automatically while you’re at home.

Internet Availability

What else could you do with an always on, always connected computer? How about making all of your media and files available over the Internet anytime you want them? Just connect to your Apple TV and stream all of the media on the device directly to your Mac, iPod or iPhone. Flip a switch in the preferences and the Apple TV could store a copy of your home folder, available anywhere, anytime through a slick online interface. Once again this is something Apple is already doing with Mobile Me and the Airport Extreme, but let’s make it easier and automatic.

With the 40GB Apple TV consigned to the dust bin, most users will have plenty of storage with the 160GB model, but just in case, Apple could finally make use of that USB port on the back and let you plug in any external hard drive to gain more storage. Once connected it would automatically be configured to provide overflow storage without any need for configuration on your part. Again, we want the power of a small computer, which the Apple TV is, without the complexities.

A Simple Software Update

All of this could be done with a software update, so every Apple TV already purchased could receive these features. Of course much of this could also be done with a Mac mini, Chronosync and some hackage, but the value proposition is a $229 set top box that not only puts iTunes content on your TV, but manages all of your digital media across all of your devices. Media servers have been around for a while now, but it’s time for Apple to do it better than anyone else, and cement the Apple TV’s place in the digital living room at the same time.

iTunes 9 brings about a much more flexible setup for syncing. It’s definitely an improvement, in some senses, but still far from perfect. In fact, many might be quick to term some of the options as “feature creep.” Check out some of our thoughts on the new options and look at the side by side screenshots of the syncing options to get an idea.

Syncing in general has been improved in the sense that users can now drill down and sync more specific content. Music can now be synced by a combination of playlists, specific artists or genres. Podcasts can be synced by specific episodes and TV shows can be synced by specific episodes or seasons.

New altogether is the ability to sync iTunes U content which also has its own category, instead of being mixed in randomly between podcasts and music. Photo syncing has also been greatly enhanced, allowing support for specific albums, events or faces. Searching has also been enabled in many of these areas to allow you to quickly narrow down your choices. While these are all great features, they have really intensified the syncing interface. Hopefully it’s not too much for some users.

Still No Love for Audiobooks?

As mentioned in my wish list, I was really hoping for an improved way to sync audiobooks. Apple answered my hopes in an odd way. In the Music section, you can now search through your artists and, upon searching for a particular author, I was able to sync up those specific audiobooks. This isn’t a perfect solution though as a user may have multiple audiobooks from the same author. Why not just add another tab across the top? Apple added one for iTunes U. (I’m completely kidding. Remember, the interface is getting too complicated. iTunes 8 had eight tabs for syncing options while iTunes 9 brings the number to 10.) I personally feel the number of tabs across the top is too many, but I do feel audiobooks are important enough to warrant a more selective approach for syncing instead of just creating playlists for them.

Home Screens, Sweet Home Screens

Of course, the part most of you will really care about is the ability to organize your iPhone and iPod touch home screens via iTunes. This is simply amazing and is surprisingly quite functional. You simply navigate amongst the home screens, deleting or adding as needed and dragging applications between them. If you want to drag an item from the first screen to the fifth, just click and drag the app and hover over the fifth screen. It’ll pop up in the main view and you can place your app.

You can also select multiple apps by holding down the Command (Mac) or Control (Windows) keys. Moving complete screens around is also a snap, just by clicking and dragging them. All in all, this feature works quite well and should give users no excuse for messy randomly placed apps on their iPhones (or at least quell frustrations of people who attempt to switch between pages while editing apps only to grab and app and move it instead).

Generally speaking, these new syncing options do give users more flexible options to manage content on their devices, but I’m curious to see if any of you feel the interface itself has become a little overblown?

Leading up to Apple’s music event last week, rumor sites had been circling about a new format from Apple that would provide additional content, like lyrics, liner notes, video interviews and more. The rumors came true as Apple announced yet one more way to spend more money inside iTunes: iTunes LPs for music and iTunes Extras for video. Here’s what they look like up close.

Deconstructing the LP

When you purchase an iTunes LP (for this example, I’m using Tyrese Gibson’s MAYHEM!), you actually end up downloading the songs included and the animated content in a new format, called .itlp. This new format is (in this example) a very big file, a little over 400MB. Not only does it take a while to download that content, but if you start to fill your library with several of these, you’ll run out of room very quickly.

For diehard fans, iTunes LPs are simply amazing. In MAYHEM!, the additional content is an animated comic book that comes to life with spoken dialog. As more and more artists sign onto creating iTunes LPs, these will become big time components of true music enthusiasts. Let’s just hope new iTunes LPs are released more frequently than the GarageBand Artist Lessons.

And Now for Video

Apple also announced iTunes Extras for video content, allowing quick scene selection and other animated “behind the scenes” content available in these exclusive packages. For many, this could be the real deciding factor between opting to purchase a new movie on DVD or Blu-ray versus purchasing it within iTunes. The end result, while perhaps not equal in terms of additional content, is a complete movie experience, with a substantial amount of supplemental content. Unfortunately, iTunes Extras are only available when purchasing content from iTunes; they are not available with movie rentals.

If you purchase content from iTunes on your iPhone and that content supports iTunes LP or iTunes Extra, the base content (songs or movie) will download immediately to your device. The LP and Extras content will download to your computer the next time you sync your iPhone or iPod touch. Upon doing so, be sure to go to “Store” and click “Check For Available Downloads” to download the additional content.

A Good Start

The iTunes Store currently has 12 iTunes LPs available (and even some of those are pre-orders) and 15 movies featuring iTunes Extras. Though Steve likes to attribute Apple’s new iTunes LP concept to a desire to pay homage to classic LPs that included bonus content, one can’t help but think that these extra features are offered to persuade users to purchase complete albums instead of a la carte downloads. The concept is very trendy and will definitely turn heads, but will the majority of our music collection feature iTunes LPs? Probably not. Will we have them for some of the big time major artists? Maybe.

What about iTunes Extras for movies? Will this stop some people from ripping their own DVDs and purchasing the content from iTunes? Perhaps. It’s unlikely that anybody (or perhaps this is a challenge to the Handbrake team) will be able to reverse engineer the .itlp format to allow users to have their own ripped DVDs with all special features play natively within iTunes.

At the moment, iTunes LPs and iTunes Extras are only playable within, you guessed it, iTunes 9. Others have already noticed, however, that the interface for these could definitely support interaction through touch, so perhaps eventually we’ll see the ability to sync these content types with our iPhones, iPod touches or even Apple TVs.

Now the question is passed to you. What do you think? Is it worth it? Have you pre-ordered Pearl Jam or downloaded The Doors yet?

Those disappointed that the music event last week failed to update Apple’s all but forgotten set-top box, may find hope in the company’s move to lower the price of the 160GB Apple TV by $100, to $229.

That new price for the 160GB model was the old price for the 40GB model, which is no more, and that is cause for speculation in itself.

At the beginning of the month, AppleInsider reported Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster noting long wait times for the 40GB model, resulting in predictions of a minor upgrade at the then rumored Apple event. That would be followed by a major upgrade of the Apple TV later this year, one that might include DVR capabilities. That first prediction proved to be incorrect, and, unfortunately, DVR capabilities will not be coming to the Apple TV, either.

Again via AppleInsider, Caris & Company analyst Robert Cihra put an end to the DVR speculation about a week later at a meeting with Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer. At that meeting, Oppenheimer said plainly that the DVR concept “just doesn’t fit Apple’s business.” Sadly, that business to date has been forcing the Apple TV into the role of an iTunes Store kiosk in the living room.

So, whither Apple TV? The price cut/storage bump provides a glimmer of hope, assuming the change is not a final, indifferent attempt to stimulate lagging sales, but let’s pretend it’s not. Clearly, the future of content consumption in the living room will be streaming. If the Apple TV is to survive, Apple needs to acknowledge this in a big way, creating “channels” in the software for the major players: Netflix, Hulu, even Amazon Video on Demand. Sure, that will impact iTunes rentals and video sales, but not as much as a failed product that ends up being canceled.

Oh Apple TV, will you ever cease to have new competitors arise to elbow into your already paltry market share? Internet video giant YouTube wants to be next in line. The company is in talks with Sony and other major studios about offering newer movies as streaming rentals on the site.

YouTube already offers many older shows and movies for free on the site, presumably because they’ve either become public domain properties, or because studios don’t think it’s worth protecting their rebroadcast rights.

According to the Wall Street Journal, if talks are successful, the list of movies available via YouTube could grow to include new and recent releases from Sony, Lions Gate, and Warner Bros. There’s even some discussion of making movies available as early as their official DVD/Blu-Ray release date.

Not all movies would necessarily carry a rental fee, according to the report. Depending on the studio and the film, some titles may be available free of charge, supported instead by advertising revenue. The going rate for other movies will likely be around $3.99 (for standard definition, according to NewTeeVee’s estimates), which is the cost of most new release iTunes movie rentals. Whether users could also optionally download movies from YouTube is another point up for discussion.

This should be setting off warning alarms at Apple, unless it already has a very impressive plan in place for the revamp and revitalization of Apple TV. iTunes movie rentals are great, so long as you have an HTPC or an Apple TV, but the minute you can get fresh, new content cheaply via YouTube, expect Apple TV’s growth potential to plummet. YouTube is available via many more internet connected AV devices than iTunes, and it’s a site that most internet users are likely already using and comfortable with.

Ultimately YouTube suffers in comparison to iTunes for a couple reasons. First, you probably won’t be able to download all titles with YouTube rentals, especially at launch. That frightens away potential customers who might not have the best internet connection available, and so avoid streaming content. Even computer power is an issue with streaming. My 12-inch Powerbook G4 can’t handle YouTube nearly as well as it can downloaded movie files.

You also won’t likely be able to take the file with you on portable devices, or at least not without incurring data fees. The beauty of iTunes is that your downloads are accessible by so many devices out of the box. But, that advantage depends on you already being an Apple customer.

In the end, if YouTube does go this route, Apple will likely have to shake things up to stay truly competitive. Renting via YouTube would just make things too easy, especially now that some TVs have YouTube browsing built-in. Apple TV always needed a shakeup. Hopefully this just lights a fire under Cupertino.

Lately, there have been some murmurs that Apple is prepping an HDTV of its very own. Such a device would seem to be the logical next step for the evolution of Apple TV, the progress of which seems to have become somewhat stagnant of late.

Like our own Liam Cassidy, Michael Wolf over at GigaOM Pro isn’t convinced (subscription required), for a few very good reasons. For one, he cites the high price tag and lack of subsidization, by comparing it to AT&T’s iPhone arrangement:

TVs would not have any such subsidization, nor would they have the fairly attainable prices of the iPhone (any Apple television would likely carry a price tag of $2,000 or more), putting it out of reach for many households.

Of course, that could be offset by a deal with a cable/satellite provider, but I think Apple’s FCC headaches over their relationship with AT&T will have them squeamish about such partnerships for a while to come.

What do you think? Will there be an Apple HDTV? What price point and features would make such a device attractive to you?

Remember Gene Munster? He’s Piper Jaffray’s Senior Analyst, and has been talking about tablets for most of this year. Well, now he’s got a new string to his bow and is talking about an Apple TV. Not ‘Apple TV’. An Apple TV. An actual, hardware, big-screen television.

In an article from Philip Elmer-DeWitt over on Fortune’s Apple 2.0 blog, Munster is quoted thusly;

“TV hardware is a challenging business if you don’t change the rules of the game, but we see potential for Apple to offer best-in-class software and hardware and charge a premium.”

“The argument that Apple will not enter the television market because prices have declined by ~70% in the past three years is a similar argument used to conclude Apple would not enter the cell phone market, given phones had seen similar price declines. The bottom line, 10 million HDTV’s sold in the US a year is a real market, and if history repeats itself, Apple will find a way to compete in a commoditized market with a premium priced product.”

It would be unforgivable for a Senior Analyst not to provide compelling supporting evidence for his predictions, so, accordingly, Munster mentions patents covering digital video recording and an agreement worth $500 million Apple made with LG to provide them with LCD screens.

Oh – and if that’s not enough to convince the most hardened skeptics among you, Munster throws-in a quote from Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook from last July, when he stated the company will continue to invest in Apple TV because “we fundamentally believe there is something there for us in the future”.

And there’s nothing more satisfying than a product roadmap, right? So here’s the short version;

1. A new Apple TV box “within the next few months” with TV-in and DVR capabilities
2. An iTunes TV Pass within the next twelve months, costing $30-$40 per month – a service Munster thinks can “effectively replace a consumer’s monthly cable bill”.
3. Finally, an Apple television set within the next two years.

Says Munster:

“Such a device would command a premium among a competitive field of budget TVs; we believe Apple could differentiate itself with software that makes home entertainment simple and solves a pain point for consumers (complicated TV and component systems).”

I don’t know about you, but doesn’t an actual television set seem a little… oh I don’t know… over the top? Let’s keep our feet firmly on solid ground and invoke Occam’s Razor; the precept that suggests, all things being equal, the simplest explanation is usually right.

What’s more likely? Apple’s deal with LG is to supply the manufacture of Apple-branded television sets for which there is no known physical evidence of any kind… OR it’s for the manufacture of laptop and desktop computer LCD displays, products for which an active imagination isn’t necessary because evidence is abundant. You decide.

What’s more likely? Tim Cook’s statement, “…something there for us in the future” is, for a traditionally über-secretive company, an uncharacteristically vocal “nudge-nudge wink-wink” from one of its top executives… OR it’s a statement designed to reassure shareholders Apple’s little hobby hasn’t so-far proven to be an enormous waste of money and, yes, will see more aggressive development and sales success in the future? Again… I leave it to you.

I know analysts are in the business of making predictions, but the latest from Munster seems, to me, to be wishful-thinking at best, or else sheer unbridled fiction and link-baiting.

Three years after the “DVD player for the 21st century” was first introduced by Steve Jobs, the Apple TV still doesn’t actually have a DVD player, and doesn’t actually have much of anything, at least compared to the competition. Apple’s media center device languishes as little more than a video kiosk for the iTunes Store in the living room. Meanwhile, competitors in the media center market stream the future to couch potatoes everywhere.

Boxee is just the latest example of that future. NewTeeVee reports the startup behind the media center software has just received $6 million in venture capital. This brings total investment to $10 million in less than a year.

According to CEO Avner Ronen, the company has recently seen “increased pace from the biz dev side.” Translated from marketing speak, that means consumer electronics devices want Boxee. The company plans to nearly double its staff off 11 to bring more content and more apps to Boxee. When a company with 20 people is handily beating Apple in the race to the living room, it begs the question: whither Apple TV?

After introducing the Apple TV in September 2006, then reintroducing it in January 2007, the device went on sale for $299. It was an awkward beginning. There was little content available for purchase, and the Apple TV needed to be tethered to a computer over a network to manage content. While Apple shortly added a model with a larger hard drive, it took a year before the company addressed the core feature.

“Apple TV was designed to be an accessory for iTunes and your computer. It was not what people wanted. We learned what people wanted was movies, movies, movies.”

So said Steve Jobs concerning Apple TV “Take Two,” the software update that allowed users to purchase and rent video content directly from their Apple TV. It was a badly needed update that put the Apple TV back in the game, but that was 18 months ago. Since then, the biggest news concerning the Apple TV was the company officially declaring it a “hobby.” Worse, at the conference call in October of last year, Steve Jobs remarked regarding the media center business that “I don’t think anybody has succeeded at it. And actually the experimentation has slowed down. A lot of the early companies that were trying things have faded away.”

This is just not true.

Besides the most recent news about Boxee, there have been other major developments related to media centers and content. At the same time the Apple TV was announced, Amazon’s Unbox service came out. Rather than fade away, it’s now HD. In May 2008, Roku brought out a $99 set-top box for streaming movies from Netflix. Shortly thereafter, Microsoft brought Netflix to the Xbox 360. Let’s not forget Hulu, the aggregate video content site that appeared in 2007. Hulu has seen a five-fold increase in viewership since last year.

Streaming is the future for video in the living room, but the question now is whether Apple wants anything to do with the living room at all. Remember, this is essentially a software platform that can be updated at will. If there was ever a time for Apple to get back in the business of the living room, the expected Apple Event in September would be it. Let’s hope Take Two isn’t a wrap for the Apple TV.

With 2009 half way over, we’ve seen a lot of updates from Apple, from new portables to new iPhones and some hot new Pro Apps, but several sections of Apple’s product lineup have not been updated in quite a while.

Products such as the Apple TV, some software titles, and others are getting a bit long in the tooth. We know our mainstream products like iPods will see an update in the next few months, but what about some of the others? What’s the deal and what could be in store?

Apple TV

Apple TV, the little iPod for your television, has not seen a hardware update since 2007 when Apple introduced a larger 160GB model. Though there have been price cuts since then, and the introduction of the “Take 2” Apple TV software, the device itself really has not seen any updates since its introduction.

Originally referred to as the fourth leg on a four-leg stool (according to Jobs, referring to Apple’s product lineup), it has since been relegated to a “hobby” and now something that hasn’t seen much attention at all. The hacking community has provided a number of plugins and add ons to allow additional functionality, but Apple has only offered small software updates for compatibility with the Remote app or other products (new AirPort base stations, etc.). The device itself runs a variation of Mac OS 10.4! With the release of Snow Leopard, will we see any updates? Apple calls it a DVD player for the 21st century. I’m quite sure a DVD player for the 21st century involves Blu-ray, so where’s the love?

Aperture

The last major version of Aperture (version 2.0) was released in February 2008. Though small updates have been released to provide support for newer camera models, Apple’s own consumer application iPhoto ’09 boosts features that make some Aperture users jealous. Face recognition and geo-tagging support are two such examples that blur the lines between those who might want to use Aperture versus iPhoto. (Aperture of course has a much different market, aiming to compete with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, but still, users do feel a bit left out.)

When Aperture was originally introduced, it was quite a performance hog. To be fair, however, at the time, most Macs were Power PC based. The switch to Intel processors as well as newer versions that included more optimized code allowed for a better experience. No doubt the introduction of Snow Leopard will also bring about further performance improvements to Aperture as well. The question remains though, after Snow Leopard launches will we see new software in October, or will we have to wait until a more appropriate time next year?

As an aside, I do recognize Apple just released new versions of Logic Studio and Final Cut Studio, but in all the fanfare, nothing has been mentioned about anything Snow Leopard specific. With all the “oohs” and “ahhs” of the performance features Snow Leopard is supposed to bring, one would think there could be several areas where these titles could take advantage.

Displays

Wow. Where to start with this one? Of all the Apple products that seem to carry an “Apple tax,” the displays rank among the highest. Rightfully they should as they are really high quality products. That being said, Apple has silently discontinued both their 20” and 23” displays, opting to replace them both by a very expensive 24” LCD display. The cream of the crop 30” display is only briefly mentioned on Apple’s website with a link to its online store. Where does the future of its displays lie? The mini DisplayPort can handle the high resolution of the 30” Cinema Display, so providing Apple could actually create an LED equivalent, it should be compatible with all of its latest products.

On the entry level side, $899 is still a hefty price for the smallest display. Looking at the iMacs, these displays are still CCFL based (cold cathode fluorescent lighting). This could explain why the LED Display is pricey compared to an entry level iMac which features a slightly smaller display but also a whole computer inside.

Another consideration for displays is the resolution they support. The 17” MacBook Pro features a high resolution 1920×1200 display that is LED-backlit. That resolution is equivalent to the resolution of the 24” LED display and looks really good, considering it’s packed into a display that is seven inches smaller.

Apple desperately needs a smaller entry-level display to replace the now defunct 20” Cinema Display, and the entire lineup could benefit from supporting a higher resolution all around.

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

These are just a few examples of products that haven’t really seen great updates lately, but history has taught us that Apple always comes through and woos its fans.

My question to you, the readers, is this: Do you think that Apple has been allocating all of its resources into completing Snow Leopard and the iPhone 3.0 launch? Or, do you think the neglect that some of these other projects have seen is because Apple has been focusing its development efforts on some as-of-yet unannounced new product, like the rumored tablet? We’ve seen some great new products this year, but even the latest versions of Logic Studio and Final Cut Studio aren’t entirely revolutionary. They didn’t even garner a media event.

My personal opinion is that this is the case and Apple has been working to complete Snow Leopard and the iPhone 3.0 OS, but has been focusing a major portion of its team on something we don’t know about yet. Remember what Steve always says: When the economy is rough, Apple’s solution is to innovate its way to success. Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

Have you ever wanted to copy or convert your personal collection of DVDs for backup or easy viewing on your Apple TV, only to be thwarted by CSS encryption? I feel your pain, and so do the good folks at Metakine. Lucky for us, Fairmount is here to help, and it’s free!

CSS, or Content Scramble System, is an approach used by most DVD manufacturers as a way to prevent unauthorized copies and unlicensed playback of DVD content. Unfortunately for consumers, this kind of digital rights management can be cumbersome for those who want to take advantage of their fair use rights. Fairmount makes setting aside this type of DRM extremely easy.

Fairmount works together with the VLC Media Player to decrypt your mounted DVD and replace it with a unencrypted disk image. It’s really simple to do. With a DVD mounted, just launch the Fairmount application and it will automatically and transparently hand off the decryption to VLC and then begin mounting a new decrypted image of the disk.

Once the DVD is decrypted, and the new disk image is mounted, you can then save the video files on to your network, convert them for playback on other devices, or burn the image back to a disk. The decryption is very fast and the exchange with VLC happens completely in the background. You even get a nice animation as the mounted DVD is smeared over with cream cheese, “Bagels are good!”

If you’re planning on burning the image to DVD, the Fairmount download comes bundled with another application from Metakine called DVDRemaster which will let you do just that. If you’re just interested in converting files for viewing on your Apple TV, iPhone, or iPod, I’d like to take this opportunity to recommend an excellent and free application called HandBrake.

Fairmount, VLC, and HandBrake are all free applications released under a General Public License. DVDRemaster is available in both standard and pro versions for $39.99 and $49.99, respectively.

I have really enjoyed my Apple TV since the beginning, but I will admit that I enjoy it a lot more with the Remote application on my iPhone. Apple has updated the Remote app and the Apple TV firmware, making the Apple TV even better when used with an iPhone or iPod touch, and perhaps showing a lasting commitment to this hobby project at 1 Infinite Loop.

While the original Remote app allowed you to browse content and use the iPhone keyboard to enter text, it did not allow you to navigate the onscreen menus. This wasn’t such a big deal when playing your own media because you could just pick the song, movie or TV show from the list of files. However, when browsing through YouTube or Flickr, it was annoying to switch back and forth between the original white Apple remote and your iPhone. The new Remote app now has additional finger gesture controls to replace traditional controls, so you can finally control everything from your iPhone or iPod touch. The update adds a few new tricks to the media player as well.

Here’s what you can do with the new app…

Video Playback

• Flick or drag and hold to move the on-screen selection. Tap to select.
• Tap to Play or Pause
• Flick left or right, or drag and hold to rewind or fast-forward.
• Flick down to show chapter markers, then flick left or right to skip.
• Drag two fingers left for replay.

Audio Playback

1. Tap to Play or Pause.
2. Drag left or right and hold to rewind or fast-forward.
3. Flick left or right for previous or next.

In addition, you can move up the menu tree by holding your finger over the bar at the bottom of the control screen.

Apple TV 2.4 Firmware

The new firmware also adds new features to the Apple TV itself.

• Remote app directional control — Control your Apple TV with simple finger gestures via the Remote app. This feature requires Remote 1.3 running on an iPhone or iPod touch with iPhone OS 3.0.
• Flickr Search — Search Flickr photo tags to find recently updated photos of interest. Save searches to quickly find new photos or use as a screen saver for Apple TV.
• New view options — View movies By Genre, By Movie, or Unwatched. View TV Shows and Podcasts By Date, By Show, or Unwatched.
• Updated transport and chapter modes — During video playback, click right or left to fast forward or rewind. Additional clicks increase the speed. Click down to show chapter markers.

Boxee, et al.

There are conflicting reports on the Boxee forums, but the media software has been successfully installed by at least one user. Some have had problems, though, so you may want to wait a day or two for things to settle out before updating. ATV files will need to be updated for the 2.4 update. I’m waiting on the USB hack to get updated myself.

Hobby?

Steve Jobs has referred to the Apple TV as a hobby business (when compared with the Mac, iPod and iPhone businesses) on more than one occasion. But this new remote app, and the Apple TV update, shows some signs of life in the group. Also telling are at least two recent openings on Apple’s employment web site for Apple TV engineers (which have since been removed). A hardware update with a faster processor and a GPU capable of decoding 1080p H.264 (and compatible with OpenCL) would go a long way towards keeping the Apple TV alive and relevant for the immediate future. It is a great device for playing music (I have thousands of songs at my fingertips with the iPhone remote that I can control from anywhere in the house), but a hardware update with improved HD video playback would make this a more compelling device.

So Happy Together

The Apple TV and iPhone were made for each other. Now that the Remote app does everything you need to fully control the Apple TV, it is just brilliant. Seriously, if you have an Apple TV, you need to go buy an iPod Touch (maybe a used one?) just to get the remote app. It’s better than using the white remote, or even a universal remote programmed to replace it.

I’ll keep my eyes posted on conflicts with Boxee and ATV Files. Let us know what your experience is with the new update.

I admit, I am a reformed Azureus user. When I made the transition from Windows to Mac for my primary machine, one hang-up that came with me was my devotion to Azureus, a program which (as I was soon to discover) was fast becoming unnecessarily resource-heavy and bloated, especially compared to lightweight Mac alternatives like Transmission, and more recently, uTorrent. I abandoned Azureus long before it stopped being open source and become Vuze, that Frankenstein beast of a media download manager.

Because I care about you, I actually installed the newly released version of Vuze on my MacBook today, even though it was painful to do so, and my notebook’s fan started working overtime the moment I did. The reason? Vuze now offers a quick and easy way to get video content in to your iTunes library and onto your iPhone, iPod, or Apple TV without getting your hands dirty with complicated conversion software.

It worked like a charm with the Katy Perry fluff piece I downloaded (if I have to endure Vuze, I should get to have some fun at least, right?); the conversion process took very little time and the video was available in my iTunes library immediately afterward. Likewise with a “Fast and Furious” trailer downloaded for the purposes of testing HD conversion, but I was disappointed to find that I couldn’t maintain HD quality during the conversion, since the max resolution supported under iTunes devices is 720×432 for Apple TV.

I suppose it’s very handy if you’re looking to quickly get video onto your portable Apple device, and if you don’t mind finding and/or downloading the file in Vuze (I tried adding a previously downloaded .mkv file to my Vuze library, but could not). And it works very well if you want to convert HD content for playback on your PS3 or Xbox 360, but overall, I don’t think the bargain is worth the price of admission, especially if you’re an advanced enough user to convert your video using HandBrake or some other similar program.

Not too long ago, Hulu came to Boxee, making it accessible via Apple TV, and all was right with the world. Then, a terrible thing happened, and NBC went to Hulu CEO Jason Kilar and said “No more!” and it was no more. Hulu support was removed from Boxee.

The only possible reason was NBC’s fear of losing control over its content. Heaven forbid a major network embraces and tries to work with the shifting paradigm in the delivery of televised content. Better to try to force people to stay married to their set-top boxes and cable subscriptions. Just conveniently forget that there are literally thousands of torrents out there if people get tired of depending on overpriced satellite and cable plans, NBC.

Okay, bottled up anger aside, Hulu is back on Boxee, at least in a work-around way that should get people their fix while the two companies hopefully work out the finer details of some kind of more official solution. Boxee’s latest update includes an App Store-type “App Box,” but more importantly, also the ability to read RSS feeds. The new RSS reader is perfectly set up to receive video RSS feeds, of which Hulu has many. Ipso facto, Hulu is back on Boxee.

While I appreciate what Boxee is doing, I really wish Apple and NBC would mark their success and work together to make it unnecessary. Apple should provide the functionality that Boxee does out of the box, and NBC and other networks should partner with them to make network content subscriptions a reality. Cut out the cable service providers altogether, offer iTunes’ Season Passes to all of your network content, and make more money by charging less. A lot of people I know either only have computers, or have computer-connected televisions these days, so it’d probably be more profitable than trying to force people to stick with obsolete methods of content distribution. In the meantime, thank goodness for Boxee.

Everyone talks about the trend towards cloud computing, and for a while, it seemed as though computers would eventually become nothing more than net-connected screens and keyboards, since the need for local storage was slowly but surely being eroded. If you use a media download service like iTunes, though, you are probably very aware of just how dependent on storage space we all still are, and we have 1 TB Apple Time Machines to prove it.

If, judging by the sales figures, you’ve turned to Apple for the core components of your home theater (via Apple TV, iTunes music, etc.), the problem you inevitably come up against is where to put all that data you download. Sure, you can take the expensive route of buying to maximum capacity what Apple offers in each device, but you’ll still inevitably have to delete something to make room for something else.

One solution, and one which Apple has in the works, according to AppleInsider, is iTunes Replay, a streaming content delivery system that would alleviate the storage burdens of iTunes customers. Apple would house TV episodes and movies on their own servers, set up for this purpose, and users could then access it as needed without having to download and store the file.

While it isn’t clear which specific iTunes-enabled devices would benefit from the new streaming service, a likely candidate is Apple TV, because of the size of video media, and the fact that many of its competitors already offer streaming media. If I was the optimistic type, I would hope that the service would also be accessible via iPhone and iPod, but that probably won’t occur as part of the initial release.

This move has obvious drawbacks for the computer manufacturer, since it might dissuade customers from opting for the more expensive, higher capacity devices. It might, however, be intended to buttress media sales in uncertain economic times, if they are predicting that new hardware spend will dwindle regardless. AppleInsider also suggests Apple may charge for the service, above and beyond the price of individual episodes and films, which would somewhat offset their losses in hardware sales.

The streaming service is said to be coming as an iteration of iTunes 8, so it won’t bring a major update to the existing software. No word on when the introduction is specifically planned, though. My guess is that it might arrive alongside an Apple TV hardware update, and possibly the one I wrote about yesterday.

Apple’s current chipset bedfellow, NVIDIA, has just announced that the first iteration of its upcoming Ion platform will come in desktop form, and should be expected this upcoming Spring.

The new architecture integrates Intel Atom processors with the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics card, making it a good candidate for netbooks, as many suspected the chipset’s inaugural device would likely be. Instead, the graphics card maker says the new desktop will be a “very small and affordable,” low-power consumption model.

While the demo they showed off was a tiny, black model, they say it will bear no resemblance to the actual, purchasable production model to arrive later this year. One candidate for the maker of that upcoming device? Apple, whose Mac mini seems to be languishing in neglect, with specs that are quickly becoming less and less appealing to the improvement-hungry tech crowd.

A Mac mini with an Intel Atom processor might not seem like a step in the right direction for those who were hoping for bump in processor power from the existing Intel Core 2 Duo processor, but according to NVIDIA’s accounts of the performance capabilities of the Ion platform, there might not be that many drawbacks for going with the lower-powered chip. For instance, the 9400M card should be able to handle 1080p video without issues, and even play many current video games at acceptable frame rates, which is not something that can be said for the current Mac mini models.

The idea of an Ion-based Mac mini is backed up by AppleInsider’s claims, based on investigations of code and other sources, that the next generation of Apple’s compact desktop will indeed be based on an NVIDIA chipset. Electronista points out, though, that Apple would likely shy away from a sub-$500 desktop, especially since it might cannibalize Apple TV sales.

That said, Apple may move to collapse, rather than expand their product line, releasing a Mac mini with Apple TV features built in, and splitting the difference between the two price points. Their recent survey of what Apple users would like out of Apple TV indicates that they are at least thinking about revamping the line, and this kind of product streamlining makes good fiscal sense in a troubled economy.

It’s about time for some real shakeups in Apple’s offerings, and this is an area where potential and actual growth has been demonstrated (Apple TV sales tripled last year). Plus, it would offer an additional product option for the top end of consumers, who already have an Apple notebook and desktop, and are looking for an HTPC, and it would appeal to entry level users who might otherwise seek out an Eee Box as an affordable alternative to the current Mac mini.

The good news is that with the keynote almost upon us, the Mac community has switched primarily from crying about Jobs not giving the keynote to instead focusing on the usual rumors and speculation. This is as it should be.

I’ve written about what I think of the change from Jobs to Schiller for Apple’s last Macworld keynote, so let’s talk about what we may see tomorrow. So many rumors, so little time…

Software

It seems there are three likely announcements on the software front:

• An update to iLife appears likely. I haven’t seen much rumor or discussion on this, but it’s been over a year and it’s due. Unlike many who hated iMovie ‘08, I rather like it, but would very much like to see enhancements in the area of titles and transitions. I’d also like to see the rather anemic sound controls updated.
• I also see an update to iWork likely. Like iLife, it has not been updated in over a year. To me, it’s a testament to how solid Numbers was as a “1.0” product that it didn’t need a major “update” (as iMovie ‘08 did) in order to make it more acceptable. Still, it needs some beefing up to help sell serious number crunchers, if that’s what Apple is after. As for me, I’d simply like to see more polish and more templates. When iWork ‘08 came out, there was much discussion about how Microsoft’s Office had features 90 percent of users don’t use, so iWork was a better substitute. However, if Office is more than 90 percent need, then surely iWork is more than 85 percent need? In short, I’d rather iWork continue to focus on usability, and making its power more accessible, than getting more Office-like. There is some speculation that Apple will take iWork online with web apps. I think this is a great idea, but I sure hope that they can have performance about 20 times better than MobileMe. I’m hopeful MMe performance suffers because the service was so “broken” upon launch that tuning it was last on the priority list.
• The third software announcement likely is news about Snow Leopard. Maybe a demo and some discussion of a release date, though I suspect that will be a very general release date.

Other software announcements we could see or hear about are for Apple TV or even the iPhone. The former seems more likely than the latter to me. It’s been a while since we’ve heard about Apple TV, so it’s due. My thinking is that ATV is going to get more and more like a merger between itself and Front Row. In fact, the rumor that Apple TV software may be able to run on a regular Mac seems like a worthwhile goal for Apple to shoot for. I’m especially interested in ATV because sometime this quarter I’ll be entering the HD TV world and am wondering if ATV or perhaps a Mac mini would be a good addition to my video system.

Hardware

Probably at least two announcements on the hardware front:

• Many rumors focus on the Mac mini. It seems pretty certain there will be a revision, and it seems likely to me it will have the NVIDIA chipset of the MacBooks. We’ll also see mini Display Port because Jobs mentioned about 67 times during the MacBook introduction that Apple was moving to this for all their hardware now. Rumors that there will be Display Port and mini DVI don’t make much sense to me. Personally, I’d rather see the mini use the MagSafe power adaptor so it can plug into the new LCD displays than saddle it with two different display ports. Heck, if they feel they must add another display port I’d rather it be HDMI.
• It seems a 17” MacBook is a pretty solid certainty. It’s time for the unibody 17 inch to make its debut. Latest rumors have it with a sealed battery. Not sure why Apple would go that route but it may become obvious once we find out what the laptop actually consists of. I’m one of the majority (yes, we are definitely and without question the majority) of users who never get a second battery so it doesn’t make any difference to me.

I could also see an update to Apple TV. Along with a software update maybe there’s a hardware update as well. Not sure this thing gets much more for now than speed bumps and larger hard drives. In that case they may just press release this one. In short, I do not expect a DVD or Blu-Ray drive in it (yet). If I’m building a new system I think I’d appreciate the former, but as to the latter I’m just not sure I want to go there. The idea of building a new library of physical media in a new format seems so 20th century to me. I want the new HD content I acquire to be downloadable media.

I don’t see much hardware talk on the iPhone front. I suppose a 32GB model is always a possibility, but then that could easily be press released as well. The iPhone I want needs more than just 32GB, it must also have a processor boost. It’s clear the processor is a weak spot in this device. I’m not updating my first generation model until that happens, and I don’t see that being tomorrow. As for the iPhone nano, I’ve written about that already. The iPhone is a platform, and if a mini can’t maintain the platform (and I don’t see how it can) then I don’t see Apple going there.

As always, I expect Apple to slip in a thing or two not considered above. Also as always, some of it may seem obvious and a great idea, and some may seem less impressive and turn out to be a bog thing later. In any case, bring it on, Phil, I’m ready…