Though it does seem a bit unfathomable that a television in the size of 50 inches would be offered up by Apple in any manner resembling affordable in the least bit would become a reality, that IS what’s being whispered by this source this week. In addition, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak spoke directly with USA Today saying a bit more on the situation, though what he knows or doesn’t know (or isn’t letting on that he knows) remains a secret. Have a peek at this:

”I do expect Apple to make an attempt, since I expect the living room to remain a center for family entertainment, and that touches on all areas of consumer products that Apple is already making,” – Wozniak

Will we see such fabulous set of televisions at the event in NYC later this month? Or will it be something more to the tune of an Apple TV reboot or upgrade? Surely Apple wont let the Smart TV wave overcome the USA in 2012 without them sailing a battleship made of pure white and silver bottoms, would they? Methinks not!

[via USA Today]

The companies tipped to win contracts by the courses include TSMC, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, and Siliconware Precision Industries. The sources are claiming that Foxconn Electronics will be the likely source to win the final assembly contract for the iTV.

While Foxconn is tipped to be winning the contract to assemble the AppleTV, the firm has also announced that it is expanding its production capability for smartphones in northern China. The factory in Zhengzhou will have its capacity increased from 200,000 daily units to 400,000 units. The workforce will increase from 100,000 to 200,000 people. Foxconn builds the iPhone for Apple.

[via DigiTimes]

The sources claim that the materials will be readied in Q1 2012 to meet the Apple schedule for launching the sets in Q2 or Q3. In previous rumors about these TVs we had heard the screens would be three different sizes including 24-inch, 32-inch, and 55-inch versions. DigiTimes sources are claiming that the initial sizes will be 32-inch and 37-inch.

Other sources are also cited that are saying the traditional next-gen Apple TV set-top box will debut in 2012 as well. It would make sense for Apple to target the new buyers with a TV that has the tech integrated and a set-top box for those that don’t want to buy a new TV.

[via DigiTimes]

Munster is quite confident in an Apple HDTV being launched before the 2012 holiday season, that being roughly a year from now. To sum up the details, the Apple HDTV will be a full-fledged, standalone high-definition television, and not only an accessory or current Apple TV-like set-top box. The TV will come also in a “range of sizes” to appeal to a wide variety of consumers at different price points, although they will potentially be priced at twice the average cost of HDTVs from other manufacturers. Seamless integration with your other Apple devices and service will be key, and you’ll also be able to control it with your iPhone or iPad, or even possibly via Siri. There will also be, unsurprisingly, iTunes, App Store, and iCloud integration, although you’ll still need a cable subscription and cable box.

Yesterday’s tip about Apple TV v3 in the iOS 5.1 beta lead has lead to a flurry of rumors today. I’m mostly excited about the full-fledged TV part, since if there’s few companies that could disrupt the faltering TV industry, Apple is definitely one of them (we’re looking at you too, Google, give us something good, seriously). Current Apple TVs owners, how do you like your setup? Would you get the new Apple TV, were it to be as described as such today?

[via Business Insider]

A hacker installed the Couch Surfer browser on a jailbroken Apple TV and was able to demonstrate an HTML5-based game, Casino BlackJack. Now, the game is fairly bare bones and although it may not be the most impressive of feats, it does remind us of Apple TV’s potential beyond movies and TV shows.

It’s rumored that Apple may be bringing iOS to Apple TV, which is not surprising considering that rival Google has already announced Android 3.1 Honeycomb to power its next-gen Google TVs. This will provide a unified ecosystem that will allow access to Android Market apps, make it easier to develop for both platforms, and deliver a more streamlined user experience for customers.

[via TUAW]

Namely, Last.fm and a Web browser. Thanks to FireCore, the tweak is set to release the music streaming service thanks to the packaged called aTV Flash (black). The package doesn’t just include Last.fm, either. You’ll also be able to surf the Internet, thanks to the integrated Web browser that the developers of the package included. As you can see from the image above, you’ll not only get the Internet, but also a huge mouse icon.

The hack only works if you’ve got yourself a jailbroken AppleTV, so if you’re not someone who wants to deal with that aspect of an Apple product, then this won’t be for you. However, if you like living on the edge, and want to get a few more functionality bullet points for your AppleTV, here’s your chance. If you are interested in seeing what it’s like, check out the video below.

[via 9to5Mac]

The Windows Phone 7 smartphones are set to hit on November 8 according to a rumor. That is a month after the launch is expected to happen in Europe. A German publication has leaked what it claims to be the launch date for the Nintendo 3DS. According to the publication the new 3D gaming console will hit on November 11. The catch is that the publication is a tabloid and it is known for printing outright false information apparently.

Motorola, HTC, and Asus have all adopted the NVIDIA Tegra 2 platform for their smartphones and tablets. Motorola will put the chipset into a smartphone with the other two makers using in a tablet. Monday marked the official unveil of the Blackberry Playbook tablet. The full specifications and all the pertinent details of the tablet were offered up and the tablet sounds pretty good.

Along with the unveiling of the Playbook, RIM also talked about app plug-ins, ads in apps, and in-app payments that will be coming to Blackberry devices. RIM also stated that there are 35 million App world users today. We also compared the iPad to the Playbook with the catch that we weren’t able to get hands on with the Playbook. I suspect the Playbook will not be as popular as the iPad.

Maingear unveiled a new model of the SHIFT computer dubbed Super Stock. The machines are customizable and have some really nice and high-performance features. Sony Ericsson unveiled a cool mini-display for Bluetooth Android phones called the LiveView. It’s sort of like a secondary screen for your smartphone.

A geek showed off the coolest R2-D2 robot I have ever seen. He built it DIY style and it is large enough for him to ride inside. The firmware for the Apple TV has offered up hints at a couple new iPhones that might be coming. The firmware shows 3,2 and 3,3 iPhones. The current iPhone is called the 3,1.

One of the most interesting things for the week was that the movie studios are reportedly contemplating a new pay per view service that would let the users watch movies not on DVD yet for $30 per view. It sounds a lot like a home version of the Spectravision offering in hotels. ATM’s generally dispense cash, but we learned that some new ATMs that dispense gold are set to come to the US. The new ATMs will hit the states by the end of the year apparently.

Borders unveiled a new wireless version of the Kobo eReader. The device adds WiFi to the mix, has a 6-inch eInk screen, and sells for $139.99. That sweet Motorola Droid R2-D2 version smartphone got its unboxing video this week. That phone has to be one of the coolest Android devices ever.

DARPA has been talking about the sweet transformer project for a while now. The goal of the project is to build a flying Humvee and the contrast to start working on a real version of the vehicle has been awarded. We got out hands on the Nokia N8 smartphone this week for an unboxing. The thing feels nice in the hands and we will be back soon with a full review of the device.

A rumor surfaced claiming that the next iPhone and iPad will move to a Qualcomm baseband. The move would reportedly make it easier for the device to be offered on other networks. GoPro has unveiled a new wearable camcorder that has a cheaper price than its other offerings. The device is called the HD Hero 960 and it sells for $179.99.

A new cheap Android tablet surfaced called the disgo Tablet 6000. The slate has a 7-inch screen, Android 2.1, WiFi, miniHDMI, and a pair of USB ports along with 2GB of storage. NVIDIA has agreed to a settlement on the defective GPUs that plagued Apple, Dell, and Sony notebooks. The settlement particulars are outlines on a special site just for those with affected machines.

Google announced that it has now expanded StreetView to cover all seven continents with the service now available in Antarctica. There are no roads there so you get images of Half Moon Island and a bunch of penguins. Friday news that the speed record for the fastest lawnmower had been broken. The record was 87.833 mph and the new record is now 96.529 mph. Thanks for reading, see you next week!

According to “three people familiar with the plan,” Apple is supposedly in “advanced talks” with News Corp., hoping to get Fox TV shows included in the deal. This is coming from Bloomberg, speaking with the unnamed sources. According to the report, Disney and CBS are included in the conversations as well, but there’s no word on how those talks are going.

According to the sources, the episodes would only be viewable for 48 hours, and that’s probably before you view them. Most “rentals” usually only last about 24 hours, once you hit that play button. No mention, though, of streaming-only episodes, either, which would make a lot of sense for devices like the iPad. We’ll see if this turns into anything, or if they’re just more rumors spinning the old mill.

[via Bloomberg]

“I think Apple’s going to be a serious gaming company, the difference between Apple and Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft is, Apple is not known for internal software development. So I don’t think you’re going to get an Apple Games Group like you have Microsoft Games Studios making games you’re certainly never going to approach the quality of games you get out of Nintendo. So Apple’s going to be solely dependent on third parties to support their console in the future” Michael Patcher, analyst, Webush Morgan Securities

Distorted-Loop speculate that the gaming Apple TV could use WiFi-tethered iPad, iPhone or iPod touch units for controllers, together with high-resolution gaming titles brought over from from the iPad.  They also reckon the iPhone 3GS’s processor – in overclocked form – could provide an excellent basis for an Apple TV updated in such a way.

Of course, Apple also have their own chipset teams beavering away at P.A. Semi, and since it doesn’t look like they’re working on the iPad SoC there’s no reason not to suspect that they might be cooking up a new ARM-based Apple TV chipset.  As for Patcher’s caution over third party titles, we reckon Apple could be legitimately confident about their appeal to the developer community given the runaway success of the App Store.

[via Distorted-Loop]

We know from our research at Interpret that, while consumers rank the ability to get content from their PC over to their TVs as highly desirable in terms of something they’d like to do, it’s actually pretty low on the list in terms of an activity they’re actually engaged in. That type of gap between aspiration and activity is the kind of vacuum that opportunity is made from. Apple didn’t invent this category of device, but they have focused on several areas in the Apple TV that makes what they’ve done stand out among the other players on the market. Yes, other vendors could have done the same but, as with the iPod, they didn’t.

1. Ownership of the network – You’ve heard me rant about this before but the home network is a mess. Once you talk about moving beyond the basic utilitarian function of sharing an internet connection, things break down pretty quickly. That’s why it’s important that Apple has taken ownership of the home network. You don’t need a Macintosh running 802.11n or an Airport that likewise runs that protocol to make things work. If you’re comfortable going it alone, that’s fine. Apple, however, does offer a complete end to end solution which they will support and take ownership of any issues that might result. I can’t downplay how important this is, consumers can buy knowing there’s a script they can adhere to and make stuff work.

2. Be True to the UI – There are two different user experiences vying for users attention, the two foot experience of the mouse and PC and the ten foot experience for consuming content in the living room. They key is that Apple TV understands the difference. Sure, you can hook up a Mac mini to your TV (or any other PC for that matter) but there’s still a disconnect in the experience. PCs were meant to be used with a mouse and keyboard and PC interfaces were designed for a two foot and not a ten foot experience. Yes, you can go back and forth between them in either Front Row or the Media Center shell in Windows but you’re still forced to move back and forth between two worlds that essentially collide. While that will be a perfectly fine approach for many folks, it’s far more seamless to the masses to let the PC stay where it is, and be used to create content, purchase new content and manage it overall (along with other traditional PC tasks best handled in the traditional manner) and use the ten foot UI for its best purpose, namely consuming content (whether that’s pictures, video or music) in the living room.

3. Keeping things in Sync and across platforms – That internal hard disk is really important. It means that not only can I download content directly and stream content from my PC but also keep things in sync which creates even better performance and that translates to greater user satisfaction.

4. Attention to detail – When it comes to consumer electronics, success or failure can often be measured in millimeters, both literally and figuratively. This is where Apple TV shines, in attention to detail. Most competing devices on the market forgo some of the basic details, like HDMI support. Apple understands these issues, so while HDMI might not be of super interest to everyone today, Apple knows that, among those folks, it’s a huge deal and will likely be super important to the mainstream folks buying in the near future. It’s attention to stuff like this that separates this device from the others.

5. The iTunes Eco-System –When you’re talking about protected content (which is of course needed for rentals) devices drive the users to the services, not the other way around. The fact is, this is the rental service that works with iTunes and therefore Apple TV, iPod and iPhone (rentals will only work with current generation iPods). That means it works on your TV, PC, phone and media player, exactly the type of content flow consumers are looking for. At the end of the day, if it doesn’t work with the iPod and iPhone, then for most consumers it might as well not exist.

For me, these are reasons enough to purchase but there’s more that Apple could do here. For one, they could open the platform up to third party developers. Imagine an Apple TV that could also serve up Netflix, Pandora and Hulu. Or an Apple TV that could tap into the iPhone/iPod Touch eco system and play games among other apps (Apple’s already shown how the iPod Touch or iPhone can be used with an Apple TV with gestures as a command and control mechanism, imagine those devices as game controllers as well). It’s would be great to see Apple officially allow third parties into the Apple TV eco-system and not only strengthen their position in the living room but provide more reasons for consumers to own both devices.

Despite the lack of recent updates to Apple TV, the integration of content and the TV screen is too important for Apple to ignore. I believe Apple is serious about the TV and we’ll see more from Apple TV in the future (although I don’t think Apple will get into the TV screen market as some have suggested). The ability to flow content to all the screens that are important to consumers is strategically important to every vendor in the personal technology space. It’s time for Apple TV to go from “hobby” to strategic product.

[Apple TV image courtesy Max Lewis]

In addition, iTunes playlists that incorporate Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts and Music Videos can now be accessed and played on the Apple TV. This adds to the introduction of Genius auto-playlist and on-the-fly playlist creation added in software update v2.2.

Users are now not limited to Apple’s official remote control, as the Apple TV can now learn other remotes – such as multifunction universal remotes and home automation controls – and be controlled by them. Finally, volume control has been added to the Music section of the streamer.

The update is free to install, and can be triggered by selecting Settings > General > Software Update from the main Apple TV menu. Alternatively, you can wait and automatic updates facility will flag up the new software. Be warned, though; any unofficial hacks or tweaks made to the Apple TV will be wiped in installing the new firmware.

[via TUAW]

It also tweaks Genius playlist creation in iTunes, so that choosing to start a new playlist does not stop the current song from playing.  To access the new Genius playlist functionality on the AppleTV, hold down the play/pause button on the remote control and a “Start Genius” option will appear on-screen (together with the ability to add the track to an on-the-go playlist).

The fix also addresses a security concern whereby a “maliciously crafted movie file may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution”.  If your AppleTV has not automatically updated (it checks weekly) you can manually trigger it by going to Settings > Update Software. 

[via TUAW]