Apple will finally integrate functionality into Apple TV that has been available from 3rd-party developers (AwkwardTV plug-ins directory) since May 20.
Back when the Apple TV was launched this March, AwkwardTV stated: “No company in the world can build all the features into a product that users might want right from the beginning. But given Apple’s proven track record of building great improvements right into the next version, we see enormous potential.” And boom! Indeed, Apple is following 3rd-party development closely.
Also, AwkwardTV stated back in March, “In this spirit, we hope that Apple will eventually release a developer kit, or a guide for embedded applications. Especially since the Apple TV stands on the shoulders of giants.” Again, the community was faster.
What will we see next?
June 1st, 2007 at 1:28 am
why not develop a feedbeat plugin for apple tv in order to browse feedbeat channels ?
see http://feedbeat.net for more informations
Alter Nativa Collectif
June 2nd, 2007 at 7:06 am
“the community was faster” is a bit of an overstatement. While I appreciate the good work the open source community has been doing, it’s very hard to argue that “A Series Of Tubes” rivals the application that Apple is about to release.
First, asot is slow. It takes a few minutes to download each flv file before it can be played. While this is not a limitation of the developers (but of the nature of flv containers), it is nonetheless a shitty user experience. Apple struck a deal with youtube to encode their videos in h.264, which can be streamed very nicely, much like the apple previews work now. This is what users want; not having to wait for videos to load.
Asot was, however; a very useful proof-of-concept application to show that yes, indeed the apple tv can show movies from youtube, and more importantly, play flv files. While this opens up a wide range of possibilities, it’s hardly a perfect end-user app.
Really, it comes down to what exactly the race is for. If the race is to show that yes, flv files can be played on the apple tv, then the community is faster. However, if the race is to provide usable features to users, well then asot has a long way to go.
I’m not saying asot is useless. Far from it, it opens up precedents for a lot of cool flv-related things.
But “let’s not start sucking each others dicks just yet”.
June 10th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Apple’s conduit will stream youtube in h.264 hi-res.
That’s not equivalent functionality, no matter how it’s spun.
The community is a success, and will continue to be, without any need for editorial gloating.
June 20th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
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