Ian Morris
Ian Morris loves televisions so much he's been banned from wedding chapels in Las Vegas for trying to marry them. When he's not romancing technology, he can be found watching American TV. Ian likes roast potatoes, but he doesn't like digital rights management.
Next: Unlimited broadband isn't dead
Previous: A brilliant way to make money
Thursday 13 March 2008, 3:26pm
Steve Jobs is right, Apple TV is a failure
There have been some reports in the press recently that Steve Jobs considers Apple TV to have been something of a failure. I say he's totally correct.
Despite its current high level of fail, there are many promising aspects to Apple TV that give me some hope for the future. The machine itself is stylish, works well and is, of course, easy to use. It's powerful enough to handle 720p -- which is more than enough for Internet-derived content, for the time being.
The problem is, once again, that Apple refuses to accept the world doesn't begin and end with QuickTime and the iTunes Store. Whether or not his proprietaryness Lord Jobs likes to admit it or not, there's oodles of video online, most of it encoded in DivX, XviD or H.264/x264. None of these formats would present a massive problem for Apple TV -- even the HD variants. So why doesn't the hardware support them?
I could live with using iTunes -- a program I really hate with every fibre of my being -- if I was allowed to import all the other media on my computer and play it through Apple TV, without first hacking the whole thing.
The other problem in the UK is that there are no movie downloads or rentals available. That's totally inexcusable, because Microsoft has managed it for the Xbox 360 -- and, I might add, allowed DivX support. So the problem clearly isn't the licencing, it's the conditions Jobs Inc places on the media it hosts. Pull your finger out Steve, we expect better.
Articles by Ian Morris
TiVo to make triumphant return to UK with Virgin Media
Crave You might think you know what a PVR is, but in the UK we're really stuck in the past with our digital recording antics. Happily, Virgin Media is bringing TiVo back
Terminator Salvation Blu-ray: The movie isn't the worst thing on this disc
Crave This weekend, we watched Terminator Salvation, which wasn't as bad as we were expecting, but we certainly didn't enjoy the process of persuading the disc to play
How to survive a zombie attack using consumer electronics
Photo Like it or not, zombies are coming and probably sooner than you think. Good news though -- we all have tech in our homes that can be used to defeat them, so let's find out how
Technology that's totally impossible
Photo Many things in this world don't make any sense. The popularity of Miley Cirus is one pertinent example, but some technology is so bizarre that we refuse to believe in it
Seesmic Desktop for Windows: Better for Twitter than TweetDeck?
Crave This weekend Seesmic Desktop for Windows was released. We rushed to download our copy -- we've had enough of Adobe Air munching through our system memory
BBC: We may do 1080p on Freeview HD
Crave We've been trying to find out which format BBC HD would use on Freeview for some time now -- we were surprised to learn the service could use 1080p
Philips Cinema 21:9 (56PFL9954H/12)
Review If you're a movie lover with deep pockets, the Philips Cinema 21:9 is unlikely to disappoint, offering a truly immersive way to enjoy films shot in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio in the comfort of your couch. Its great picture quality and fantastic audio are also complemented by a lovely design and plenty of features
Runco LED projectors Q-750i and Q-750d: Almost certainly excellent, but costly
Crave We love video projectors for watching movies, but the problem is those lamps, which don't generally last very long and cost loads to replace. Now Runco thinks it has a solution, albeit a pricey one
