Welcome to the site. Our most popular posts are a series of video tutorials on How To Use Your Mac As A Server. We also answer your Mac questions. Just Ask FMB Feel free subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

The Apple TV has seen a pretty topsy-turvy ride through its’ existence. It was first announced at a special press conference in San Francisco, September 12th, 2006, by the man Steve Jobs himself. Skip to January of the following year and at Macworld it was announced that pre-orders for Apple TV would be taken, and that the products would be shipped out March 21, 2007.

The anticipation was astounding. People anxiously waited for the chance to see what Apple had to offer in their living rooms. When opening the box, people were left with sighs and puzzled faces, instead of shouts of joy and smiles. Being released to the casual market, it was quite a pain for the “regular Joe” to get everything setup and working. You had to establish a network to your PC, which most people didn’t want to bother dealing with. Once you got the connection established, it was a bit underwhelming. The selection of movies available to rent was marginal compared to most rental services. When you found a movie you wanted, the picture was less than stunning, and surround sound didnt work. The Apple TV was in crisis alert, and it didn’t look to be getting any better.

Fast forward to January 2008, at the MacWorld conference, where the Apple TV had just been announced one year prior. At this event it would be announced that Apple TV would be getting a significant overhaul; Apple 2.0. All kinds of new features would be announced for the service, and it looked like Apple TV had a glimmer of hope left. Apple TV could now work independently, without having to be networked to your PC, but the option would still be available if you desired. It was promised that the movie catalog would jump to 1,000 titles by the end of February. HD movies would now look crisper and Dolby Surround Sound would now be available to systems with the capability. On top of all of these new features, it was announced that Apple TV would see a price drop of $70, resting at $229 for its’ 40 GB model, and $329 for the 160 GB model.

So it’s been a little more than a month since 2.0’s release, and the reviews are pouring in for the update. Christopher Breen of MacWorld shares his thoughts on the update, “If you’ve stayed away in the past because of the Apple TV’s dependence on your computer, you wanted HD video and 5.1 sound and couldn’t have it, or you simply couldn’t imagine why you’d need another box tethered to your TV, it’s time for a stern rethink. This is an important and useful piece of technology.”

Gary Krakow, of TheStreet.com shares his thoughts on Apple TV, “Downloading and watching recent movies — in high-definition, from the comfort of your living room — is a stupendous experience. It could become habit-forming (exactly what Apple probably has in mind.)”

It looks as though Apple has made the improvements that it needed to appeal to the casual market. Let’s just see if it was a big enough change to peak the interest of doubters since its’ shaky launch in 2007.

Posted in iPod |