Interested in trying out a cool media center for use with your Apple TV? Cult of Mac readers are invited to receive expedited applications for testing the alpha release of Boxee, a music, video and picture management solution to let your Apple TV play practically any DRM-free multimedia file. Follow this link to receive your alpha testing invitation.
Boxee for (Intel based) Mac works on OS X 10.4 (Tiger) and 10.5 (Leopard). Boxee for Linux is supported on Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) or 8.04 (Hardy Heron) x86 (not x86_64) operating systems. The Boxee patch works with the 2.2 update to Apple TV, but remember to install the update before you install the Boxee patch.
Detailed instructions for installing the Boxee patch after the jump.
Boxee integrates with your Apple TV via a flash drive that, if not configured as “bootable” out of the box, at least must be able to be made so. You don’t have to do that yourself, the Boxee patch creator will handle it. Keep in mind these notes from the people at boxee.tv: no need to format the flash drive, the creator takes care of that. A 1gb thumb drive is more than enough. smaller will work too (even a 256mb should work). The unit MUST support being made bootable. The creator will take care of enabling the flag, but there are some units that might not work. To quote Scott Davilla (the creator creator) on this, “even same brand units may not have the same capabilities, geometry, etc. If the stick does not work, get a another one.”
Step 1
Download the ATVUSB-Creator.
Step 2
Insert a “bootable” USB drive into your Mac.
Step 3
Run the ATVUSB-Creator and select your Apple TV version number (e.g., 2.1) and Boxee for Mac.
Step 4
Remove the USB drive and plug it into your Apple TV.
Step 5
Power on your AppleTV. The patchstick will run the ATV bootloader.
Step 6
After the bootloader finishes, remove the thumb drive from your AppleTV.
Step 7
Restart your AppleTV
Step 8
Click Boxee on the main menu. Then select update (this will download Boxee from the Internet).
Step 10
Once Boxee is done installing, restart your AppleTV.
Step 11
Click Boxee, and then select Boxee in the sub-menu to start the interface.
Written by Lonnie Lazar on October 6th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Hardware Hacks and Media and News and Software and Web.
Apple published the 2.2 update for Apple TV users last night and the biggest news may be that users will now be able to turn the device off from within the control panel.
A major complaint about Apple TV has been that the thing runs extremely hot, in addition to the fact that even when not in use, it sits there burning kilowatts of energy, very much at odds with the company’s aspirations to environmental friendliness.
Now, finally, users may put the device into “Standby” mode by pressing the “Play/Pause” button for about 3 seconds from the Main menu. There is also a “Standby” option accessible from an interior menu that I can’t mention here because WordPress doesn’t like the word. But it rhymes with vettings.
As expected, US Apple TV users can now buy HD TV shows directly from iTunes. The latest update also lets users make music video playlists from their favorite songs and Genius can be used with Apple TV, as long as users activate Genius in iTunes and sync with their device.
See all the update features here.
Written by Lonnie Lazar on October 3rd, 2008 with no comments.
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Startup 280 North on Thursday released a new online programming language that promises to bring Mac-like software to the web.
Called Cappuccino, the programing language will allow developers to bring the look and feel of Mac OS X desktop apps to online apps. 280 North promises that online apps will have drag ‘n drop, copy and paste, undo and redo, and document saving functionality simply by pointing your browser at a URL.
A major trend in the development of Web 2.0 functionality is toward applications that work within your browser as opposed to relying on desktop programs that live on your hard drive and use up CPU resources every time you call on them. Cappuccino will let designers create apps like 280 Slides, the highly regarded presentation application the 280 North shop released in June to showcase the framework’s robust capabilities.
Unlike the Cocoa-based native application programming environment for Mac OS X, Cappuccino doesn’t expect its developers to know any HTML, CSS, and JavaScript - the languages used traditionally for standards-based web development. Cappuccino’s Objective-J works in every major browser, is completely extendable and comes with useful language features not available in JavaScript.
280 North co-founder Ross Boucher says “Cappuccino is an attempt to restore control of the language and basic building blocks of web development to the developers” and is quick to point out that it’s not about building web pages. “Cappuccino is about building applications - think 280 Slides, GMail, Meebo,” he says. “We believe the future of the core technologies of the web should not be in the hands of a select minority and that no one company [should] control the destiny of any other.”
Cappuccino is being released as open source software under the lesser general public license which Boucher and his colleagues hope will build a strong open source community around the development platform. “We believe in the importance of getting the entire community involved, so that we can experiment and move forward at our own pace.”
In addition to the 280 Slides site, Cappuccino developers have a Flickr Photo Demo and a Puzzle Demo to showcase the platform’s capabilities.
Written by Lonnie Lazar on September 4th, 2008 with no comments.
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Or maybe, in the best Super Hero tradition, it started out that way.
Written by Lonnie Lazar on September 2nd, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Humor and Software and Web.
The hilariously named VPILF.com — a site devoted to Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin — is made on a Mac, which is excuse enough to mention it here.
More importantly, Palin supports the teaching of creationism in public schools, according to Wired.com.
Written by Leander Kahney on August 29th, 2008 with no comments.
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