Prior to the most recent software update, doubleTwist AirSync could already stream media over Wi-Fi, but not to Apple devices. Instead, the software enabled Android devices to pipe music and video to either Microsoft’s Xbox 360 or Sony’s PlayStation 3 gaming consoles. In a recent video, I demonstrated how this worked by streaming video and music from a Samsung Galaxy Tab to my HDTV and Xbox 360. After updating my doubleTwist software this morning, I tested the Wi-Fi streaming to the same television, but this time through the AppleTV.

The application works as advertised and was simple to configure, as it only required one checkbox to enable the AirPlay streaming. Just like on my iPad 2, tapping a single button during music or video playback shoots media content to the AppleTV. Both the Android device and AppleTV must be on the same Wi-Fi network for the process to work. Video playback is smooth, and the sound quality of music files is quite good — no different from what I can tell when using an iPad or iPod touch. I did notice album art didn’t appear in my testing, which could either be a glitch on my system or functionality not yet supported by doubleTwist.

While Apple’s AirPlay is a proprietary protocol, the company does license its use for third-party applications and non-Apple hardware such as external speakers. Unless the doubleTwist folks reverse engineered the protocol — company founder Jon Lech Johansen is famous for cracking the encryption on DVDs and Apple’s FairPlay – doubleTwist users shouldn’t fear that Apple can “break” the functionality in the future. And while doubleTwist itself still shows some odd nuances and room for improvement, the software continues to get better as a more complete “iTunes for Android” solution.

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It was almost four years ago when we decided it was time to launch our online video blog, NewTeeVee. At the time, I wondered to myself how I could best understand the ongoing broadband-based video revolution in a way that would give me a window into the future – so I decided to do what was unthinkable at the time: I called Comcast and asked them to turn off my cable TV. And remember, these were the glory days of The Sopranos and Weeds, so it was a major sacrifice.

Nevertheless, my broadband sources were telling me that bandwidth-to-the-home was on an upswing and was seeking a killer app — and that video was most likely it. Large media companies were demonizing devices like Slingbox and bemoaning YouTube. These were signs that the big shift was about to happen. So just like that, I became one of the earliest cord cutters.

My cord-cutting adventure was helped along by a handful of services, which emerged as early players in the world of web video:

• MLB.com and Willow.tv took care of my need to watch live baseball and cricket respectively.
• Hulu, which despite my own personal skepticism became my best friend when I was recovering from my sickness.
• Netflix, which brought streaming (and DVD rentals) into my life.
• iTunes Video Store, which allowed me to purchase new television shows when I wanted.

This wasn’t a perfect solution, but it had one big upside – it freed me from the old school notion of television and allowed me to embrace the idea of “video” instead (read my essay — “There’s no new media. It’s all new consumption”.) In 2009, I compared Netflix to the iPod of broadband. When talking about the future of video, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings (speaking at our 2008 NTV Live conference) said:

We want to watch what we want, when we want, where we want, and discover the content how we want.

His comments made perfect sense to me – just as mobile phones freed me up from thinking about communications as a static activity and turned calling and texting into part of my daily life, ever-present broadband (wireless or wired) would eventually make video part of my daily media consumption.

Two years later, Netflix is one of the major drivers for folks to sign-up for broadband services. Some folks claim that at its peak, Netflix streaming videos account for about a fifth of the traffic flowing through North American broadband networks. According to Cisco Systems’ estimates, video now accounts for about 26 percent of total traffic on the Internet (and that’s not including P2P.)

In other words, my quixotic adventure is slowly becoming mainstream. According to NewTeeVee estimates, about 500,000 folks cut their basic cable subscription in the third quarter of 2010 alone.  Are they all cord cutters? Not sure, but there are many who are. It is common for me to run into folks who tell me that they get their video-fix from Hulu, iTunes, Netflix and a handful of other services.

Whether it is the onslaught of new services (HuluPlus), Netflix embedded in televisions and DVD players, briskly selling $99 AppleTV or growing interest in Roku and Boxee, these days cord cutters are a whole new demographic. Like me, they are foregoing their cable or satellite television subscriptions, and instead opting for broadband-delivered video, which they consume on their own terms, on devices of their own choosing and at a time of their convenience. Last month, NewTeeVee launched a new GigaOM TV video show, called — what else — Cord Cutters (You can follow the show via @cordcutters on Twitter and watch the two episodes we have released thus far).

In a few days, we are going to host our NewTeeVee Live conference, and cord cutting is one of the major themes. To me, it is clear as day that we are at the cusp of another major shift in the world of online video. If the first phase of online video was about user-generated content and enthusiasm for new, fresh voices, the future looks to reinvent the past and old TV. (If you would like to join us at the conference, click here to get those tickets. And also check out the schedule.)

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Aside from the new look, the updated video capabilities stand out as rumors have swirled around the Mini becoming the new Apple TV of the future. Recent talk indicated that the company might leverage the rebadged iOS4 platform for an Apple TV device, which would add tens of thousands of software apps to the living room. But with the new hardware, notably Nvidia’s graphics solution and the new HDMI port, the Mac Mini could easily function like an Apple TV through the use of iTunes and Front Row — two pieces of software that provide simple playback controls when paired with a wireless Apple remote.

The price tag has also changed — at $699, it’s $100 more expensive than the previous version. And as far as set-top boxes go, that’s expensive. But one that also functions as a full computer may appeal. Plus the quieter, lower-powered Boxee box has been delayed until at least November and Google is just getting started with Google TV, so Apple’s timing is fortuitous. While Boxee grapples with getting Adobe Flash 10.1 to work atop the ARM-based Nvidia Tegra 2 application processor, the x86-powered Mac Mini faces no such challenges. And Google TV won’t be available until the fall at the earliest, at which point we should begin to see television makers integrate it within HDTV sets. So the question is: Do you want a limited-function Apple TV or a high-powered desktop in your living room that can play easily play rich media now, or to wait for Boxee or Google TV?

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If you are returning from some sort of Internet exile, you might just be hearing that Apple is expected to announce a new tablet computer at an event in Cupertino on January 27. All we know for certain is that they are holding an event to showcase their “latest creation.” But there is an incredible amount of rumor and speculation about the company and the device that it is hard to ignore. I, for one, am obsessed, so I’m devoting an entire week to examining the possibilities.

Among the many questions about an Apple tablet are what software it will run, and what the user experience will be like. Before we dive into the specifics of what a tablet might offer, lets consider some history and the current state of Apple device operating systems.

History of the Apple OS

Apple first introduced Mac OS X in 2001 (though a server version was released earlier) after modifying the NeXT Computer operating system it had purchased in early 1999. Later in 2001, Apple introduced the iPod, which ran a different operating system powered in part by software from a company called Pixo, whose team included several former Apple Newton engineers. The Apple TV, running a device-specific variant of Mac OS X, shipped in March 2007, and the iPhone–also running a device-specific variant of Mac OS X–went on sale in June of the same year. Apple has released updates for all operating systems through software update and new devices, and major new versions of Mac OS X via box purchases. Major iPhone software updates are roughly on an annual release cycle, while major Mac OS X updates were once released on a similar schedule, but that has slowed in recent years.

Apple’s Snow Leopard version of Mac OS X was released in August 2009, and was touted by Apple as a performance update with few new features. My installations of Snow Leopard saved on average about 20GB of hard drive space, and seemed to make my computers run faster. But while these changes were great for my Macs, most desktop and laptop computers had plenty of memory and storage to run Mac OS X before Snow Leopard was introduced. The same improvements, however, would make a huge difference for devices like the iPhone and Apple TV, where memory and storage are more constrained and precious, and fixed for a particular model.

It is now a misnomer to refer to the operating system as “Mac OS X,” which is really just the version that runs on the Macintosh line of computers. “OS X,” however, runs on Macs as well as iPhones and Apple TVs. So all of Apple’s current devices, except non-touch iPods (and maybe those!), run OS X: Mac OS X, iPhone OS X, and Apple TV OS X (iSlate OS X?). Of course there are differences, most obviously in user interface and input method: keyboard and mouse for the Mac, touch for the iPhone, and remote control for Apple TV. Apple excels at creating user interfaces that are appropriate for these different input methods and other parameters such as viewing distance. One of the great things about OS X is its modularity: variants can rather easily be optimized for their target devices.

Its hard to imagine a scenario in which the Apple tablet won’t run OS X. But which OS X? The same version used in desktop and laptops, or the one used for iPhones? After all, won’t the tablet simply be a big iPod touch? Or will it be another operating system altogether?

Tablet OS X

The iPhone OS has a touch interface, as the tablet most certainly will, and is thus the most likely of the existing operating systems to be used in the new device. But iPhone apps–those built by Apple and third-party developers–are specifically designed to run on the iPhone’s 480×320 pixel resolution. Ideally, app developers won’t have to create 2 versions of their apps: one for the iPhone and one for the tablet. Which means other, more low-level changes to the iPhone OS would be required. Apps will need a form of UI intelligence to recognize which device it is being displayed on, then render a version appropriate for that device.

The tablet could run iPhone apps inside smaller windows, turning current iPhone apps into something like Dashboard widgets, but this doesn’t strike me as very elegant–or very Apple-like. Indeed, there is some evidence that a small group of select app developers has been asked to create versions of their apps for a larger resolution display, but we don’t know if these are new, single versions that work on both screen sizes, or if they are new, secondary versions of the apps that run only on the larger screen.

The team working on the Apple tablet likely began creating the user experience for the new device with a blank sheet of paper. Simply trying to scale the iPhone interface would be too limiting, and wouldn’t result in the optimum user experience. Yet there is a clear business need to support the app development community and leverage to tremendous success of the iTunes App Store. There just aren’t any easy answers to this problem.

Ultimately, I expect Apple to create a third operating system (after Mac and iPhone, not including Apple TV or iPod since they don’t support app development) for the new tablet. It will be based on OS X, but will have an entirely new user interface that is optimized for the screen size and purpose of the device. Apple’s developer tools will also be updated to include support for the new tablet, including a Mac-based emulator, allowing developers to use XCode, Interface Builder and other tools to support all of Apple’s product lines. The iPhone OS will be updated to support new app parameters so that apps can be easily updated to run on both devices. Perhaps on the 27th but likely later, the Apple TV will get a similar update to support the iTunes App Store.

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It is, however, possible to customize your Apple TV with unauthorized third party software (much like a jailbreak for iPhones/iPod touches) to transform it into a fantastic cheap media player (with certain limitations).

Suitable For Your Needs?

Now I have a Mac mini downstairs connected to my HDTV with EyeTV USB tuners and I think this is the ideal setup. However, upstairs in my bedroom I have an old SD TV that was paired up with an old HP laptop running windows with XBMC. The HP’s lack of stability finally became too frustrating, so after researching my options, I spent AU$330 (~US$276) on an Apple TV box and put XBMC on it.

My SD TV has component plugs so Apple TV works fine with it, and I’ve not had one hiccup while streaming .avi files from my file server over my wireless network. Its important to note, however, that some 720p HD playback can be a bit jerky, due to XBMC not having hardware acceleration support — but if you’re like me and wouldn’t want to watch 720p downscaled this doesn’t matter. I’ve finally got a totally stable (and completely silent) wireless TV streamer upstairs that I can control with my iPhone.

Here’s a complete guide on how to load XBMC and Boxee on to your Apple TV to make it much more useful.

Required Tools

*A USB Memory stick with at least 512MB that can be formatted.
*A PowerPC or Intel Mac. The procedure can also be done from a windows box, but since this is TheAppleBlog, this guide is exclusive to Macs.
*An AppleTV device with firmware version 2.3 (the most current at the time of this writing).

Preparing

Head over to http://code.google.com/p/atvusb-creator/ and download the OSX version of the atvusb-creator. This will let you boot your Apple TV from the USB stick and install the required patches to your device.

First, you should remove all USB drives from your computer as a safety precaution to prevent accidentally picking the wrong USB device to create your patchstick. Insert your empty USB stick and run atvusb-creator.app:

The default options as above are suitable for most, so you can go ahead and click the “Create Using ->” button (assuming your usb pathstick is the only usb drive connected as recommended). This will partition and format the patchstick and then copy all the required files to it. With this done, it’s time to go to your Apple TV.

Patching Apple TV

Unplug the power cable from your Apple TV and put the USB stick in the port at the back.

Plug your Apple TV back in and watch the custom Linux OS do its work. This will take a few minutes and you will see lots of lines of text:

When you see the text “Please unplug your Apple TV to reboot/reset the device” you can unplug your USB stick and reset. When it boots up again, you will now see a slightly altered menu:

You now have both XBMC and Boxee installed on your Apple TV — however its best to update your system to the latest releases. From the new XBMC/Boxee menu on the left, go into the “Updates” menu on the right. Then select the Launcher 3.1 download:

This will be a quick download and update process. You should then also turn off Apple TV’s ability to automatically update itself. This is to prevent any new updates from Apple breaking your ability to use XBMC or Boxee. This can be done in the “Settings” menu by toggling the “ATV OS Update Enabled” option to “No”:

You can then download the latest stable release of XBMC and/or Boxee in the newly renamed “Downloads” menu. The standard Apple TV Remote works fine in both XBMC and Boxee. There are also a number of iPhone/iPod touch apps that let you control these directly.

Running the Latest Bleeding Edge XBMC

If you’re brave (or some may say foolish), you can also run the latest nightly builds of XBMC. To do this you’ll need to telnet into your Apple TV and set a preference via the command line to make this option appear in Launcher’s Downloads menu. From a command line tool (such as Terminal that comes with OSX) type:

ssh frontrow@appletv.local

When prompted for a password, enter frontrow and then type:

defaults write com.teamxbmc.xbmclauncher XBMCAdditionalDownloadPlistURLs -array http://www.sshcs.com/xbmc/Info.asp

This will then enable the option in Launcher to download a latest nightly build of XBMC:

Restoring to Factory Settings

If you want to restore your Apple TV to its vanilla settings, simply follow these steps. From a command line tool type:

ssh frontrow@appletv.local

When prompted for a password, enter frontrow and then type:

sudo rm -rf /Applications/{Boxee,XBMC}.app/
sudo rm -rf /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/PlugIns/XBMCLauncher.frappliance/
rm -rf /Users/frontrow/Library/Application Support/{BOXEE,XBMC}/
sudo reboot

It’s a shame Apple doesn’t seem interested in unlocking the power of their home media device themselves, but at least doing it on your own isn’t as difficult as you might expect.

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Pandora and RadioTime

The Pandora feature is absolutely brilliant. I had a chance to play with it for a while on Tuesday; it is the full Pandora experience on a 10-foot interface. You can log in to your account, select any of your channels, give a thumbs up or down, skip a song, and even create a new channel. I cannot begin to tell you how cool it is to listen to Pandora on my home theater sound system with the song information displayed on the big-screen TV, all thanks to boxee on the Apple TV. Driving this software with the free boxee remote iPhone app just makes it that much sweeter. Pandora on Apple TV is amazing.

The CTO of Pandora, Tom Conrad, got on stage at the meetup to talk about how excited his company was to be bringing their Internet radio service to the platform. You can get even more Internet radio by using the RadioTime application, finished just in time for the release, to listen to over 100,000 terrestrial radio stations. This app cleverly picks up your location by your IP address and presents you with a list of local stations. I found several popular FM stations (but not all of them) in the Denver area.

Developers, Start Your Engines!

The boxee API has big implications. The Pandora Radio service was built using it, and developers with Python and XML skills can build boxee apps with full control over the UI and the metadata for media playback. BoxeeHQ also released a PBS application in conjunction with the alpha release. This app updates every 30 minutes to pick up PBS shows as they’re added to the web site for viewing. If the excellent Pandora and PBS apps are any indication, we can look forward to really well-done add-ons for boxee.

Can We Get Hulu, Please?

The XUL-based framework for getting web content is built on the same technology as the Firefox browser. This should allow boxee to access just about any web-based video content, even Hulu’s RSS feeds. When asked about full Hulu support returning to boxee, Avner was noncommittal, but expressed hope that the pressures that prevented Hulu from working with boxee would fade over time. In contrast, ABC is working closely with boxee to bring their content to the media center software.

Will boxee Ever Reach Beta?

During the meetup, Avner also discussed some of what we can expect to see in the beta release. A lot of time was spent on the customizable home screen, which will allow you to arrange your favorite channels and content for quick access. There will also be more control over finding and adding friends, as well as over how you share what you’re watching with them.

I’m So Excited, and I Just Can’t Hide It

With apologies to the Pointer Sisters, I am about to lose control and I think I like it. Boxee just keeps getting better and better. The new radio features and the promise of the API and XUL-based framework have me really looking forward to the beta releases and an eventual 1.0 version. I am also fascinated by the evolution of the business plan. Avner was very sincere when he said that boxee is agnostic to the business model of their content partners — they just want to bring more people to content providers that are looking for more viewers. Netflix is one business model (access to content with a paid subscription) and ABC is another (free content with inline ads). I’m fascinated to see how this all works out.

If you watch the video loop of the presentation, be sure to hang around until they do the stupid human tricks contest at the end so you can watch the beatboxing performance that won the Mac mini giveaway.

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Sometime between last night and this morning, Apple released a minor update to the Apple TV. The new software version is 2.3.1 and includes a new network test function and other fixes that haven’t been listed by Apple as of this time. The update, just like all previous updates, disables Boxee and other hacks, but these are easily restored by running the patchstick again (more notes on that at the end).

When you run the network test, it will ask if you’ve been having trouble with slow downloads from the iTunes store. You can answer Yes or No to this question and it will still proceed to run the test. It then asks you what download speeds you expect to get from your Internet connection and begins a download test, probably similar to the various speed tests available on the web that simply download a file of a known size and then track how long it takes to complete the download. The test is a little dissatisfying because it doesn’t tell you anything — all the information from the test is sent to Apple and you never know what kind of download speeds you were seeing.

Restoring Boxee was as simple as running the patchstick update again. I had an additional problem on my own Apple TV in that my external USB drive wasn’t seen after the update. I was hoping that a quick reinstall of nitoTV would fix everything, but the USB drive was still not showing up when I ran “diskutil list” from the command line. I rather like having a 1TB Apple TV, so I’m off to restore the box from factory settings and make sure everything is working. I’ll let you know what happens in the comments below.

That said, I wouldn’t let my experience scare you away from the update. The new network test will be useful for anyone that is experiencing problems with downloading purchased or rented content from the iTunes store and there may be other fixes that Apple hasn’t announced yet. Some users on other forums are reporting improved responsiveness on the iPhone Remote app, which would be a welcome benefit.

Let me know how your upgrade goes in the comments.

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Boxee is telling their Mac users to get LOST — that is, they are telling them that they can watch the hit show on their Mac.

Boxee is releasing a new update for their Mac version today that allows users to stream content from ABC. The release is timed to coincide with the season premier of LOST, which will be available through ABC.com the day following the broadcast. The Apple TV, Windows, and Linux updates are in the works. I’m not-so-secretly pleased to see this update out on the Mac platform first.

I had a chance to ask the boxee team for a quick response on why support for ABC is coming to the Mac before all those other guys. If you are a regular visitor to TheAppleBlog, you will not be shocked to see that the team at boxee just likes the Mac. And I say, why shouldn’t they?
 Here are the four reasons that they said Mac people are getting the ABC love first…

1. Consistent hardware – The Mac is the easiest to program for because they know exactly what kind of hardware people are on.
2. Macs work well with (and often come with) remotes.
3. Half of boxee users are using boxee in conjunction with their big screen TV and an AppleTV. Since the majority of their users are on Mac, that was the platform they decided to launch ABC with (and the platform they initially launched boxee on back in June).
4. Last, but not least, they’re all on Mac and they like Apple products.

We have been encouraging people to try out boxee on their Mac or AppleTV, but I am pleasantly surprised to learn that half or more of their users are on an Apple product. Now if we could just get Apple to sit up and notice that boxee is the perfect reason to buy a Mac mini, maybe they would get around to updating the graphics chip after three whole pickin’ years with the GMA950.

Of course, adding more streaming media isn’t all that boxee has been up to lately. They received a lot of recognition at CES and have started receiving coverage at major news outlets like the New York Times.  There’s been some interest in getting boxee onto a specialized media player device that would be easier to set up than hacking your AppleTV. Even if the patchstick procedure is pretty straightforward for the technically literate, it’s certainly not something my parents would ever do.

You can sign up to join the public alpha test at boxee.tv.

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Meanwhile, over on TorrentFreak’s list of Top BitTorrented movies, The Dark Knight still reigns, but he’s joined by 007, two people who want to make a porno and a funny House Bunny (full list after the jump).

NOTE:
TorrentFreak data is based on http downloads of .torrent files from various BitTorrent sites. The data is collected by TorrentFreak and is for informational and educational reference only. Currently both DVDrips, DVD Screeners and R5 rips are counted. The “back” designation means that the title was in the list before and has reappeared, possibly in a new format.

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Today, boxee is releasing their latest alpha build for the flexible media player. The big news for this release is the tantalizing Netflix support and new custom interfaces for various channels like Hulu, CNN, Flickr, Picasa, and YouTube. There are a few new content sources as well.

Netflix takes center stage for this release at the request of users. The boxee team ran a survey just two weeks ago and the results put Netflix out in front as the most requested new addition to the media center app. The initial implementation for the desktop seems to be pretty complete even at this early stage. You can browse content available in Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” category, add items to your Instant Queue, and play the streaming content. Here’s a couple shots to tide you over until you can download and install for yourself.

Browse through your own Instant Queue

See details on selected items

Search Netflix content using an on-screen keyboard

Because Netflix uses a subscription model that makes instant content available to their DVD rental customers, there is an abundance of older “catalog” titles. New release movies are generally not available through Netflix Instant Play. TV shows are the exception to this rule as you can find several current season shows from CBS and NBC on Netflix. In some cases, the content on Netflix is actually better than what you can find elsewhere. For example, Hulu (in which NBC is a primary investor) only puts up the 5 most recent episodes of Heroes on their own streaming web site. Netflix has the full season available from the season premier to the latest episode.

The Netflix support is available for those that have an active Netflix subscription. Support for Apple TV is being worked on, but the limited hardware power of the Apple TV created some difficulty.

The other big change in this release is that boxee now has custom on-screen interfaces for certain content channels including Hulu, CNN, Flickr, Picasa, and YouTube. These custom looks go beyond simple skinning and provide a way to tap into the unique options of each underlying service. In this shot of the CNN interface, you can see the top stories on the site, what’s most popular, staff picks or browse by CNN’s sections.

The custom interfaces are intended to provide a proof of concept for the possibilities for developers to extend boxee. The CNN and Hulu screens show a lot of promise for what is possible.

The new content sources in this release are Netflix, The WB, The Boston Globe’s Big Picture Blog (an incredible source of photos from around the world), and MTVMusic. If you check the results of the boxee user survey, you wil see that there are a lot more sources planned that might appear in future releases. Personally, I really want to see Pandora radio next.

I’m a little disappointed that Netflix streaming isn’t available on the Apple TV just yet, but apparently the hardware requirements for Silverlight (what Netflix uses from streaming) are about double the specs of the Apple TV. I’ve noticed some minor glitches with Hulu streaming but the boxee team is working hard to improve streaming performance on the Apple TV and I’ve seen it improve with each release.

After getting past the envy my Apple TV feels for my MacBook at having Netflix content, I am really impressed with this release. I understand that features are still being added during this alpha phase, but I am surprised at how quickly new content is being added. Only two weeks after asking users for feedback, the top request is implemented along with other features, new content, and bug fixes. With a such a solid team of developers that care about their users and having just raised $4 million in new funding, I am really looking forward to seeing what will come next from the boxee team.

If you want you’d like an invite to boxee, just go sign up at boxee.tv/theappleblog and boxee will send you an invite in the next few days to use the boxee service!

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