Sunday, March 27, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
My first week with apple TV
I can’t remember exactly how I became aware that apple had a new OS for the iPhone. Maybe it was email. Anyway I read about it and watched a promotional video. I love those promotional videos. They make the world seem like such a nice place. No one ever has any problems, at all, getting things to work!
Two new features really attracted my attention. The iPhone can now be a Personal Hot Spot. So now anywhere I have the AT&T 3G signal I can wirelessly connect my laptop thru my iPhone to the internet. That is great for getting information when not in a coffee shop. In addition, I tried skype on the laptop thru the iPhone and found it works fine. I am excited that I can access the internet from lots more places.
To learn how to enable the Hot Spot on the iPhone I had a 1.5 hour chat with a support personal at AT&T. He was very helpful but now I can remember or imagine what we talked about. It is very simple to turn on the iPhone Hot Spot. Got to settings and turn it on!
The second feature is enhanced airplay with Apple TV. I have been curious about apple TV for years so this finally pushed me over the edge. I went to Fry’s and got one. It cost 99.00 plus tax. I consider that a very affordable price. I was with my friend Jack Swartz, co-founder of Maxtor, at the time and we took it out of the box and looked at it after lunch.
The apple TV box is about the size of two packs of cigarettes. There is not an AC adapter: it takes AC directly. The AC input is a small, two pronged connector. For connection to the HDTV it has one HDMI cable. It comes with a small silver remote controller. (However, it can also “learn” to use the remote controller you already have with your TV, and you can use your iPhone as a remote). The apple TV box is sort of like a cable TV box or modem. The apple TV gets its input from the internet. And with airplay it gets its input from your iPhone.
I had a lot of trouble getting the apple TV to work properly and am still having problems. I think the problem is my home network internet / wireless setup is not reliable. I went around in circles for five hours with things sort of working, working, and not working. I am not going to talk about the problems I had. When it works is like you are in heaven.
I got a book, over the internet, on the apple TV, The Apple TV a pocket guide. It was out of date. I got a second edition. It had the same out of date information. I read as much as I could find on the internet about the apple TV. I read about airplay. I even read and re-read the little black book that came with my apple TV. I read everything I could find about airplay, and about using the iPhone as a remote (see Remote app)
If you have an apple TV, I would like to talk to you about your experiences. If you are thinking of getting one, I highly recommend it. But make sure you have a reliable home network first. If you get one and want help to install or learn how to use it, give me a call. If you have one and weird things keep happening, give me a call. One funny moment in all of this was when after five hours of frustration, a trip to the apple store, and five more hours of frustration, I re-read the apple TV black booklet and saw the line: For every problem, there is a simple solution. ( Really!?)
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Apple TV and AirPlay
This blog is a place for me to post links that I find about apple TV, airPlay, iTunes, iPhone and remote app.
I got an apple TV box March 22, 2011 and am thrilled with the promise it holds.
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