Apple TV was started back in 2007 but it did not gain much traction. The next development makes this small Apple TV box even smaller. Apple says it is; “silent, cool and tiny”. Read more on this small development and decide if it will be getting any more attention than your current cable box.

Apple created the first Apple TV set-box three years ago. It was not all that popular, as even the CEO of Apple confessed. Now, they are looking to revive it. The price was cut, so this must be an important project to have been around for three years. The price was $229 but now it is down to $99 dollars. That is a cut worthy of a new look.

This small box is called a “digital media receiver”. It routes a high definition signal to an equivalent monitor or television. It is wired directly to the set. The difference with the tiny Apple TV box is that it can receive messages wirelessly. There is no surprise as to what type of device it can receive signals from. The Apple iPad is one such device. It can send a signal to the Apple TV box. This means you can download a video to your iPad and watch it on your high definition TV immediately. If you have Netflix account, they just created a new iPhone app that you may be able to use with your iPad also.

The people at Apple are attempting to rewrite the rules of TV. Television has long been the domain of either news companies or the cable companies. If Apple has success with their small Apple TV box, it will be a game-changer. It will begin the age of merging a technology company with a televison service.

The update that is coming to the new iOS 4 operating system from Apple will enable users to share videos. It will be similar to a facebook or diaspora application; shareable. It will be used across all the devices that Apple currently makes. The name of the new program is called Airplay and works with a single tap. Just enter the program, select a video, and view it on a regular television. It does not get much easier than that.

What is interesting is that Apple has recently been in talks with Fox to rent TV shows. The price negotiated was ninety nine cents per show. The shows would be available within twenty four hours and have no commercials. The avenue for getting the television programs would be the iTunes store. Paying only for those shows you want to see is attractive, but searching for them may end up being more hassle than heaven. Amazon and Netflix already offer up their own menus that are easy to search through. The future will tell if the Apple TV and the talks with Fox will be agreeable with the public. Remember, this is a “rent” and not a buy. Recording of television shows may be prohibited, until the final details are hammered out.

Apple is indicating they are not taking their Apple TV project seriously. They acknowledge that the cable TV companies pretty much have the television wrapped up as a media channel. Thanks to different television standards, the same thing will be true for other countries as well. This may be news now, but look for one of two things in the near future. Look for a new way of looking at television with Apple TV, or the same old things you have been used to. Look for Apple TV to come out at the end of this month.

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