Apple TV: an elegant bridge between the computer and HDTV

Apple TV is the bridge between the computer and the HDTV in the house. Music, photos and videos stored in iTunes library and the computer can be posted on the family TV.

The second generation of Apple TV was launched recently, but the small unit is far from the gadget's most prominent manufacturer of California. This strange experiment by Steve Jobs and his friends did indeed receive a fraction of the promotion and attention dedicated to iPhone, iPod, iPad.

Apple TV ($ 119) is the bridge between the computer and the HDTV in the house. Music, photos and videos stored in iTunes library and the computer can be posted on the family TV.

You can rent new films on iTunes, Netflix watch programs, browse YouTube videos and stream content from Internet radio. All these activities are available from friendly menus and screens using a joystick super slim typical of Apple.

As is the case with most Apple products, Apple TV is very easy to install. Just plug the little gadget into a power outlet, connect the HDMI cable to connect the camera to the TV (the cable is unfortunately not included) and follow the instructions on the screen to connect it to the network Wireless home. The new Apple TV is only compatible HDTVs. The old TV with no HDMI inputs are not allowed in this exclusive club. To take full advantage of Apple TV, use iTunes and activate sharing between computer and device on the home network.
EASY TO INSTALL

Apple TV delivers the goods promised. Looking for music, photos and videos in the personal library reproduces the experience and look pleasant and familiar Apple products. A free, downloadable application for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad can also use these gadgets for Apple TV remotely. Good thinking.

The shows and movies streamed from iTunes, Netflix and even YouTube are displayed very well. By cons, rent from Apple TV only works for movies, thus excluding the television.

Of course, rival products are the same things that Apple TV and several of these devices are more versatile and offer more features than Apple. By cons, few (if any) of these gadgets are as simple to install and are also inviting Apple TV.

For all consumers living in ecstasy within the Apple ecosystem, Apple TV is a convenient and elegant to transfer the contents of the computer or iPhone to TV.

Price: $ 119. More information at www.apple.com/appletv/

Verdict: Apple TV does not offer the same flexibility as other gadgets designed for viewing content from the PC to the TV, but the product is very easy to install, use, and allows the leasing of contents iTunes for viewing directly on an HDTV. Indispensable? No. Super? Yes.

Apple vs. Google: The MacBook Air bury the project Chrome OS

Last year, Google introduced Chrome project OS, an operating system designed for netbooks or tablets. Its particularity is to be very lightweight because it consists essentially of a Web browser. Need more applications, file managers, all uses are in line with the various services that are already using the Internet.

The rationale of Chrome OS is to get rid of all unnecessary features of a traditional operating system to boot in seconds, have a very fast computer, available immediately. For now it remains a draft.

Except that this great company has just taken a big hit club. This week, Apple released the MacBook Air and after initial tests, it starts in 15 seconds, it wakes up instantly, and the system, as applications are available immediately.

The reason for this feat: essentially abandoning the hard disk. By working only with Flash memory, the ultrathin laptop gives a boost to phenomenal Mac OS X, the operating system of the apple. Beyond that, the rest of the components (RAM, processor, graphics card) are not exceptional, they are the same found in all brands of netbooks.

Just watch the video presentation of Chrome OS to see that all the promises of this software have already been held with the MacBook Air. And this while keeping a true and complete operating system performance (Snow Leopard) accompanied by a stupid browser will fill at least the same features as Chrome OS.



In short, Apple has done with a computer today that Google wants to do with software in the future.

All PC makers will eventually imitate Apple and the next two years, hard drives are certainly the minority on laptops. The performance will then have nothing to do with those we know today. So, Chrome OS bound to happen after the battle. It will no longer be a fast and powerful focus on the web, but a system crippled and incomplete because only confined to the web.

His sole interest would be to install it on older machines, but it is not ambition that Google plans to distribute its system as among manufacturers. So, the only thing that will probably survive Chromium OS, the open source version that can capture the developers. The future of the Google project that no longer resides in the computers of the past.