modernhipsters

[modernhipsters]

"Time Warner CEO 'Pretty Confident' Apple Subscription TV Service In Development"

Speaking during a Wednesday financial results call, Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes said he is "pretty confident" Apple will be launching a subscription streaming TV service in the near future, callling the company "very forward-thinking about television."

"It's no surprise to anyone that Apple would be interested in launching a TV product," Bewkes addedaccording to CNet.

Time Warner is the parent company of TV network HBO, and recently partnered with Apple to launch HBO Now as a three-month exclusive for iOS and Apple TV devices. During the results call, HBO head Richard Plepler reportedly said he "couldn't be more pleased" with the arrangement.

"We got out of the gate very fast with Apple," he remarked. "We see a lot of momentum there."

Apple and Time Warner have collaborated in the past, and at one point were rumored to be working on an interface that would allow an Apple TV to replace a cable box. That arrangement may have been nixed by Comcast's proposed takeover of Time Warner Cable, which was officially abandoned on April 24.

Apple is strongly rumored to be preparing a streaming TV service for launch later this year. During an Apple earnings call on Monday, CEO Tim Cook fueled these rumors by claiming that "major, major changes in media" are coming, in which Apple could play a part.

Past reports have indicated that Apple is working on a "skinny" channel bundle that should cost between $30 and $40 a month. It's expected to launch this fall, and may be announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 8 alongside a new Apple TV set-top.

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In Just 24 Hours, Apple Watch Outsold All Android Wear Devices Ever

It’s too early to tell exactly how well the Apple Watch will do in the grand scheme of things, or even if it will ultimately win the wearablewar. But one thing’s for sure, it’s off to a hell of a good start, with statistics indicating that the Apple Watch sold more units in one day than Android Wear devices have sold. Period.

In a new report on Business Insider, Rob Price points out that in 2014, all manufacturers using Google’s smartwatch operating system (which includes Motorola, LG, and Samsung) shipped just 720,000 units.

Compare that to how many Apple Watches were sold in the U.S. in the first day of preorders, which we previously reported on Cult of Mac. That data comes from a marketing agency called Slice Intelligence, who believe that Apple sold an estimated 957,000 Apple Watches on the first day of pre-sales.

Obviously, this isn’t a one-to-one comparison, yet. The Apple Watch launched with the full thrust of Apple’s marketing apparatus behind it, where as the likes of LG and Samsung have still treated their wearable devices almost like side projects. Now that the Apple Watch has officially been launched, they may very well make a more concerted marketing push with their wearables.

Even so, though, let’s face it: based on early sales, the Apple Watch is the wearable to beat. Android Wear makers are going to have to up the ante if they want to challenge Apple’s dominance in this market.

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Kirk Hammett of Metallica Loses iPhone Packing 250 New Riffs

Metallica lead guitarist and songwriter Kirk Hammett has lost his super-valuable iPhone. No, it’s not one of those gold-plated ones favored by celebrities like Justin Bieber — it’s the iPhone on which he’d stored 250 riffs for the band’s next album.

In terms of money lost, this has to make you feel better about that time you dropped your iPhone in the bath, right?

I put riffs on my iPhone, but something very unfortunate happened to me about six months ago,” Hammett told a podcast host. “I lost my iPhone [containing] 250 musical ideas. And I was crushed. It didn’t get backed up … I can only remember, like, eight of [the riffs].”

Not only is this a damning reminder of why we should all back up our information (all the more so if it has the potential to make or cost you millions of dollars), it’s also the second time Apple has indirectly contributed to challenges faced by Metallica.

When the band released its album, ‘Death Magnetic’ in 2008, the distorted sound of numerous tracks was blamed on the mastering process, specifically carried out for those who listen to music on their iPods.

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Batman V. Superman Trailer Leaked

Well that was quick. A day after Zack Snyder officially confirmed when the official trailer of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice would launch, the full trailer of the film has already been leaked days ahead of its debut. Warner Bros' legal department will definitely have a field day with this one, but nothing on the Internet is ever forgotten, which could be well and good for those eager to get a glimpse of what is expected to be one of if not the biggest superhero versus battles in recent memory.

True fans will probably watch and bemoan the horrid quality of the leak, which is natural as far as leaks go. Hardcore fans will probably exercise utmost discipline and ignore it. But for those with little self-control, get a glimpse of the two-minute trailer before the Internet police takes it down (again).

​The trailer is believed to have been nabbed, quite ironically, from and advanced screening of Avengers: Age of Ultron, where the trailer will be vying for your attention together with Marvel's expected blockbuster starting next week. Given the subtitles, it is highly probable it didn't come from US screenings. Wherever it came from, hungry fans are probably thankful for it.

The trailer sets the dark atmosphere of the film, where Superman's existence and motives, in lieu of our own normal human ones, are being put under a microscope. A shot shows the words "Fallen God", which probably hints at Supes' fall from grace, either simply in public perception or through an unpopular action. Whatever the case, it seems that it's up to Batman to put the Kryptionian in his rightful place.

And that part might be a thorny issue based on this clip. It isn't only the actor that was changed, with Ben Affleck now playing the Dark Knight. It seems his appearance has been changed as well, with Batman sporting an even more armor-like costume. And with glowing eyes?

The actual Batman v Superman trailer will debut on April 20 in select IMAX cinemas across the country, in front of a select few who have been able to get into the very short RSVP line.

Source 

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The Grace Helbig Show Pilot, Free On iTunes

Download on iTunes now 

Before The Grace Helbig Show premieres on E!, you’re probably going to want to get to know Grace Helbig. Helbig is kind of secret-famous: To the millions of people who’ve been watching her it’sGrace videos on YouTube, Helbig is already a superstar, the fan-deemed “internet’s awkward older sister.” But if the idea of a YouTube celebrity doesn’t resonate with you, hers is a name you might not know — yet. Once Helbig's talk show premieres tonight, she'll be the only woman in late night. A week before her show’s debut, Helbig talked to Vulture about moving to TV, emoji, #brands, and trying not to suck.

The premiere of your TV show is coming up soon. How are you feeling right now?It is the wonderful combination of delight and pure stress and anxiety, which is kind of what I thrive off of at this point.

For your YouTube show, you had to do everything yourself; but then the plus side of that is, you get to do everything yourself. Has it been hard for you to work with a huge team?It’s been interesting because as a YouTuber, by design, you wear all of the hats. You are the CEO to the PA of your own brand and production company. So you really rely on yourself for everything. It’s been an exercise in relinquishing control in working on a team. Quite possibly the coolest part of being given a TV show has been the process of hiring people that I’ve been friends with or worked with in the past that I think are so wonderful, but because of the entertainment-industry-gatekeeper scenario haven’t had as much of a chance to work as much. 

That’s really what it’s all about: nepotism.Yes, I finally understand Girls! It’s really cool.

Was there anything you always wanted to be able to do on your YouTube show that you can finally do now that you’ll be on TV? I love YouTube, and it’s been a hobby of mine for so long and it continues to be. But it’s a very small scale. And I’ve always wondered what could or would happen if there was money involved, and people that have access to talents that I can’t provide by myself. What would it look like? So the show is a huge opportunity to experiment with things I haven’t seen on TV before, things I would be jealous if I wasn’t a part of. I’m interested to find out if intimacy can be maintained in mainstream. And I think we can do that. 

Do you feel like moving from the internet to TV is a step up, or are you not a believer in that platform hierarchy?I feel like there’s becoming this huge democratization of the media space. With the Netflixes and Hulus, content is content, period. And people will consume if they want to consume it, period. So this is just an opportunity for me, and for me to create an experiment with new content for an existing and new audience to consume. I feel like that’s a win-win. There is a tendency to think about a hierarchy, but I know for myself, if I think about things in those terms, I limit myself. Or when TV networks think in those terms, they limit themselves. 

Or you find TV shows want to seem like they “get” the internet, so you’ll get these awkward things like sponsored hashtags in the corner of the screen.I don’t want this show to feel like “This is an internet television show!” Not at all. I want it to appeal to me as a human being, which is a human who consumes the internet and television at the same time. This isn’t an internet talk show on TV; it’s not a TV show about the internet. It’s simply a show that a girl that grew up with internet is fascinated by experimenting with, that includes, I guess, things that you’re used to on television and things you’re used to on the internet in a beautiful sandwich.

On your YouTube channel and in your book, you give a lot of advice. Have you received any really good (or terrible) advice as you embark on your new show? I got to interview lots of TV hosts, like Larry King and Joel McHale, where they gave me advice on hosting. And Larry King, he is a character, but he gave me some of the most authentic nuggets of advice. So pure and genuine, you could tell he really stood by them. One is that the only thing he knows is what he doesn’t know. And my catchphrase in my videos is “I don’t know,” because I don’t know everything, and I think curiosity is more interesting than pure, definitive knowledge. So I just felt really validated hearing this seasoned vet of TV hosts giving me this advice!

Do you have any dream guests?It’s the Rock. It started as a joke. But I think he’s really hilarious and silly, and that’s my ideal personality combo for a guest. The more I talk through the idea of him being on the show, the more I want him to be on the show. He’s great on social media, he seems to understand the value of utilizing social media and staying true to his personality. He seems to come from a sincere point of view. He is becoming No. 1 in my mind.

You refer to your brand a lot, and it’s interesting to hear from someone who doesn’t find that word off-putting. People can be pretty sensitive around the idea of having a brand, as if it’s kind of the opposite of being authentic. Have you always been comfortable with that word?Even my comfort level always has a level of awkwardness to it. But for me, it gives me clarity in navigating myself through this industry. I’ve always used Andy Cohen and Chris Hardwick as real career trajectory role models. And Chris developed the Nerdist brand very clearly: He’s got a very defined brand, he knows his audience. And it’s easy to talk about and share. I think it’s important to just know your perspective on the world, so I think it’s really valuable to anyone who wants to build a career to know how they want to do that in terms of point of view and voice.

Speaking of your voice: What emoji do you use the most?I use the Old Man face. The bald guy, gray hair on the side of his head.

In what context is he relevant? In every context! It’s the dumbest-looking one. I feel like it can stand for any emotion at all. I leave it to the other person to figure it out. Which is great for them. 

I read this story the other day about how no one uses punctuation on Twitter anymore. Do you properly punctuate your tweets and texts?I know when I’m sending a professional email if I actually go back through and capitalize letters. Like this business-type person will clearly think less of me if I don’t capitalize the I. 

Are you a text or email overanalyzer in your personal life? If you’re flirting with someone, do you obsess over how your texts sound?I think in the early stages of any friendships or relationships, you’re in this world where we analyze what our profiles and icons and texts say about us. We’re all looking at ourselves from the third point of view. I am very much like that. I’ll read back through conversational text messages to see if everything made sense. Especially if I’m trying to flirt with someone through text messages, which usually ends awfully.

Any particularly bad text-flirting experiences?It’s really hard if people don’t understand sarcasm. And one of my friends needs emoji and exclamation points in my texts to her to know that we’re all good. With a period, she thinks you’re pissed off. 

I think the worst is if you accidentally text something to a person that you meant to text about them to someone else.I fortunately have never done that, but I’ve seen enough screen caps on Tumblr of text message conversations to feel very embarrassed for those situations. I can see how it would go awry very quickly. I’ve sent messages to my parents that I’ve meant to sent to friends. Nothing incriminating, but you do have that moment when your heart falls into your vagina. 

Anything else you want us to know about you or the show?I’m just very excited to make something that hopefully doesn’t suck. 

I like that you’re aiming high.I think that’s a good place to put the bar, for my life.

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[modernhipsters]

Sling TV Adds 6 Channels

Washington, D.C. (March 26, 2015) - Sling TV, the Net TV service from Dish, has added four new channels to its basic $20 a month lineup, according to the company's web site. 

The new channels are: A&E, History, H2 and Lifetime, all owned by A&E Networks. The company revealed last week that the channels would be added sometime this month. 

With the four new channels, Sling's $20 a month plan now offers 20 basic cable channels and the user video channel, Maker Studios. 

In addition, Sling has added Lifetime Movie Network and the fyi channel to its Lifestyle Extra $5 a month add-on package. Lifestyle Extra also includes TruTV, the Cooking Channel, DIY and WE TV. 

Sling also offers $5 a month add-on packages for sports, kids, movies and world news.

[modernhipsters]

Tim Cook Offered Steve Jobs His Liver, And Other Revelations From New Biography

I can’t wait to read Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader. The upcoming biography, by veteran reporters Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli, promises to be the definitive telling of Steve Jobs’ life.

The writers scored interviews with major players including Tim Cook, Jony Ive, Eddy Cue, Pixar’s John Lasseter, Disney CEO Bob Iger and Jobs’ widow, Laurene Powell Jobs. The result is a book loaded with interesting anecdotes and insights about the former Apple CEO.

I haven’t yet read the whole thing (it comes out March 24), but while pre-ordering my copy on Amazon, I could initially access a significant portion of the biography through the site’s “Look Inside the Book” feature. (Amazon later blocked out far more of the book’s contents.)

From what I’ve seen, some of the stories are pretty sensational — providing new details into the close relationship between Jobs and Cook, revealing Jobs’ secret plan to buy Yahoo!, and much more.

Want a few of the highlights? Check them out below.

 Tim Cook’s generous offer

In fact, one of the explosive revelations of the upcoming biography — showing just how much Cook cared about his boss — is the fact that Cook offered Jobs a portion of his own liver when the ailing Apple exec was in need of a donor.

After discovering that he shared a rare blood type with his sick colleague, and undergoing a battery of tests at a hospital “far from the Bay Area, since he didn’t want to be recognized,” Cook offered his liver to Jobs — only for Steve to turn it down.

“Somebody that’s selfish doesn’t reply like that,” Cook says.

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The Grace Helbig Show Gets Premiere Date And A Promo

YouTube star Grace Helbig will officially take the leap from Internet to television on April 3 with the premiere of The Grace Helbig Show on E!, the network announced Tuesday.

Helbig will bring the humor of her “It’s Grace” YouTube channel, which has over 2 million subscribers, to the new comedy talk show as she discusses all things pop culture with actors, comedians, YouTubers and popular reality stars in unconventional settings like grocery stores, Helbig’s living room, and her car.

The Grace Helbig Show premieres Friday, April 3 at 10:30 p.m. on E

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CIA Reportedly Working To Crack Apple Device Security To Gain Spy Access

The Intercept reports the Central Intelligence Agency has been working for years to find ways to break through the security of Apple devices, with work spanning a year before the first iPhone was released. The Intercept basis its report on leaked documents, that explain a yearly gathering of CIA officials, called the “Jamboree”, to talk about flaws in commercial electronics.

The CIA declined to comment, however the report describes a process of the Agency working to decrypt and ultimately penetrate Apple’s encrypted firmware. The Agency has claimed internally that it’s created a modified version of Xcode to sneak through surveillance backdoors, which could enable spies to steal passwords and grab messages on infected devices.

Other forms of intrusion include a keylogger through the OS X updater, which would allow spies to see what a user is typing on an “infected” Mac.

According to internal reports, the CIA is rationalizing these types of tools to ��secure communications products, both foreign and domestic” in order to “develop exploitation capabilities against the authentication and encryption schemes.” US and UK government officials have long encouraged Apple to allow them into its servers through a “backdoor”.

Apple declined to comment on the allegations against the CIA, and pointed The Intercept to Apple’s past stance on privacy.

In February 2015, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, took a strong stance on consumer privacy in an interview with The Telegraph.

“None of us should accept that the government or a company or anybody should have access to all of our private information,” Cook said. “This is a basic human right. We all have a right to privacy. We shouldn’t give it up. We shouldn’t give in to scaremongering or to people who fundamentally don’t understand the details.”

It’s not known if the CIA has been successful in its attack on Apple devices. However, it’s been noted the Agency has failed to find a “backdoor” into Apple’s servers to collect information from customers.

Source: The Intercept

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Cartoon Network’s ‘Adventure Time’ Heads To Big Screen

Adventure Time, one of the most popular shows on Cartoon Network, is being developed at Warner Bros. for the big screen as an animated feature. Created by Pendleton Ward at Cartoon Networks Studios, Adventure Timefollows the escapades of 12-year-old boy Finn and best friend dog Jake who fight fiercely in a quest to protect their beloved Land of Ooo, usually from the Ice King who is searching high and low for his Princess Bubblegum. The project will be produced by the winning combo of Chris McKay and Roy Lee.

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Happy 60th Birthday, Steve Jobs

Had he lived, today would have marked the 60th birthday of Steve Jobs, who was born February 24, 1955.

While most of the tributes to Jobs will no doubt highlight later events in Jobs’ life — with the unveiling of the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone, or the iPad — I instead wanted to mark the occasion with one of the lesser-known Jobs videos: his first ever television interview, recorded around the time the Apple II was first making waves.

If you never thought you’d see the day when Jobs would geek out over seeing himself on a television screen, check out the video after the jump.

The above video is notable for more than just the chance to see the usually collected and prepared Steve Jobs get nervous about an interview; it’s also the start of the Steve Jobs cult of personality. In Apple’s early days, marketing guru Regis McKenna came up with the idea of using Jobs himself as the person through which to sell computers to the masses.

Apple had previously relied on celebrities like Dick Cavett, but Jobs was a charismatic, attractive individual who could speak the language of engineers, but also communicate to the masses why they would want to invest in something as terrifyingly alien as a personal computer.

Jobs may have worried about the role early on, but there’s no doubt that this was the start of something that would become Jobs’ true genius: an ability not just to help invent great products, but also to tell us, the general public, why we should care about them.

It’s a tribute to him that so many millions of people today do.

Happy birthday, Steve.

 Source

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Former GM CEO Warns Apple Against Making Cars

Dan Akerson, who ran General Motors for less than three and a half years, issued a stern warning to Apple this week against making a car. In an interview with Bloomberg, he noted that making cars was hard. "A lot of people who don’t ever operate in it don’t understand and have a tendency to underestimate," said Akerson, who has held no other executive positions in the automotive industry. "They’d better think carefully if they want to get into the hard-core manufacturing," he said of Apple. "We take steel, raw steel, and turn it into car. They have no idea what they’re getting into if they get into that."

Instead, Akerson says that Apple should focus on helping incumbent automakers with in-car electronics. (That's already happening with CarPlay, of course, but it's a drop in the bucket compared to the number of control systems inside a modern car, most of which are still designed by automakers and their suppliers.) Akerson also noted that margins on cars are typically razor-thin, while the iPhone practically prints money.

I don't know whether Apple will end up building a car; no one outside Cupertino really does. And I believe Akerson wholeheartedly when he says that making cars is extraordinarily difficult — but I also know that if you are an executive or ex-executive of a company that is not Apple, explaining what Apple should, shouldn't, or can't do almost universally backfires.

Source 

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Apple Is Building A Self-Driving Car

Contrary to an earlier report from the WSJ, Reuters is now reporting that Apple is working on a self-driving electric car. The WSJ had previously indicated that "a self-driving car is not part of Apple’s current plan."

Technology giant Apple is learning how to make a self-driving electric car and is talking to experts at carmakers and automotive suppliers, an automotive source familiar with the talks said on Saturday.

Apple is exploring how to make an entire vehicle, not just software or individual components. "They don't appear to want a lot of help from carmakers", said a source. However, the company is gathering advice on parts and production methods. Sources say Apple is not interested in combustion engine technology or conventional manufacturing methods.

Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly approved the car project nearly a year ago and assigned VP Steve Zadesky to lead the group. Zadesky was given the go ahead to create a 1,000 person team that is said to work at a private location a few miles from Apple's corporate headquarters in    Cupertino. 

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[modernhipsters]

Apple Is Building A Self-Driving Car

Contrary to an earlier report from the WSJ, Reuters is now reporting that Apple is working on a self-driving electric car. The WSJ had previously indicated that "a self-driving car is not part of Apple’s current plan."

Technology giant Apple is learning how to make a self-driving electric car and is talking to experts at carmakers and automotive suppliers, an automotive source familiar with the talks said on Saturday.

Apple is exploring how to make an entire vehicle, not just software or individual components. "They don't appear to want a lot of help from carmakers", said a source. However, the company is gathering advice on parts and production methods. Sources say Apple is not interested in combustion engine technology or conventional manufacturing methods.

Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly approved the car project nearly a year ago and assigned VP Steve Zadesky to lead the group. Zadesky was given the go ahead to create a 1,000 person team that is said to work at a private location a few miles from Apple's corporate headquarters in    Cupertino. 

Source 

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Goodbye Cable Companies, Sling TV Now Open To All

Dish Network kicked off its steaming TV service called Sling TV a while back with an invitation only launch. The invitation only soft launch has now ended leaving the streaming offering open to anyone who wants to sign up. Sling TV gives subscribers access to fifteen different channels for streaming entertainment including ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS, CNN, HGTV, and Cartoon Network among others.

The subscription fee for the channels is $20 per month. The package also has a couple new channels for the list now that it has come out of invite status including Spanish channel Galavision and El Ray Network. Sling TV also now has a channel for Maker Studios content that was announced in the past but only offered for availability now.

There are more channels subscribers can add to their service in blocks that cost $5 each. The blocks of channels include information offerings, kids and family, and a sports add-on pack. The latter package gives access to more ESPN networks and other sports networks.

Subscribers to Sling TV will be able to cancel their subscriptions anytime they want with no contracts. Sling TV is aiming directly at cord cutters who no longer want to pay high cable subscription prices. There are some downsides to Sling TV service, namely it is only available on one device at a time. That means you can't watch different content in different rooms at the same time.

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Take A Look At The Far Side Of The Moon In This New NASA Video

If you've been curious about what the other side of the moon looks like, but have been too lazy to look up NASA's findings on your own, this video has got you covered. Based on data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, it gives us a close look at the more crater-filled side of the moon (which used to be called the "dark side"). You can see the Earth looming in the background, as well as what the moon's phases look like from another angle.

You'll notice there are no smooth and dark spots (the lunar "maria" features seen from our perspective) -- instead, we see the results of constant battering from space debris. That's yet another reason we should be thankful the moon is out there watching our backs (in addition to helping to stabilize tidal forces)

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Apple Is Talking To TV Programmers About Its Own Web TV Service

Apple has spent years circling the TV business, without ever really getting into the TV business. Now it may be ready to try again.

Industry executives say Apple is in talks with TV programmers about deals that would allow Apple to offer an “over the top” pay-TV service, like the one Dish has started selling with its Sling TV product, and the one Sony is getting ready to launch.

The theory is that Apple would put together bundles of programming — but not the entire TV lineup that pay-TV providers generally offer — and sell it directly to consumers, over the Web. That means Apple wouldn’t be reinventing the way TV works today, but offering its own version of it, with its own interface and user experience.

Apple has shown programmers demos of the proposed service, sources say. But talks seem to be in the early stages, which means terms like pricing and timing aren’t close to being ironed out. Several programmers say they’ve yet to start talks with Apple at all.

An Apple rep declined to comment.

Apple has made repeated attempts to crack the TV business. In 2009, it proposed a $30-a-month subscription service, and since then the company has periodically tried different strategies. Apple’s most recent plan had been to work with pay-TV providers like Time Warner Cable to provide a hardware/software offering to those company’s customers.

But now it appears that Apple has decided to try TV without the help of the TV pipe owners, and work with the TV content owners instead.

One difference between earlier efforts and the current chats: After years of failed efforts to deliver TV over the Web, both Dish and Sony have reached agreements with programmers to deliver both live, “linear” TV as well as video-on-demand, just like cable-TV providers offer. So now there’s a model for this stuff.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has told anyone who asks that the company wants to figure out how to crack TV; at the Code conference last May, Apple media boss Eddy Cue told Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher that “the TV experience sucks“.

So far Apple’s only venture into TV move has been via its Apple TV box, which makes it easier for users to gets Web TV on their conventional TV. But with a couple of exceptions, Apple doesn’t sell the programming that’s on the Apple TV box. Now it looks like it may want to step into that role.

Source