Apparently, a deal has been reached to end the Hollywood writers’ strike… FINALLY.

According to former Disney exec Michael Eisner, the major media companies and the Writers Guild of America reached an agreement last Friday.

Eisner commented: “It’s over, they made the deal, they shook hands on the deal. I have some friends in certain places and I believe there was a handshake last Friday… it’s possible they (the writers) will turn it down but it would be insane if they turned it down.”

So why the heck am I posting on this? Well, with new movies and TV shows to begin production yet again, all you AppleTV fanatics are going to be back in action with new titles to rent and purchase. I know I was getting kind of tired watcing reruns of shows I’ve seen 100 times before… and with the writers back, and the new AppleTV sitting at an attractive price… I may just pick one up now.

[via NationalPost]

written by Mr. Mayor \\ tags: AppleTV, Writers Strike

Besides the iPhone, Apple TV has garnered quite a bit of attention from developers as well.

Recently I read that developers have released a native Skype plugin for the Apple TV. While I currently don’t have an Apple TV here at the Mactropolis office, I’m eager to pick one up. I’m on Skype all the time, and I am curious to see how it performs via the Apple TV.

The Skype plugin was developed by Brandon Holland. It uses the Skype API to add some functionality of the Skype app to the device. You can send and receive calls (using a USB headset), send SMS messages and more. The only ‘bad’ thing about sending text messages is you’ll need to use the Apple remote to do so. Could take awhile to type in your message so keep it short.

Give it a try and let me know what you think. It’s still in the early development stages so I’m guessing there are a few bugs to work out.

written by Mr. Mayor \\ tags: Apple TV, Plugin, Skype

Apple TV has so much potential it isn’t even funny. Even though Steve Jobs relegated it to ‘hobby’ status this past may, the fact remains that there could be so much done with Apple TV that it could be huge. It could transform living and family rooms around the world into true entertainment/multimedia hubs.

How?

Well, what if Apple launched movie rentals via iTunes? Download the movies from iTunes, slap them onto your Apple TV and watch them on your HD widescreen. Oh, and of course you can also download music and your favorite TV shows from iTunes as well! Couple that with a ginormous hard drive and bit torrent technology and you’ve got yourself a movie/music/anything else entertainment unit that you and your family can enjoy.

How about this though…

What if the next generation of iPod/iPhone could also be used as a remote for the Apple TV? I think that would be pretty cool. ‘Have an Apple TV and an iPod? Sure, just use the iPod as the remote, here’s how you do it!’

Should be interesting to see if Apple TV is the feature product at MacWorld 2008. As I said, I believe it has a lot of potential!

What do you think? 

written by Mr. Mayor \\ tags: Apple TV, iPod, iTunes

Not everything Apple creates turns to gold. There has been examples in the past such as the Pippin and more recently with the iPod Hi-Fi.

Have Apple created another stinker with the Apple TV? Many think so. They argue that iTunes content is too limited, too expensive and of too poor a quality to justify spending $299 on a basic device to watch it with.

Some say that if you can reduce the price to $150, allow the device to play all file formats, bring the capability to buy/rent content directly from the Apple TV, then maybe the device would be OK. Others say that until Apple provides HD content with 5.1 stereo they won’t touch the unit.

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written by Mike Bradbrook \\ tags: Apple TV