How Apple services entertained, informed, and connected in the most unprecedented year

This past year has shown us how resourceful we can be with the right tools. From grocery delivery to zoom workouts to endless podcasts on pretty much every subject we can imagine we've found ways to adjust. Hard to believe that in a couple months it will be March again and that will take our part of the country into a year's worth of lockdown measures. None of us thought we would be still here, but, yet we are. How many of us can't imagine a world without our devices? As the world continues to move forward in these unprecented times (yes, there's that word again), Apple has released an interesting overview on what happened in 2020 and what we can look forward to in 2021. 

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tvOS 9.1.1 update brings Podcasts app to Apple TV

Apple has pushed an update to Apple TV which now includes the Podcasts app which was missing from the device when it first shipped late last year. tvOS 9.1.1 is available now to Apple TV users via a Software Update. tvOS 9.2, the next major update for tvOS has been seeded to developers, this includes new features like support for Bluetooth keyboards, app folders, and a revamped app switcher.

The Apple Beat: Is Apple TV ready for primetime?

 

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

A new voice-control interface powered by Siri would be a killer feature, specially for an Apple TV priced in the US $149 range. But Apple will need to step up its game to make the device a true platform. So, aside from iTunes movies and TV shows on demand, we can expect the advent of iOS apps and games to come to Apple TV.

In a few days, we will know what Apple plans on revealing as it takes over the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. The September 9 event is guaranteed to involve the next generation iPhone as well as iOS 9 and possibly some considerable Apple Watch and watchOS 2.0 news, since it has been a year since we first saw Apple’s wearable.

Rumors are getting frenzied right now, as they always do before a huge Apple Event. Since, there haven’t been any significant leaks or spoilers as to what we will see (smartphone case prototypes don’t count), blogs and even established news agencies are scrambling by playing guessing games and giving time to any rumour that seems to make sense (like new colours for Apple Watch Sport straps... ).

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Review: Roku Streaming Stick

Text and photos by Simon Cohen

 Tons of features, good performance and an unbeatable price make the Roku Streaming Stick by far the best value in the increasingly busy Smart-TV add-on category.

If you already own a Smart TV—a WiFi-connected, app-enabled HDTV—you really don’t need to read this. That’s because the Roku family of devices (to which the Roku Streaming Stick is the latest addition) is for all of us poor shmoes stuck with TVs that have no way of talking to the internet and thus no way to access content providers like Netflix, Crackle, CrunchyRoll or YouTube unless we stretch a very long and trip-hazard-creating HDMI cable from our PC/laptop to our TV sets. Don’t laugh. People do that. For real.

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