Apple still isn’t offering much of a hint about an iOS 4.3 release date — other than a busier than usual beta schedule — but it looks like we could now be one step closer to a general roll out. What appears to be the first app that takes advantage of some iOS 4.3-specific features has now garnered Apple’s approval and turned up in the App Store, which would seem to suggest that there’s no more major changes or bugs that need to be ironed out (though that can certainly always change). The app itself is Matthew Gallagher’s StreamToMe, which runs $2.99 and now incorporates the AirPlay video support that has come to apps in the a latest revision of the OS — hit up the source link below to check it out for yourself.
We’d been disappointed to find that iOS 4.2 only brought AirPlay video support to built-in Apple apps on the iPhone and iPad, but it looks like that’s changing soon — Apple just posted up the first iOS 4.3 beta, which allows devs to send video from apps or websites to an Apple TV. There’s also a new beta of the Apple TV software for testing it out — it doesn’t have any version notes, so we don’t know if it offers any additional features as well.
There are quite a few new features included in 4.3: personal hotspot is indeed included on the iPhone, although it needs to be enabled on the carrier side to work, and the iPad’s side switch can now be set back to being an orientation lock, which should make a lot of people very happy. The iPad also gains some multitouch multitasking gestures, which are pretty interesting, actually: you can use four or five fingers to pinch to the home screen, swipe up to reveal the multitasking bar, and swipe left or right between apps. We’re also seeing a new FaceTime icon on the iPod touch, which is nice, and 9to5 Mac noticed that the iPad now supports fullscreen iAd banners, which is less nice. Check after the break for a quick video of the iPad gestures.
Update: The Photos app has also gained new AirPlay functionality for photos and videos, and there’s a slightly tweaked camera shutter sound, as well as bigger app icons in the App Store’s Update menu.
Although DLNA may have had a significant head start, the streaming media standard available on more than 9,000 devices is about to be challenged in a very big way by Apple’s upstart AirPlay technology. At least it will be if Jordan Watters, BridgeCo‘s VP of Sales and Marketing, is to be believed. BridgeCo as you’ll recall, is the company that makes the silicon for AirPlay devices — currently an exclusive arrangement we’re told. While Apple may have thrust BridgeCo into the consumer spotlight, this ten year old company has a long history of quietly providing networked media processors and connectivity software to a who’s who of audio companies. Here at CES we’ve already seen two speakers from iHome, the Zeppelin Air from B&W, and a trio of speakers from the previously unannounced AirPlay partner Klipsch rolled out. And this is just the beginning.
According to Jordan Watters, AirPlay devices could ultimately dwarf “made for iPod” audio docks by 2x to 4x. Part of the reason for Jordan’s optimism is the fact that so many iOS devices have already been sold and that many audio devices already on the market using BridgeCo chips can add AirPlay functionality via a software update, including the nine receivers just announced from Denon and Marantz. “The ecosystem is already there,” he said smiling. And unlike iPod docks which are usually sold at a rate of one per iOS device, Watters sees consumers purchasing multiple AirPlay devices for every iOS device sold in order to enable whole-home distributed audio. In fact, growth could come as a “step function ramp sucking into the market,” Jordan enthused. In other words, he expects AirPlay growth to be explosive. We’d chalk up the hyperbolic talk to Jordan’s marketing role if it weren’t for the abundance of anecdotal evidence supporting his claims here at CES. To start with, the company’s modest meeting room was packed with interested manufacturers poking around BridgeCo’s AirPlay offering. Jordan’s also booked back-to-back-to-back with meetings until the show ends (and into the coming weeks we suspect). But what really convinced us was an all-in-one speaker prototype from a major consumer electronics company that was quickly whisked away before meeting the sensor beneath our D300′s lens. If they’re involved, well, we expect the rest will follow.
It seems that Apple’s AirPlay streaming is ripe for moddery and hacksterism, and if the recently (very recently) released AirMediaPlayer wasn’t proof enough, the kids at Remote HD have released a plugin that adds the AirPlay to your first gen AppleTV. That’s right! Just install the plug-in and the Remote HD iOS app, and you’ll soon be streaming movies, podcasts, photos and more. What are you waiting for? Hit the source link for instructions, and make sure you let us know how it all works out for you.
Apple has updated its free Apple Remote app for iOS devices, adding in AirPlay video support. The app [iTunes link] now allows you to choose from video media stored on your computer and control its streaming to an Apple TV. Meanwhile, there’s also control over internet radio playback, along with access to rented TV shows and movies on iTunes on your desktop.
As before, you can also use the app to create and edit playlists (including Genius playlists), send audio via AirPlay to speakers, and to generally operate as a more comprehensive remote control for the Apple TV. You’ll need an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad to use it; you can download it here.
We have seen plenty of hacks for AirPlay that extend the service and allow it to operate on things that Apple never really intended. Last month AirPlay was hacked to run on all iDevices for sending video. Earlier this month there was another hack that allows Macs to support AirPlay Streaming from iOS devices using AirPlayer.
TUAW reports today that another hack has surfaced for AirPlay and this time it takes streaming outside of the Apple world and crams it inside an XMBC Linux machine. The machine running AirPlay in the video below is an Ubuntu Linux machine. TUAW also reports that several people have said they are working on a port for Windows rigs too.
I wonder how Steve Jobs feels about that. On the Linux machine, the content can be played directly from the integrated iOS video menus on the XBMC application that uses Bonjour.
A new app grants AirPlay streaming media functionality to Mac computers, in effect convincing Apple’s iOS devices that they are, in fact, Apple TV units. The app, AirPlayer, is the handiwork of TUAW‘s Erica Sadun, who reverse-engineered AirPlay and came up with a way for a software app to create and advertise a custom Bonjour AirPlay service that pretends to be an Apple TV.
Video demo after the cut
The app doesn’t require a jailbroken iPod touch, iPad or iPhone, since to the iOS device it’s merely streaming to an Apple TV on your network. However, if you do jailbreak you can run AirVideoEnabler, which opens up streaming support to DRM-protected content and other apps that Apple doesn’t officially allow access to AirPlay functionality.
AirPlayer is currently in “extremely alpha” status, but an ad-supported version can be downloaded from Sadun’s site. The same approach should work for Windows and Linux computers, she claims, though that will likely be left up to other developers to figure out.
Hey Mac home theater users, listen up — your AirPlay wishes have come true. TUAW’s very own Erica Sadun has developed a free (ad supported) 0.01 AirPlayer alpha hack that lets your Mac play host to AirPlay video streamed off of iOS devices. Right, just like an Apple TV and without requiring a Jailbreak. But as long as you’re skirting official support anyway, why not install the free AirVideoEnabler app onto your jailbroken iPod touch, iPad, or iPhone to stream video from even more applications than Apple currently allows. Works for us. Everyone else can check the video after the break.
A fine fellow by the name of anonymous recently emailed everyone’s best pal Apple CEO Steve Jobs with a question about the functionality of iOS’s most recent update 4.2 which features AirPlay, allowing iDevices to stream video to Apple TV. Anon’s question included suggestion of a future release of AirPlay in which it would be able to work with Safari and third party apps (this functionality currently exists, but only as a hack.) You know what Steve Jobs said? He said yep – 2011.
Take a peek at the transcript of the mail here if you’re unable to view images:
Q: Hi, I recently updated both my iPhone 4 and iPad to 4.2. I think my favourite feature is airplay. This is seriously amazing and makes sharing content seamless. I just purchased Apple TV and was wondering are you ever going to make airplay video work for videos in safari and 3rd party apps? I hope to get a response. ??
A: Yep, hope to add these features to Airplay in 2011.
3.5mm auxiliary inputs and stereo Bluetooth used to be good enough — but that was before Apple announced AirPlay a few months ago. Now, everything else sounds like someone is stabbing you in the ears; the world looks black and white, and food no longer has any taste. AirPlay, save us! Taiwanese firm PhotoFast is playing the superhero role here today with the AP1000, a little black module with WiFi that accepts incoming AirPlay streams and routes them through to your car’s stereo. From the demo video, it’s obvious that you’re probably going to want to get a professional car audio installer involved to make this happen — and before you ask, no, it won’t do video — but if you’ve got an Apple logo sticker on your rear window, we bet this is exactly how you want to roll. Follow the break to see the AP1000 get surgically implanted in a Mercedes.
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