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DVDs are playing back on my Apple TV using AirFlick and AirPlay!
The Unicorn has landed! Rainbows! Starshine! Skittle poo! It's like Christmas in...um...December! So why this exuberance and excitement? My Apple TV is right now, this very second, even as we speak, playing back a DVD of Finding Nemo. It's seriously awesome. Why watch a DVD on a laptop when you can easily stream it to your Apple TV? And it's not even all that hard to do if you're a bit of a do-it-yourself-hacker. Although, seriously, if the command line frightens and intimidates you, it's time to move on to the next TUAW post. Mac aficionado Erick van Rijk figured out how to use VLC to transcode a DVD in real time so that my AirFlick application could play it across to an Apple TV. The instructions, which you are heartily encouraged to follow only at your own risk, follow after the jump. Okay? Deep breaths. Here we go.
Apple TV plays live-converted AVI files using Air Video Server, AirPlayer, and AirFlick
Although I knew that the AirFlick video tool I posted about earlier today could theoretically pass transcoded video streams to Apple TV for playback, my initial attempts with VideoLAN Client transcoding more or less went nowhere. Then, TUAW reader BC reposted a comment earlier this evening that he originally left on the MacRumors forums. In that comment, he discussed how to add live conversion to my AirFlick app by using the server component of AirVideo, a video streaming solution that allows your Mac to serve video to your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Although I had previously attempted to play back AirVideo m3u8 playlists on the Mac without success, BC suggested that the Apple TV supported them. He was right. Video proof follows after the break.
AirPlay running on XBMC Linux box
AirPlay. It's not just for Apple products anymore. The video you see on the next page shows an XBMC install on a Ubuntu Linux box running an AirPlay client service. As with the AirPlayer solution I wrote for the Mac, the XBMC application advertises on Bonjour and can be played to directly from the built-in iOS video menus. In addition, several people have contacted me to mention that they're working on Windows adaptations as well. The photo below is a preliminary peek at an in-progress project being built by @infectionfx. Thanks, davilla.
AirFlick turns Macintosh into an AirPlay data server
If you own a Macintosh and an Apple TV, I have created a new tool that allows you to stream data outside of iTunes. It's called AirFlick, and it's now available in alpha form for download and testing. Last week, I put together a related application called AirPlayer that allows you to stream video from your iPad using Apple's built in AirPlay services and demonstrated it on TUAW. AirPlayer works by emulating an Apple TV using your Mac's built in Bonjour networking capabilities. Below is a description and brief video explaining how it works. Update: TUAW reader BC adds: How to Add Live Conversion to Erica Sadun's AirFlick App Ok, by doing this hack, you can stream ANY video format sitting on your Mac to your AppleTV. I'm testing out an mkv file right now, and it works like a charm! Download the unofficial Mac AirVideo client here. Start playback of a video using live conversion from within this unofficial client, it should hand off the streaming video to Quicktime X. Inspect the stream by viewing the Movie Inspector (check the "Window" menu for Quicktime). Write down that url. Paste that url into Erica Sadun's Airflick app and boom now your AppleTV can basically play any video you throw at it! Looking forward to someone streamlining the process into a neat little app. OPTIONAL One extra little note: you don't have to necessarily download the unofficial Mac AirVideo client above. You can instead begin playback of a video from within the AirVideo iphone app, then go to the mac serving up the stream, and type "ps ax | grep ffmpeg", and grab the alphanumeric string following the --conversion-id flag. Then paste into AirFlick the following: http://[YOUR-SERVER'S-IP-ADDRESS]:45631/live-playback-2.4.0/index_[CONVERSION-ID].m3u8
Introducing AirPlayer: Mac-based AirPlay service allows device-to-Mac playback
AirPlay is a very, very cool technology. Unfortunately, if you don't own an Apple TV 2 or other capable receiving device, it's not going to do you much good. (If you have the cash on-hand, for $99, the Apple TV mark 2 is a pretty sweet purchase. Just saying.) So I decided to figure out a way that people who didn't own an Apple TV, or who were on the road with their iPhone and a laptop could actually use AirPlay streaming "backwards" -- from their iDevice to their Mac. Behold our TUAW exclusive introduction, the development build of AirPlayer -- click Read More to see the video. What AirPlayer does is create and advertise a custom Bonjour AirPlay service that pretends to be an Apple TV. Bonjour is Apple's zero configuration networking solution for allowing devices and applications to communicate with each other over local area networks. When Apple created AirPlay, it basically set up a new way for Apple TV to interact with iOS using Bonjour communications.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Can I AirPlay to my Mac?
Dear Aunt TUAW, Do you think a Mac will be able to accept an AirPlay feed in the future? Here's why I ask -- I'm considering getting a Mac mini for my home theater. But I realized that a great feature of AppleTV is the AirPlay functionality. It seems strange that the mini (that costs 7x more) lacks this functionality. Have you heard any rumblings that accepting an AirPlay stream could come to Mac OS X? Love & snuggles, Your adoring nephew Todd V.
Hacksugar: Twisting your browser
This morning, we posted a simple little trick for slowing down OS X animations by depressing the shift key. In the comments on that post, TUAW reader Rafe H reminded me about this sweet little trick that allows you to retain a warped (but still usable) browser window in your workspace. By slowing the animation during minimization and killing the dock mid-transition (enter "killall Dock" in a Terminal window), the window retains the Core Animation changes at the point that the OS X dock is terminated. That produces a seriously eyecatching result that will please your aesthetics for... well, probably at least for seconds. Check out a quick little video after the break to see how this works.
Apple TV Hacking: Spelunking into the AirPlay video service
When Apple announced its new iOS 4.2 feature set, Apple TV's AirPlay video service really caught our attention. That's why we were particularly disappointed when 4.2 debuted on Monday -- only Apple's own applications could ship video from iDevices to the 2nd generation Apple TV; third party applications were limited to audio transport only. We contacted Apple PR to ask for a statement about that, asking why the feature shipped without third party support -- and whether it had to do with performance licenses or similar legal matters. TUAW has not yet heard back from Apple at the time this post went live. Mike Rose asked if I could poke into the situation and see what's going on under the hood. Here's what I found. Big Massive Update: Thanks to Steven Troughton-Smith, the code has been reduced to a single line with no YouTube work-arounds needed. Details appended to the bottom of the post...
Apple TV Hacks: Ports and wikis
The Apple TV jailbreak community remains in a holding pattern. As yet, the greenp0ison and limera1n jailbreak tools do not install command-line/full file access to the box, a precondition for most kinds of application development. That doesn't mean there aren't interesting events going on, however. If you're a hardware hacker, iFixit has a great DIY project for you. Step 8 of their teardown suggests that it shouldn't be hard to solder on a standard iPod docking connector. Over at the #awkwardtv channel of irc.moofspeak.net, hobbyist davilla (of atv-bootloader/atv-creator fame) is attempting to make that hack a reality. We'll report back on its success, should he succeed. The default Apple TV hardware does not allow you to use the HDMI port and the micro-USB port at the same time. Adding an iPod dock to the side of the enclosure will bypass this hardware restriction, allowing both hacking and viewing. In other news, the AwkwardTV Wiki has a new Apple TV 2 page, which is just getting started. This will provide a central knowledge gathering point for anyone working on ATV 2 frappliances and custom applications. Interested developers are encouraged to familiarize themselves with previous ATV development. A sample frappliance template has already been added, along with headers and a link to Dustin Howett's beigelist project. While not a lot has happened over the last week or so, interest in the Apple TV platform remains high, and TUAW will continue to keep you posted. Thanks, davilla, Kevin "nito" Bradley
Chronic Dev Team releases greenpois0n jailbreak tool
Via Twitter, MuscleNerd announced the release of the Chronic Dev Team's iOS4 jailbreaking tool, greenpois0n. This follows some controversy in the jailbreaking community, after George "geohot" Hotz released his limera1in jailbreak tool one day before greenpois0n was due to be released, using a different hole in Apple's security. Chronic Team members chose to halt the release of their own tool and change it to use the security hole Hotz discovered. This way, they still have the "SHAtter" exploit they previously discovered and initially based greenpois0n on. There's a chance that when Apple closes Hotz's exploit, SHAtter will still work. At present, the tool is Windows-only; the "Mac" download button on the page doesn't go anywhere. The team promises a release "soon" for OS X and Linux. Currently, it supports iPhone 3GS/4, iPod Touch 3G and 4G, and the iPad. Apple TV 2G and iPod Touch 2G support will come in a later release.
limera1n jailbreak released, greenpois0n jailbreak delayed
Jailbreak limera1n was released today for 4.1 iDevice users in what appears to be a contentious situation in the hacking community. Windows-only, the new jailbreak is not expected to work with Apple TV or debut on Linux and OS X for a bit. The previously announced dev-team jailbreak, which was due out tomorrow, may be put on hold while the team works on revising their tools for the limera1n exploit rather than exposing multiple exploits that will quickly be patched. Jailbreaking, while legal, is based on finding system weaknesses to allow hobbyists to inject code that will open their devices to full system read-write access. It is this full access that allows third party developers to customize the OS and install new applications and extensions. Having looked forward to developing for Apple TV starting tomorrow, count me among the disappointed. Update: The Limera1n page has updated to indicate that Apple TV jb is "technically supported". I can confirm that I put my ATV2 into DFU mode and was able to "jailbreak" it. But since no AFC services or OpenSSH were installed (let alone APT), there's nothing that really can be done with it at this time.
Apple TV Lowtide (Front Row) running on iPod touch
It's been Apple TV-palooza here at TUAW today. Shortly after discovering that the Apple TV iOS firmware could be downloaded and unpacked, we took our first peek under the hood and saw just how similar the new Apple TV, with its Lowtide software, was to previous Apple TV releases. Soon after, we discovered that the Lowtide application was built with multi-device support, including the iPad, in its list of supported hardware. Now, developer Dustin Howett has managed to port Lowtide to an iPod touch and run it under iOS 4.1. You can see him running the Apple TV Lowtide software in this video. It's really amazing to see just how compatible the diverse systems are.
More on Apple TV: Playback services may extend to iPad
Could Lowtide be targeted towards playback on the iPad? That's what indications in the application's Info.plist property list seem to hint at. As TUAW continues to explore the new Apple TV iOS disk image, all kinds of interesting hints keep bubbling out. The property list in question lists two entries for its UIDeviceFamily property. UIDeviceFamily = ( 3, 2 ); In human terms, those numbers refer to both Apple TV (the 3 device family) and the iPad (the 2 device family). As you might guess, the 1 device family includes the iPhone and iPod touch. These device families generally group related physical form factors. All iPods and iPhones use a similar 320x480 base geometry, even though units with new Retina displays physically enhance the addressability of that screen size with more pixels per point. Click the Read More link to see more about what we've found in the disk image.
Apple TV under the hood: first look
As TUAW posted earlier, the iOS 4.1 firmware distribution for Apple TV has just gone live on Apple's Phobos web server. TUAW downloaded a copy and used the dev-team's decrypt keys to peek under the hood. Here's what we found about the "Mojave" Apple TV distribution. First, as expected, there's no SpringBoard.app in Core Services. SpringBoard is the application that runs your iPhone's home screen, letting you launch applications by touching them. Instead, Apple TV seems to run Lowtide, an application responsible for all user interactions, which is derived from the previous Front Row application. Lowtide handles media playback, rentals, DRM management (Fair Play, of course), and other basic services.
Dear Aunt TUAW: dock my iPhone to my iPad
Dear Aunt TUAW, I wish I could dock my iPhone right into the side or back of a large iPad screen. And then have the iPad run off my phone. That way I could have a large screen when I need it. But when I leave the house for a walk, I could take the smaller device (the iPhone) out and carry it in my pocket. Love and snuggles, Your nephew Gary
Hands on (and in) the iPod nano 6th generation reveals hints of video playback support
This morning, I headed over to the Apple Store and picked up a sweet little green iPod nano to play with. (Thank you, red-headed Molly!) The nano is basically the size and weight of a 2G shuffle, with a cute little touch screen and a couple of buttons for volume control and Sleep/Wake. Of course, I was just as interested in what was inside the nano -- at least from a software perspective. The interface is easy to use once you get comfortable with the lack of a Home button (you swipe to switch screens) and certain GUI changes (switch buttons are smaller and look slightly different from their standard iOS cousins). The nano refused to play with older versions of iTunes, expecting a minimum of iTunes 10.
Low rent FaceTime: Create your own FaceHanger
Webcams are cheap and ubiquitous. iChat ships with every Mac. Despite those facts, it's becoming ever more common to FaceTime from our offices. We can carry our conversations with us as we travel from one room to another, and FaceTime basically guarantees that both parties are properly equipped and ready to chat, even before you tap your first button. The biggest problem with FaceTime remains arm fatigue. Tired arms drift downwards. This eventually produces a minimally attractive conversation between chins and nostrils instead of, well, faces.
hacksugar: Move past FieldTest with Signal
Missing FieldTest? It was a "secret" iPhone application that used to report all kinds of basic signal and connectivity details for your phone. You could access it by typing a special sequence (*3001#12345#*) into the Phone app. Field Test would list your local cell towers, their ids, relative strengths, and so forth. Apple ditched Field Test in iOS 4, which made a lot of people sad. Having that information in-hand can really help with certain diagnostic uses of the phone, not to mention assist with home brew location calls. (Core Location has not been available from the command line, making home brew workarounds a handy asset.)
FaceTime works from a plane
Loyal TUAW reader Bill G. was kind enough to face chat with us this evening. What made this especially fun was that he was in flight over Arkansas at the time. On the way to Texas via American Airlines service, Bill was able to use FaceTime with the plane's in-flight WiFi service. It was a great connection given the circumstances. Video did flake out a little towards the end of our experiment (although audio continued just fine) and might have re-established itself if we had given it a little more time. All in all, just chalk this one up to the "wow, that's so cool!" list for the iPhone 4.
Found Footage: Synergy on iOS
Are you familiar with Synergy? It's an app that lets you share your keyboard and mouse between many computers -- and we at TUAW have been fans of the app for a very long time. We were delighted to learn over the weekend that Matthias Ringwald, otherwise known as the "King of BTstack," has built a BTstack Synergy Client. It works with Synergy to accept remote events and synthesize them on your jailbroken iPad or iPhone. As this preliminary footage shows, you can use your Mac-based mouse to tap on your iOS screen. Keyboard support is not yet available; Ringwald says he intends to add that. When complete, this is going to be an absolutely brilliant tool for debugging. As an aside, Sorin Sbârnea and Nick Bolton started a Synergy+ branch of Synergy last year. The plus branch provides a Synergy maintenance fork, implementing a variety of bug fixes.The original Synergy has not had source updates or releases since 2006, according to Bolton's write-up. Synergy+ implements "many significant bug fixes such as support for Windows services on Vista and Windows 7, and a brand new GUI (based on QSynergy)."
