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What picture-in-picture on the new Apple TV would look like
A subscription TV service isn't the only add-on we could envision for the new Apple TV. Developer Steven Troughton-Smith -- who gave us a peek at iPad split-screen multitasking well before Apple started offering it -- whipped up an app for the device with picture-in-picture support that looks right at home on tvOS. Support for the feature isn't built into the box yet, but we can't imagine official support for this will be too many software revisions away. Older smart TV platforms like Google TV and Yahoo Widgets! handled some form of multitasking, and if the future of TV is apps like Apple says, they'll need to figure this out along the way.
The new Apple TV brings apps, Siri and a touchpad remote for $149
The new Apple TV is here, just unveiled at today's big event. Speculation about Apple's plans for the living room has circled for years, and this represents its most powerful assault on the space so far. A hardware refresh in 2012 added 1080p support, but not much else, so we're more than due for an upgrade, and exec Eddy Cue appropriately called today "a big day for the big screen." Tim Cook called it "the future of television," promising a new tvOS, App Store and showing off features including deep Siri integration with a new remote. That Siri Remote has a touchpad, mic and Wii-like motion controls built in, necessary for Siri to search across "multiple content options" (iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, HBO and Showtime, with more to come) on a single screen. Universal search is a feature already offered by competitors like Roku, Samsung, Amazon and Xbox that makes it easy to find a show or movie without having to know which service or app it's in first, and now it's on Apple TV too. There will be two versions of the new Apple TV: a 32GB model for $149, and 64GB model for $199, shipping in October to over 80 countries.
