The Cheap Geek
 
Mar 2 / 7:25am

Airplay and the iOS Computer

Gabe writing at Macdrifter

I honestly think AirPlay is a sleeper technology that Apple is slowly evolving to make a wireless iOS dock. AirPlay continually gets better and now Mountain Lion is scheduled to incorporate more AirPlay features. I think it’s only a matter of time before the AppleTV gets a new name and just becomes AirPlay Dock.

I couldn't agree more Gabe. I like to think of a future where any monitor connected to the Apple TV AirPlay Dock can act as a full fledged monitor for an iPad or even an iPhone. I think one problem Apple has to solve is input to this iOS computer. I tweeted on February 20th

I think Gabe and myself have it right. Apple should support a simple white circle on the AirPlay mirrored screen to represent where your finger is just like they have used in keynote presentations in the past. I also think that if Apple implements this they could support the Magic Trackpad as an input device to the iPad truly opening up the possibilities of using your iPad as your only computer.

Filed under  //  Apple   Apple TV   Linked   airplay   iOS  

Comments (0)

 
Apr 29 / 2:33pm

Airplay Audio to the First Gen Apple TV

This post has been a long time coming and I am very exciting to be writing it. In my comparison between the first and second generation Apple TV I discussed some of the reasons I kept my old Apple TV and returned the new iOS based Apple TV. At the time I made that video AirPlay, Apples iOS to Apple TV audio and video streaming service, was not fully baked. Audio streaming worked well but video support was very limited. Currently video from third party apps is supported and supposedly works very well.

The main draw to AirPlay for me was audio streaming from an iOS device to either of my two Apple TVs. I use them as my whole house audio solution and when streaming music directly from iTunes or any other app via Rouge Amoeba's AirFoil. My issues with either of those solutions was that they still tethered me to my Mac. In the video above I demonstrate how to AirPlay audio from any iOS device through a Mac to a first gen Apple TV using an awesome beta application called Banana Tunes.

Filed under  //  Apple   Apple TV   iOS   iPad   iPhone  

Comments (0)