Remember the Apple TV 6.2 software update which we reported last week? We had inferred that it just included some general bug fixes, basic performance improvements and that it was probably intended to be used by developers for testing out the new features on iOS 8.

But as it turns out, Apple had much deeper plans. With the 6.2 update, Apple TV had gained the ability to show iTunes Extras on movie pages and the feature is now rolling out to all users.

While adding videos to iTunes, creators have an option to use Apple’s templates to create an iTunes Extras page and upload related contents like cut-scenes, making of the movie, trailers etc. These will be available exclusively to HD buyers as a complement to the purchase.

With iTunes 11.3, Mac OS X has gained this feature and it will be available on iOS 8 too, when it gets released this fall.

“iTunes Extras can include behind-the-scenes videos, short films, high-resolution image galleries, director’s commentary, scenes, and more. These immersive iTunes Extras can also be enjoyed on Apple TV with Software Update 6.2 now, and will be available on iOS 8 this fall.
New iTunes Extras will be automatically added to your previously purchased HD movies as they become available – at no additional charge.”

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Apple today rolled out a new firmware for the 2nd and 3rd gen. Apple TV. Apple TV software update 6.2 (build 11D257c) is probably only focused on bug fixing and includes “general performance and stability improvements.”

Last week Apple added four new channels to the Apple TV (ABC News, PBS Kids, AOL On & Willow TV) along with a redesigned Flickr app.

Earlier in June, Apple released Apple TV 7 beta 1 firmware to developers. The new beta, intended to be used for “testing AirPlay with iOS apps”, also brings iCloud Family Sharing and some Continuity features to Apple TV.

Also read: WWDC 2014 and the invisible Apple TV

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Users turning on their Apple TV today will be surprised by an increase in the number of channels clashing it up on their big screens. That’s because Apple TV just gained four new channels – ABC News, PBS Kids, AOL On & Willow TV, and a redesigned Flickr channel.

ABC News is probably the most important addition here. Users can access all the content available at ABCnews.com via this app, including 24/7 live and on-demand content, hourly video updates, local content from 9 stations, their original video series, Editor-chosen special stories and ABS News archives. Unlike Watch ABC which requires you to sign in with a cable provider account for access, the ABC News contents are available to all for free. However, the channel currently seems to be not functioning properly, at least for me.

“Immediate Access to Live & On-Demand Video Content, Entertainment News, Live Hourly Updates, Original Programming and Video Highlights from “Good Morning America,” “World News,” “Nightline,” “20/20” and “This Week” 24/7”

PBS Kids now becomes the second channel from PBS to appear on Apple TV and provides access to the child-oriented and educational programmes from the network. Like ABC News, this one doesn’t require an active cable connection to enjoy. However it does require a free online activation, which can be completed by following a few simple on-screen instructions.

AOL On is somewhat like an Apple TV Client for their website where all the AOL content including sports, news and AOL original shows are available.

Willow TV brings the coverage of Cricket Matches to the United States and Canada on Apple TV, including streaming of live matches (IPL too), VOD Replays of games and also the highlights of past games. However it requires an active subscription for $15/month.

Flickr channel has gained a new sparkly icon and an internal redesign. Now you have a beautiful home screen to Explore popular photos, a better Search and a “Your Flickr” tab to view your photos.

Suddenly, you have a lot more to watch on Apple TV! But if any of these channels seem useless to you and is just adding to the clutter, be sure to follow our guides on How to easily hide unwanted channel icons on Apple TV and How to arrange and hide icons on Apple TV.

Also be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

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Released earlier today, the new Apple TV software beta brings iCloud Family Sharing to the big screen, 9to5Mac reports. That’s in line with our predictions on how the future Apple TV may look like.

Introduced at WWDC 2014, Family Sharing allows family members to share purchases from iTunes (music, movies, TV shows) and the App Store (games!), as well as family calendar and photos.

iOS 8 introduces Family Sharing, making it easier than ever to communicate and share purchases, photos and calendars within the same household. Family members can browse and download each other’s iTunes®, iBooks® or App Store purchases. Up to six members can participate, each with their own Apple ID. Parents can create Apple IDs for children, which includes Ask to Buy, requiring parental permission for purchases. Family Sharing automatically keeps everyone connected by creating a shared family photo stream, shared calendar and provides an option for locating family members and their devices.

Also read: WWDC 2014 and the invisible Apple TV

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest AppleTV-related news.

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Update: The new Apple TV software beta brings iCloud Family Sharing to the big screen.

Apple today released Apple TV 7 beta 1 firmware to developers. This new beta is supposed to be used for “testing AirPlay with iOS apps.” As we previously reported, one of the new iOS 8 features is the new peer-to-peer connection for AirPlaying to Apple TV.

Interestingly, the new beta software only supports Apple TV 3. Does this mean Apple will definitely drop support for Apple TV 2?

Apple TV 7 Beta 1 Known Issues
• Stuttering (dropped frames) may occur intermittently during video playback. In some cases, playback may stop.
• Apple TV may crash (return to main menu) after purchasing a music video.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest AppleTV-related news.

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Besides rolling out the Apple TV 6.1 firmware, Apple also updated their Remote app for iOS aiming for better and easier use with Apple TV. The highlight features of Remote 4.2 are:

• Now, you can browse the catalogue of purchased movies and songs on the app and play it via Apple TV. So no more searching iTunes on TV or using that pesky remote with the on-screen keyboard.
• Access iTunes Radio within the Remote app and play directly on your Apple TV – no need for AirPlay anymore.
• Also, the remote works great with the new “easy hide” feature of Apple TV 6.1, as you can use the Options button to bring up the juggle mode and tap Play/Pause button to bring up the hide option.

The features added, though few, are really handy for Apple TV users and make so sense that we wonder why Apple haven’t came up with them earlier. Now we have a solid reason to use the Remote app over the physical remote. The Apple TV experience is evidently getting more and more attention from Apple.

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Much has been said about the cluttering on the Apple TV home screen. And that is truly evident from the hits we received on our post How to arrange and hide channels on Apple TV, which we published after the feature was first introduced in the 5.1 update. Yes, the ability to hide and rearrange icons has been present on your Apple TV for a while, but yesterday Apple rolled out a new 6.1 update to Apple TV devices, which makes it much easier to hide unwanted channels right from the home screen.

So here is how to quickly hide channels on Apple TV 6.1:

Note:  You can rearrange most of the icons on your Apple TV’s main menu but you can’t move or rearrange the icons in the top row (Movies, TV Shows, Music, and Computers).

Step 1: Navigate to the channel you want to hide.

Step 2: Hold down the Select button for a couple of seconds. Now the channel icon begins to do the classic iOS jiggle. If you want, you can rearrange the icon using the arrow buttons now.

Step 3: Press the Play/Pause button to bring up the hide menu. Press on hide and you’re done.

You can undo this by just going to Settings -> Main Menu.

So this wasn’t a major update from Apple. No new features added nor anything fancy here – only making an already present feature more easily accessible. Doesn’t it seem a little odd? Apple pushing out an entire update just to cut a couple of steps in doing an action. That is so un-Apple-y. 

But analysts consider this as a welcome sign. Apple TV users have been asking for a new interface for quite sometime now. And by promoting a related feature, which was earlier used to hide channels from kids (in parental controls), into an essential function, Apple acknowledges that they’re seriously working on a fix.

Hence, analysts now believe that a revamped interface is in the making. This is in accordance with the recent rumors of an iOS-based Apple TV 4 with a revamped interface, a new dedicated Apple TV App Store and support for games.

You can read more about the next Apple TV here.

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Here is what’s new in Apple TV 6.1:

• Main menu: Customize your Apple TV by hiding items from the main menu.
• AirPlay: 
  • Adds a security option to require that iOS devices or Macs be verified with a one-time, onscreen code before using AirPlay. Requires iOS 7.1 or later on an iOS device or a Mac with Mac OS X 10.9.2 or later.
  • Adds support to allow an AirPlay device to discover Apple TV over Bluetooth in environments where multicast or Bonjour traffic is blocked on the network or the AirPlay device is on a different subnet.
• Remote app: View your purchased TV shows and movies in the Remote app and tap to play them instantly on Apple TV. Create and play iTunes Radio stations. Requires Remote app version 4.2 or later.
• Stability and performance: includes general performance and stability improvements.

As always:

• if you’re on jailbroken ATV2 – stay away from this update
• if you’re on non-jailbroken ATV2 running 6.0.x – stay away from this update in case the jailbreak for Apple TV 6.0.x comes to reality (unless you have the SHSH blobs saved for 6.0.x)
• if you’re on ATV3 and still believe the Apple TV 3 jailbreak may become reality – don’t update to 6.1

Latest jailbreakable Apple TV firmware is 5.3.

We will soon have a short tutorial on how to easily hide unwanted channels/icons from the Apple TV’s main menu. Stay tuned!

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This Friday, Apple revealed a major security glitch in Apple’s iOS devices, relatated to SSL implementation. Later analysts looked into it only to find that OS X and Apple TV are also affected and that it is an easily exploitable yet a seriously injurious one.

I’m not going to talk details about the Apple bug except to say the following. It is seriously exploitable and not yet under control.

— Matthew Green (@matthew_d_green) February 21, 2014

The bug seems to result in failed validation of SSL certification of sites. And for users that would mean, many data which are supposed to be secure are being transferred un-encrypted. Though domain access seems to be protected, direct SSL connections to IP addresses was found to be exploitable. So a hacker’s access to data used through Safari is unlikely, but to that through apps is possible as most of them communicates directly with their servers. And that is why Apple TV apps can also be affected.

Apple describes the vulnerability as follows:

Impact: An attacker with a privileged network position may capture or modify data in sessions protected by SSL/TLS

Description: Secure Transport failed to validate the authenticity of the connection. This issue was addressed by restoring missing validation steps.

You can read more on the bug here.

But no worries, Apple is quick to seal the bleed and released new software updates for the affected devices. 7.0.6 for iOS devices, 6.1.6 for older iOS devices and 6.0.2 for Apple TV 2 and 3 are now available. You can goto Settings > General > Software update to check for and install the new firmware.

However OS X bug is still unrepaired, during the time of writing. You can quickly browse to gotofail.com to find out if any of your device is vulnerable. If yes, I recommend you guys to update immediately. Else any hacker could pose as a secure site and pull you data.

Now, though things have settled a bit for users, they are far from over for Apple. It is still uncertain as to when the bug was introduced (surely before iOS 6) and whether anybody has already been victim to unauthorized access. Many developers have explained on their blogs as to how the bug works and how it could be exploited and this could pose a great threat to those who haven’t patched it yet.

On the other hand, some are accusing this to be an intentional backdoor for NSA access while others are wondering if there are more such simple, unnoticed security breach roads. Only time will tell if Apple will shine above these dark clouds or get buried in lawsuits.

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If you turn on your Apple TV right now, you’ll see that the above icon has been squeezed into your home-screen. Yeah that’s right, Red Bull TV is now showing over Apple TV.

Couple of days back, Apple inserted this channel from the famous energy-drink makers by an over-the-air update. It is reported to be a world-wide release but some users (from Israel) are telling otherwise. It is an automatic addition and doesn’t need a software update. So if you don’t have the channel by now, your region is probably not supported.

The Red Bull TV channel is very much similar to their iOS app featuring hardcore action content categorized into Sports, Music and Global Series. Both on-demand and live content from Red Bull can be streamed with a click now.

Cupertino has been busy lately with a lot of channel launches including Bloomberg, Watch ABC, Crackle, Disney channels, VEVO, PBS, Sky News, Watch ESPN, HBO GO and more. And with this new addition, Apple now has over 30 channels on their set-top box, stampeding on your 1080p screen. I share the concern of most users that searching for the content you love has become very complex recently. Though users can hide unwanted icons from the Settings, we really need some better organisation of our content, here.

It is unlikely that Apple hasn’t noticed it already and aren’t looking for a fix. According to the recent rumors, the next Apple TV will come with a brand new iOS-based firmware and would be backward compatible. It is highly likely that the new user interface will be revolutionary and make things as simple as it could get – the Apple trademark.

Stick around here at Apple TV Hacks (Facebook, Twitter, Google+) for more coverage on the new Apple TV.

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