Avian: Twitter Map is a new app for the Apple TV that shows Twitter content on a beautifully animated map. You can choose a subject or hashtag you’re interested in and see tweets from around the world, or in a particular location you’ve set. You can choose between a traditional map style, or gorgeous high definition satellite imagery.

Avian can be both an entertaining, visual way to explore Twitter in the home, and a useful new tool for those needing to display a Twitter feed on a large, public screen, to encourage people to tweet about their business, conference or venue.

Developers Simon Burbidge, Adam Shaw and James White are keen Twitter users, and, as they said, they “jumped at the chance to create a whole new way of engaging with Twitter using tvOS.” They ensure that the app is perfectly tailored for television screens.

Avian is a fresh new take on Twitter that’s fun to explore on your home TV. See what people around you, or around the world, are saying about a trending topic, whether it’s the big news, the big season finale, the big new album, or the big game.

Pick a subject or hashtag that interests you, or just sit back and see what the people you follow are talking about. You can even speak into your remote, and let Siri do the typing. See tweets from around the world, or lock the map to your neighbourhood, city or country. You’re in control, and no matter what you choose, you’ll see Twitter as you’ve never seen it before.

Avian was recently awarded third prize in the Apple TV App Challenge, an international contest for pre-release AppleTV apps sponsored by AppLovin.

Avian: Twitter Map is free to download, with an in-app purchase of $1.99 to access some features.

Simply search for “Avian” on the Apple TV app store to download the app.

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After releasing verified email to make verifying users simpler, Twitter has focused on solving another challenge for developers: verifying users for apps on TV. Today the company introduced Digits for tvOS to make this process easier.

According to Twitter, logging into apps on Apple TV is hard for end users for a number of reasons:

• First, web views and login methods that rely on oAuth (i.e., social login) aren’t supported.
• Second, traditional login methods (i.e., username/email and password) are tedious on the TV given the nonstandard input style. Just imagine if your user has to sign up for a service, confirm his/her account and then sign in with his/her full email and password via the TV remote without a keyboard.

With Digits, users can now “seamlessly and safely” log into the Apple TV apps. All it takes is a few lines of code.

How it works

Using Digits’ device authorization, an app on the Apple TV will show a short alphanumeric code. The user then simply enters the code on digits.com/appletv via their laptop or smartphone to authorize the device to their account. Once that’s done, the TV device receives a Digits session for the user’s account which developers can use to instantly identify the user and personalize their experience.

Twitter said it will be rolling out access to customers throughout the day.

Most of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are still there: 

• Best deals on TVs for Apple TV
• Best deals on Bluetooth speakers for Apple TV 4
• Best deals on Bluetooth headphones for Apple TV 4
• Best deals on AirPlay speakers for Apple TV (2nd, 3rd and 4th gen.)
• Best deals on skins/stickers for Apple TV (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th gen.)
• Best deals on Bluetooth keyboards for Apple TV 2 & 3
• TotalMount Pro for Apple TV (2nd, 3rd and 4th gen.) now 33% off

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

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Apple makes incredible hardware and pulls out all the stops to showcase their latest inventions once or twice a year. Although initially not even considered for the iPhone, external development of apps for these devices has steadily grown in its influence and visibility. It should come as no surprise then that at least one lucky developer has been tapped to share the stage today and show off the potential of the new Apple TV with apps.

TechCrunch is reporting that Twitter’s live streaming application Periscope will be featured prominently on the new Apple TV. Although not confirmed, it seems likely they will get more than just a shout out or screen capture.

I would expect Apple to utilize Periscope as an example of a ‘live’ and ‘fresh’ alternative to traditional TV. It also shows off the potential of the new platform beyond just transitioning your content from the phone to the TV. Apple will want developers to really embrace the new medium and build new experiences based around group media consumption.

What could be more ‘TV’ appropriate than live streaming of video? Anyone want to place a bet on how soon Vice Media or someone else creates a live streaming news channel via Periscope that showcases the Apple TV?

Also read: Everything we know so far about Apple TV 4

Rob Witman (@robwitman)

Read more about Apple TV 4: 

• Apple TV 4 specs and price revealed
• Apple TV 4: big focus on gaming and Siri, support for Bluetooth game controllers
• Apple TV 4 will cost $149-$199, available in October

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

The post The Chosen Few. Periscope secretly developing Apple TV app appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Patchstick.ca has released the first Twitter client for the Apple TV – aTVitter.

For the present, the application lets you access and display the three timelines: friends’ timeline,  your own timeline and the public timeline.

It’s also possible to display the detail view of a selected tweet.

In order to read your and your friends’ timeline, you need to login to your twitter account using the “Settings” menu. To logout, simply delete the current user name in the Setting menu.

aTVitter also provides full iPhone integration for the Twitter account maintenance.

aTVitter it’s free and can be installed via the free base version of PatchStick 3.0 as well as via the newest Update 2.4a

Patchstick’s team ensure they are working hard to release more features soon. Full Twitter account management would be nice and the layout improvement – more than welcome.

Contact patchstick.ca to post suggestions, opinions and ideas of any kind.

The post aTVitter – the first Twitter client for Apple TV appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.