If you don't want to bother going through the inconvenient process of sync-ing your iPhone or iPod before you can enjoy any of your favorite tunes, Orb Networks has just the thing for you. The OrbLive iPhone application allows users to enjoy video content in any format - downloaded BitTorrent files, TiVo-to-Go files, DivX, Mov, MP4, even live video and TV streams - on their preferred Apple gadget. For more details on this neat app, check out our full article.

Will digital downloads via Xbox Live, PSN, and iTunes soon take over the business of delivering consumers TV shows and hit movies? Not if you ask top Hollywood execs. In a recent gathering of the industry's movers and shakers, the general notion was that physical media would remain on top in the few years ahead. Read the details in the full article up next.

Not content with just selling movies and music online, Apple is now engaged in talks with major movie studios about renting movies for a paltry amount of US$ 2.99 for a 30-day rental period.

This may be a challenge toward existing cable and satellite TV companies, most of them offering Video-on-Demand (VOD) which lets people download movies into their cable box or gain access to premium programs.

This move may prove to be advantageous to Apple, who already sells films through distribution deals with Walt Disney as well as Paramount. Other entertainment moguls are hesitant to make deals with Apple simply because of fear that online distribution may hurt optical media sales.

But because of the 30-day limit made possible by the Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology, DVD sales will unlikely get affected by Apple's proposed download-to-rent format, purportedly to be launched in autumn.

A studio executive has acknowledged that Apple's plan would most likely "compete against cable companies and anyone else offering VOD into the home". VOD and similar formats have already become a staple for the cable TV industry such as Comcast, DISH Network, and TiVo. Apple's edge over them, however, is that it has a larger customer base.

Currently, Sony Pictures Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Bros., and Disney have no comments regarding this issue, though the inside buzz have studios getting inwardly excited with Apple dabbling in the VOD market. Says one studio executive, "When you think about Apple customers they are so connected to the brand they will try anything to do with it."

A report from AppleInsider indicates that Target, another major retail chain aside from Wal-Mart and Circuit City, is expected to pick up their own stock of the Apple's new entertainment showcase product, the Apple TV.

Best Buy finalized a deal with Apple to shelf the Apple TV in their stores last month, and Target will now become the next retail to have Apple TV on sale and on display.

Of course, the new stock is not yet expected to fill Target retail warehouses. Reports have come in stating that Target should be allowed one month in order to carry a full stock quota of the product in selected retail outlets nationwide. They are also planning on setting up eye-catching demonstration booths in some select outlets in order to introduce the new product to the public.

A representative from Target declined to comment on this report, after conferring with Target's "internal partners." The TiVo contender is a current top seller at all Apple chains nationwide, but is still up against a lot of competition from Microsoft and TiVo. It's ability to be modded for gaming and mobile use is an added edge for the product, however.

Reports of Sling Media working on making their Slingbox placeshifting device compatible with Apple's new Apple TV have been confirmed according to The Unofficial Apple Weblog. The confirmation was reportedly made by Dave Zatz, an employee at Sling Media.

For those who have yet to encounter it, the Slingbox is a TV streaming device that lets users stream and view video from their AV sources (DVD player, TiVo, etc.) remotely on their Internet-capable PCs. It also has an IR blaster that lets users control their AV source as if they were in their living rooms and using a standard remote control.

The report from The Unofficial Apple Weblog says that the Slingbox Pro will apparently connect to the Apple TV via the component outputs. It will give users access not only to their videos but also to their entire iTunes library. Users can also reduce bandwidth by choosing audio only mode on the SlingPlayer software.

Touting the ability to play downloaded videos and streamable shows on your living room set, Apple TV is now boosting its rep to  techie households everywhere with Apple TV commercials. This one particular commercial shows iTunes movies on Macs and iPods that end up eventually on your own entertainment showcase in the living room - the primal ability to Apple TV.

Despite the current flak Apple TV is getting from TiVo and Windows Media Center fans, a plethora of modders, hackers and Internet TV enthusiasts have boasted everything that can be possible on the device, including game emulation and games, plus HD playback on TVMini HD.

The slim, silver device from the Cupertino-based company was already released back in March, and should still be available at your nearest Mac or home theater retailer. Oh, and you could probably grab a different flavor of Apple TV for room preferences.

We've come across some shots of the Apple TV in Techrestore.com and they've opened up an Apple TV box. Accompanying reader posts haven't been too positive, though. A number of readers expressed their apprehension to invest in the new gadget, saying that it's possible to get the same level of functionality by hooking a Mac up to a stereo or a TV.

It would be interesting to see if the device can topple competitors like TiVo and Netfix who offer similar functions as the Apple TV. Apple TV will allow iTunes and videos to easily be played in TVs and other media because of the easy setup features and friendly interface. Users can also play downloaded material from iTunes with the Apple TV.

More images await after the jump!

Watch out TiVo and Netfix, Apple's got a big bomb with your names chalked on them and they're dropping it real soon. An estimated 22 million Apple and PC users are expected to join the craze and take the switch.

It may not have all the blings that the iPhone will pack, but the Cupertino-based company behind the iPod may have found the perfect marriage between table-top TV accessory TiVo and mail-based DVD subscription Netfix. The two services have 13.2 million subscribers combined, but financial analyst Jonathan Hoopes says the market will expand dramatically over the next few years and Apple will capitalize on the phenomenon.

 

The concept behind the Apple TV is simple: The box allows users to view media from their iPods on a big screen. That means that iTunes can be harnessed to buy digital content online and watch it comfortably in a home theatre.

The ThinkEquity Partners analyst commended the structural simplicity of the Apple TV and explained "we think the AppleTV/iTunes combination could become as disruptive to legacy video purchase-and-consumption behavior as the iPod/iTunes combination has been to the traditional music business model."

The growth that Apple TV will foster may very well be to the tune of billion in market capitalization for Apple, and Hoopes added that it's very possible that the masters pf Macintosh will join the gaming scene in the future.

Even hardcore Apple fans aren't too thrilled with the iTV. And that's for a bunch of good reasons. The set-top-box is supposed to allow users to download movies (for a fee, of course) and watch them in "near-DVD quality". It's not really a revolutionary device, but Apple thinks that enabling content to be streamed from any Mac OS- or Microsoft Windows-run computer to a television is something worth spending US$ 300 for. Even if Steve Jobs hypes it up, the iTV isn't really going to get the same reception the iPod's gotten.

But what if Apple licenses TiVo's technology and uses it with the new iTV? Now, THAT would be something that just might interest us all!

But before you get all giddy, we'd have to remind you that this is a wild rumor posted at PVRblog. There's no firm evidence whatsoever, not just yet. But if you think about it, it's not an impossibility. In addition to the supposed Apple-TiVo partnership, iTV supposed to "officially" be called the Mac Media Capsule. With such a craptacular name, that Tivo deal should materialize and soon!

Apple will enlighten us when Macworld kicks off on January 9, 2007.

TiVo owners have been able to play their recorded videos on their gadgets for a long time now. So what makes this new update which was released by TiVo themselves, any different? Here's what we've all been waiting for.

Now it allows you to upload your videos and convert them at the same time - no need for third party software! Video conversion with free programs can be tedious at best and this update, which will cost TiVo subscribers an extra $25, allows you to directly move your TiVo'd videos straight from your unit to your TiVo Desktop and convert them to be played on the PSP, Treo, and iPod in one straight step.

The update, version 2.3, will also feature 'TiVoToGo' which will allow users to schedule TiVo to PC transfers. Now get out there and get your favorite episodes of Gilmore Girls Ultimate Fighting Championship on your gadget of choice!