Minecraft Coming to Apple TV Tim Cook Confirms

 By Luke Jones - 

October 28, 2016 6:51 pm CET 

Microsoft’s all-conquering Minecraft will be available on Apple TV soon, said Tim Cook. It is likely that Minecraft Pocket Edition will come to the set top box.

While Apple’s event yesterday was to launch the MacBook Pro, it was a Microsoft-lite event. Indeed, the company announced Microsoft Office integration in the Touch Bar, as we reported earlier. Also, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that Microsoft is working on bringing Minecraft to the Apple TV set top box.

There was no particular fanfare about this. Instead, Cook made a brief announcement and moved on. The CEO did say that users will be able to play directly on the Apple TV. He said gamers can create worlds on the box and said the app will be similar to Minecraft Pocket Edition.


If it is a Pocket Edition of the game, that is good for multiplayer options. Minecraft PE is available on multiple mobile platforms, including Apple’s own iOS. Functionality on the Apple TV will mean users can multiplayer with gamers on other platforms.
Recent Minecraft News

Speaking of the Pocket Edition, it recently received a major update. The extensive Boss Update dropped for the game (also the Windows 10 Edition) a week ago.

The update adds new bosses, Elder Guardians, and a Wither creature. This release should be launching directly on Apple TV.


Microsoft has yet to confirm this, so no official date has been given. Check out the full Boss Update changelog below:
“Ocean Monuments
Guardians and Elder Guardians
Prismarine, dark prismarine & prismarine bricks
Prismarine shard & prismarine crystal
Sea lantern
The Wither!
Nether star
Beacon
Wet & dry sponges
Slash commands (with a handy auto complete feature). Enable cheats for a world in the options screen for access, but note that Xbox Live achievements will be disabled when you’re using ‘em!
Custom key bindings! Hooray for lefties!
A new Creative inventory search feature
Add-On section for world settings
Basic F3 support! (Win 10 only)
Coordinates!
You can change game modes in Realms (note that doing this will restart the realm)
Ability to upload & download worlds in Realms
Ability to promote players as operators in Realms
UI improvements!
Performance improvements!
Tweaks to various mob action/behavior triggers, including fixing creeper explosions
Elder guardian de-buff visuals fixed (feedback from Android beta)
Fishing rods & arrows will fire in more than just one direction
Lots of tweaks to water textures to make underwater more fun
Tweaks to Realms settings
Visual tweaks to sun, moon & stars when rendering in VR immersive mode
Ridiculous numbers of bug fixes!”

Diwali 2016: Make your audio experience wire-free this Diwali

By Nikhil Rastogi /  28 Oct 2016 , 14:54

Diwali brings with it one important task: cleaning up your house. A major concern bothering a lot of my friends this year was managing the wires associated with their audio setups. While desktop PC is still something that is dear to my friends, there is definitely scope for making audio setups wireless at least. We got down to researching on it. We explore and find the best ways that you can continue listening to your tunes easily without interruption.

Have you tried Bluetooth speakers?
The first and most obvious answer is to get decent Bluetooth speakers that you can carry to any room for listening to your tunes. They are small, unintrusive and can be taken on trips too. Bluetooth speakers are best for lightly listening to your music in the background but certainly lack the oomph in sound if you really want to enjoy your music.

For the best Bluetooth speaker choices, do check out our Bluetooth speaker guide under Rs 10,000.

Make any speaker Wireless (Via Bluetooth)
If you’ve an excellent home speaker system but without wireless capability, perhaps Logitech’s Bluetooth Audio Adapter is what you need. This little device is really small, has a range of 50 feet, is simple with one button to sync with your phone/tablet/laptop to play audio. The device connects to regular speakers with 3.5mm or RCA jack and this little wonder can save you thousands of rupees as wireless amplifiers/home speaker systems cost a lot more. Logitech’s little receiver costs less than Rs 2,000.

Get Better Wireless experience on any speaker (Via Wi-Fi)

Bluetooth is the most basic wireless functionality you can get. But, it has limitations, such as poorer/compressed audio quality (than wired or Wi-Fi), limited range, and of course typical Bluetooth headaches of steady connectivity. If you want to alleviate these problems, Wi-Fi is the way to go. Here you’ll have to ensure that you have good Wi-Fi running in the house perhaps with extenders or boosters for rooms where Wi-Fi is weak.

Google Chromecast Audio
This little hockey puck-shaped device set to resemble a miniature record is from Google called Chromecast Audio that is similar to their video version but does only audio with RCA, 3.5mm and Optical connections.

So why use this over Bluetooth functionality?
Several reasons!

Chromecast has Wi-Fi inbuilt and connects through your home’s Wi-Fi network easily. So your phone connects through Wi-Fi to Chromecast audio and acts only like a remote. Chromecast audio, on the other hand, does the actual downloading and transmitting of audio, only on apps that support Chromecast of course. Here’s the ever growing list of supported apps by Google Chromecast.

This not only saves battery life but also you’d get a lot more bandwidth than

Apple issues a major refresh to its MacBook Pro lineup with Touch Bar and Touch ID in keyboard

  28 Oct 2016 , 11:16

Apple’s high-end Mac laptops are getting a touch control strip above the keyboard, part of a long-awaited update aimed at reviving interest in a product often overshadowed by newer gadgets like the iPad and iPhone.

The new Touch Bar, which is both a narrow display and a control panel, replaces the old physical function keys on a traditional laptop. It will offer a variety of controls that change according to the app or website that’s open. It also has functions that will be familiar to many iPhone users – showing word suggestions as you type, for example, or letting you scroll through a library of emojis.

New features, higher price

The company unveiled the laptops at its headquarters in Cupertino, California, where executives showed how the Touch Bar works with a variety of apps and software – providing playback and editing controls for videos or music, for example, and search functions for Apple’s maps and photos apps. Apple is also opening the Touch Bar to work with outside software, including Adobe’s Photoshop editing program and Microsoft’s Word, PowerPoint and Skype.

Along with faster processors and brighter screens, two of Apple’s new laptops will also get a fingerprint sensor, similar to the one on iPhones. The sensor can unlock the device, authorize software installations or recognize a different user and quickly switch to that person’s settings. It works with Apple Pay, so users can authorize an

Apple’s Eddy Cue talks future of TV; calls them ‘Glorified VCRs’ that need a reinvention

Image: Reuters

By tech2 News Staff /  21 Oct 2016 , 18:07

Apple’s senior VP of software and services Eddy Cue clearly does not like the current state of TV. At Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit, in a conversation with HBO CEO Richard Plepler, Cue called TVs nothing more than glorified VCRs.

Pressing on the need to for TVs to be reinvented, Cue said, “You live with a glorified VCR. You’re still setting things to record. There are 900 channels, but there’s nothing to watch.” While Cue acknowledged that there was great stuff to watch, the TV interface is what was making it more difficult, specially when it came to finding content.

“The ways you interface with TV are pretty brain dead,” said Cue. Of course he maintained that Apple TV with its App Store and Siri provide a better solution. He mentioned the example of HBO Now, which has around 1 million subscribers on Apple devices. He said that HBO Now provides a better navigational experience than cable box or satellite.

Cue hinted that Apple and HBO were two companies that were ‘at the beginning’ of their relationship. He suggested that TV will continue to evolve over the years.

Talking on competition from rivals such as Amazon and Netflix, Cue said that Apple was in a very competitive position in both music and video streaming as it hosts these services on its own platform.

Apple isn’t getting all the love in the TV streaming arena from all the major players though, thanks to Cue’s hard nosed tactics. Time Warner, Disney are just some of the TV networks which aren’t bowing down to Apple’s demands.