An iPhone 6s That Can Record 4K Video Means a 4K Apple TV

Image credit: Apple

It's been reported, according to sources, that the iPhone 6s family will have the ability to record 4K video. Apple sells a 5K iMac. So why wouldn't a next generation Apple TV have the ability to display 4K video? Here's my case.

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Apple, if it remains true to form, likes to think in terms of the synergistic things customers can do with its products. Video is shot on an iPhone and edited on an iMac with iMovie. iTunes on a Mac in concert with iCloud manages a library of music and videos that get synced to all other devices.

And so, if Mark Gurman is correct in "iPhone 6S camera: 12 megapixel photos, 4K video recording, flash for selfies." why wouldn't Apple develop a next generation Apple TV that can present those videos?

What've I've seen so far is that many of the writers about Apple don't think the next Apple TV will have 4K because there's "no content." But that's not strictly true and misses the point completely. See: "Apple Should Release a New Apple TV Soon and Be Done." There, I argued that Apple wants to engage the TV and film industry as an enthusiastic supporter of their technologies, the next Apple TV must have 4K.

The sentiment is different with the professional side of the TV industry. There, I am seeing enthusiastic support for Apple to introduce a 4K device. It's all part and parcel of 4KTVs, UHD Blu-ray players and the formats used for the latest films.

I haven't see seen an article in a long time that whines about your supposed inability to see the difference between 2160p and 1080p That's a single point argument and glosses over all the other advantages of next generation TVs. For example...

Advancing technology also offers us a chance to do new things in new ways. This week, I briefly had a chance to investigate "Vidity." I'll be exploring this more, but here's one intriguing tidbit from Home Media magazine: "New 'Enabling Technology' Expected to Give Boost to 4K Ultra HD Movie Ownership."

Vidity should make consumers much more comfortable with buying and collecting 4K UHD movies, and other filmed content, knowing they will have full control of managing and moving their high-quality digital movie libraries. Movies will play on any device, at any time, without the need for an account, device activations or connection to the Internet for playback.

My guess is that Apple video engineers have known about this all along. I won't be surprised to see it mentioned on September 9th by Apple. You heard it here first.

Life and technology continue to move forward. Otherwise, we'd all be watching Betamax tapes.

Next page: the tech news debris for the week of August 24. WIll iOS and OS X Merge?

Page 2 - The Tech News Debris for the Week of August 24

 

Thanks to Matt Weinberger at Business Insider, here's a nifty trip down Apple's memory lane. "32 photos of Apple's early days before it ruled the world." Note the option to "View As One Page." That will help a lot. I loved it and so will you.


A custom built Apple I.  Credit: wikimedia commons.

Here's a pretty good summary of everything we know about the rumored Apple iPad Pro: "iPad Pro release date, news and rumours." Especially interesting, in addition to a lot of detail, was this recap from a 2014 article:

On the Macintosh computer's 30th birthday, Apple executives responded to rumours that the company was looking to merge Mac OS X and iOS into a single operating system. The retort? No chance in hell.

"We don't waste time thinking, 'But it should be one [interface].' How do you make these [operating systems] merge together?' What a waste of energy that would be," Apple SVP of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller told Macworld.

And that's that.

How to you make the operating system and the hardware of any device work together beautifully? Of course, you make them both. Here's a great example of Apple's success doing that with the iPhone. "Video shows the Galaxy Note 5 can’t keep up with the iPhone 6 despite superior hardware."

One of the subjects dear to my heart is Apple's 2013 Mac Pro, of which I am a big fan. Huge. So I found this discussion, which I've seen nowhere else, particularly interesting. "Apple Inc. May Be Preparing a Mac Pro Refresh for Early 2016." Fun stuff. I'm crossing my fingers.

It's always interesting when one looks at the combination of two technology areas to analyze the interactions. In this case, it's the car industry and the smartphone industry. Car & Driver magazine, to which subscribed for all of my adult life (and as a nerdy teenager) and just love, sizes up Apple's CarPlay and Google's Android Auto. I won't give away the verdict. What do you think of: "Apple CarPlay vs. Android Auto: We Test the Most Hyped Software of the Year."

Mashable reports that state of Iowa is involved in a small scale test program to have the driver's license installed and displayed on a smartphone.

On Wednesday, the state announced live testing of what it calls the Mobile Driver License (mDL) in a number of settings, but that testing will be limited to hundreds of Iowa Department of Transportation employees.

You guessed it. The discussion of having to hand over your smartphone to a police officer came up, and it's a good discussion to have. How about this? The officer holds out a specially designed NFC reader, one that can only read your driver's license, and you touch your phone to it. Then the officer can read all that there is to know about just your license.

Just a thought.

From Engadget: "Former Apple CEO John Sculley launches a line of stylish smartphones." I don't know about you, but I think it's a little late to get into the smartphone market. I predict a bust. But we shall see.

Finally, the literature and lore about the emergence of robots on our society is immense. And it's going to get larger as robots start to play a more visible role in our lives. And so, I present for your consideration this essay. "Die, Robot: This Is Just the Beginning of Violence Against Job-Taking Robots."

Here's what I think will happen. I present my rule #1 for workplace robots. "Any job in which the human is so unskilled as to be a candidate to be replaced by a robot - will be."

Maybe one day I'll click a button, and my Mac will write this column for me. I hope I still get paid.

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Particle Debris is a generally a mix of John Martellaro's observations and opinions about a standout event or article of the week (preamble on page one) followed by a discussion of articles that didn't make the TMO headlines, the technical news debris. The column is published most every Friday except for holidays.