Apple TV has not been updated in over two years now. Which may be the reason why its competitors has gained some ground.

Parks Associates reports that Chromecast is now more popular than the Apple TV. In the first three quarters of the year, streaming media players are at its popularity peak. Almost ten percent of US households bought at least one streaming device this year.

According to rumours Apple TV does have an update ready for release but is pending the resolution of negotiation problems with content providers.

Google, Amazon and other competitors have taken advantage of the update gap and offer more diverse content at cheaper prices.

Google may be the biggest benefactor in the set-top box purchases becoming the second most popular device in households with a broadband connection this year. Last year it was only a minor player in the industry.

Roku still ranks at the top but market share has dropped to almost half in the last year from 46% to 29% in 2014.

Amazon Fire TV was only announced in April 2014, but is already a serious contender having captured 10% the market.

Apple has released an announcement that has it developed 8.1.1 to iPads and iPhones, and has treated Mac clients to their first Yosemite upgrade.
But, iOS 8.1.1 is not liable to produce much joy for Apple users, or maybe just in case they are still using an iPhone 4s or iPad 2.

Apple claims that the upgrade can speed up processes on both devices, after previous users complains on weakly characteristics of execution performances.
This upgrade likewise incorporates various fixes, yet it has not given a rundown of particular bugs that iOS 8.1.1 corrects.

The upgrade can be found in two ways: downloaded over-the-air or through iTunes.

Apple likewise discharged the first significant update for the Yosemite working system, Mac OS X 10.10.1, which guarantees to correct the WiFi issues that raised such a variety of complaints.

Countless number of clients using iMac and MacBook has reported issues to connect to specific Wifi networks, while others have endured unstable connections and wasted time on long loading times.

Apple says that these issues has been removed in OS X 10.10.1, claiming that the upgrade contains “Wifi improvements that improve stability”.

The update is accessible to download now at the App Store, and brings better Microsoft Exchange ties, improves Mail when sending messages from particular providers, and various bug fixes identifying with Time Machine, turning on from sleep etc.

As though that wasn’t sufficient, the firm additionally released an Apple TV upgrade, bringing various bug fixes to the set-top box.

It appears as though the next big-name celebrity to attempt to portray Steve Jobs on-screen will not be Batman star Christian Bale, after the Welsh-English actor pulled out of the upcoming biopic project from Danny Boyle and Aaron Sorkin.

The film, designed to be based on the official biography of the Apple co-founder/former CEO from Walter Isaacson, and separate from the independent ‘origin’ biopic starring Ashton Kutcher, will no longer star Bale after he ‘came to the conclusion’ that he was not a correct fit to play the role of Jobs.

The decision now leaves producers such as Sorkin and Boyle to ponder over who they can use to fill the lead role, which has already been vacated once before, with Leonardo DiCaprio leaving in favor of taking a hiatus from acting.

To address the issue, director Boyle will most likely make a last-minute change to the list of what he requires from upcoming casting meetings this week, in which Seth Rogen is strongly rumoured to be taking up the role of Jobs’ Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, whilst Jessica Chastain is being targeted for an unspecified role on the biopic project.

Looking to primarily cover Jobs’ involvement in three different ‘stressful and high-profile’ Apple product launches across the company’s history (including the launch of the first Macintosh computer in 1984 and the iPod music player in 2001), will the untitled Steve Jobs project be able to succeed despite several setbacks regarding its lead?

With the return of the NFL through its 4-week August pre-season schedule (one of the first games of which saw the Denver Broncos defeat the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks around 6 months too late), the well-known american football league has set out to further expand their media presence, with one of the biggest commercial entity in sport attempting to do so by teaming up with one of the most commercial technological entities in the world, Apple.

An unsettling development for anyone who fears corporate powerhouses combining, though for the parties involved it will appear on paper as a mutually beneficial deal, as NFL add their NFL Now app to iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV.

The app, which had been announced for a summer release on Xbox One (amongst other platforms) prior to the Apple announcement, is to guarantee 105 hours of original content per week, alongside an already-present 400 hours’ worth of archived footage. That archive is to include ‘historical highlights’ from each of the league’s 32 franchises, as well as of every Super Bowl from 1967-2009.

Also featured will be access to the league’s ‘NFL Films’ selection, segments and features from the NFL Network, as well as live streaming of press conferences and NFL Network shows.

A headlining ability of the new service, though, appears to be the introduction of a personalization option, offering viewers the chance to have recommended videos based on their favorite players & teams, and synchronisation to their official NFL fantasy team roster in a similar manner, if they have one. The features are noted as creating a ‘customized video stream’ that evolves throughout the season, with the NFL explaining that this will occur: “…to the point where no two registered fans will have the same experience on NFL Now.”

Whilst the download and basic features of the app are free, the NFL are naturally pushing their more ‘premium’ packages, which include ‘NFL Now Plus’ for $1.99/month (or $4.99/month for non-American subscribers), bringing users instant in-game highlights, whilst select foreign viewers along with Americans will gain the added benefits of NFL Network live streaming and Sunday access to the NFL Red Zone. Whether those customers will consider it value for money remains to be seen, so will Apple become the ideal partner for the NFL to get to where they want in the streaming market?

A trailer for the NFL Now service, ahead of the 2014 season, can be seen below:

Apple TV’s attempts to make a bigger impression on the internet TV set-top box market have taken a slight hit this month, after it was reported that the American technology giants are being forced into delaying their next generation of Apple TV.

The proposed redesign of the Apple-centric connected TV sets is believed to be held up on account of ongoing ‘negotiation issues’ with partnering cable companies, a set of problems that may see their newest version kept from shelves until 2015, having originally been anticipated for a release at some point this year.

Headlining issues are believed to include Comcast’s upcoming acquisition of Time Warner Cable not yet being finalised, whilst Apple’s imperfect efforts in finding other possible cable content providers for their product are also causing delays.

Company CEO Tim Cook has previously made claims that his company are due to put a ‘new type of device’ on sale as of this year, though if it is merely a revised Apple TV then Apple’s dedicated followers may be left disappointed. While it may now be a while before there is a new iOS-powered content streaming box on the market to compete with its Android competitors, will the delay be enough to see it released as a stronger competitor in the industry, or will negotiations continue to falter?