Official Plex app arrives on Apple TV

IMAGE: PLEX

BY STAN SCHROEDER10 MINUTES AGO

One of the most important updates in Apple's newly launched Apple TV is its own app store, offering third-party developers the ability to deliver dedicated apps for the platform.

Among those developers is Plex, a multimedia streaming player/server combo which is slowly but surely becoming one of the most feature-packed independent platforms out there. On Monday, the company announced its Apple TV app is available in the app store.

If you're not familiar with Plex, think of it as a complete software suite for your home multimedia needs. You run a server instance on a home NAS or even a regular computer that holds your media files, and install as many client instances as you like on your devices — laptops, mobiles and tablets (Plex supports nearly everything out there, from smart TVs, iPhones, Android phones to PlayStation, Xbox and Roku). You can then reach your music, videos and photos on all those devices through a fancy user interface, even when you're away from your home network.

In a blog post, Plex explains its struggles with the Apple TV, which originally only supported Apple's apps. After the second generation of the platform was jailbroken in 2010, an independent team of developers created a simple Plex app but it was complicated to install and thus didn't exactly offer a smooth user experience.

After Apple started offering tools to developers to create official apps for the platform, the Plex team jumped on the opportunity to launch an official app immediately after Apple TV becomes available, which happened last week.

The Plex app for Apple TV automatically downloads reviews and artwork for your movies.

IMAGE: PLEX

Now that it's finally available, the Apple TV Plex app offers a clean, elegant UI for organizing and viewing your multimedia collection. It also automatically pulls artwork, trailers and reviews for your media.

The app is free to download, but enabling streaming playback will cost you $4.99.

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iPhone 7 Latest Rumors – Improved Display and Hardware

It’s no surprise that Apple’s forthcoming device will be the iPhone 7. The latter device has got tech enthusiasts and Apple devotees juiced up as Apple seems to be keeping a pretty tight lip about all of this. Of course, rumors are pilling up as more and more reports about its future features and specs have surfaced.

Because Apple prefers the beginning of the fall season for its launches (let us recall the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus launch) it’s likely that the iPhone 7 will be reveled during the same period, possibly in the new year to come.

Some believe that because Apple adopted the Samsung method and decided to enlarge the screen sizes for the iPhones gizmo, the same thing will happen with the iPhone 7 in terms of display. Rumor has it that the iPhone 7’s display will mirror the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 one or that of other Galaxy devices. Forbes informs that Samsung is prepared to seal the deal with Apple and be the supplier of its screens. And given the fact that the iPhopne 7 is next in line to be launched, Samsung might just be Apple’s right hand in this.

LCD screens are the main components used for iPhones even if OLED ones are highly superior. But, it seems that Apple is ready to change that and choose the higher-end display technology. This will only mean positive outcomes for any future device launch.

According to other hearsays, the screen included in the iPhone 7 might lack the Home knob which from the start means a larger display. The camera unit is presumed to rock six-element lenses while its chassis will be completely made out of metal and the screen will be a sapphire one. In theory, all of these features sound alluring and mind-blowing but we’ll just have to wait and see if Apple delivers.

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Spotify Lands On Apple App Store Top Spot As Tim Cook Touts Apple Music

There was still steam coming off of the headlines announcing that Apple Music's subscriptions have already soared to a third of the size of Spotify's premium users, but before the headlines could cool, app trackers have reported that Spotify has finally hit the top spot in the Apple App Store.

News of Spotify's latest landmark doesn't take anything away from the success of Apple Music. It evidences the growth of Spotify.

Spotify has earned the banking details of 20 million music lovers and has gotten about 55 million others to sit through ads to enjoy the streaming music service for free.

The months-old Apple Music service has amassed an impressive 15 million total users, about 6.5 million of which pay for the premium service. The figures on Apple Music's success were shared by Apple CEO Tim Cook on Monday.

"We have music experts, just like the DJ when we were growing up...that are deciding what's next," Cook said. "It brings the art back in music."

There still a lot of land to cover to catch up with Spotify. And Spotify doesn't appear to be slowing down.

Spotify had hovered around the number three spot in the Apple App store in the US since the start of the year. However, Spotify finally hit the top of US' charts for top grossing apps this month.

The two services are a lot alike, though there have been complaints about the complexity of Apple Music's interface and reports of bugs. Meanwhile, the more established Spotify enjoys an interface that has benefited from a stream of updates to its mobile and desktop apps.

One of Apple Music's big selling points is that it has playlists curated by musicians and experts, though Spotify uses a similar curation model.

"I'm finding personally that I'm discovering a whole lot of music that I wasn't listening to before," he said. "I think it's fabulous. And to have over 15 million on there, and 6.5 million in the paid category, I'm really happy about it, and I think the runway here is really good."

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