My first Apple TV quickly established itself as an essential addition to my home media setup. I used it primarily to send music from my Mac’s iTunes library to the home theater audio system in our living room. In addition, it let me watch videos purchased or rented from the iTunes Store on the family HDTV.

Over time, our use of the Apple TV has only broadened. One example: My wife invited a group of her friends over to watch a series of video interviews, obtained as free downloads from a website, but she didn’t want to make everyone huddle around her computer to view the shows. Our Apple TV came to the rescue. We imported the videos into her iTunes library, letting her display the videos on the connected television.

As great as having one Apple TV has been, I’ve more recently discovered the benefits of owning multiple Apple TVs, one for each of the three televisions in our home.

The joy of multiple Apple TVs

The most obvious advantage of multiple Apple TVs is that I have access to Apple TV’s features no matter which television or audio system I’m using. As a result, I can now listen to music from my iTunes library just about anywhere in our house.

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If it’s an alternative Netflix or iTunes app you’re looking for, the free Amazon Instant Video for iOS provides you with lots of great streaming content over Wi-Fi—provided you have an Amazon Prime membership or you have already purchased content from Amazon.com.

The account conundrum

Like Netflix, you need an account with the company in question to use Amazon Instant Video. Amazon offers two options: Sign in with your normal Amazon.com purchasing account and have access to any online video content you’ve purchased, or sign up for Amazon Prime.

Amazon Prime is the company’s $79 per year two-day shipping and streaming video service. Sign up, and you’ll gain access to the entirety of Amazon’s Prime streaming library, which includes a large number of videos and TV shows. You’ll also receive free two-day shipping on a large number of Amazon.com catalog items. It’s comparable to Netflix’s similar streaming plan, which at $8 per month shakes out to $96 per year.

Unfortunately, if you don’t sign up for a Prime account, you’ll need to make all your TV show and movie purchases outside of the app: Due to Apple’s terms and conditions, Amazon can’t let you purchase TV and movie content without it being set up as an in-app purchase, and the company can’t even list or link to the Amazon.com URL to send you out to Safari.

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I knew that cord-cutting’s time had come when I visited my wife’s parents in Arkansas over the New Year’s holiday. My father-in-law has always been one of the techiest people I know—he’s got a giant flat-screen high-definition television connected to a killer stereo system, making his home theater experience feel quite a bit like an actual theater.

On this visit, however, his cable box was gone: It had been replaced by a Roku, and the cable service replaced by subscriptions to Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Prime. That works out to a savings of at least $30 a month—well worth it, my father-in-law says, even though he can’t watch CBS shows or live golf anymore. Instead, he’s been exploring the Criterion Collection on Hulu Plus.

“The quality is as good as cable and satellite and in some programming areas better,” he told me last week. He gushed: “Hulu Criterion is a treasure vault.”

So it was no surprise, then, when Paid Content ran this chart last week, revealing that the number of cable subscribers declined for the “first time in history,” down from 100.9 million in 2011 to 100.8 million in 2012. That’s a minor dip, in the scheme of things, but also portentous.

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The ebook deal gets approved, while the Apple TV has a weird relationship with ebooks. And Apple’s newest execs get some serious compensation on the books. The remainders for Thursday, September 6, 2012 are all booked up.

Simon & Schuster, Hachette ebook Accord Wins Approval (Bloomberg)

Last week’s settlement between three publishers and the U.S. government over ebook price-fixing has been approved by a judge. So I’m sure you can expect your check for 37 cents in the mail any day now.

Notification in iOS 6 beta hints at iBooks for Apple TV (AppleInsider)

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CBS doesn’t want to help Apple build a business on the back of its content, a Russian carrier doesn’t want to submit to Apple’s autocratic demands, and Mountain Lion apparently doesn’t want MacBook users to get their full battery life. The remainders for Friday, August 3, 2012, are wanting for nothing.

CBS Loves Apple TV, in Theory (All Things D)

During CBS’s most recent earnings call, CEO Les Moonves was asked by an analyst whether the network would consider making its content available on the Apple TV. “It depends on what we get paid for,” said Moonves, surprising absolutely nobody. Keep in mind, this is a company whose logo is the eye of Sauron.

IPhone’s Russian Carrier Blames ‘Dictatorship’ For $1,000 Price (Bloomberg)

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For those of us who have long been awaiting an Apple-based television subscription service, well, this may be the closest we get for a while. On Tuesday, Apple quietly added support for Hulu Plus to its Apple TV set-top box, bringing access to ad-supported television episodes and movies for paid subscribers of that service. The addition was first noted by MacRumors.

Hulu Plus subscribers get access to the service’s content, while new users have the option of signing up for a free one-week trial or subscribing to the service via their iTunes account, as with Netflix. Once you’ve logged in, you’ll have access to your favorites and your queue, as well as a catalog of TV episodes, movies, and popular clips.

The Apple TV interface for Hulu is very similar to Netflix's and that of the other video services; the top menu provides access to Popular and Recommend items, Recently Watched videos, TV, Movies, Trailers, and Search. Videos are ad-supported, as in other Hulu’s Web and mobile offerings, but you can still skip around, and pause and play as you’d expect. You can resume a video from where you left off, even across platforms, allowing you to start watching a video on your iPad and continue later on your Apple TV.

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CNet chronicles Netflix’s near-death experience, The Daily may be on death’s door, and one notable individual thinks many patents should die off. The remainders for Thursday, July 12, 2012 are dead; they just don’t know it yet.

Netflix’s lost year: The inside story of the price-hike train wreck (CNet)

Remember last year, when Netflix couldn’t seem to find its head with two hands and a map? CNet has an interesting story about the bizarre decisions of the content-streaming company. If Netflix were really thinking, they’d turn this into a self-produced series that would run only on Netflix. Brilliant.

EU Seeks To Ease Licensing Rules That Block Online Music Stores (Bloomberg)

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Google on Wednesday announced the Nexus Q streaming device, which will streaming movies and music from the cloud and will compete directly with Apple TV.

The spherical device can stream movies purchased from the Google Play store or from YouTube to high-definition TVs, the company said at the Google I/O conference being held in San Francisco. Users will also be able to stream music purchased from Google Play store directly to stereo systems.

Users can choose a song from the Google Play Music application from a phone or tablet and play it instantly on Nexus Q. Similarly, a tablet or smartphone can be used to browse movies and TV shows from Google Play for playback on Nexus Q.

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Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference kicks off on June 11, and as ever, expectations are running high for what the company might announce at the Monday keynote that starts things off at 10 a.m. PT. We’ll know precisely what big surprises Tim Cook and company have up their collective sleeve by Monday afternoon, but even now we can predict with reasonable certainty at least a few of the products that will show up. And, perhaps more importantly, those that won’t.

And if we’re way off-base with our predictions, we’ll all agree never to mention this article again. Right? Right.

Extremely likely

Mountain Lion: The big surprise about Mountain Lion was its very existence, which Apple announced back in February. But by now we’ve seen lists of its features, and developers have had hands-on experience with several preview releases. It’s a near certainty that Apple will recap what we already know about Mountain Lion, but it’s always possible that Cupertino held back on some features in those early releases.

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While the world waits for the fabled digital unicorn that is the Apple television set long predicted by some Wall Street analysts, there’s already a lot to be learned from the current version of Apple’s “hobby.” The Apple TV can show us where the company might go in the future and the role of the TV screen as part of the connected consumer personal cloud experience.

When the Apple TV was first introduced in 2006, some folks wondered what its impact would be, given that there were already a number of devices with similar functions on the market. Apple didn’t invent this category of connected TV devices, but it did focus on four areas that makes what the company has done stand out among other players on the market.

Ownership of the network: You’ve heard me rant about this before, but the home network is a mess. Once you talk about moving beyond the basic utilitarian function of sharing an Internet connection, things break down pretty quickly. That’s why it’s important that Apple has taken ownership of the home network. You don’t need an Airport Extreme to make things work. If you’re comfortable going it alone, that’s fine. Apple, however, does offer a complete end-to-end solution which it will support, taking ownership of network issues that might result. I can’t downplay how important this is: Consumers can buy knowing there’s a script they can adhere to and make stuff work. When it comes to streaming high-definition content from the Internet and around the house, that’s the difference between enjoying content and troubleshooting DHCP conflicts.

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The Apple TV may get a software makeover at WWDC, Apple’s decided it’s in the mood for Italian, and Tim Cook in living color. The remainders for Wednesday, May 30, 2012 are something unpredictable, but in the end they’re right.

Apple to demo new TV OS at WWDC in two weeks (Boy Genius Report)

A “trusted source” tells BGR that Apple will demo a new version of the Apple TV OS at WWDC next month, and perhaps even demo the mythical Apple HDTV. Then, at the end of the keynote, attendees will wake up next to Suzanne Pleshette.

Apple reportedly gobbling up tiny Italian audio software firm Redmatica (Ars Technica)

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In the world of TV set top boxes, TiVo has managed to hang in there, despite heavy competition from TV service providers, Apple, Google, other third parties, and even the TVs themselves. TiVo on Monday announced a couple of new products that they hope will give them an edge over the competition—the key product being TiVo Stream, which will allow TiVo user to stream content to iOS devices.

While the ability to stream a DVR’s content to an iPad of iPhone can be found on other devices, TiVo says that TiVo Stream is unique in that it will let you watch a recorded show on multiple devices without affecting what’s being watched on the TV. Also, TiVo says that TiVo Stream will have support for transferring a recorded show to an iOS device “for viewing outside the home.”

However, to use TiVo Stream, you’ll need to have a TiVo Premiere box, which start at $150, plus a service plan that costs $15 per month (or you can pay a one-time $500 fee for the life of the box).

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Foxconn’s CEO didn’t say what you think he said, the Supremes shut down Psystar, and more states pile on Apple in the ebook price-fixing case. The remainders for Tuesday, May 15, 2012 are so crazy they’re sane.

Foxconn: reports that CEO Terry Gou confirmed the Apple iTV are ‘not accurate’ (update) (The Verge)

The other day, when tech pubs reported that Foxconn CEO Terry Gou said the company was tooling up for an Apple TV set? Yeah, uh, not so much. A statement from Foxconn says that Gou simply said the company was ready to meet its customers’ manufacturing needs. But, really, who would have reported on that?

Supreme Court denies Psystar’s appeal in Mac clone case (CNet)

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Macworld wants to make your life better. I mean, we also want to know what features will get offered in the next iPhone, but we’re serious about the “bettering your life” thing. To that end, then, here are a few links to stories we ran this past week that might just simplify or otherwise improve your life.

When dragging’s a drag

Dragging files and text between windows on your Mac is doable, but it often times requires a lot of window rejiggering. If you prefer to limit your jiggering whenever possible, then, check out DragonDrop, a recent Mac Gem: It aims to ensure that dragging never drags you down.

Feline fine

Want a cute, cuddly kitten without the litter box or claws? You may be interested in Kinectimals, an iOS game from Microsoft that offers playtime with perhaps the most hypoallergenic cats of all.

Don’t let’s smart

Frustrated with your iPad’s Smart Cover and have some extra scratch to burn? Well, speaking of flammable materials, the Miniot MK2 cover for iPad is made of solid wood. It works a lot like a Smart Cover, only with fewer annoyances than Apple’s microsuede approach: It’s easier to roll up the MK2 than to fold up the Smart Cover without. And now I’m hungry for a Fruit Roll-up.

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Apple on Thursday released a minor update to the software for second- and third-generation Apple TVs, with one enhancement and a number of bug fixes.

According to Apple, the Apple TV Software Update 5.0.1 brings HD previews for movies and TV shows from the iTunes Store.

The rest of changes are bug fixes: fixing an issue that caused some iOS app to have trouble connecting via AirPlay; improving the reliability of Home Sharing connections; addressing an unspecified issue with Neflix login and navigation; and the obligatory “fixes for issues affecting stability and performance.”

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Apple gets ready to play let’s-make-a-deal with Hollywood, knocks off an Android app, and gets sued for being too smart. The remainders for Friday, April 27, 2012 are going three for three.

Apple courts EPIX for upcoming TV: sources (Reuters)

We’re not out of the TV rumor woods yet. Reuters is now saying that Apple’s striking a deal with Epix—the streaming service backed by Lions Gate Entertainment, Paramount, and MGM—to provide content for the Apple TV and the rumored, uh, “Apple TV.”

Apple kills Chomp for Android (GigaOm)

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Corporate finance fans have a lot to look forward to on Tuesday, as Apple plans to unleash its financial results for the company’s second fiscal quarter of 2012. Apple CEO Tim Cook and chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer will, as always, be our guides, though who can rule out the possibility of surprise guests? (Well, we can. There probably won’t be any surprise guests.)

Naturally, Macworld will have live coverage of the conference call at 2 p.m. Pacific/5 p.m. Eastern, along with news on the most important points, distilled for your number-gazing pleasure.

But what can we expect to hear from Messrs. Cook and Oppenheimer on Tuesday? Let’s take a quick stroll through the past quarter to see what’s wetting the whistle of financial analysts the world over.

The newest iPad

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A noted French designer is isn’t working on a project for Apple. Tim Cook definitely may have visited the offices of a prominent video game company. And Amazon offers a ton a decent number of streaming titles. The remainders for Friday, April 13, 2012 aren’t are calling it a day.

Apple Says It’s Not Working on Anything With Philippe Starck (AllThingsD)

Well, that was fast enough to make your head spin. Only a matter of hours elapsed between designer Philippe Starck’s announcement that he was working on a secret, “revolutionary” project for Apple and Cupertino’s denial of the same. (It seems he may have been designing a yacht for Steve Jobs before the late Apple co-founder’s death.) That’s good news for you, Philipe, because you do not want to go mano-a-mano with Jony Ive.

Apple CEO Tim Cook spotted at video game designer Valve’s headquarters (AppleInsider)

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The forecast for the next version of iTunes is cloudy; Apple’s got stormy weather ahead in court; and Nokia and Microsoft could really use a ray of sunshine about now. The remainders for Wednesday, April 11, 2012 are no snow job.

Apple working on iTunes 11 with iOS 6 support, improved iCloud integration (9to5Mac)

According to 9to5Mac, Apple is—surprise—working on a new version of iTunes, though the site says the update will deal mostly with under-the-hood improvements rather than interface changes. Among those changes will reportedly be more iCloud integration, because heaven knows we need more stuff in iTunes.

Apple, Publishing Companies Charged With Illegal Price-Fixing Scheme in Marketing of eBooks (State of Connecticut - Office of the Attorney General)

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When Apple introduced iTunes in 2001, it served one purpose: As a music jukebox app. Later that year, it added its most important feature: The ability to sync tracks with the just-introduced iPod. Originally, you could just drag tracks onto your iPod and they’d copy over. iTunes had automatic music-sync features that were rudimentary, but they did the job.

That was a long time ago. These days, iTunes is simultaneously Apple’s most important and problematic product. It’s a music and video player. It’s a store, the gateway to buying music, videos, ringtones, and iOS apps. And of course, it’s a syncing system, connecting to Apple devices from iPhone to iPod to Apple TV.

Apple has packed almost everything involving media (and app) management, purchase, and playback into this single app. It’s bursting at the seams. It’s a complete mess. And it’s time for an overhaul.

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Sure, Apple didn’t release another new iPad or new Apple TV this week, but the company didn’t let the week go by without making some new news. If you want to make sure you’re caught up on Apple’s news from the past week, along with our reviews, tutorials, and opinion pieces, you’ve come to the right place: The Weekly Wrap. Population: Me and you.

Apple’s cash cache

Early Monday, Apple announced a dividend and a share buyback program, two programs geared towards sharing company profits with investors and spending some of the nearly $100 billion Apple has in its bank account. Apple seemingly rejected out of hand my suggestion that they instead take the $100 billion—and apologies if complex financial concepts like this one are a bit tricky for laypeople to understand—and give it all to me.

During that same press conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple had enjoyed a “record weekend” of iPad sales; Apple later explained that it had sold more than 3 million new iPads during the tablet’s opening weekend. That’s roughly one iPad sold for every nervous breakdown the guy who oversees the Motorola Xoom suffered during that same time period. It’s clear, though, that the iPad is on fire (not literally).

We painstakingly transcribed Tim Cook’s remarks from the press conference, only remembering the existence of built-in transcription on the new iPad once we were finished.

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iPads and e-readers may soon be persona grata during all portions of flights, the new Apple TV contains minor improvements over its predecessor, and Foxconn says it won’t sue over an inaccurate story. It’s good to see the remainders for Monday, March 19, 2012.

Disruptions: Time to Review F.A.A. Policy on Gadgets (New York Times)

Hallelujah! The FAA told the Times that it’s taking “a fresh look” at the use of certain electronic devices during takeoff, taxi, and landing, meaning that you may soon be able to use your iPad or your e-reader—but probably not your iPhone—throughout your entire flight. Until then, just make sure that you load up all your ebooks on that electric razor.

Apple TV 3rd Generation Teardown (iFixit)

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The new-model of Apple TV looks and acts exactly like the previous model. I’ve spent the last week with the new, 1080p-compatible version of the Apple TV, and I’m here to report that it’s exactly like its predecessor in all but one way.

That difference is its support for native 1080p video, as streamed from iTunes, over the Internet, or via AirPlay from a third-generation iPad. Not all HD video is of the 1080p variety. In the various Apple TV menus, the trick is to look for the HD symbol on a TV episode or movie and then see if it says “1080p” next to it. If it does, it’s in 1080p—and if it doesn’t, it’s only 720p.

A few of my purchased movies and TV shows were in 1080p, but a lot of them weren’t—I assume Apple continues to upgrade its content library and make deals with content providers, so the number of 1080p videos should increase over time. If you’re on a slow Internet connection, you can downgrade the quality of the video you rent or stream from iTunes. In the iTunes Store section of the Apple TV’s Settings app, there’s a Video Resolution item that lets you toggle between 1080p, 720p, and standard definition.

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The new iPad gets a legendary first unboxing, the rumored iTV is spotted overseas, and Microsoft has created a magical new touchscreen. The remainders for Tuesday, March 13, 2012 are the stuff that dreams are made of.

Tinhte.vn - Trên tay iPad 2012 (The new iPad) (YouTube)

Look, the first unboxing video of a new iPad! What do you mean it looks just like the iPad 2? I can totally tell the difference, can’t you? Also, perhaps you would be interested in a cover for it that only smart people can see?

Jefferies’ Peter Misek went to Asia and thought he saw iTV (Fortune)

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Two movie studios slowly embrace the future, Apple’s new campus inches closer to takeoff, and one customer has angry words for Siri. The remainders for Monday, March 12, 2012 are going to be off the hook.

Hollywood Studios Warm To Apple’s iCloud Effort (Wall Street Journal)

While last week’s news that customers would be able to re-download previously purchased iTunes movies was a welcome addition, the change didn’t immediately impact movies from Universal and 20th Century Fox—those studios are beholden to an exclusive availability window with HBO. The premium cable channel and the two companies are reportedly in negotiations to allow relaxation of those restrictions to facilitate customers re-downloading movies. Wait, I think that was actually the plot to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy—I don’t know, I didn’t understand either of them.

Apple Campus 2 Project Update (City of Cupertino)

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Former Apple exec Ron Johnson is in the spotlight, Apple brings the curtain down on any idea of a “Kindle threat,” and iTunes Match now allows for encore performances of some movies. The show remainders for Friday, March 9, 2012 must go on.

Ron Johnson: Retail’s new radical (Fortune)

I don’t know about you guys, but I sure miss Apple’s old retail chief, Ron Johnson. He’s off heading J.C. Penney’s now, of course, and Fortune has a nice profile of his attempt to reinvent the department store’s image. Well, at least now that he works outside of technology he’s unlikely to run into the same constant hyperbolic media attitude that surrounded Apple. So, what have you got, Fortune?

“Since childhood he has had a near-messianic ability to lead people…”

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