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Will we see a new AppleTV today? (Update: Nope!)

It's KEYNOTE DAY!

I know that we're getting new iPhones. (Let's see if my predictions from March  - iPhone 5S, "low cost iPhone" to entirely replace the iPhone 5 - were correct! I'm liking my odds.)

But what else will we see today? Maybe a spec bump for AppleTV?


Rumor sites have been reporting that Apple had taken shipment of a LOT of "set top boxes" in the last couple of weeks.

The only Apple set-top box I'm aware of is the AppleTV.

And it wouldn't be unprecedented to see a new AppleTV during an iPhone event - expect the current (or similar) form factor, but with a couple of changes. What should we be hoping for?

Wireless A/C

This seems like the obvious improvement. Apple has been putting the superfast wireless A/C spec into all of its equipment, and the AppleTV essentially exists to stream media wirelessly.

Adding wireless A/C to the AppleTV will have a synergistic effect on Apple's other products - speaking as an average Apple consumer, I'd be a heck of a lot more likely to upgrade my Airport Extreme to the current A/C generation if I knew my AppleTV was going to load media an order of magnitude more quickly.

And then I'd start planning to upgrade my iMac. (OK, I admit, I'm already planning that.)

An AppleTV that eliminates buffering and can deliver media at gigabit speed? Sign me up.

(And then sign me up for gigabit internet, if and when someone brings it to Chicago.)

New Software/Interface?

There have been some minor rumors swirling that a revamp to the AppleTV interface is coming. And while the current "tiled" interface has served the AppleTV well, I think I'd welcome that change.

AppleTV has been on a content-adding streak lately. Hulu, HBO GO, ESPN, MLB, NBA - the list really goes on. But in the current interface, that means a whole lot of tiles.

The cord-cutter's dream would be a universal search for content, across all "active" modules. For instance, a search for "Breaking Bad" would yield a full episode guide, and links to each episode in every place it's available - Netflix, iTunes, Hulu or whatever.

And while we're at it, full Siri integration through the iPhone. "Siri, play the next episode of 'Mad Men' that I haven't seen."

iRemote?

Hey, a guy can dream.

I'd still like to see Apple produce a single platform for universal remote control. Of course, that kind of initiative would deserve its own Keynote. It's not happening.

But a new AppleTV might.

And my original iPhone prediction from 6 months ago -- that the "low-cost" iPhone will, in fact, be an iPhone 5 with a somewhat larger plastic back -- is looking pretty solid right now.

I'm also excited about the idea of fingerprint authentication in the iPhone 5S -- even though I'm unlikely to upgrade until the next cycle.

UPDATE: Nothing new today except iPhones and iOS 7. I guess that Tim & Co learned their lesson from the 8-months-between-keynotes we just went through. Space them out. 

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