The Wirecutter’s best deals: $100 off Bowers & Wilkins’ Zeppelin speaker
This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer’s guide to the best technology. Read their continuously updated list of deals at TheWirecutter.com.
You may have already seen Engadget posting reviews from our friends at The Wirecutter. Now, from time to time, we’ll also be publishing their recommended deals on some of their top picks. Read on, and strike while the iron is hot — some of these sales could expire mighty soon.
Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Wireless Bluetooth Speaker
Street price: $700; MSRP: $700; deal price: $600
While this is an expensive speaker, a $100 discount makes the price slightly less painful. We haven’t seen a single drop on this speaker until this sale, so it’s good to see such a significant drop.
The Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Wireless Bluetooth Speaker is our luxury pick for the best home Bluetooth speaker. Seamus Bellamy and Brent Butterworth wrote, “Our blind listening panel awarded the Zeppelin a near-perfect score. In testing, it made well-worn favorites and fresh tracks that we’ve been digging of late absolutely crackle with life. That it also comes with the ability to function as an AirPlay speaker is icing on the cake. The speaker’s shape and size might not work for some people, but after a few weeks of using the Zeppelin Wireless, we stopped noticing its presence except when it was filling our apartment with gorgeous sound. The Zeppelin Wireless is definitely a luxury item, but if you want to spend around $700 on a wireless speaker, it’s worth it.”
Sennheiser GAME ONE Gaming Headset
Street price: $170; MSRP: $170; deal price: $130
We haven’t seen many good sales on this particular headset, with the best one being a brief sale last month for $128 through Newegg. This $130 deal is close, though it’s only available on the black model.
The Sennheiser GAME ONE is the upgrade pick in our guide on the best gaming headset. Dennis Burger said, “Sennheiser’s GAME ONE may cost more than most are looking to spend, but its spacious sound, stunning bass performance, and noise-cancelling mic make it worth the premium for serious gamers.”
BenQ HT1075 Home Theater Projector
Street price: $700; MSRP: $1,000; deal price: $630
We’ve featured a couple of deals on new models of this projector for $650, and this sale drops $20 off of that price. We’ve seen some substantial drops on refurbished models as well, hitting a low of $517 once, but those tend to be rare.
The BenQ HT1075 Home Theater Projector is our previous pick for the best $1,000 projector. Our new pick is the HT2050, but we still think the HT1075 is an excellent purchase. Geoffrey Morrison said, “The BenQ HT1075 has one of the best contrast ratios in its class, more realistic color than the competition, and is brighter than some projectors that cost three times as much. For the price, it’s truly the best in this range.”
D-Link DAP-1650 Wi-Fi Extender
Street price: $90; MSRP: $90; deal price: $60
Here’s a great deal on this Wi-Fi extender from D-Link. It has a shorter range than our main pick, but this sale makes it $40 cheaper. It’s the best price we’ve ever seen on this product, beating the previous low by $5.
The D-Link DAP-1650 is the runner-up pick in our guide on the best Wi-Fi extender. David Murphy said, “Unlike our main pick, it can also be used as a wired access point, if you don’t mind stringing Ethernet cable from your router to your extender. As an extender, its long-range performance isn’t as good as our pick’s, but it’s great as an access point.”
Deals change all the time, and some of these may have expired. To see an updated list of current deals, please go to The Wirecutter.com.
The Navy’s new cloud network forms a tactical ‘kill web’
The US Navy is deploying a “tactical cloud” network that will tie together targeting data acquired from a range of sources in the sea, sky and space to form a lethal “kill web,” the U.S. Naval Institute reports this week. The network will essentially allow any aircraft, ship or submarine to draw targeting information from any other instrument in the cloud and extend their own range when launching weapons against surface targets.
“We call it the tactical cloud,” Rear Admiral Mark Darrah, who heads up the the Navy’s Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation program said at this year’s Sea-Air-Space Exposition. “We’re going to put data up in the cloud and users are going to go grab it and use it as a contributor to a targeting solution.”
The cloud-based solution was actually developed as a response to “the increased sophistication of adversary networked sensor systems.” Or, in other words, events like a simulated attack by Russian jets last month prove America’s naval and air superiority is under threat.
“It’s about [the enemy’s] ability to reduce the amount of space I have to operate in by tying their capability together and force me to operate from a farther distance from a threat,” Darrah explained. In one scenario demonstrated at the exposition, Darrah showed how military space assets could share data with F/A–18s, a sensor aircraft, an unmanned Triton drone, an attack submarine and a Littoral Combat Ship. While the setup is similar to how carrier strike groups currently share information, the new network offers a much more fine-tuned solution and could integrate with new weapons and UAVs in the future. Let’s just hope the Navy got those anti-hacking countermeasures up and running.
Ancient mega-tsunamis hint at cold Martian oceans
3.4 billion years ago, a meteorite smashed into the northern plains of Mars, where an ancient ocean once stood. Its impact threw up a massive wall of liquid water that scarred the surrounding landscape with backwash channels as the water poured back into the Martian sea. A few million years later, after the Red Planet had cooled significantly, another huge chunk of space rock tore into Mars — however, this time, the resulting tsunami was made of ice blobs that simply stuck wherever they landed rather than return to the sea.
The difference in tsunamis isn’t simply a result of a cooling planet, they’re evidence that Mars’ early water works were capable of sustaining life, according to a newly released study from the Center of Astrobiology, Madrid.
“Our paper provides very solid evidence for the existence of very cold oceans on early Mars,” principal investigator and visiting Cornell professor, Alberto Fairén said in a statement. “It is difficult to imagine Californian beaches on ancient Mars, but try to picture the Great Lakes on a particularly cold and long winter, and that could be a more accurate image of water forming seas and oceans on ancient Mars.”
![Frosty white water ice clouds and swirling orange dust storms above a vivid rusty landscape reveal Mars as a dynamic planet in this sharpest view ever obtained by an Earth-based telescope. The Earth-orbiting Hubble telescope snapped this picture on June 26, when Mars was approximately 43 million miles (68 million km) from Earth - its closest approach to our planet since 1988. Hubble can see details as small as 10 miles (16 km) across. Especially striking is the large amount of seasonal dust storm activity seen in this image. One large storm system is churning high above the northern polar cap [top of image], and a smaller dust storm cloud can be seen nearby. Another large duststorm is spilling out of the giant Hellas impact basin in the Southern Hemisphere [lower right]. Acknowledgements: J. Bell (Cornell U.), P. James (U. Toledo), M. Wolff (Space Science Institute), A. Lubenow (STScI), J. Neubert (MIT/Cornell)](https://www.aivanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/1463707916_6568713676185.jpg)
What’s more, those icy lobes could provide key insights into whether Mars ever hosted life. “Cold, salty waters may offer a refuge for life in extreme environments, as the salts could help keep the water liquid. … If life existed on Mars, these icy tsunami lobes are very good candidates to search for biosignatures,” he continued. To that end, the researchers hope to conduct follow-up studies of the Martian terrain and identify areas of the northern plains for further investigation.
Via: Science Daily
Source: 47th Lunar Planetary Conference (pdf)
US Navy to arm its submarines with ‘Blackwing’ spy drones
The Navy recently announced its plans to deploy an armada of stealthy spy drones from AeroVironment aboard its submarines and UUVs. Specifically, the Navy is going with the small-form “Blackwing” UAV, a four-pound flyer with a 20 inch wingspan that collapses down to fit into a 3-inch diameter launch tube. It will use its array of electro-optical and infrared sensors as well as its anti-spoofing GPS capability to act as the submersible’s remote eyes and ears.
The Blackwing grew out of a 2013 Joint Capabilities Technology Demonstration (JCTD) program dubbed, Advanced Weapons Enhanced by Submarine UAS against Mobile targets (AWESUM). It was developed to counter recent advancements in anti-ship ballistic missile and similar “anti-access, area denial (A2AD)” technologies by America’s favorite frenemy, China. There’s no word on specifically when the Blackwings will be deployed, but given China’s recent aggressive posturing in the South China Sea — not to mention Russia’s arctic overtures and its revitalized sub fleet — the Navy can’t get these drones soon enough.
Via: Defense Tech
Source: AeroVironment
Rhapsody’s VR app is a hub for live music videos
The tech world is obsessed with virtual reality. It should come as no surprise, then, that music-streaming service Rhapsody wants a piece of it as well. The company took a step forward today by introducing Rhapsody VR, an iOS and Android app that offers access to 360-degree videos from music concerts. The content is free for everybody to watch (preferably through a headset like Google Cardboard), meaning it’s not limited to people who subscribe to Rhapsody.
Right now, there are only nine videos available on the app, but a Rhapsody spokesperson tells Engadget new ones will be added each month. VR experiences like these aren’t completely new, but the more 360-degree music concerts we get to enjoy, the better. Your turn, Spotify.
Source: Rhapsody
Chromebooks beat Mac sales in early 2016
According to research firm IDC, more Google Chromebooks were sold in the first quarter of 2016 than all of Apple’s Mac line. The milestone marked the first time Google’s Chrome OS moved more units than OS X in the United States.
Although IDC doesn’t usually separate Chrome OS or Chromebooks from the PC category, the group did confirm the numbers to The Verge, saying “Chrome OS overtook Mac OS in the US in terms of shipments for the first time in 1Q16.” The firm noted that Macs sold about 1.76 million units in the first quarter of 2016, meaning Chromebooks sold somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 million units or more. Overall, however, PC shipments are on the decline.
IDC also pointed out a large reason for the Chromebook’s success: the low-cost devices have been a hit with K–12 schools in the United States, even though the company is still looking to break into consumer and business markets. But, in that regard, Google may have tipped its hand at this week’s I/O developers conference, where it showed off plans to make Chrome OS compatible with over a million Android apps already in the Google Play Store.
For all the latest news and updates from Google I/O 2016, follow along here.
Purism introduces privacy-focused 2-in-1 tablet
If you’re looking for a high-end tablet that also doubles as a laptop you’re usually in the market for a Microsoft Surface Pro or the Apple iPad Pro. Purism thinks there needs to be a third option. One that’s packed with open-source software and won’t share your private data with giant tech companies. With that in mind, it announced the Librem line of tablets starting at $599 that are currently available for pre-order on Indiegogo.
Like their laptop predecessors, the Librem 10 and 11-inch tablets are running free and open source software and are targeted at users that want more privacy than is available from major manufacturers. Both devices run PureOS 3.0 Linux and have privacy protecting services like Tor, HTTPS Everywhere and ad blocker Privacy Badger pre-installed. The company is working towards getting both devices QubesOS (the OS of choice of Edward Snowden) certified.
On the hardware front, the Librem 10 uses an Intel Atom processor while the more powerful 11-inch version runs on a Core M. Both ship with a keyboard dock and can be attached to external monitors. To further its dedication to security and privacy, both devices have hardware shutdown switches for the camera, Bluetooth, WiFi and microphone.
Purism CEO Todd Weaver told Engadget that the company wants to sell its privacy and security focused computers to everyone, not just the slightly paranoid. He said, “our end goal is targeting the every day computer user and providing them with an alternative.”
But, the company’s long-term goal is to build a smartphone with all the security and privacy elements found in its other products. Weaver said the tablet is part of an evolution to getting a phone out there. The biggest obstacle to that happening right now is the cellular system not being secure enough for Purism.
In the meantime, the Librem 10 will set you back $599 while the 11-inch Librem is currently available for pre-order for $999. After the crowdfunding campaign that price will go up to $1,299. Purism says both tablets will ship in September of this year.
Source: Purism
Knocki Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
Knocki
Houston, Texas-based startup Knocki wants to simplify your smart home. Rather than switching feverishly among apps, voice control devices and assorted multifunction buttons to keep your connected home in check, the team of two instead came up with Knocki, available for preorder now on Kickstarter starting at $69/£45/AU$95.
A puck-shaped Wi-Fi gizmo with built-in vibration-sensing tech, Knocki is designed to go pretty much anywhere inside your home. Use the included adhesive tape to stick one under a table, attach one to a wall, hide one inside a cabinet — or behind a door. I’m a little skeptical about the staying power of an adhesive-mounted product that looks slightly larger than palm-size, but the team also provides mounting hardware for a more permanent installation.
In other smart home news:
- Coolest new tech: A $34 Flic smart button
- Google Home vs. Amazon Echo: Why Home could win
- Throwing open the doors to the CNET Smart Home
Knocki promises an easy configuration that’s as simple as downloading the companion app on your Android or iPhone and entering your Wi-Fi credentials. From there, you’re supposed to be able to assign up to 10 custom “gestures” to a single Knocki.
Since the team claims upcoming support with the likes of IFTTT, Nest, Belkin WeMo, SmartThings, Philips Hue and other smart-home brands at launch, one Knocki can seemingly control a whole lot of stuff.
A double tap, for instance, could turn on your LEDs, two taps followed by a triple tap could unlock your integrated deadbolt, and a triple tap could dim your LEDs and turn on your TV. And that’s only 3 of the 10 possible gestures you can create per Knocki device.
This quirky gizmo is also supposed to be able to know the difference between a tap or a knock (I can’t wait to test this out), so there’s a bit more leeway in terms of the gestures you assign to certain functions. And even if you don’t have smart products at home, Knocki should be able to control music or find your phone, too.
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Our five favorite uses for the Flic smart button
We find out just how flexible Shortcut Labs’ new device really is
by David Priest
February 23, 2016
We haven’t seen anything quite like Knocki before. Sure, Shortcut Labs’ $34 Flic button is similar, but Knocki is using vibrations to determine which device or devices to control rather than Flic’s button presses.
The campaign ends on July 2, so there’s time to get an early production version of Knocki. The $59 price tier is already sold out, but you can still snag one for $69/£45/AU$95 (the price will jump up to $129 when it officially hits retail). Knocki units will ship worldwide and are slated for delivery this December.
Canon EOS 80D review – CNET
The Good The Canon EOS 80D is fast, and if you play with the settings can produce excellent photo and video quality.
The Bad The automatic white balance isn’t very good, and it doesn’t have a terribly broad set of features.
The Bottom Line With better performance and photo quality than the 70D, the Canon EOS 80D is worth the upgrade, but it’s got a lot of competition for the money.
Canon delivers a decent update to its popular prosumer action-capable camera, the EOS 70D. The 80D gets a new version of the company’s Dual Pixel CMOS sensor with a faster on-sensor autofocus system, plus some minor additions. It has some notable improvements over the 70D, including much better Live View performance; it’s not as fast as a mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera, but it’s finally usable for subjects in motion. And the generally improved performance will resonate with the typical action-shooting enthusiast who buys this class of dSLR. But if you’re persnickety about color, you’ll have to do some tweaking.
It costs $1,200 (£1,030, AU$1,880) for the body and $1,600 (£1,380, AU$2,400) for a kit with the updated EF-S 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 USM lens that supports new the power zoom adapter.
Good photos, but change the defaults
The 80D is capable of producing excellent photos — as long as you either shoot raw or change many of the default JPEG settings. The camera’s automatic white balance isn’t very good. Under our lab lights, the only way I could get anything I could compare to other cameras was by using manual white balance; I’ve had similar issues with the Nikon D7200 and other Canons, but the 80D’s is pretty bad. In real daylight it’s better, but still has problems — among other things, it turns blue flowers purple. I couldn’t find a white-balance preset that produced accurate colors. On the flip side, though, the cast keeps its low-light photos from shifting too far to yellow.
Canon EOS 80D full-resolution photo samples
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Complicating the issue is Canon’s Auto Picture Style, which pushes the saturation and contrast way too much, plus overprocesses edges, making them look too heavy. The new Fine Detail option is much better at edge processing, delivering results comparable to using raw up to about ISO 1600, and delivers sharpness on thin lines comparable to other APS-C-sensor cameras. It should really be the default. You can get pretty good results processing raw through ISO 6400, though beyond ISO 1600 there isn’t a lot of dynamic range available to recover.
The slightly higher-resolution sensor plus Fine Detail mode allows the 80D to produce noticeably better JPEGs than the 70D, though the latter’s auto-white balance is more accurate. The 80D also has a far cleaner noise profile in general across ISO sensitivities.
The video still looks good, not much different than the 70D’s, though with the same caveats about the color and image settings. Now it also supports 1080/60p, though.
Apple TV (2015) review – CNET
The Good Apple TV delivers the most polished video experience today, with speedy reactions and a familiar yet attractive interface. It has the best remote on the market. Siri voice search is excellent, and useful voice commands add unique capabilities. The selection of apps is excellent, and AirPlay can be used for unsupported apps.
The Bad Apple TV costs more than similar devices like the Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Chromecast for basically the same core functions. There’s no dedicated app for Amazon or any other a la carte video service beyond iTunes.
The Bottom Line Apple TV’s awesome remote and voice control make it one of the best entertainment devices, especially for anyone who already owns plenty of Apple gadgets.
When the updated Apple TV box was first introduced in October 2015, it immediately distinguished itself as the most luxurious streamer available. From its extraslick touchpad remote to its polished interface to, yes, its higher price, it made the Rokus and Amazon Fire TVs of the world seem a bit clunkier. These devices all do pretty much the same thing — let you watch apps like Netflix, Hulu and WatchESPN — but the Apple TV makes everything smoother.
Since then Apple has added a bunch more apps, rolled out some minor tweaks to ease pain points, and doubled down on voice commands and tricks, another feature that helps Apple stand out. The Apple TV has improved in small steps, but they add up to a more refined streaming experience overall.
Apple TV 2015 (hands-on pictures)
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The most obvious change is overnight explosion of Apple TV apps. In half a year the store has expanded to more than 5,000 apps and games, outpacing Roku and Amazon Fire TV despite their years-long head starts. Of course many of those apps were originally designed for iPhones and iPads, recast with more or less extensive changes onto the big screen.
Apple TV has most TV-centric streaming apps like Netflix and FXNow, although the selection on Roku and Amazon is better, especially if you’re not heavily invested in Apple content. iTunes is still the only service on the box that allows you to buy first-run TV shows and movies — competitors like Amazon Video (including Prime), Vudu and Google Play Movies and TV are shut out.
Siri’s search has expanded to cover more services like PBS, and the list of tricks is growing. And performing text searches, sign-ins and other menial tasks are helped by voice, and made easier with no-brainer additions found on competing devices, like using your phone for text entry.
A bit past its half-year birthday, Apple TV is still one of our favorite streamers. We like the Roku Streaming Stick better overall, however, because it costs one-third as much, has better app access, and nails the basics. The Apple TV has yet to offer anything irresistible to convince those who aren’t “Apple people” to pay up and make it their primary streamer.
Maybe that will change with announcements made at WWDC in June, when Apple promises to address tvOS, the box’s operating system, with app developers. But the big killer feature, a rumored Apple TV service along the lines of Sling TV and PlayStation Vue, seems pretty far off.
In the meantime the Apple TV remains a great choice for devotees of Cupertino, while most everyday users of streaming services, especially Amazon Prime Video, will want to investigate alternatives.
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Sarah Tew/CNET
Pricing information: The 2015 Apple TV comes in in two versions: $149 for the 32GB model, and $199 for the 64GB model. The previous Apple TV , first released in 2012, remains on sale at $69, £59 and AU$109. In the UK, the new model costs £129 for the 32GB and £169 for 64GB, while in Australia they cost AU$269 and AU$349. For most people I recommend the 32GB version. See “A choice of sizes: 32GB vs. 64GB” below for details.
Editors’ notes: This review has been updated to account for changes in the competitive landscape since it was first published in October 2015. Major changes include features added as part of tvOS version 9.2, new apps and comparisons to other products.
Also, please note that this review refers to the US version. Some details, in particular available video-streaming apps, will vary in different territories. Check out our separate review of the UK version for more details.
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Sarah Tew/CNET
So what’s new?
If you’re familiar with Apple TV, you might want a simple list of the improvements and changes made since launch. Here ya go.
- More apps, “more than 5,000” as of May 2016 according to Apple
- Siri voice search enabled across more movie and TV apps, including PBS, Disney channels and Starz
- Siri voice support for Apple Music and App Store
- Live tune-in, to ask Siri to go directly to a live channel inside supported live TV apps like Watch ESPN and CBS All Access
- Dictation to use voice to enter text on screen
- Support for Bluetooth keyboards
- Folder support for apps
- Podcast app
- iCloud Photo Library and Live Photos
- Conference Room Display, to lock Apple TV in business and education environments
- Additional Siri language support: Siri now understands Spanish in the US and French in Canada. If English is the language that you use for Siri and you live in Australia, Canada, the UK or the US, you can choose Australian English, UK English or US English.
One of the biggest gripes at launch was the difficulty of entering information into text boxes like Search on the app store, the search app itself, and worst of all, the usernames and passwords required to authenticate accounts on apps like Netflix, Hulu, Watch ESPN and the rest.
At first, the only option was to use the on-screen keyboard. I actually find it faster than most others, thanks to the swipe-friendly horizontal layout and snappy remote, and it often only requires a couple of letters before surfacing relevant results, but it does take some getting used to.
Apple TV OS 9.2 gets folders and voice dictation…
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With a March 2016 software update Apple has introduced some alternatives. My favorite for entering password info is to use the Remote app for iOS devices, which allows you to use your Apple phone or tablet’s onscreen keyboard (Pro tip: copy and paste complex passwords from a locker like LastPass, or another source, to Remote). You can also connect a Bluetooth keyboard.
There’s also the ability to dictate individual letters, numbers and even symbols into the mic. This feature sounds cool, but didn’t really work well in my experience. No matter how clearly I spoke, the results always seemed to miss a letter or two, or it would otherwise misinterpret my dictation. I recommend sticking with the Remote app.
I go through and test many of the other improvements in the review below.
Same black brick, different feel altogether
Compared to the old device, Apple didn’t break the physical mold. Glossy edges, rounded corners, a matte top with the requisite logo — the two small black boxes look basically identical. The new one is 0.4 inch taller, weighs 5.4 ounces more, and felt like a solid brick when I pulled it out of the box.
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Sarah Tew/CNET
In every important way however, the 2015 Apple TV feels better than the original to use. It starts with the remote. It has a touchpad, a few more buttons and a familiar mic icon to evoke Siri, the name for Apple’s disembodied female voice assistant (DFVA). Unlike Siri on a phone (or Alexa, the DFVA on Amazon’s Echo and Fire TV ) Siri has no actual voice on Apple TV. Her replies are limited to words and visuals that appear on the screen, but she usually responds accurately and can perform some useful tricks.
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The remote’s touchpad is sensitive and fast, with just the right amount of friction, and the perfect size for one-thumb operation. It took a second to realize I had to click it to select anything, rather than just tap, but immediately afterward I was blowing through menus, zooming across thumbnails, and navigating quicker than with any plodding, click-based control. The menus let you choose a tracking speed. As someone who loves living dangerously, I chose “fast.”
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Screenshot by David Katzmaier/CNET
And those menus are great. A clean, white canvas to fill with the app icons you know from your phone, the Apple TV home page allows nearly full customization. One of the first things I did after installing everything I wanted was to move Netflix, Hulu and HBO to the top row, along with Disney Junior for the kids, and move iTunes down a few rows since I don’t buy many TV shows and movies from Apple. The top-row app you select expands above to show content within (as chosen by the app itself).
You can also group different apps into folders and name them anything you want. The process is quick and painless, especially if you use voice to name them. Just tap the mic button and speak.
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Screenshot by David Katzmaier/CNET
The old Apple TV came with numerous screen savers which appear after a period of inactivity. On the new one, for now, you just have a choice of your own photos or something called Aerial (above). Trust me, you should go with Aerial. It’s a stunning collection of cityscapes, landscapes and landmarks shot in slow motion, and looks so good you might feel reluctant to ever turn your TV off.
Exploring the app store on a 65-inch screen
To fill Apple TV’s white canvas you’ll head to the app store, which feels a lot like the store on an iPhone or iPad, with bigger icons. One issue with Apple’s app stores is wrestling with the sheer number of apps, and the problem rears its head on the Apple TV too.
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Screenshot by David Katzmaier/CNET
Apple has improved organization of the store since launch, adding the ability to search by voice for example, and it’s relatively well-organized given how many apps are available. At the top is where you’ll find the main tabs for browsing new apps.
TV-centric apps predominate in the Featured tab, but other categories are appearing all the time. Some are devoted to games, apps for kids, sports and news, and some get Apple’s further approval in categories like “New Apps We Love” and “Games with Intuitive Controls.”
The Top Charts tab is next, with the most popular Paid, Free and Grossing apps (the latter, sadly, refers to money made, not fart and burp apps). The Categories tab, similar to “Explore” on the mobile app store, breaks apps down into “Games,” “Education” and “Entertainment.”
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Screenshot by David Katzmaier/CNET
The Purchased tab lists all of the apps you’ve installed on other devices that are also compatible with Apple TV. You download and install them individually, picking and choosing which ones you like (although I did wish for a big “Install all” button). In most cases, if you’ve already paid for the app or game, it will be available for free on the Apple TV too — but the decision to grandfather earlier purchases or charge you again is left up to each app’s publisher.
Finally, the Search tab shows trending apps and allows you to find more via keyword, whether typed in or via voice.
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One-thumb gaming
The first thing to know about gaming on the Apple TV is that you can always use the included remote; you don’t need to buy a separate controller. The second thing is that with many games, a controller simply works better.
Most of the titles I played worked fine with the included touchpad remote, and there’s something to be said about gaming with one thumb. I easily could hold my infant son while I played Crossy Road, for example.
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Screenshot by David Katzmaier/CNET
That addictive chicken-smasher, with its simple controls and graphics, played beautifully and looked great on the big screen. So did JetPack Joyride and Bandland, both of which mainly consist of timed jumping. Slightly more complex controls worked well at times, for example steering on Does Not Commute (tapping either side of the pad) or swinging a bat with Beat Sports (swiping to move a bit, and swinging the controller like a Nintendo Wii). Where the touchpad controller failed for me was with quick movements requiring precise directions, like flying the ship in Geometry Wars, or directing the character to move across the map or attack something in Oceanhorn and Transistor.
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Screenshot by David Katzmaier/CNET
One of the titles with the most complex controls at launch is Galaxy on Fire: Manticore Rising (above). A space-based arcade shooter, it incorporates the remote’s position as well as swipes and clicks on the touchpad. It played surprisingly well considering all that, and again, required just one hand.
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Two of the driving games, Asphalt 8 and Beach Buggy Racing, required me to put down my kid and hold the controller horizontally, like a steering wheel. Both were pretty forgiving and fun, but I definitely missed the precision of the controller.
I tried most of those games with a compatible controller, the Steel Series Stratus XL, and in most cases I found it more precise and responsive. But for casual games and quick one-off entertainment jaunts, it’s pretty great to just pick up the remote and click.
Best games for Apple TV
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Graphics, for what these games are, looked very impressive across the board. Even simple games like Crossy Road have been tuned up for the big screen, and higher-end titles like Galaxy on Fire and Transistor looked particularly good.
AIVAnet 