APPLE TV UPDATE FIXES FLICKER AND AUDIO PROBLEMS

Apple’s latest software update, version 4.2.1, for the Apple TV is said to do away with the flicker issue, in addition to promising to fix audio issues and a problem where the device goes to sleep and doesn’t wake up — something we’ve personally had an issue with. The update is available now directly from your Apple TV.

LINUX USERS GET AIRPLAY ABILITY

Linux users now have a relatively easy way to receive and play video streamed to their PC via Apple's AirPlay. To get things going, all you have to do is download a plug-in for the Totem media player (which ships with most popular Linux distributions), install it in the usual Linux fashion, and then start streaming video to your Linux PC with AirPlay just as if it were an Apple TV.

APPLE TV WILL HIT 1 MILLION IN SALES LATER THIS WEEK; ROKU THANKS APPLE

Apple has announced it expects sales of its Apple TV product to exceed 1 million "later this week". It has taken only 3 months since Apple TV's launch on September 1, 2010 to reach this milestone.

In related news, Roku's CEO Anthony Wood has credited Apple TV with helping to double the sales of the Roku's competing product. [BGR]

APPLE TV CAUSING COLOR ISSUES WITH SONY AND PHILIPS TVS

It doesn't appear to be especially widespread, but a sizable number of reports are cropping up on the official Apple support forums of some pretty wild issues affecting the new Apple TV when paired with certain Sony and Philips TVs. As you can see below, those issues can include a rather unfortunate pastel color scheme (apparently common on Philips TVs), while others are also reporting inverted colors, and green or black screens. As for Apple, at least some users who've contact the company about the problem say it is aware of the issue, but early reports from those who've applied the Apple TV 4.1 update suggest they haven't fixed the problem just yet. [Engadget]

LEAKED: TWO NEW iPHONE MODELS

Looking through the Apple TV firmware there are two new iPhone models listed, iPhone 3.2 and iPhone 3.3.  What these are is not clear yet and Apple is remaining tight lipped about it.  It appears the new models will have the same form factor as the iPhone 4, but have some internal tweaks possibly.  Are these new models the rumored CDMA or LTE versions?  Possibly a fix for the antenna issue? [BGR]

APPLE TV RENTALS TO CHEAP FOR CONTENT OWNERS?

Warner Bros. Entertainment Chairman Barry Meyer told attendees of the very long named Bank of America / Merrill Lynch 2010 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference that his company doesn't see a good value proposition in the TV show rental sector.  He went on to say  he doesn't want to "open up a rental business in television at a low price.”   This is probably due to the fact he doesn't want to cannibalize the licensing of entire seasons of shows to other broadcasters.

Currently, Apple only has Disney and News Corp signed for the launch of Apple TV.  CBS and NBC are waiting on the sidelines to see how things progress before jumping in. [NewTeeVee]

LEAKED: AT&T U-VERSE ON XBOX

A snapshot has been leaked showing Xbox prompts in AT&T's U-Verse technical support screen.  It is no surprise that Microsoft has been trying to integrate more media into the Xbox as it was announced recently that U-Verse customers would soon have access to Mediaroom functionality.

The Xbox integration is supposedly being field tested using AT&T employees and is only  a couple of months from debuting live. [Engadget]

AMAZON STREAMING ABC AND FOX SHOWS

Not to be outdone by Apple, Amazon has launched a streaming service.  For just 99 cents you can purchase, YES..purchase, select ABC and Fox TV shows.  This is a much better deal than Apple's rental model.

RUMOR: APPLE TV TO STREAM NETFLIX MOVIES

Bloomberg is reporting that the upcoming Apple TV will stream Netflix movies.  Bloomberg cites three people familiar with the plans and states "The streaming service would be available on revamped version of Apple TV....users would pay a subscription fee to Netflix for the service." [Bloomberg Business Week]

RUMOR: APPLE READYING 99 CENT TV SHOW RENTAL

Apple is working on bringing 99 cent TV show rentals to iTunes according to Bloomberg's report.  They have nearly locked in Fox with CBS and Disney not far behind.  Apple is in advanced talks with Fox to allow rental of their TV shows for 48 hours for 99 cents.