Open, locks, Whoever knocks!
boxee’s private alpha went well beyond our expectations. over 200,000 people signed up.. today we’re opening our alpha to all Mac, Ubuntu and Apple TV users. Windows is also moving into private-alpha (which means you still need to get invited, but we’re going to release thousands of invites every week). bear with us as we scale…)
new applications in this release:
- BBC iPlayer (UK users only) – we could not ignore the calls from our London-based users for proper iPlayer support. it is a huge success in the UK (bigger than Hulu in the US), and it provides access to a huge selection of tv shows and radio in great quality. too bad it is only accessible from the UK.. BBC-if you want worldwide viewers, we’re here with open arms!
- Joost – in the survey of video applications you wanted to see on boxee, Joost was #1 (iPlayer was #2..). Joost has a great content library with TV shows, web videos, music videos and movies. you can browse the different channels and search through the entire Joost library.
- MTV Music – when MTV Music launched a couple months ago it got great reviews from users. it is a perfect service for the TV. we started by letting users play music videos from artists they come across on boxee. now you can go into the MTV app and conduct searches by Artist/Song or just browse.
for keyboard users we included support for some basic stuff:
-  + TAB – lets you switch to other Mac apps (even when boxee is in full screen)
-  + F – toggles between Window mode and Full screen.
- shift + letter – jump to the place in the list that starts with that letter (e.g. shift+h will save you a bunch of clicks to get to Heroes on Hulu)
bug fixes & enhancements:
- dual screen support
- Netflix streaming improvements
- Search in Hulu
- ffwd, rewind, pause in Comedy Central
- improved mouse support
- 3 digits episode numbers recognized
- giving folder.jpg its proper priority
- updates to SMB library
- updates to video and audio playback libraries
- updates to Flash player
we also created developer.boxee.tv, which provides basic guidelines for developers who want to build apps to run on boxee. this will continue to grow over the next few months based on your requests. an early example of using the boxee API is work done by Orange Labs (from the France Telecom group) who created a boxee application for their photo sharing service Pikeo.
last, but not least, a big thanks to the early access testers. your responsiveness and thoroughness were a huge help! you guys were so active reporting bugs and giving feedback that marcel who handles our support had to answer more than 1,500 emails over the weekend.. (he is recovering now)
* the blog title plagiarized from William Shakespeare, “Macbeth”
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what about using a proxy to access content from other regions…
i use witopia from the uk – works fine. see my blog for helping setting it up.
Congrats on the new version–looks like a stellar improvment.
You guys rock!
Hope it’s going well @ CES.
great work! can’t wait for the windows release.
AWESOME! Cannot wait to get home to install it on my AppleTV! Is Netflix’s on the AppleTV yet?!
Congrats Boxee.
I did a blogpost about it (also video of me using bbc iplayer in the uk)
http://me.dm/blog/2009/01/new-boxee-beta-brings-bbc-iplayer-support.php
you’re a bit outdated. last version is 0.9.7.4825 …
hey bryan – [removed link to windows, it is not public yet. tsella]
Still no PPC support, I assume?
Ha ha ha … ha ha ha haaaa….
Oh, are you actually serious?
Maybe after they get PPC support they can work on DOS support.
Nope and probably not likely since XBMC would have to be ported first.
Anxiously awaiting the windows release!
Can we upgrade the Apple TV from our current install or do we have to redo the flashing?
-Derrick
Too bad I am stuck at work and can’t play my Boxee…err…oh well at least I have tomorrow off, and the weekend to mess around.
Boxee, you guy are the best, and thank you all for developing such an awesome application, especial for Linux users like myself. In the past many people complain and even myself about Joost not making a Linux version, but now they turn to the web instead. Anyway, keep up the good work.
What is with the vague blog posts on release days? This stuff drives me crazy. I shouldn’t have to take to the forums each time there is a new release to get any info. I still don’t know if there is a Windows release.
“Windows is also moving into private-alpha (which means you still need to get invited, but we’re going to release thousands of invites every week). bear with us as we scale…)”
how is that vague?
I am an Windows alpha tester. Forum post indicated that all version would be updated. I see no mention of a Windows update in blog post.
if you are in our windows tester pool, just use the link you have for earlier windows release. it will give you the updated version.
Do you have invites? peraara@gmail.com
thanks
Boxee calling to the faraway towns
Now that war is declared-and battle come down
Boxee calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard, all you boys and girls
Boxee calling, now don’t look at us
All that phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust
Boxee calling, see we ain’t got no swing
‘Cept for the ring of that truncheon thing
Any chance of airtunes output support, so I don’t need to run wires to my stereo? I’m not the first to suggest this and it would be much appreciated!
This is so nice. The effort you guys put into this is amazing and I hope you’ll continue working on this beautiful application. Best wishes….!
The dual screen support is not working for me. Is there some trick or documentation about it?
the trick it to have the screen connected and then start boxee. go to settings > apearance > screen > resolution, and should should have at least one resolution with #2 appended to it. that is your second display.
cheers,
tom
That was it exactly! Excellent.
Thank you! Boxee is downright inspirational. I hope all those content providers are listening! Open source those APIs and get hours of full screen playtime in front of REAL EYES! Wondering about the next big thing in TV? You’re looking at it.
thare are big issues with frequency on appletv
instead of ~50Hz now we have just 10Hz, and eyes are tired quickly.
hope you solve this quickly, cheers
New features sound great, unfortunately I’m not enjoying them right now… Updated Boxee via the ‘update’ menu in an atvusb-creator patchsticked AppleTV (latest version) and now it won’t launch. Selecting Boxee results in a briefly flashed white screen then indefinate black emptyness until I press ‘Menu’ to back out, which either works or crashes the finder. Hmmmmm, not ideal. Any ideas…?
Fixed my own problem… I’d not updated Launcher to v2.2, makes all the difference when you do that. Things work… ;o) …iPlayer on my tellybox at last, good effort folks, top notch.
Looking forward to using this firsthand.
MTV support is BANANAS YO!
spent last evening introducing my kids to some classic Run-DMC and Michael Jackson videos…too much fun!
j.
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