Category: AppleTV

  • Call Screening & Hold Assist: iOS 26’s New Phone Features

    Call Screening & Hold Assist: iOS 26’s New Phone Features

    Apple hasn’t forgotten the humble phone call in iOS 26. The Phone app is being redesigned with an optional Unified Calls tab that combines favorites, recents and voicemail into a single view. More importantly, the update adds smart tools that take the pain out of answering unknown numbers.

    Call screening

    Unknown callers will be greeted by an AI assistant that asks who is calling and why. You can listen to the response and decide whether to answer. This feature should reduce spam calls and make it easier to screen important calls.

    Hold Assist

    Being put on hold is frustrating. Hold Assist waits on the line for you and alerts you when a human picks up. That means you can set your phone down while dealing with customer support.

    A smarter phone app

    • AI voicemail summaries so you can glance at messages rather than listening to them.
    • Live Translation during calls when participants speak different languages.
    • Unified Calls tab for quick access to all call-related lists.

    Together, these enhancements make the basic act of calling more efficient and less intrusive.

  • Get ShowMax for only R99 a month!

    Get ShowMax for only R99 a month!

     

    If you haven’t already heard about the awesomeness that is ShowMax, where have you been??? ShowMax is a subscription video on demand service (SVOD), which launched in August 2015 and is owned by Naspers. The service offers viewers the opportunity to stream over 12 000 hours of content, ranging from the best movies and series, talk shows, documentaries and local programming. With over 20,000 episodes and movies to choose from, it’s a no brainer at R99 a month. They also recently added ALL 5 seasons of the amazing Breaking Bad series 

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    A few weeks ago I got given a voucher for ShowMax at a conference I was at. I went home and found that they had an app available on my LG Smart TV!! So I downloaded that and got all setup and within minutes I was watching some really awesome shows. The kids love it because there are loads for them to choose from as well. And, the word on the street is that they are also working on an app for the New Apple TV, which will be perfect to watch all the content on!

    If you haven’t already checked out Showmax you can sign up for a 7-day free trial right here. If you need more info about the service check out the FAQ section on their site, which provides all the answers!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFgVrCtCJNg

  • How to get Netflix on the Apple TV in South Africa

    How to get Netflix on the Apple TV in South Africa

    Netflix-Apple-TV

    A few weeks ago the new Apple TV was announced and was recently launched in the US, and should be in SA soon. One of the cool features of the new Apple TV is that it integrates Siri into the device, as well as allowing you to watch & search for movies across a number of platforms including Netflix & Hulu as well as access to a whole host of other services.

    Some of my favorite channels include HBO Go, WSJ & Red Bull TV (US). In fact check out the FULL list of channels you can get once you have signed up with . The best thing (for me) about the new Apple TV is that there are apps available for the device, which means a number of these TV channels will have their own apps on the Apple TV soon!

    While Netflix hasn’t launched in SA (yet) it is still possible to get Netflix on the Apple TV quite simply. You still need to pay for it but at $8.99 a month it’s a bargain for the amount of content you can get!
    There is a bit of a workaround to get it working in SA, but follow these simple steps and you should be up and running in no time :)

    1. First you’ll need to sign up for a service called . UnoTelly allows you to set up your devices to make it look like you in a specific country. In this instance you need to be able to look like you in America so you can sign up for Netflix.First you need to go to . You can sign up for an , after which the service will cost you $4.95 per month using Paypal or your Credit/Cheque card.
    2. Once you have setup you will need to make a few changes to your Apple TV. This means changing your DNS, which is not as scary as it sounds. To do this follow the below steps
      1. On your Apple TV go to Settings -> General -> Network
      2. Select your current wifi/wired connection that you are connected to
      3. Go to “Configure DNS” and select Manual
      4. Change your DNS address to 197.189.212.164 or one from UnoTelly Global Servers list based on your location
      5. You can go back to your home screen from here
    3. You now need to ensure Netflix is enabled on the Apple TV. There are 2 ways of doing this.
      Firstly, if you have a US iTunes account and have logged into your Apple TV with it, you should see the Netflix app on the home screen.
      If you don’t see it or don’t have a US iTunes Account, you can do the following:
      Go to Settings -> iTunes Store -> Location and change your location to “United States”
    4. Once you have Netflix Icon on the screen, you can go into it. You are also able to able to sign up for Netflix on a computer or iPad, but you will need to change your DNS using . You can follow the instructions for to change your DNS for your Operating System if you want to login from your PC or sign up using your PC.
      Once you have gone into Netflix you can select your subscription. I would recommend going for the 2 screen option ($8.99 a month)
      If you do sign up on your PC you can select to pay via credit/cheque card, otherwise it will come off of your US iTunes credit.Remember you can also sign up for HuluPlus and many of the other streaming service providers on the Apple TV

    And that’s it. Quick and simple :) Although there are sometimes hiccups, I have found the help pages at UnoTelly have been super helpful with some of the questions I have had. I have been using Netflix for about a year now and absolutely love it!!

  • Buy iTunes music & movies in South Africa

    One of the more frequent questions I get through my site is, “How can I buy music from the iTunes store ?” Because the current South African iTunes store doesn’t allow you buy music, due to regulations in South Africa, you need to get a US iTunes account.

    Getting a US iTunes account is fairly quick & simple, and you need to follow a couple of easy steps to sign up for one. I have posted this before, specifically on how to get apps from the US iTunes store, but you can also use the account for music as well.

    You can download the step-by-step guide by simply tweeting about the guide, with a “pay-with-a-tweet” option

    Or, you can simply download the file directly from ->

    Once you have your account, you will need to top it up using vouchers. I have used a couple of providers in South Africa, and I can say, all of these below are great, and they all deliver the codes instantly

    If you have any issues signing up for the US iTunes account, you can leave a comment below, and I will try and help where I can.

  • 10 tips & tricks for the AppleTV in South Africa

     

    As I mentioned the other day, I am loving the at the moment. The intergration with all my other iDevices is simply amazing, and everything just works. I thought I would put together a few tips & tricks of what I have learnt over the past couple of weeks with the AppleTV. if you haven’t got one yet, I highly recommedn heading over to the guys, and ordering one.

    • Setup Home Sharing in iTunes, which will allow your AppleTV to browse your iTunes library on your PC/Mac. You need to enable this on the AppleTV as well by going to Settings -> Computers -> Home Sharing & entering your Home Sharing username & password (iTunes account)
    • Even though the AppleTV doesn’t play DVD’s, I have backed up a lot of mine (especially the kids) and store them on my iMac. I used Handbrake, which allows you to “rip” your DVD’s into a M4V format, which you can then import into iTunes, and the Apple TV sees using Home Sharing. Handbrake offers a preset specifically for AppleTV2
    • Turn AirPlay ON, on the AppleTV by going to Settings -> Airplay & On. This means that if you have an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch, and are listening to music or watching a video on the iDevice, you can automatically start streaming it to your Apple TV, by tapping the Airplay icon. This works awesome with Youtube Videos as well. You can also view your photos on your iDevice, by clicking the AirPlay button.
    • Although I am not a big fan of Jailbreaking, I would recommend Jailbreaking the AppleTV & install Plex. Basically Plex allows you to watch any existing AVI’s or MKV files (over WiFi) you have on a PC/Mac that is running the Plex Server software. The really cool thing about Plex is it goes and gets all the movie or TV show information, and displays it on-screen. To Jailbreak the AppleTV, I recommend using Seas0nPass, and following the steps makes this a really simple process. Once that is done, follow these steps on the Plex Wiki, to get Plex installed. You need a little bit of tech savvy to do this, but it is quite simple once you get the hang of it.
    • Movie Rentals & TV Show Rentals are awesome. 2 things you need to ensure though; Make sure you have credit on your US iTunes account by topping up with iTunes vouchers & ensure you have a decent ADSL line. I would highly recommend a 4MB ADSL line, as your movies start streaming almost immediately once you have rented them. The cost of renting a movie is well priced in comparison to DVD rentals.
    • Hidden away at the bottom of the Internet menu on the AppleTV is a section called “Radio” which gives you access to thousands & thousands of online streaming stations. This is a great feature if you want to play background music, or are interested in a specific topic
    • Also hidden in the Internet menu, is “Podcasts” which allow you to stream the latest episode of your favorite video or Audio podcasts. An awesome little gem !
    • If you really feeling at a loss for content, you can sign up for a Netflix account. Just follow these steps on Jason’s blog for a How-To on how to get Netflix setup in South Africa
    • Download the awesome Apple Remote iPhone & iPad app, which allows you to connect & control the AppleTV. Perfect for when the small included remote goes astray !
    • Download AirFlick. A must have free Mac app, which allows you to play & Airplay ANY content from your Mac to your AppleTV

    If you have any cool AppleTV tips & tricks, please leave a comment below.