Apple

In a research note Wednesday, Brian White of Topeka Capital Markets says the “iTV” will be 60 inches on the diagonal, but could also come in 50- and 55-inch versions. Apple will also release a small “iRing” that fits on the viewer’s finger, allowing the user to control the screen by pointing, White says.

There’s a wide field of players with no shortage of innovative — but often flawed — strategies. Here’s how they stack up.

Rumor has it that Apple plans on releasing a 4K “ultra HD” television set in late 2013 or early 2014. The smart TV would feature a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 and include voice and motion control functions.

Apple Inc. may still make products customers love, but its latest earnings report appears to have broken investors’ hearts. For the third quarter in a row, Apple reported revenue and profit that were impressive by normal standards, but short of what analysts had expected. Investors reacted harshly, driving Apple’s stock price down more than 10% in after-hours trading Wednesday.

The patent covers a system that allows users to play their own stored music or video in place of ads run on broadcast or “non-radio media or content sources.”

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple Inc. is in talks with some of the biggest U.S. cable operators about letting consumers use an Apple device as a set-top box for live television and other content. The talks represent Apple’s most ambitious crack at infiltrating the living room after years of trying. WSJ subscribers can read the story here.

On Monday, Apple released a test version of its coming iOS 6 operating system, which powers iPads and iPhones, and developers promptly noticed that the YouTube app was missing from its lineup of built-in apps. Users will still be able to access YouTube through their Web browsers and Google is working on a new app that will be available through Apple’s App Store.

It’s one thing to undercut your competition by price — but Washington is starting to worry that Apple, Google, Microsoft and other firms are going too far when they actually try to block rivals from selling their products at all. It’s a fight for supremacy in the marketplace — waged using patents as weapons.

Many news organizations are finding that their journalists — both print and broadcast — are much more productive when equipped with the very versatile phone powered by an ever-growing number of apps. “Now everybody’s a newsgatherer,” says KPNX Phoenix News Director Mark Casey. “Our photojournalists use traditional pro video cameras, the point-and-shoot or the iPhone — and sometimes all three.”

Apple took the wraps off a new retina display iPad (with 4G LTE) and a 1080p Apple TV box today (sorry no TV set), both of which will be available on March 16. While the announcements themselves aren’t particularly groundbreaking — solid incremental improvements — Tim Cook revealed a metric that should be a bit of shocker.

Canada’s largest telecommunications companies are squaring off in a fight about the future of television. Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. are in talks with Apple Inc. to become Canadian launch partners for its much-hyped Apple iTV, a product that has the potential to revolutionize TV viewing by turning conventional televisions into gigantic iPads.

Apple casts a huge shadow over the world’s largest consumer electronics show as rumors continue to spread that it has its own TV in the works.

Apple’s suppliers are preparing to ship materials the computer giant’s new iTV set in the first quarter to meet Apple’s goal of launching the set in the third quarter, according to a report.

In recent weeks, Apple executives have discussed their vision for the future of TV with media executives at several large companies, according to people familiar with the matter. Apple is also working on its own television set that relies on wireless streaming technology to access shows, movies and other content, according to people briefed on the project.

Steve Jobs died without fully transforming television, but the day after he passed away, Apple unveiled Siri, its natural language interface. Though it’s currently only embedded in the new iPhone 4S, Siri could eventually change the face of the TV industry.

Apple Inc. remained the king of the new media mountain in terms of revenue and profits by an overwhelming margin in the September quarter. It did so, however, on revenue that contracted from the June quarter.

Apple Inc’s newest board member, Walt Disney Co Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger, bought about $1 million worth of the iPhone maker’s shares earlier this week, a symbolic gesture of confidence in the prospects of the company.

Disney President-CEO Bob Iger has been named to Apple’s board of directors, the company announced on Tuesday.  The move strengthens the ties between the tech giant and the studio.

The forthcoming biography of Steve Jobs reveals that he worked to build an integrated, easy-to-use Apple television set, and that he felt he had “cracked” the concept for such a device.

Apple Inc. said the company’s co-founder Steve Jobs died Wednesday. He was 56. Jobs helped change computers from a geeky hobbyist’s obsession to a necessity of modern life at work and home, and in the process he upended not just personal technology but the cellphone and music industries. For transformation of American industry, he has few rivals. By 2011, Apple had become the second-largest company of any kind in the United States by market value. In August, it briefly surpassed Exxon Mobil as the most valuable company.

The new iPhone 4S has an improved camera with a higher-resolution sensor. The processor is faster, which helps run smoother, more realistic action games. It’s also a “world phone,” which means that Verizon iPhones will be useable overseas, just as AT&T iPhones already are.

Last week, Apple Inc. emailed invitations to a media event at its headquarters in Cupertino on Tuesday morning. The invite says “let’s talk iPhone,” implying the secretive company intends to show off the latest version of the device, the iPhone 4.

On Friday, Apple dropped the TV rental service from its popular online store. The company unveiled the 99-cent service last October for a six-month trial, using only ABC and Fox programming. The trial period lasted a bit longer than expected.

The move appears to be the result of an unspecified medical condition for which he took an indefinite leave from his post in January. Apple’s chief operating officer, Tim Cook, has been named CEO.

Apple Inc., with $76.2 billion in cash and securities on its books, is considering making a bid for the Hulu online video service, two people with knowledge of the auction said. Apple, the world’s second-most-valuable company, is in early talks that may lead to an offer for Hulu, said the people, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

The new, lower-priced version of Apple’s popular editing software has resulted in a firestorm of reaction. Many professional craft editors don’t like a lot of the changes, especially the inability to transfer projects from Final Cut Pro 7 to the new version. But for many television stations — on a mission to lower costs and hire less skilled personnel to spread video content to a wide array of new platforms — the $299 price tag means it may live alongside server-based news editing systems from companies such as Avid and Grass Valley.

Company lays out details about its newest pro video-editing software and says a handful of missing features will eventually make a comeback.

A former Apple executive says the company is teaming up with a major OEM to sell iOS-powered, Apple-branded displays later this year or next.

Apple “is about to launch a new video-focused cloud-based service,” Jefferies analyst Peter Misek asserts in a research note. Misek thinks Apple is going to offer a “new far reaching cloud-based service that is more than just a music or content locker and focused on video.” He adds that Apple’s push into the living room “is likely to include a new device,” although he adds that he isn’t sure what it will be.

New camcorders, drives, software, ASI modules, lenses and laptops promise to advance the state of the art for newsgathering, editing and archiving at next month’s NAB Show.

Apple’s recent investment of $3.9 billion in components is likely for device displays ranging from the iPhone to the 27-inch iMac, and could signal Apple’s intention to build a television set up to 50 inches in size, investment firm Piper Jaffray believes.

The company’s CEO told employees today that he is taking leave of absence due to health issues. As happened when he took an earlier leave in 2009, Jobs said he will continue as CEO and COO Tim Cook will take over daily operations.

Overseas suppliers have indicated that features like live over-the-air digital TV and pico projectors are coming to smartphones in the near future, leading to speculation that they could end up in Apple’s next-generation iPhone.