Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/ tvOS 10 to Get Improved Siri, Single Sign-on, iOS Remote App Julio Ojeda-Zapata During the WWDC 2016 keynote (see '[1]WWDC 2016 Keynote Recap,' 13 June 2016), Apple announced [2]major feature updates in [3]tvOS 10, the iOS-inspired operating system powering the fourth-generation Apple TV. The key changes include Siri enhancements and improved sign-in for cable and satellite subscribers ' and the company is even upgrading the iOS Remote app to more closely mimic the Apple TV's Siri Remote. Siri Enhancements -- The Siri voice-controlled assistant, available to Apple TV viewers since September 2015 with the release of the fourth-generation Apple TV, has been a useful but limited tool. The newest update builds on Siri's capabilities, adding the option to search by topic or theme through a library of 650,000 movies and episodes. Sample queries suggested by Apple include 'Show movies about baseball,' 'Find documentaries about cars,' and 'Find high-school comedies from the '80s.' The first hit on the latter during the keynote was, naturally, 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off.' [4][tn_tvOS-10-Siri.jpg] Siri voice searches will also search YouTube, making it easier to find cute pug videos or ' as demonstrated during the keynote ' Steph Curry's three-pointers. [5][tn_tvOS-Siri-YouTube.jpg] Another Siri feature, which has existed for a while, but is just now being made official, takes users directly to live video within the apps that support the feature. Direct access to live video is huge for sports enthusiasts since saying 'Watch CBS News' or 'Watch ESPN 2' will display whatever live game is showing in those apps. Channels that offer this feature now include Disney, CBS, ESPN, and FX. The Siri update also builds on the Apple TV's HomeKit capabilities, which now includes direct control of HomeKit-enabled accessories in a residence. Users can, for instance, ask Siri to turn on lights or adjust the room temperature. Bonus points to the first developer who hacks the Apple TV to respond, 'I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.' Single Sign-on -- Despite its apps and games, video streaming remains the prime reason to own an Apple TV. Apple said it launched the current-generation Apple TV with 80 video channels and now provides 1300. Video streaming often involves accessing big-name broadcast and cable networks like ABC, ESPN, and HBO, but signing into each with your cable or satellite subscription credentials on an Apple TV can be a time-consuming ordeal. Apple said it has licked this problem with a single-sign-on feature that will give users instant access, assuming they already pay for a television service with those video sources as part of a subscription package. It also requires that specific content providers support the feature in their tvOS apps. During the single-sign-on process, you'll see a list of video-streaming apps that support this feature and have the option to download some or all of them. Once a content provider supports single sign-on with its Apple TV app, users with appropriate cable or satellite subscriptions can also access that video source via a similar single-sign-on process on iOS devices. New iOS Remote App -- Apple TV users who eschew the bundled Siri Remote in favor of Apple's [6]Remote app for iOS will be delighted to learn the app is undergoing significant improvements that make it more closely resemble the Siri Remote. The Remote app will be able to be harnessed as a gaming controller courtesy of the iPhone's integrated gyroscope, and it will also offer a touchpad section on the iPhone screen comparable to the touchpad on the Siri Remote. The app will also tap into Siri for Apple TV voice commands and display a new Now Playing screen with playback controls. Other tvOS Updates -- Apple shared some smaller tvOS changes as well. They include: * A new 'dark mode' for those who use the Apple TV in a dark room and find its light-colored interface too bright [7][tn_tvOS-dark-mode.jpg] * Several new content sources, including the [8]Sling TV live-cable service (app available immediately, see 'FunBITS: Sling TV Is Made for Cord Cutters,' 20 February 2015); Fox Sports Go (available this summer); and Molotov, a TV service in France (coming next month) [9][tn_Sling-Apple-TV.jpg] * Automatic app downloading, meaning that a downloaded iOS app with a tvOS version will also pop up on your Apple TV. It's similar to how automatic app downloading works in iOS and on the Mac. * Enhancements to the Photos and Music apps to support the changes coming to iOS and macOS. The changes are purely in viewing photos and playing music, but that's appropriate for living room use. * Better support for third-party game controllers along with a multi-player game mode * For developers, a tool called ReplayKit that enables developers to create live-broadcast and save-for-later video capabilities, along with a PhotoKit tool that provides enhanced access to iCloud Photo Library tvOS 10 is available to developers now and will be released to the public in 'the fall' for free, likely alongside iOS 10, macOS Sierra, and watchOS 3. Unlike the Mac and iOS updates, no public beta will be available. References 1. http://tidbits.com/article/16566 2. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2016/06/13Powerful-New-Siri-Capabilities-Single-Sign-On-Coming-to-Apple-TV.html 3. http://www.apple.com/tvos-preview/ 4. http://tidbits.com/resources/2016-06/tvOS-10-Siri.png 5. http://tidbits.com/resources/2016-06/tvOS-Siri-YouTube.png 6. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/remote/id284417350?mt=8&at=10l5PW 7. http://tidbits.com/resources/2016-06/tvOS-dark-mode.png 8. http://tidbits.com/article/15430 9. http://tidbits.com/resources/2016-06/Sling-Apple-TV.png .