Now it’s easier than ever for Apple fans to get their sports fix from ESPN thanks to the new ESPN streaming app update for Apple TV’s tvOS software, which debuted a multi-screen feature called MultiCast Wednesday.
Originally called WatchESPN, the new version of the ESPN app for Apple TV cuts “watch” out of its name (perhaps in preparation for a forthcoming stand-alone ESPN app set to arrive in the near future.) New name aside, though, the real news is that the latest update allows users to stream up to four different live events at once. The update couldn’t have come at a better time for sports streaming, either. With both football season and the U.S. Open coming up, there will be a lot of different ways for users to employ the multiple screens.
There will reportedly be a fair degree of personalization to the new MultiCast feature, as well. While selecting the events they want to watch, authenticated ESPN users can choose from over 30 different live sports events airing across ESPN’s networks. ESPN takes customization a step further, too, allowing users to decide between five different ways to view the four simultaneous screens on their TV. That includes the ability to change the layout, flip audio between screens, expand the view to full screen, and go back to MultiCast to change the events on screen. ESPN debuted a video documenting what MultiCast can do in a recent press release.
To take full advantage of the MultiCast feature, you must have the updated ESPN app on your Apple TV, the latest version of the streaming devices’s tvOS software, and, of course, authentication for ESPN via a cable or satellite subscription. As mentioned above, ESPN’s parent company, Disney, has plans to rollout a stand-alone version of its ESPN app for cord cutters in the future, but at this point, those without a pay TV subscription are out of luck.
In the future, ESPN will theoretically be able to evolve the ESPN app to include features other than just live events for Multicast. For example, the multiple screens could play in-game highlights or give fantasy sports updates, alerts, scores, or social-media posts.The MultiCast feature is currently only available on the Apple TV platform, but ESPN is looking to extend it to other streaming devices, as well.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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