By Dan Moren
November 17, 2015 6:03 AM PT
Name that Apple TV aerial view
Note: This story has not been updated for several years.
The new Apple TV’s Aerial screensavers are mesmerizing, but I sometimes find myself wondering exactly where in the world I’m looking at. (I had a similar annoyance with the Fire TV’s beautiful photos screensaver.)
Fortunately, Benjamin Mayo has assembled a page that not only lets you identify the location, but also allows you to watch all of the screensavers. According to Mayo, since that page is pulling from Apple’s own feed, it should continue to update as Apple adds more screensavers.
I’ve heard from several folks that have only seen one. To them I suggest firing up the Settings app on the Apple TV and going to General > Screensaver > Download New Videos and choose Daily or Weekly. As Apple will warn you, the screensavers are pretty hefty—about 600MB apiece—so if you’re on a data-limited stream, you might want to think twice. Even after you select Daily, it might take a while before you see a new one, since, as Mayo points out, the Apple TV seems to pick one at random.
All of that said, I still think it would be cool if Apple offered an optional overlay telling you what you’re looking at. Major cities are obvious enough, but some of the wilderness shots look so beautiful I want to add them to my list of vacation destinations.1 Alternatively, as Ross Rubin suggests, being able to ask Siri “Where is this?” would also be a great way to handle this feature.
- Fortunately, I’m going to Hawaii in January, so that’s already checked off. ↩
[Dan Moren is the East Coast Bureau Chief of Six Colors. You can find him on Twitter at @dmoren or reach him by email at dan@sixcolors.com. The latest novel in his Galactic Cold War series of sci-fi space adventures, The Nova Incident, is available now.]
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