• by P.J. Bednarski , Staff Writer @pjbtweet, August 19, 2015

Apple next month will introduce a new AppleTV model that will fully integrate the iOS operating system and may do things like let Siri be your remote. It will also make it easier for developers to create specific TV apps just for the Apple set top.

That’s the word today from the 9to5mac.com Website, which seems to have an inside track.  

Apple would provide third-party application support and new software development kit.  So, through Apple’s App Store, content creators could release new programming on their own, not as part of an official Apple launch, and that would mean gaming sites could find a convenient and pretty great place to debut new items. As a matter of fact, it would seem AppleTV is trying to be as much like an Apple smartphone as a visual-centric device can be, filled with happy appers.

What Apple will not be introducing next month is that Apple TV live streaming service that would seem reminiscent of the banquet of content offerings cable subscribers now get but somehow better and including local, network stations and other cable networks. That apparently will wait for another time. Apple, reportedly, couldn’t get the carriage deals it wanted.

The new Apple TV will come with a restyled remote that will have bigger keys with better tactile and new gesture support.

The remote will have some audio component; 9to5 speculates it could be an another speaker, an audio jack for headphones, or, mentioned again here, a tech place for Siri to live.

The Amazon Fire OTT settop has a quite good voice recognition system that would seem to fulfill the same function as Siri would. But it only works for the Amazon-backed part of the menu so that it’s useless if you’re looking for a Netflix title or anything else there.

According to 9to5, Apple is working on solving that for its box (which has the same search limitations but without the dashed-expectations quotient of Amazon’s voice search). I am sure there are incredible technical reasons it’s tough to do, but among the most crappy things about OTT devices are all the things they almost do, quite like the entertainment/navigation units on cars which now is the most complained-about part of an automobile.

VESSEL DEALS WITH ENDEMOL: Endemol Beyond USA is the latest YouTube network to hook up with Vessel to stream content, including eight channels from its new Michelel Kwan-fronted Icon spin-off and other Endemol programs. 

Starting now, 700 Endemol videos also live on Vessel, and Endemol Beyond personalities also still are available on YouTube, Roku, TiVo, DailyMotion and Amazon Fire TV.

And as a warning, I think, Endemol Beyond also announced Vessel will distribute “Fear Factor Moments,” choice chunks from the iconic/moronic NBC TV series, and “Fear Factor Mashups,” which feature memorable moments mashed (and auto-tuned) magnificently by  remix DJ Steve Porter. These are part of what Endemol Beyond USA counts as some of its premium content offerings.