Say what you will about Apple, good or bad, but it’s hard to deny they’ve been raking in the dough with one successful product after another. Just about anything put out with an Apple logo sends people into a frenzy, flocking into stores to buy whatever they’re selling.

Except the Apple TV that is, Cupertino’s little box that connects to TVs and let users buy content online, and play media from a built in hard drive and network devices. First launched in 2006, analysts had high expectations for Apple TV, spouting off ridiculous statements one often hears during Apple product launches like “It’s going to change the world!” “It’s Magical!” and “I so want one! What does it do, again?” Suffice it to say, it never lived up to any of the hype.

In reality, Apple TV has been more of a success people give it credit for. Any product that sells over six million units and generates decent profits can’t be considered a failure, although it isn’t nearly the runaway success of other Apple products like the iPhone or iPad. Most importantly, it’s proven to Apple that people will pay to rent and stream video content. Where people pay to consume media, Apple will be there to profit.

So, it should be no surprise that Apple’s finally coming out with a new Apple TV box. Like most new Apple products, it’s smaller and sleeker than the original, sports an industrial design, and has too few connectivity options. However, it vastly differs from the original Apple TV. For example, there’s no hard drive. It receives streams from the Internet or network only, and don’t think about plugging in a USB drive to play media locally – that won’t work either. It will still play audio, video, and photos just fine (over a  network), but only up to 720p… behind the times for media playback devices these days.

It’s online offerings are what has really changed.  For starters, it hooks into the web to play content from Netflix, YouTube, Flickr and MobileMe. Yes, it’s odd for Apple to directly support services that compete with its own. Take note… this is the bare minimum, must-have services to be considered a contender in this space. Besides, Apple’s offerings are what sets it apart from any other media-box out there anyway, and those have changed for the better or worse depending on how you look at it. It’s pretty much a rent only model now; gone is the option to buy. Movies are $3 to $4, HDTV show rentals are a buck, but for now their TV catalog is limited to content from ABC and FOX.

If you have loads of other Apple gear, there are some cool integration options coming that will let you play something directly to the Apple TV. They call it “AirPlay.” It’s basically Windows 7’s Play To feature, only more creatively named.

Down to business… Will Apple TV be a massive success? If I were to ignore the Apple logo, I would say no. As a set-top media receiver, it’s mediocre at best if you compare it to ones like Western Digital’s WD TV Live, lacking features like local playback, 1080p HD support, and broad codec compatibility. As a device that connects you to online services, it’s severely lacking, particularly when compared to Google’s upcoming TV product. Yes, it supports Netflix, but you probably already have devices that connect you to Netflix and YouTube already. I think it will hold its own as a rental device, but between Netflix, Hulu, and my DVR, I would personally rent very little if I had one. Of course, those not giving Netflix or Hulu any money may find value in the rental service.

Factor in Apple’s logo, and I think it’s almost guaranteed to be a success, not because people blindly buy Apple products (although some do), but because of the opportunity they have to sell it. At $99 it’s pretty cheap for an Apple product. At that price, they can pitch one to every person that walks into an Apple Store this holiday shopping for iPods, iPads, and accessories. Think about it this way – if most Apple customers will spend $30 on a piece of rubber for an iPhone, just imagine how easy it will be to get them to drop $99 on Apple TV.

Satisfy your inner geek while fueling your TV addiction… TV Tech Fix is a column by Matt Whitlock, editor of the TechLore.com Consumer Electronics Community (plus several other gadget-focused community websites), and lover of both technology and TV. In this column, he’ll cover a wide variety of tech topics aimed squarely at the TV addicts of the world – from tips and tricks to help you better your TV experience, to gear recommendations, to the impact technology is having on the TV shows we love.

Want more TV Tech Fix? Click here to see past entries.

Hot on the heels of Michael Ausiello’s exclusive first look at HOUSE’s sexy seventh season promo art — comes, get this — something way cooler! Your first look at actual stills from the September 20th premiere. See for yourself — including a visibly effusive Cuddy embracing everybody’s favorite curmudgeonly doctor — after the jump.

And then there was one.

First Paula, then Simon, next Ellen and now, finally, the news fans have been waiting for since July. Kara DioGuardi is officially exiting AMERICAN IDOL after a mere two seasons at the judges table. Full press release — complete with obligatory effusive quotes from numerous parties involved despite FOX’s obvious attempt to dump this story on a Friday before a Holiday weekend (or what THE WEST WING affectionally called, “Take out the Trash Day”) — can be found after the jump.

KARA DIOGUARDI DEPARTS “AMERICAN IDOL”
 
Kara DioGuardi is stepping down from her role as a judge on AMERICAN IDOL. DioGuardi joined AMERICAN IDOL as a judge in the series’ eighth season.
 
“I felt like I won the lottery when I joined AMERICAN IDOL two years ago, but I feel like now is the best time to leave IDOL,” said DioGuardi. “I am very proud to have been associated with AMERICAN IDOL – it has truly been an amazing experience. I am grateful to FOX, FremantleMedia and 19 Entertainment, as well as the cast, crew and contestants, for all they have given to me. I look forward to my next challenge, and want to thank everyone who has supported me. All the best to everyone on Season 10!”
 
“Kara was a great addition to our IDOL family,” said Mike Darnell, President of Alternative Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company. “I’ve been fortunate to get to know her well, and have always been amazed by her eye for talent and her commitment to developing and mentoring artists. She will be missed, and we wish her continued success.”
 
“Kara is one of the world’s best songwriters,” stated IDOL creator and executive producer Simon Fuller. “She has been passionate and committed to IDOL over the last two seasons. I will miss having her on the show, but I look forward to working with her in music for many years to come.”
 
“As one of the most proclaimed songwriters in the U.S., Kara brought a wealth of experience and a unique perspective to AMERICAN IDOL,” said Cecile Frot-Coutaz, IDOL executive producer. “We are very grateful for the time she spent on the show, and we wish her nothing but the best in all her future endeavors.”
 
“Anyone who knows Kara knows that she brings an unbelievable amount of passion, creativity and humility to everything she does,” added IDOL executive producer Ken Warwick. “It has been a joy working with her on IDOL for the past two seasons, and I’m looking forward to seeing what she does next.”

An increasingly addictive will-they-or-won’t-they, a vocal and highly opinionated fan base, and a ridiculously likeable (not to mention easy-on-the-eyes) quartet of stars. While we by no means are the first TV Addicts to take note of the striking similarities between CASTLE and BONES, we are — following our sneak peek of their upcoming third and sixth season premieres respectively — the first to make a snazzy side-by-side comparison chart highlighting said similarities! See for yourself after the jump.

You can catch the season premiere of CASTLE on September 20th at 10PM on ABC, with BONES bowing on September 23rd at 8PM on FOX

“It wouldn’t be GH if there wasn’t some danger surrounding the big moment,” says Soaps In Depth executive editor Richard M. Simms. “As we all know, there’s this mysterious Balkan dude who has targeted Brenda. And at the very moment that our former lovers finally come together, the bad guys try and kidnap her!” 

Sonny — who’s dodged those pesky attempted-murder charges and gone to Rome in search of Brenda — rides to the rescue, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the reunion will go the way he hopes. “Is Brenda glad to see Sonny? Of course she is,” says the editor. “But they have a lot of issues between them, and he has things to deal with back home.” At the same time, more than a few other residents of Port Charles find themselves talking about Brenda. “She’s got the potential to stir up trouble for Jax and Carly as well as Jason and Sam, and both of those couples find themselves having… well, let’s just say ‘interesting’ conversations about the supermodel!”

Elsewhere in the issue, look for an exclusive interview with uber-popular ALL MY CHILDREN heroine Alicia Minshew (Kendall), who talks about the challenges of combining acting with raising a baby… not to mention what the future holds for Zendall! There’s also an unusually frank interview with GH’s Jason Thompson (Patrick) and Kimberly McCullough (Robin). “They’re extremely candid about the whole ‘Fatal Attraction’ story and how it impacts their characters,” admits Simms. “It’s a must-read for Scrubs fans.” And with Kim Zimmer — who became a daytime superstar with her stint as the self-proclaimed slut of GUIDING LIGHT’s Springfield — set to bring her ONE LIFE TO LIVE alter ego, Echo, back to the canvas, the mag jogs your memory on how Clint’s ex-lover impacted the canvas.

After four decades on the tube, Geraldo Rivera is just about as well known as a guy can get. “People either love me or hate me,” says the man with one of the most recognizable mugs in America. But no matter which camp folks fall into, one thing’s for sure: Everybody knows who he is. “Oprah, Cher, Lassie and me!” he agrees with a laugh.

To mark his 40th year in the TV biz, this weekend his current show — GERALDO AT LARGE (airing at 10PM EST Saturday and Sunday on Fox News) — will feature a retrospective that takes viewers down Memory Lane with the chair-dodging, vault-opening, war-covering newsman who once got high on national television to demonstrate the effects of smoking marijuana. And putting together the special was no easy task! “The hardest part was just finding everything! It’s been so long and there have been so many incarnations,” shares the TV vet. “There are some things you remember, some you remember just in the retelling, and others you’ve forgotten completely.” Certainly, neither he nor viewers will ever forget the 1988 GERALDO episode in which his nose was broken during a skirmish with racists. So thank goodness, he chuckles, “I found the chair I got hit by!” 

How his career is defined by the public depends, he says, on how old the person is. “Some relate to me from the talk-show days, others from coverage of the war in Iraq.” As for Rivera, he considers the work he did in exposing the horrific conditions at Staten Island’s Willowbrook State School — a state-funded institution for children with developmental issues — the most important thing he’s ever done. “It helped change the way we think about the mentally retarded and developmentally disabled,” he says proudly of his Peabody-winning coverage, which began in 1972. “People put down TV news and punditry, but that is an example — that 15-year-long expose — of how television news can be part of the process of positive social change.”

Unlike many who take up a cause for personal reasons, Rivera — who continues to fight for the mentally disabled — was simply moved by what he saw during his first visit to Willowbrook. “It was the trauma of that experience,” he admits. “I had nobody in my family that was impacted, no personal experience. I was absolutely in the dark about it.” Working on the story proved to be an eye-opening experience… in more ways than one. “I don’t say this very often, and I guess it’s kind of shameful in a way, but I was always very hesitant when I saw someone who was mentally handicapped. You know, you kind of look away, you don’t know whether to be embarrassed, whether to say hello. In my generation, we hid away people who didn’t look ‘normal.’ I had to conquer that aspect of my own prejudice.” But the story was one that demanded to be told. “I had to find out what the humanists in the field thought was a better way of dealing with the situation than throwing 60 or 70 people with profound disabilities into a room with one or two attendants and no one to really care for them. It’s what I imagine World War II soldiers felt like when they found the death camps. It was just shocking. It was early in my career and it was something that, I must say, was both a scar and a badge of honor.”

These days, Rivera can be found tackling tough issues on his Fox News show. And while that may seem an odd fit, given his rather liberal views — “I am for a woman’s right to choose, and I don’t care who marries who as long as they’re in love,” he declares — that’s not how he sees it. “If anything, working at Fox has forced me, in many ways, to appreciate the sincerity of those who see the world differently.” That said, he realizes that despite having labored in the news genre his entire life, there’s one interview he’s unlikely to land. “Although I’ve been generally supportive of President Obama, I think he’s gonna give The Dog Food Channel an interview before he gives it to me.”

• Friday Fun: GOSSIP GIRL meets 90210! (See above)
• 90210-OH-OH! Ian Ziering claims the CW dropped the ball
• Bring it on! CW to break Guinness cheerleading record to promote next week’s HELLCATS series premiere.
• Required viewing: BETTER OFF TED’s final two unaired episodes are now available online.
• Bestes TV Newus Totalus! BATTLESTAR CALAGTICA exec Ronald D. Moore to develop what’s being described as an adult Harry Potter for NBC.
• The revolution continues, ABC renews JAMIE OLIVER’s FOOD REVOLUTION for a second season.