Apple TV, a product which enables Widescreen (16:9) enhanced definition or high definition viewing of media from computers with iTunes was announced last year. When it was released March 21 this year, the people who purchased it bemoaned the limited hard drive space (40 GB) and other functions that the Apple TV lacked. Barring any modification to the product, customers were stuck with the one model they released.

Now, rumors on Digg have been surfacing that new versions of the Apple TV are going to be released. This started when one Apple TV Hacks reader eirikso pointed out that the Apple TV is being presented in the same manner as products with multiple versions. If you look carefully at The Apple Store's page for the Apple TV, you will see that it says "select your Apple TV" in the upper left quadrant of the screen. What's there to select when only one model was released? Hmm...

So far there has been no word from Apple whether the rumors are unfounded or if the new version of the product is going to be released. More on this as more news surface.

In the spirit of bringing you more Apple TV-related modifications, we're now gonna show you how to run the full Mac OS X on the Apple TV. semthex from Hackint0sh.org hacked out a replacement to the Mac OS X kernel, side-stepping over certain hardware restrictions that previously made running the Mac OS X on an Apple TV improbable.

Here are the steps to install the full Mac OS X on the Apple TV. Install at your own risk.

1) Remove the drive from the Apple TV
2) Back up your drive! Make an image of it (see the harddrive upgrade tutorial for this)
3) Connect the drive to a regular Mac (use a Firewire or USB drive dock)
4) Install OS X (Intel version) to the drive (we suggest a slim install - no printer drivers etc.)
5) Boot from this drive, and set it up as you would like it. Make sure you do updates so it is at least 10.4.8.
6) Reboot to your normal OS X install.
7) Remove mach_kernel from root of the drive containg the ATV install.
8) Replace it with the customised mach_kernel that youÂ?ll find on Hackint0sh.org.
9) Replace /System/Libary/Coreservices/boot.efiwith the same file from your backup of the Apple TV OS drive (OSBoot partition).
10) Run bless:

bless --folder=/Volumes/OSBoot/System/Library/CoreServices --file=/Volumes/OSBoot/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi --setBoot

11) Delete all the Nvidia kexts (all beginning with NVD, there should be 5) from the target drive (in /System/Library/Extensions).
12) Transfer the drive back to the Apple TV
13) Turn the Apple TV on and cross your fingers...

And you should boot up into Mac OS X. The Apple TV running Mac OS X can use the mouse and the keyboard normally. Use either Front Row or Back Row to watch content.

For a more detailed how-to, check the installation video by clicking on the full article link below.

The resourceful people from AwkwardTV have released ATVFiles, a simple browser plugin for the Apple TV Finder. Like XBMC, this plugin can play video files without transcoding and syncing/streaming them. As for the codecs, you'll have to get them yourself as ATVFiles does not provide them. AwkwardTV recommends Perian and the A52Codec. You can check out some links to these codecs by clicking on the "via" link below.

Since the download doesn't include a readme file, here are the installation and usage instructions as well as the known issues for the plugin:

Installation

1. Copy ATVFiles.frappliance to this folder: /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/PlugIns on the Apple TV. You may want to create a symlink from there to some more convenient place.
2. Restart Finder. The command killall Finder will kill it, and it will be automatically restarted.
   

Usage

1. Enter the new "Files" menu on the main menu.
2. It lists files in /Users/frontrow/Movies, so mount or put your video files in that folder.

Known Issues

• AFP mounts don't seem to show up if they're in a location symlinked to. Mount them directly under Movies instead.
• Non-video files are played back using the QT player.
• No previews, etc.
• The icon is ugly and scaled way up.
• A NSGenericException: backtracing is raised during Finder startup. This is normal.
• The plugin isn't localized, and shows up as CFBundleName in the main menu for languages other than English.

   

Download: ATVFiles v0.1.0

Remember when we told you of stuff that the Apple TV is doing that it's not supposed to do: i.e., running Apple TV on a MacBook, and getting the Xvid to work on the Apple TV? Those are only some of what you can do with the help of this extensive tutorial from the Tutorial Ninjas.

The Ninjas made it clear that doing the stuff they specify will have to require you to put apart your precious Apple TV. If you get over that quite iffy part, you will be able to do the following stuff:

• Disable the Firewall
• Enable SSH & VNC
• Playing xvid/divx encoded stuff
• Stopping Watchdog
• Running Applications(Firefox, Centerstage, etc)
• Installing Quartz

All you need is a computer (preferrably an Intel Mac), a torx 10 and a torx 8, a way to hook up a 2.5" hard drive to your computer, and a method of SSHv1 into a box. But remember: you're on your own when you start breaking apart your hardware for these mods; albeit the steps that the Ninjas provided, available on the "via" link below, can be very detailed.

 

Apple TV owners who had their boxes modded may want to heed the warning of Tutorial Ninjas. According to their site, Apple may be on the warpath against Apple TV modders and is implementing a countermeasure against guilty parties.

The site noted four separate incidents of Apple TVs breaking after they got modded. Tutorial Ninjas doesn't claim to have documented proof, but their theory is that Apple is bypassing networks to update and shut down modded units.

The site suggests that the nest way to ensure the safety of the modded Apple TV is to change your password and disconnect the unit from the internet. That would cut off Apple's reach to your piece, but at the same time compromise full functionality of the device.

The Apple TV is a set-top box selling for US$ 299. Dubbed as "the next-gen of home entertainment", the Apple TV lets you play any media content like music, podcasts, movies, TV shows stored in your computer onto your TV. You can get digital content from the internet and play it on your TV, instead of getting DVDs from a store. With the help of the Apple TV, you can even watch a part of your movie in the living room and finish it in your iPod.

A set-top box like the Apple TV plays your computer content on your widescreen TV. What if the tables were turned and the computer - specifically a MacBook - plays the Apple TV instead of the other way around? This sort of scenario happens in this vid we have here. Too bad we didn't get a tutorial about how to perform this; it'll be nice to do it just to see it could be done.

Check out this YouTube vid of an Apple TV running on a MacBook.

The guys from AwkwardTV.org have successfully booted Apple's recently-released Apple TV via USB. They also uploaded a video of the external USB bootstrap, and here's what Ozzy from AwkwardTV.org has to say about it:

...our first successful external USB bootstrap from a recovery image on the Apple TV. This will allow us to begin development of externally booting the Apple TV without having to crack open the case and modifying any of the contents at all.

In order to prove that the Apple TV is actually booting off of the hard disk attached to it via USB, Ozzy from AwkwardTV.org "modified the bootlogo png file on the recovery partition on the external disk." Check out the vid below.

A couple of hardware enthusiasts claim that they officially got the Xvid and everything else supported by Perian working on the Apple TV. It's supposed to be 100 percent legit, involving only personally taking apart your Apple TV, and plugging in the drive - it's a straightforward OS X 10.4.7 install.

Awkward and Sabretooth relates the methods as such:

1. Open it up (4 screws on the bottom, small Torx bit)
2. Put the 2.5" drive into a USB enclosure or whatever you want
3. Mount the HFS filesystem
4. Install Perian in /Library/Quicktime (as you normally would)
5. Install Dropbear (or enable SSH if you know how... we gave up and used Dropbear)
6. Add a startup script to disable the firewall or open up the ports you need for SSH
7. Put the drive back in and boot it, ssh login as frontrow, password frontrow (or add an ssh key for yourself)
8. Use a reference movie (use QT Pro to save a reference movie) to bootstrap your xvid file

Make sure to see more details about this before you go about tweaking with the Apple TV for Xvid.

Just like most Apple products out there, Apple TV sprang out of nowhere and awed fans with its amazing features. It was introduced at this year's Macworld Expo in San Fran and Steve Jobs himself was the one who introduced it to the public. However, some say that a Mac Mini, an ordinary TV set, and a sprinkle of wits could also perform the same exact magic of Apple TV without the rather steep price.

Anyway, some of you might still not be familiar with Apple TV, so we hosted this interface walkthrough video from Engadget. The video is quite informative and educational, so to speak, going through Apple's wireless media streamer that includes playing back movies, trailers, and music, and watching photos. There are also some lessons on how to tweak the setup and options menu.

Apple TV began shipping a couple of days ago, March 20 to be exact, with a price tag of US$ 299.

Orb Networks is priming itself to be a main contender against Apple's Apple TV. The company has just announced that their free MyCasting software now works with the Microsoft Xbox 360, the Nintendo Wii, and the Sony PS3, giving gamers the ability to bring all digital media to their TV screen without any additional costs or hardware requirements.

The free MyCasting software allows users to enjoy all digital media from their home PC, as well as online videos, on any networked device with an internet browser - be it other PCs, laptops, PDAs, mobile phones with support for streaming players, and now, next gen videogame consoles.

"There is a lot of anticipation on who will finally crack the code on opening the PC-to-TV connection - especially on what Apple TV can deliver," said Joe Costello, Chairman and CEO of Orb Networks. "That day is here and 17 million households - right this minute - can download Orb onto their home PC, then go turn on their TV, and using their game console, start enjoying any of the personal media on their PC or anything on the Web instantly - without having to purchase another gadget to make it work."