Engadget reports a couple of new abilities that you Apple TV owners can choose to bestow upon your two-week old Apple gadget.

The first one is an RSS plugin from Twenty08. This plugin features a basic RSS Feed reader and can read RSS1.x/2.x feeds. The plugin can't read ATOM feeds as of this posting, but we're looking forward to an update that will hopefully include this feature. Video RSS feeds are also on the way according to Twenty08.

The second is for videogame console emulation. It's not actually a hack per se, but according to Engadget, a Wiki over at AwkwardTV says that several popular emulators by Richard Bannister "work on the Apple TV OS with the addition of SSH." Right now, the following emulators have been confirmed working:

• Nestopia 1.3.6 (NES)
• Generator 0.4.2 (Sega Genesis)
• BSNES 0.17 (SNES)
• Sixtyforce 0.9.0 (N64)

Finally, there's a challenge put forth by AppleTVHacks.net and FatWallet.com where they'll be giving US$ 1,000 to the first person or team who can get an Apple TV to use an external USB drive for storage. The patch must also be applied without opening the Apple TV's case, much like in the USB boot video we posted about a few days ago.

For more on all of these new hacks and the challenge, click on the "via" link below.