IOS hacker extraordinaire MuscleNerd has successfully jailbroken the Apple TV, before many pre-orders have even been filled. This gives the user “root” access to the operating system, allowing them to install or tweak anything they like.
What MuscleNerd hasn’t figure out yet is how to actually get apps running on the AppleTV. Given that the set-top box has the same A4 processor found in the iPhone 4, iPad and iPod Touch, and is loaded with 8GB RAM, it shouldn’t be long before this is solved. Here’s a video showing MuscleNerd logging in to his AppleTV from a Mac via the terminal.
There is just one app installed on the AppleTV. Named Lowtide, it is the front-end you see when you use the device. Lowtide has already been loaded and run on the latest-gen iPod Touch
Where will this lead? Well, expect apps especially written for a jailbroken AppleTV to start popping up as soon as MuscleNerd and his colleagues work out how to run them. This could mean anything from Hulu+ to games. Imagine playing old Super Nintendo games on your big screen TV using your iPhone as a controller. Far-fetched? You can already do it on your iPad.
Well, there you have it, kids. Your new favorite hobby has gone from having a confirmed exploit to a legitimate jailbreak in the space of a mere couple of days. MuscleNerd reports that the Shatter jailbreaking endeavor has claimed its latest iOS victim today, though as you can see for yourself, it’s “not quite ready for prime time yet.” App installations still have to be figured out, but at least the door’s been opened for making some good, if not magical, things happen. You’ll find video evidence of root access after the break.
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The new Apple TV could be Steve Jobs’ best sleight-of-hand trick yet.
During his modest introduction of the device, Jobs called the Apple TV “one more hobby.” But a closer look at the code and the hardware powering the Apple TV reveals that there’s a lot more going on under the hood than the CEO shared.
Interestingly, Jobs didn’t mention that Apple TV runs iOS, the same operating system running on its flagship product, the iPhone, and some other big hits — the iPod Touch and iPad. And there’s more, too: The Apple TV’s software may already be jailbroken, and some hidden software should eventually allow you to share the Apple TV’s media with other iOS devices.
These secret ingredients could be the recipe Apple needs to shake up the television industry. For years, Apple executives have labeled the set-top box a “hobby” product because of its mild success compared to blockbuster sellers like the iPhone and iPod. Now that Apple TV has been revamped into a streaming rental service with an arsenal of stealth features, maybe Apple has a chance to change the TV business — if not today, perhaps later.
“The most important hint of Apple’s real ambitions in the living room come from AirPlay, which puts iPhones and iPads in the driver’s seat and makes the TV just an output device for the Apple ecosystem,” said James McQuivey, a Forrester analyst, in a recent e-mail statement. “Expect Apple to gradually push more and more in that direction, but as of this moment in 2010, Apple has not yet made a significant play for control of the TV.”
Here, we round up the juicy tidbits we’ve heard about Apple’s mysterious new set-top box.
iOS and third-party app support
There’s more than enough evidence proving that the Apple TV runs iOS. Dispelling any doubts, Apple recently posted a build of iOS 4.1 specifically for the Apple TV.
This piece of information about iOS is important because of a new feature called AirPlay, which streams media from your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch to the Apple TV. When Jobs demonstrated AirPlay, he only showed the feature working with an iPad’s built-in video player, photo app and music library. Now that we know Apple TV runs iOS, it’s likely that third-party apps such as MLB at Bat or ABC Player will be able stream media to the set-top box, too.
DaringFireball blogger John Gruber confirmed that an AirPlay button is showing up in the MLB at Bat app, and he adds that apps using the built-in media controller will be able to integrate AirPlay.
Long story short, you’ll be able to wirelessly stream media from some third-party apps straight to your Apple TV with an AirPlay button. AirPlay is shaping up to be Apple’s secret weapon to reshape home entertainment.
In addition to AirPlay, the fact that Apple TV is running iOS means that — in principle, at least — it may someday be able to run applications from the iTunes App Store. For now, that capability is not included in Apple TV, but the underlying operating system certainly supports it, so Apple might open a TV App Store in a future software update.
Jailbreaking hacks
Third-party app support will probably be limited for the Apple TV, but that’s where the jailbreakers come in. In the same way that we’re able to override restrictions on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch with a jailbreak, we should be able to run unauthorized apps on the Apple TV — something Jobs would never advertise, of course.
In fact, hackers already have a head start, because a tool called Shatter, which was used to jailbreak the newest iPod Touch, already works with the Apple TV, according to the iPhone Dev Team. That means we should be expecting hackers to code some unauthorized apps soon to unlock additional capabilities such as video conferencing via your Apple TV.
On top of that, existing hacks for the old Apple TV should work, too. Dev Team member Will Strafach explained that “the new AppleTV OS seems to be a mashup of the old AppleTV OS and iOS,” meaning “frappliances,” plug-ins that add functionality to the old Apple TV, should work as well.
‘Lowtide’ app
The Unofficial Apple Weblog’s Erica Sadun, a popular iOS programmer, took a close look at the Apple TV’s software and discovered that it runs an application called Lowtide — the software containing the set-top box’s media interface.
Sadun dug deeper and found lines of code that suggest that Lowtide might eventually be extended to other iOS devices. In other words, you should be able to share media from the Apple TV to your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, whereas originally we thought we’d only be able to do the converse with AirPlay. This functionality would be comparable to a Slingbox or an EyeTV.
Lowtide isn’t readily available for Apple’s iOS mobile devices yet, but iOS developer Dustin Howett has already managed to load Lowtide on an iPod touch running iOS 4.1, demonstrated in the video above. He recommended against doing it yourself, though, unless you’re ready to reformat your iPhone on a regular basis just to turn it back into a phone.
Hey, would you look at that: if you’re a developer, you can download iOS 4.2 beta 2. We’re installing it right now, and we’ll let you know as soon as we see what’s new — but we’re hoping it fixes some of the nasty bugs we grappled with in beta 1.
Update: We’ve only used beta 2 for a couple minutes, but it’s already so much less buggy than beta 1 we’re weeping with joy.
Soon, thanks to the tireless efforts of the iPhone Dev Team, you will be able to install apps on your AppleTV. An upcoming Jailbreak tool, called SHAtter, has already been used to unlock the new Apple TV’s firmware.
SHAtter was used to jailbreak the newest iPod Touch shortly after its launch, and thanks to its iOS roots, the AppleTV is also susceptible to its power. The hack was carried out on the firmware restore download just been posted by Apple. This file, which contains the entire OS of the Apple TV, is an IPSW file, the file-extension for iPhone and iPad OS files.
So what’s inside? According to the Dev Team member Will Strafach, “the new AppleTV OS seems to be a mashup of the old AppleTV OS and iOS.” This, he says, means that existing AppleTV hacks (or “frappliances”) may already work. Frappliances are the plugins that add functionality to the original AppleTV. Also, all of the iOS software frameworks are present, which could allow hacks to enable video-conferencing, for example (if you could figure out how to hook up a camera) or even let you install the iPad Hulu app.
I suspect that Apple will add apps to the AppleTV in the form of channels, just like the Netflix “channel” that is there already. A jailbroken AppleTV, though, could theoretically run anything that will run on the iPhone or iPad. A final word from Strafach: “The most interesting thing about the new AppleTV OS is that all binaries are marked iPad-compatible. I do wonder what Apple is planning…”
The Shatter exploit that was discovered for iOS 4.1 devices has, predictably enough, been found to function on the latest Apple TV as well. Though a jailbreak fit for distribution is still brewing for all of Apple’s iOS wares, this will be welcome news to folks interested in trying to add a little extra functionality to Apple’s hockey puck of a media streamer. Then again, even the best of apps might not make up for it being a 720p media device in a 1080p world.
It seems like Apple’s legal team is constantly embroiled in a pitched battle of some sort, but this weekend they might get to relax — citing recent iPhone policy changes, the European Commission’s decided to stop breathing down their necks. Though the EU originally joined the US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission in investigating why Cupertino chose to block third-party dev tools and ads earlier this year, the fact that Apple recently relaxed both restrictions (and created a repair program for iPhones purchased abroad) satisfied European regulators. “The Commission intends to close the investigations into these matters,” it wrote earlier today. There’s no guarantee that the US powers-that-be will exercise similar leniency, of course, but we wouldn’t be surprised — even inside Apple, the DoJ’s got other fishto fry.
Streaming music from a computer to all manner of home audio devices is an area Sonos, Logitech, and Apple have been competing in for years. The recently-released MP-1 music player from Orb, though, is a surprise contender that can perform a host of streaming duties for less than $70. Like the competition, it works by connecting to a powered audio device via an in-line jack, and can play music stored locally, on a network, or from services like Pandora when streamed over 802.11b/g/n WiFi through its companion Orb Caster media server software. To sweeten the package, the company is also throwing in their Orb Controller app for iOS devices — which normally costs $10 — for a low price of free, and apparently has plans to release an Android version of the remote sometime in the near future. Sure, it’s a little strange for us to see a company known for their free media streaming software jump in the hardware game so abruptly, but the MP-1’s mixture of functionality for the price is a pretty enticing first step. Plus, if the move ignites a price war to the bottom with the aforementioned competition, who are we to complain?
Syncing data between a smartphone and a cable is a lousy chore (I’m looking at you, iTunes), but fortunately you can juggle a lot of your files in the “cloud” (i.e. wirelessly over an internet connection) with Dropbox-powered apps. As of today, these apps are showcased in a directory, which should really come in handy for smartphone users.
It can be a little tricky to explain, so take how I use Dropbox as an example: I read digital documents often. While browsing the web on my Mac, I’ll see a PDF I want to read later. I drag and drop the PDF into my Dropbox, and then on my iPad or iPhone I launch the Dropbox app. When I select the PDF, Dropbox gives me the option of loading the document with other third-party apps that are designed for PDF-reading — such as iBooks or GoodReader. Choose an app and the file loads there instead, leaving the Dropbox app.
So basically, there are a bunch of third-party apps designed to handle different types of media that are using the Dropbox API to spare you the trouble of wired syncing or e-mailing yourself files. And Dropbox just today launched a showcase displaying which apps will cater to your wireless lifestyle.
Dropbox is available on several mobile platforms: BlackBerry, iOS, Android, Windows Mobile.
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