what is the untethered boot?

Well, iPhone tethered boot is when you hack an apple device, some of the available jailbreak software requires you to be connected to a computer each time the iPhone device is reset. The untethered boot does not need to be connected  to a PC to reboot.

This does not include when an iPhone device goes to sleep. This becomes a problem when you are out of battery as you need your computer to turn your phone on. In the case of the AppleTV it doesn’t really need batteries so it should require a reboot less often. In my experience, AppleTV does require a reboot once in a while though as it can lose connectivity to the network.

With this in mind there are software solutions that specialise in untethered boots. Greenpois0n is one of those and that is why I have used them with my setup.

iPhone baseband is essentially the cellular modem firmware that is on your iPhone. You’ll probably have heard of baseband upgrades, the purpose of these upgrades is to improve the functionality of the cellular modem and also to keep the device locked to the intended carrier (in the USA, this is AT&T).

This is why iPhone unlocks are updated and specific to different baseband versions, since hacking the baseband is necessary to allow the jailbreak and unlocked iPhone to utilize the cellular modem on the phone, thereby allowing call, data, and SMS transfer to occur on the device.

Checking your baseband version

Knowing what baseband version your iPhone is using is crucial to seeing if you can unlock your iPhone with ultrasn0w or other unlocks.

Find your iPhone Baseband Version

Checking your baseband is really easy, grab your iPhone and do the following:

• Select “Settings”

• Select “General”

• Select “About”

• Scroll down and lookup the “Modem Firmware” – This is the baseband number

NOTE: This screenshot does not refer to an iOS version below 4.2.1

Here’s a collection of tips and tricks to help you do more, and be more productive, with your iPhone 4

Create web clips. To add a website to your Home screen, visit the page in Safari and tap the Go To icon at the bottom of the Safari window. Tap Add to Home Screen.

Learn some keyboard tricks Tap the space bar twice, and iPhone adds a period and capitalizes the next word. To enter a number or symbol quickly, touch and hold , then select the key you want. Lifting your finger returns you to the alphabet keyboard. Touch and hold a letter to reveal a list of special characters.

Use the compass with maps. Tap the Location button in Maps twice to use the built-in compass to orient the map based on the direction you are facing.	In Safari, Mail, Contacts, and many other apps, tap the status bar at the top of the screen — which displays the network information, time, and battery level — to scroll quickly to the top.

Display character count in text messages. In Settings, tap Messages, then tap the Character Count switch. The count appears as you type when your message exceeds two lines. You may want to do this when carrier fees apply.

Tap to focus the camera. While shooting video or photos, tap the screen where you want to focus. iPhone will also adjust the exposure and white balance automatically.

Swipe to delete. Delete email messages and text conversations without opening them. Just swipe across the email or conversation and a Delete button appears. Tap it to delete.

Read the iPhone User Guide. For more tips, tricks, and instructions, tap the Bookmarks icon in Safari, then select iPhone User Guide.

XBMC

The best upgrade for AppleTV2 is to install XBMC. This is a media center that can read movies, TV & Music from your NAS or networked PC and play them for you through your TV. It has features like cover lookup, resume movies, mark as watched, cast downloads, you can lookup subtitles for something .

And for under £100 you can pick up one of these beauties brand new and start hacking as soon as it comes out of the box. With this guide you should have a working XBMC installation reading your NAS data withing 30 minutes.

To install XBMC you will need to jailbreak your device. This will invalidate your warranty but you can always restore a new firmware version to the device.

Before you need to make sure that you have the correct firmware running on your ATV2. If it is too new you will not be able to use the current greenpois0n. At the time of going to press, you require iOS 4.2.1 on the AppleTV2 to install greenpois0n 6.1

You will need to perform the following:

• install iOS 4.2.1 on your ATV2
• Jailbreak the ATV2 by installing greenpois0n
• Install the Cydia loader
• Install XBMC

If you do not already have a copy of the latest firmware you may find yourself in an awkward position. You will need to download an older version of the iOS firmware and use another program to install it onto the ATV2.

Getting your ATV2 firmware right

(Instructions on firmware to come)

Install Java environment

http://www.java.com/en/download/inc/windows_new_ie.jsp

 

Instructions on installing greenpois0n.

• plug the device to your computer using the USB cable
• quit iTunes if it shows up
• start the greenpois0n.exe
• It will ask if you are jailbreaking an AppleTV, click Yes.

NOTE: greenpois0n instructions are a little confusing as they refer to the iPhone. I had more luck with these instructions I got from iphoneincanada.ca:

• plug power and USB cables into Apple TV
• plug USB cable into your computer
• hold down the MENU and DOWN buttons on your Apple TV Remote for about 7 seconds, until the light flashes quickly.
• hold down the MENU and PLAY buttons for 7 seconds until the light flashes quickly.
• Press Jailbreak Now in GreenPois0n

GreenPois0n will complete the jailbreak process.

• Press Quit.

IMPORTANT â€“ do not unplug Apple TV for at least 40 seconds to a minute after the Jailbreaking process is complete.

Install Cydia

• Remove USB Cable, and plug in HDMI Cable
• On your Apple TV, browse to the Inject Software option under GreenPois0n heading

• Select Cydia Payload

• Allow process to complete, and restart AppleTV when prompted.

Installing XBMC

• Browse to NitoTV heading, and select Install Software.

• Select XBMC-ATV2 from the menu and install.

Apple TV is a digital media receiver made and sold by Apple.

It is a small form factor network appliance designed to play IPTV digital content originating from the iTunes Store, Netflix, YouTube, Flickr, MobileMe, MLB.tv, NBA League Pass or any Mac OS X or Windows computer running iTunes onto an enhanced-definition or high-definition widescreen television. (digital content varies depending on country of use).

Apple offered a preview of the device in September 2006 and began shipping it the following March. It initially shipped with a 40 GB hard disk; a 160 GB version was introduced two months later and the earlier model was ultimately discontinued.

First Generation AppleTV

In September 2010, Apple announced a second-generation version of the Apple TV. About one quarter of the size and one third of the price of the original Apple TV, the new device can stream rented content from iTunes and video from computers or iOS devices via AirPlay. The new version no longer has the hard drive; however, it does have an undocumented internal 8 GB flash storage, speculated to be used for smoother playback of streamed media. All content is drawn from online or locally connected sources.

Second Generation AppleTV

History

Apple TV was unveiled as a work in progress called “iTV” at a press conference in San Francisco, California on September 12, 2006. Apple CEO Steve Jobs demoed a modified Front Row interface using the Apple Remote. Industry experts described the appliance as a “short Mac Mini”. Jobs announced that Apple would start taking pre-orders for Apple TV on January 9, 2007, at the Macworld Conference & Expo. The name “iTV” was originally going to be used to keep it in line with the rest of their i based products (iPhone, iPad, iPod) etc, but was not used because television broadcaster ITV holds the rights to the name in the UK and threatened to take legal action against Apple.

Apple TV started shipping on March 21, 2007. Apple released a 160GB model on May 31, 2007; it discontinued the 40GB version on September 14, 2009.

At Macworld 2008 on January 15, 2008, Jobs announced a major (and free) software upgrade to the Apple TV. Dubbed “Take Two”, the upgrade turned the Apple TV into a stand-alone device that no longer required a computer running iTunes on Mac OS X or Windows to stream or sync content to it. Jobs said, “Apple TV was designed to be an accessory for iTunes and your computer. It was not what people wanted. We learned what people wanted was movies, movies, movies.” The update also allowed the device to rent and purchase content from iTunes directly, as well as download podcasts and stream photos from MobileMe (.Mac at the time) and Flickr.

The second-generation Apple TV was unveiled during an Apple press conference on September 1, 2010.

Features

Apple TV allows consumers to use an HDTV set to view photos, play music and watch video that originates from limited Internet services or a local network. The first generation (white) had iTunes, Flickr, Mobileme/.Mac and Youtube. The second generation added Netflix. Both models supported downloading/streaming podcasts.

Notable competitors include Western Digital Media Center, Roku, Boxee and Google TV.

Supported Internet media services include:

Users can access the iTunes Store directly through Apple TV to rent movies and TV shows and stream audio and video podcasts. While the first iteration of the Apple TV could purchase content, the second generation lacks a hard drive, and thus cannot store purchased content. Instead, users would need to buy content on a computer and stream it to the Apple TV. Since 2008, podcasts have been served on the Apple TV as other kinds of video, as opposed to in RSS and similar feeds. Until mid-March 2009, the Apple TV was the only way to purchase HD iTunes content.

Apple TV can display photos from Flickr and MobileMe in a slide show, with automatic cross-dissolve transitions, and optionally with the Ken Burns effect.

Netflix streaming integration was added in the September 2010 revision.

YouTube videos can be viewed directly on the Apple TV. A YouTube account is not required, but allows a user to set personalized options, such as favorites.

Rotten Tomatoes review syndication and ratings offered per title available for rent. Rotten Tomatoes account holders cannot login, so is not needed nor required, as no personalised options are available.

NBA TV and MLB.tv allow access to league scores, statistics, and their accompanying subscription services.

Apple TV does not support user-defined RSS audio, video and text feeds.

Parental controls allow consumers to limit access to Internet media service content. Internet media is split into four categories: “Internet Photos”, “YouTube”, “Podcasts”, and “Purchase and Rental”. Each of the categories is configured by a parental control of “Show”, “Hide” or “Ask” to prompt for a 4-digit preset code. In addition, movies, TV shows, music and podcasts can be restricted by rating.

Although Apple TV has a “Closed Captioning” setting, subtitles are not available for most iTunes content.

Local sources

Apple TV can sync or stream photos, music and videos from a computer running iTunes.

A user can connect a computer on a local network to maintain a central home media library of ripped CD, DVD or HD content, provide direct connectivity to photo organization software such as iPhoto, limit home video access to a local network only, play Internet radio, or preload content on Apple TV to be used later as a non-networked video player. For users who wish to connect the Apple TV to a computer, synchronization and streaming modes are supported.

In synchronization mode, Apple TV works in a similar way to the iPod. It is paired with an iTunes library on a single computer and can synchronize with that library, copying all or selected content to its own hard drive. After syncing, Apple TV need not remain connected to the network. Photos can sync from iPhoto, Aperture, or from a hard disk folder on a Mac, or Adobe Photoshop Album, Photoshop Elements, or from a hard disk folder in Windows.

Apple TV can also function as a peer-to-peer digital media receiver, streaming content from iTunes libraries and playing the content over the network.

First generation Apple TVs can stream content from up to five computers or iTunes libraries. Also, five Apple TVs can be linked to the same iTunes library. For second generation Apple TVs, use of the Home Sharing feature of iTunes is required, which will automatically allow you to stream content from other iTunes libraries. This depends on the Apple TV and iTunes library you are streaming from are on the same local network along with the same Apple ID for Home Sharing.

Supported formats:

Apple TV supports the following audio, video, and picture formats:

Video

H.264 up to 720p at 30 frames per second

MPEG-4 up to 720 x 432 (432p) or 640 x 480 pixels at 30 frame/s

Motion JPEG up to 720p at 30 frame/s

Picture

JPEG

GIF

TIFF

Audio

HE-AAC (V1)

AAC (16–320 kbit/s)

FairPlay protected AAC

AC-3 Dolby Digital pass-through

MP3 (16–320 kbit/s, with VBR)

Apple Lossless

AIFF

WAV

Attempts to sync unsupported content to Apple TV will draw an error message from iTunes.

AppleTV’s video output can be set to either 1080i or 1080p; however, this resolution is limited to the user interface and the viewing of photographs – all other content is simply upscaled to those resolutions. Apple TV cannot play 1080i or 1080p video content (e.g., HD camera video).

Apple offers 4 Mbit/s H.264 720p movies and video podcasts on iTunes. In comparison, Blu-ray movies are 1080p H.264 or VC-1 video encoded at rates up to 40 Mbit/s.

Apple TV’s audio chip supports 7.1 surround sound, and some high definition rentals from iTunes are offered with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.

There is an Apple TV export option in QuickTime, which allows content in some formats that the device does not support to be easily re-encoded. Applications that use QuickTime to export media can use this; e.g., iMovie’s Share menu, iTunes’ advanced menu, and some third-party content conversion tools.

Connectivity

Apple TV outputs video through an HDMI port. While the previous iteration also had component video ports, they were removed in the current generation. The device does not have RCA/composite video or F/RF connectors. Of the original Apple TV, reviewers wrote that Apple is “future-proofing”, and “if you do not have HDTV now, you will in the future”. The product does not come with audio or video cables.

Audio is supported through the optical and HDMI ports. The previous Apple TV also had analog (RCA connector) audio ports.

The device connects to the internet and local networks through an Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection. The device also has a Micro-USB port, but this is reserved for service and diagnostics. On the previous Apple TV, media files could be transferred directly onto the device by syncing with another computer. Once content is stored on the device, an internet connection would no longer be needed to view content.

AirPlay

AirPlay allows an Apple TV or AirPort-enabled computer with the iTunes music player to send a stream of music to multiple (three to six, in typical conditions) stereos connected to an AirPort Express or Apple TV.

The AirPort Express’ streaming media capabilities use Apple’s Remote Audio Output Protocol (RAOP), a proprietary variant of RTSP/RTP. Using WDS-bridging, the AirPort Express can allow AirPlay functionality (as well as Internet access, file and print sharing, etc.) across a larger distance in a mixed environment of wired and up to 10 wireless clients.

AirPlay can be controlled by a Keyspan USB-enabled infrared remote control plugged into the USB port, but the Apple Remote’s volume buttons cannot control AirPlay. However volume control can be adjusted using the slider within iTunes.

Speakers attached to an AirPort Express or Apple TV can be selected from within the “Remote” iPhone/iPod Touch program, allowing full AirPlay compatibility (see “Remote control” section below).

Remote control

Apple TV can be controlled by virtually any infrared remote control or paired with the included Apple Remote to prevent interference from other remotes. Either kind of remote can control playback volume, but for music only.

On July 10, 2008, Apple released Remote, a free iOS application that allows the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad to control the iTunes library on the Apple TV via Wi-Fi.

 

Software

The original Apple TV ran a modified build of Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger that presented the user with an interface similar to that of Front Row. While this interface was merged back into Mac OS X v10.5 in late 2007, major Apple TV enhancements since then (“Take Two” and later) have not been included in Front Row. Content was organized in six groups (movies, TV Shows, music, YouTube, podcasts, and photos) and presented in the initial menu along with a Settings option for configuration, including software updates. The included Apple Remote was used to navigate through the menus by using the up or down buttons and selecting options with the play button. The left and right buttons were used to perform rewind and fast-forward functions while viewing video content and perform previous and next song functionality when selecting audio-only content.

Like Front Row on the Mac, the “TV Shows” option allows the user to sort contents by show or date and the “Movies” option also allows the user to view movie trailers for new releases. All video content, including movies, TV shows, music videos, and video podcasts, includes bookmark functionality. Apple TV automatically bookmarks video content midstream to continue playback at a later time. The “Music” submenu offers similar options to those found on an iPod, presenting the available music sorted by artist, album, songs, genres, and composers, as well as offering a shuffle option and listing available audiobooks. As categories are selected with the remote, animated album art is displayed on the side of the display for the contents of the selected category. While playing “audio-only” content such as music and audio podcasts, Apple TV periodically moves album art and content info on the TV display to prevent burn-in on video displays.

The second generation Apple TV runs a version of iOS, rather than the modified Mac OS X of the previous model. The interface is similar to that of the previous generation, with only slight modifications.

 

Technical specifications

Models	First generation	Second generation
Release date(s)	September 12, 2006	September 1, 2010
Processor	1 GHz Intel “Crofton” Pentium M	Apple A4 (ARM Cortex-A8)
Graphics	Nvidia GeForce Go 7300 with 64 MB of VRAM	Apple A4 (PowerVR SGX535)
Memory	256 MB of 400 MHz DDR2 SDRAM	256 MB
Storage	40 or 160 GB hard disk	8 GB NAND Flash for Cache
Connectivity	USB 2.0 (officially for diagnostic use only, though hackers have managed to allow connectivity of hard disks, mice, and keyboards), infrared receiver, HDMI, component video, optical audio	Micro-USB, HDMI, infrared receiver, optical audio
Networking	Wi-Fi (802.11b/g and draft-n), 10/100 Ethernet	Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n), 10/100 Ethernet
Output	720p 60/50 Hz (NTSC/PAL), 576p 50 Hz (PAL), 480p 60 Hz (NTSC) (480i 60 Hz is unofficially supported)	480p, 720p
Audio	Optical audio, HDMI, RCA analog stereo audio	Optical audio, HDMI
Power	Built-in universal 48W power supply	Built-in 6W power supply
Dimensions	7.8 in (200 mm) (h) 7.8 in (200 mm) (w) 1.1 in (28 mm) (d)	3.9 in (99 mm) (h) 3.9 in (99 mm) (w) 0.9 in (23 mm) (d)
Weight	2.4 lb (1.1 kg)	0.6 lb (0.27 kg)
Operating System	Modified build of Mac OS X 10.4″Tiger”	Modified build of iOS 4.0 and higher

Modifications and hacks

Apple TV First Generation

Within days of the release of the first-gen Apple TV, various non-commercial and commercial hacks became available. These allowed users to remotely access the device, add support for other codecs, install a full-blown copy of Mac OS X Tiger, access the hard drive via USB, use the device to browse the web, use non-Apple remote controls, and download metadata from the IMDB. In mid-2008, Fire Core released the aTV Flash software, which gives the Apple TV support for other media formats, a web browser, external USB hard drive support, and more. A free and open-source alternative, atvusb-creator, does much the same using a simple graphical interface on both Mac and Windows.

As of June 2011, Apple does not prevent users from modifying their Apple TVs, but does warn that applying hacks may void the product’s warranty.

Installing updates for the Apple TV system software typically removes software hacks, but major ATV hacks are updated regularly.

Most Front Row plugins are minor and have not been updated to work with Apple TV 2.x. AwkwardTV reports 10 plugins out of 32 have been certified compatible with the “Take Two” update.

Popular modifications include replacing/complementing Apple TV’s Front Row interface with alternative media center software, including XBMC Media Center and Boxee. Though Boxee installs a Netflix Watch Instantly plugin, the Apple TV does not have enough processing power to run the Silverlight framework that the Netflix plugin depends on.

Users have also upgraded the first-gen device’s internal hard drive.

A hardware hack allows the first-gen Apple TV to output color through composite video. For firmware version 3.0, the existing 2.x hack involving a kernel module called TVComposite.kext, is not yet working as of 11/1/2009.

True 1080p playback and video output can be enabled on the first-generation Apple TV by installing a Broadcom CrystalHD PCI-e card and the latest version 10 (Dharma) of XBMC running on Linux instead of the native Mac OS X 10.4.x based operating-system. This has been available since June 2010 and was originally created by Sam Nazarko. In March 2011, Nazarko released a GUI installer for both Linux and Windows platforms allowing quick installation of his minimal distribution. The distribution offers PVR support and AirPlay and still receives updates to this day.

True 1080p playback and video output can be enabled on the first-generation Apple TV by installing a Broadcom CrystalHD PCI-e card and the latest version 10 (Dharma) of XBMC running on Linux instead of the native Mac OS X 10.4.x based operating-system. This has been available since June 2010 and was originally created by Sam Nazarko. In March 2011, Nazarko released a GUI installer for both Linux and Windows platforms allowing quick installation of his minimal distribution. The distribution offers PVR support and AirPlay and still receives updates to this day.

Apple TV Second Generation (iOS)

As the second-gen Apple TV is iOS based, developers have used the traditional Jailbreaking techniques to install additional software on the Apple TV. This is accomplished by downloading the Apple TV’s firmware from Apple’s servers, then using a custom firmware application like Seas0nPass or PwnageTool to create a custom firmware. Users then connect their Apple TV to iTunes, place the Apple TV in DFU mode and restore the custom firmware to the Apple TV. This custom firmware provides SSH support to the device where users may use APT to install software to the device, or a GUI version similar to Cydia called NitoTV which includes access to software drivers to enable the built-in Bluetooth functions. Currently there is a limited amount of Apple TV compatible software, however a recent release of Plex Media Center has enhanced the Apple TV’s media support. On January 20, 2011, the XBMC team released the first official version of XBMC Media Center for the second generation device. On February 12, 2011, GreenPois0n RC6 brings full Untethered Jailbreak support for Apple TV 2G on iOS 4.2.1 with a much easier jailbreak method than Seas0nPass and PwnageTool.

Limitations

Functionality

Apple TV does not contain a TV tuner, nor a personal video recorder. Both capabilities can be applied to the connected home computer through various third-party products; allowing PVR software, for example, to connect to iTunes and enable scheduled HDTV recordings to automatically play via Apple TV for playback.

The Front Row interface lacks some iTunes functionality, including rating items, synchronizing from more than one computer, full Internet radio support, and games.

The Movies search box only searches the iTunes Store, not local hard drives and networks.

Movies rented on Apple TV must be watched on Apple TV, unlike iTunes rentals, which can be transferred to any video-enabled iPod, iPhone or Apple TV. Movies purchased on Apple TV can be moved to a video-enabled iPod or iPhone via iTunes.

The Apple TV uses the older QuickTime 7 engine, so it cannot play videos which use H.264 Sample Aspect Ratio (which require QuickTime X).

Former limitations

Photos were required to be synced to the device until an iTunes update enabled streaming.

The February 2008 release of the 2.0 (“Take Two”) software update allowed users to rent standard-resolution or HD movies with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. Previously, Apple TV had officially supported only Dolby Pro Logic simulated 5.1, though the full 5.1 Surround Sound digital discrete worked if a 5.1-capable receiver was connected via the optical cable to Apple TV and the audio content was encoded as lossless. QuickTime and Apple TV did not ship with an AC-3 codec, and iTunes Store content only supported 4.0 surround sound. News sites were reporting that some users had worked out how to add AC-3 (Dolby Digital) 5.1 channel support by hacking the unit.

Before the 2.3 update, the Apple remote could control sound volume and Front Row navigation via a Macintosh computer, but only volume via Apple TV.

Critics claimed that Apple TVs TV-based interface was “cluttered” and difficult to browse or search for a specific movie, requiring Netflix-like queues and “watched” flags or dates. Apple released movie wish lists, video playlists, and “watched” flags in Apple TV software versions 2.1 through 2.4.

Sales

First generation

Within the first week of presales in January 2007, Apple TV was the top selling item at the Apple Store. Orders exceeded 100,000 units by the end of January and Apple began ramping-up to sell over a million units before the 2007 holiday season. Analysts began calling it a “DVD killer” that could enable multiple services. Analysts also predicted that Apple could sell up to 1.5 million units in the first year. Besides the Apple Store, Best Buy was one of the first retailers to carry the device; Target and Costco followed shortly thereafter.

Two months into sales, Forrester Research predicted that Apple would only sell a million Apple TV units, because consumers prefer advertisement-supported content over paid content. Forrester predicted that cable companies would be the clear winners over content providers such as the iTunes Store. Shortly after, Apple released YouTube functionality and Jobs stated that Apple TV was a “DVD player for the Internet”. Market analysts immediately saw that YouTube on Apple TV “provides a glimpse of this product’s potential and its future evolution”, but overall, analysts had mixed reactions regarding the future of Apple TV. Some negative reactions followed after Jobs referred to the device as a “hobby”, implying it was less significant than the Macintosh, iPod, and iPhone.

In the fourth quarter of 2008, sales were triple that of the fourth quarter of 2007.

In Apple’s first-quarter 2009 financial results conference call, acting chief executive Tim Cook stated that Apple TV sales increased three times over the same quarter a year ago. Cook mentioned that the movie rental business was working well for Apple, Apple would continue investment in movie rentals and Apple TV, but Apple TV is still considered a hobby for the company. Due to the growth of digital TV and consumers turning to Internet media services, an analyst predicted sales of 6.6 million Apple TVs by the end of 2009.

Second generation

The second generation sold 250,000 units in the first two weeks it was available. On December 21, 2010, Apple announced that they had sold 1 million units. In the second fiscal quarter of 2011, it had topped 2 million in total sales, with 820,000 sold in that quarter alone.

Mac Mini comparison

Apple enthusiasts seeking an alternative to the Apple TV sometimes consider the Mac Mini hardware as a more powerful, albeit more costly, solution for an HTPC (Home Theater PC) option. As a full-featured computer, it lacks the out-of-the-box simplicity and ease of use of the Apple TV. Unlike the Apple TV and other iOS devices, the Mac mini must be authorized for FairPlay, reducing available authorizations for other computers. However, once configured for home theater applications, viewers can use the supplied remote control to activate and navigate the Front Row or other media management packages. Advantages include expandable storage, full 1080p video, support for multiple video and audio codecs, and access to third party media management software. The Mac Mini remote can also control volume for all applications including video and music.

The Mac Mini can stream content from services like YouTube, Hulu and Netflix, using either a browser or one of several full featured free HTPC applications like XBMC Media Center, Boxee, and Plex.

The Apple TV must be hacked to add software like XBMC Media Center or Boxee to partly compensate for the lack of browser-based functionality. Since this is not a stock set up, official software updates remove the hack and it could void the warranty.

Problem:

• Help, my iPad just displays Apple logo when plugged into wall and does not boot.
• My iPhone only displays apple logo and does not show in iTunes.
• My iDevice is frozen with the Apple logo

As you can see we have been asked this a few times in a few different ways. Here’s a checklist that has solved 90% of these problems.

1. For iPhones connected to a PC: reboot your PC without the iPhone/iPod/iTouch connected.
2. If you are using an in car charger, make sure you are using the cable that came with your latest iPhone purchase. Not all cables work the same.
3. If you are plugged into the wall make sure the cable for the iPad/iPhone/Itouch/iPod is the cable that came with the purchase. Again, old iPhone cables will not charge new iPads.