That Apple TV you just got, you can restore it in iTunes

That Apple TV you just got, you can restore it in iTunesThings just keep getting weirder by the minute. The new Apple TV can be connected to iTunes via a mini USB cable, and then restored to the factory settings. We don’t even know what that means for the device. How bizarre.

So, jailbreakers are probably rejoicing right this second because they’ll be able to restore their devices once the Apple TV gets an official jailbreak, whenever that may be.

There’s way too many arrows pointing towards apps on the Apple TV for us to not comment on it, so here we go. iTunes support and 8GB of storage, in addition to AirPlay make the Apple TV pretty lucrative, and it’s already primed for apps. While we currently are not able to put media onto the device in any way, it certainly wouldn’t take much work for Apple to include application support. There was a rumour a while back that suggested that over the air syncing was coming to the iPhone and iPad, so if we were to add Apple TV to that discussion it could be the game changer we all thought the Apple TV was going to be.

Apps remain a software update away, or a jailbreak, whichever comes first.

Article and Image via Cult of Mac

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About Joshua Schnell

Man, Myth, and Legend, Joshua is the Editor-In-Chief, and founder of Macgasm. He produces two podcasts, Macgasm TV, and The AppOrchard, and can be heard on CBC Radio once every couple of years.

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Jeffrey Mann

I'm so excited to jailbreak this thing, and see what it can do. It will be much easier since even if you have to restore it, it's not like you have to sync anything back to it afterwards.

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whitefish

Joshua -
good question! :) I guess I love it - the potential is certainly huge. And disruptive to the media establishment - oh yes.

You know that feeling when you think you know a market or technology well and suddenly a panel slides down somewhere and you basically see a whole new landscape of possibilities and massive change to old structures? That's how I feel when I look at the eco-system Apple is now building with the touch/ipad/AppleTV.

The tech world often concentrates on individual hardware parts of the Apple empire but Airplay + apps ties things together into a new system we really haven't experienced before.
In a sense, iTunes was a legacy way to try and achieve that, but the potential here goes far beyond. If Apple plays its cards right (and they often do, despite our cynicism) we haven't seen anything yet.

- w

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whitefish

Prediction: AirPlay / Apps will make the new AppleTV easily one of the most disruptive technologies to date. Think about it - a mere ipod touch could virtually become the equivalent of an infinitely customizable cable system including VOD, live video, games and much more. And when your little princess opens her Xmas gifts, use your it to instantly flash the HD video onto your plasma. Tv's = dumb screens iPod = very, very smart media distributor/organizer/masher/broadcaster (afterwards, slip it into you pocket to listen to music while you jog...)

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Joshua Schnell

That's a good thing right? I can't tell if you hate the idea, or love it. ;)

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