Unlock Apple TV with a Thumb Drive Hack

Play Any Multimedia File with Boxee, Thumb Drive Hack for Apple TV

Boxee Thumb Drive Hack by Scott DavillaAre you an Apple TV lover that has been disappointed by the functionality of the system in not letting you play all those multimedia files you have collected over the years. There are quite a few people out there that have had complaints about Apple’s stringent restrictions on what media files users can playback on their Apple TV.

Well not to worry. With the advent of Boxee, users can now playback almost any video file on their computer with no media restrictions.

Boxee is a software patch coded by Scott Davilla that can be loaded onto an Apple TV via USB stick. Once users have patched their system they will see a Boxee menu appear on Apple TV which will give them an update option that will install Boxee on their Apple TV unit.

The software needs to be loaded via a “bootable” USB thumb drive in order to work properly but if your USB drive is not bootable by default there are many applications out there that can format the drive and make it bootable.

Right now Boxee is invitation only through Scott Davilla’s site but users that have received invites to download the software can also send invites to others. The software is currently only available for Mac, but Scott plans to release a Windows and Linux version in the following week.

The AppleTV is great for playing video from iTunes, but can’t play video from alternative sources like file-sharing networks. Now, a software update from Apple Core, called aTV Flash promises to unlock tons of great functionality for the Apple TV.

aTV Flash is essentially a bundling of open source hacks for AppleTV originally published at awkwardtv.org into a convenient flash based package that promises to take the guesswork out of applying the updates. aTV ships as a flash drive, that automatically updates your AppleTV as soon as it’s plugged in. The package claims a plug-n-play installation with 1 year of free updates.

Lost in the shadow of Apple’s big MacOS X announcement today was some less-noted but perhaps far more intriguing news from the iPhoneDevTeam.

The iOS hacker group has released a jailbreaking procedure for iOS 4.1 devices. Aside from allowing iPhone/iPodTouch users to unlock their devices, the unlock will for the first time offer jailbreaking for the latest version of Apple TV.

The DevTeam notes that there’s not much that can be done with an unlocked Apple TV so far, and the lack of an on-board hard drive may limit some of the applications, but given the things that have been done with iOS devices in the past, there should be some interesting software available for Apple TV in the near future.

As always, the jailbreak tool comes with warnings. The procedure is not for novice users and once you have jailbroken your device, you should make sure not to install any updates from Apple, as they have a tendency to cause issues with jailbroken devices.

I was finally able to get my patchstick working last night using the instructions on the AwakwardTV Wiki. It’s actually a lot easier than it looks, your basically making 2 partitions, loading them up with all of the correct files (that you patched yourself or found somewhere else), then changing the partition table at the end to a string that the Apple TV will boot with.

I created 2 bash scripts that convert the partition table back and fourth from ATV mode and standard mode so I can get in and edit the root partition files on my mac mini.

Now that I have the correct files needed to boot on an apple tv, I can take a fresh apple tv from the store, and in a few minutes have it loaded up with every codec, plugin and screensaver available. Just pop in the USB stick, press Menu and – to reboot the ATV, and it will reboot and run teh code on the memory stick. The scripts on the stick copy over all relevant files and make any necessary changes to your Apple TV OS, then you simply reboot and enjoy all of your new plugins/screensavers/codecs.

There is still much more work to be done for the code to be moved over to 100% open source code so that a disk like this can be distributed to the masses legally, but I would imagine that sometime in the near future there will be a nice and easy drag and drop utility that includes all of the files you need to make a usb patchstick.

This opens the floodgates to a lot of people. Once these USB keys exist and more apps such as ATV Loader are released, the Apple TV Scene is going to explode. Now any idiot with $299 and a usb stick can become an ‘Apple TV Hacker’.

I am looking forward to all of the new content I will be able to watch on my bigscreen.
Have fun and keep it open source!

These are instructions on how to jailbreak your AppleTV using a patchstick created by atv-win on Windows.

Before getting started you need will need a USB Stick which can be fully erased.

Step One
Create a folder called Patchstick on your desktop, download atv-win from here, and place it into the folder.

Double click to open the atv-win-3.0.zip archive and drag the atv-win executable into the Patchstick folder.

Double click atv-win-3.0.exe to launch the application.

Step Two
Select the newest firmware version from the Firmware Version dropdown and select SSH from the checkboxes below. Click the Create Patchstick button to continue.

Step Three
Atv-win will now ask you for a location to save a .img file. Navigate to the Patchstick folder on your desktop, input a filename of atv-patchstick.img and click the Save button.

Step Four
Atv-win will download the latest AppleTV firmware build the .img file.

Step Five
A popup will appear informing you that your patchstick img has been created successfully. Click the OK button.

Step Six
When asked if you would like to run USB Image Tool now click the Yes button.

Step Seven
Select your USB stick from the list of devices on the left and then click the large Restore button.

Step Eight
Navigate to the Patchstick folder on your desktop and choose the atv-patchstick.img file we created earlier.

Step Nine
When asked to confirm the restore click the Yes button. Note: You will lose all previous information on the USB stick.

Step Ten
USB Image Tool will now create your patchstick using the img file we generated earlier.

Step Eleven
Once the restore is complete eject the USB Stick and connect it to your AppleTV.

Step Twelve
Hold down the Menu and – buttons on the AppleTV remote until it reboots.

Step Thirteen
Notice the Patchstick will now do its job and install SSH on the AppleTV.

Step Fourteen
When complete, remove the USB Stick from the AppleTV and unplug the device. Plug it back in to reboot.

Step Fifteen
You can now access your AppleTV via SSH to perform a host of functions and hacks. You can find many interesting tutorials for your AppleTV here. The default username and password for your AppleTV is now frontrow and frontrow.

Mac only (for now): The ATV USB Loader, a free tool to boot third-party software on an Apple TV unit, has updated to include the slick media center Boxee amongst the booting options. We liked Boxee’s new looks and social flair when it was available for Macs (and, later, Linux), and the Apple TV implementation looks just as crisp. By loading Boxee, Apple TV users get access to nearly any kind of unrestricted video or audio files, can send recommendations to friends and stream Last.fm tunes, and do nearly anything else in the (currently invitation-required) Boxee. Of course, ATV also maintains support for Xbox Media Center. If you’ve grabbed Boxee and tried it out on Apple TV, share your likes and wants in the comments.

These are instructions on how to create an SSH install patchstick using ATV USB Creator and use it to jailbreak your Apple TV.

Before getting started you need a USB Stick that has been formatted to a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) partition that uses a GUID Partition Table. You can find instructions on doing this here.

Step One
Download ATV USB Creator from here and place it on your desktop.

Step Two
Double click to extract the atvusb-creator-1.0.b10.zip archive on your Desktop. A folder called atvusb-creator1.0.b10 will created. NOTE: Make sure there are no spaces in the folder name!

Step Three
Connect a USB Stick to your computer.

Step Four
From the atvusb-creator 1.0.b10 folder, double click the atvusb-creator icon

Step Five
You will be informed that the application was downloaded from the Internet. Click the Open button.

Step Six
From the Choose an Installation dropdown select ATV-Patchstick.

Step Seven
From the Installation Options dropdown select ssh tools

Step Eight
Make sure the correct USB stick is selected for use.

Step Nine
Press the Create Using –> button.

Step Ten
ATV USB Creator will now download the AppleTV Update DMG. If you prefer to select this file yourself you could click the Choose a DMG button.

Step Eleven
The program will inform you when your patchstick has been completed successfully.

Step Twelve
Notice that your USB Stick has been renamed and now contains files…

Step Thirteen
Eject the USB Stick and connect it to your AppleTV.

Step Fourteen
Hold down the Menu and – buttons on the AppleTV remote until it reboots.

Step Fifteen
Notice the Patchstick will now do its job and install SSH on the AppleTV.

Step Sixteen
When complete, remove the USB Stick from the AppleTV and unplug the device. Plug it back in to reboot.

Step Eighteen
You can now access your AppleTV via SSH to perform a host of functions and hacks. You can find many interesting tutorials for your AppleTV here

Troubleshooting
Some users have reported issues with certain USB Sticks. If you have any problems try a different one.

aTV Flash is a user-friendly software package that supercharges your AppleTV, unleashing a plethora of new functionality. Don’t worry about the technical details – aTV Flash is simple to use and safe for your AppleTV. Installation is a snap and doesn’t require any physical changes to the AppleTV. Learn more about the great features included with aTV Flash below.

Go Beyond iTunes
Enable your AppleTV to play more video formats such as AVI, MP4, WMV & many more.

Surf the Web
Visit your favorite sites, check email, and update Twitter all on your TV.  Your couch is your new workspace.

Enjoy DVDs the Simple Way
Store all your DVDs on a single device for easy viewing.  Includes support for menus, special features and full 5.1 surround sound.

Create Video Playlists
Keep tabs on your newly accessible media with custom playlists, which can be looped or shuffled as you please.

Get Organized
Automatically download cover art and other metadata for your media files.

Discover New Music
Find new artists you’ll love by accessing Last.fm radio stations, artist bios and slideshows.

About to enter its third year of existence, the Apple TV () remains one of Apple’s most hotly debated products. This compact, unassuming living room media player is a great companion to the iTunes Store. Yet its tight integration with Apple’s software (and the fact that Apple views it mostly as another way to sell content) means that the Apple TV is shut off from many formats and from the streaming, on-demand type of content available via Boxee or Hulu.

There are a number of modifications that promise to improve Apple TV by adding services and features, but few are as thorough as Fire Core’s $50 aTV Flash 4. Boasting support for a browser, Boxee, USB hard drives, many file formats, EyeTV content, RSS feeds, FTP/SSH access, and additional plug-ins and apps, aTV Flash is a digital Swiss-Army knife for the Apple TV.

One of the most refreshing things about aTV Flash is its extremely simple setup. There are free ways to add many of the same features to your Apple TV, such as the open-source atvusb-creator, but most require tinkering with install files and Terminal (atvusb-creator, for example, doesn’t currently for Mac users and Apple TV OS 3 without a lot a additional work on your part). They are generally more tedious and/or clunky than difficult, but if you’re looking for an Apple-y “just works” solution to spice up your Apple TV, aTV Flash is it. After purchasing from Fire Core’s site, you download a file, plug a USB flash drive into your Mac (or Windows PC), double-click the installer, then sit back and enjoy the modern age of automation.

aTV Flash’s additional menu items.
Installing on the Apple TV is just about as simple: Unplug the power cable, plug the flash drive into the Apple TV’s otherwise useless USB port, plug power back in, and wait a few minutes as the aTV Flash installer works its magic. A drawback in this process, however, is that many of the most appealing features are not enabled by default. Granted, this is because the aTV Flash software downloads the most recent version of features like Boxee or Flip4Mac (for Windows Media support) when you want to turn them on, but it’s still a slight hassle nonetheless. Another unfortunate-though-necessary minor drawback: aTV Flash, by default, disables the Apple TV’s built-in ability to check for new updates from Apple, so you’ll have to wait on official new features. This way, the modifications aTV Flash provides to the Apple TV OS don’t get blown away by an Apple update before Fire Core issues an update of its own.

aTV Flash adds features to your Apple TV by adding them to the new horizontal menu system introduced in Apple TV software 3.0 (which aTV Flash 4 requires; it supports 3.0.1, the current software version). New menus like Media (for content you add manually outside of iTunes), Browser, XBMC/Boxee, and Maintenance appear in-line with the Apple TV’s standard media sections, making the additions feel right at home.

I was most interested in Boxee, the prospects of using my Apple TV to browse the Web on my HDTV, and USB hard drive support for iTunes syncing. In short: they’re great. After turning on USB drive support, plugging in my external drive, and rebooting the Apple TV, iTunes on my Mac Pro reported that my 1TB Apple TV was ready to gobble up our entire 650GB library. I decided to hook up the Apple TV via ethernet so the initial sync went faster, and once it was done, WiFi syncing of any new media or changes continued without hiccup.

The Web browser, which Fire Core calls Couch Surfer Pro, basically just exposes Apple TV’s built-in-but-hidden Safari, so it works fairly well. Sites loaded quickly and accurately, and you can adjust the text size to suite your needs. A big aTV Flash 4.0 advantage here is full support for Apple’s Remote iPhone app (), including the text entry and flicking features.

Managing plug-ins in aTV Flash.
You can use Remote on your iPhone or iPod touch to quickly enter URLs (instead of using the Apple TV’s inelegant on-screen keyboard) or even control the mouse pointer for clicking on links or selecting text boxes. One minor drawback to Couch Surfer Pro, though, is that basic browser functions like moving back a page or accessing bookmarks are not buttons in a toolbar at the top of the screen; you have to press Menu to back out of the page to see these options in a list. Speaking of bookmarks: while you unfortunately cannot sync bookmarks from a desktop browser, you can manually add your bookmarks by using aTV Flash’s FTP features to replace the bookmarks.plist file on the Apple TV with one from Safari on your Mac.

As far as Boxee goes, we’ve talked about this rich new streaming media center plenty already. It can stream a ton of media from Hulu, Last.fm, Flickr, YouTube, CNN, MySpace TV, PicasaWeb—the list goes on. Boxee installed through aTV Flash is Boxee by any other name, and it works splendidly. Almost. The one problem I found is that you can’t use an iPhone for text input in Boxee, so you’re still stuck with creeping around an on-screen keyboard for signing into your Boxee account or searching for media.

The last couple of features I tested were FTP and support for DVD files backed up using apps such as RipIt (). I used RipIt to back up my copy of Traffic then, after using Fire Core’s simple FTP setup guide, I uploaded the movie to my Apple TV and used the Files option to play it. The film launched as if I had somehow stuffed a DVD into my Apple TV, displaying the menu system. An aTV Flash plug-in called Sapphire can take manual media organization like this one step further, as it hooks into various Internet resources such as IMDB to download metadata and album art to be displayed throughout the Apple TV interface.

One strange problem I found with FTPing files onto my Apple TV is that OS X 10.6.2 couldn’t copy files over. I had to whip out Panic’s Transmit FTP app to get the job done. According to Fire Core, the Apple TV may restrict the Finder to read-only access, but hopes to overcome the restriction in a future aTV Flash update. You can copy files off, but you’ll need a dedicated FTP app to copy files to an Apple TV.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with aTV Flash. Boxee is a fantastic addition to our living room, but I’m the most happy about finally being able to sync all of our media to our Apple TV, thanks to the external USB drive support. It just doesn’t seem right to have to constantly run the Mac Pro in my office—a Quad Core 2.66 GHz Xeon beast with four hard drives and a big ATI video card for gaming—just to watch an episode of The Venture Bros. because the Apple TV’s needlessly small hard drive couldn’t squeeze it in.
Macworld’s buying advice

Although there are free alternatives for installing some of aTV Flash’s features—if you’re willing to get your hands dirty with open source software and installer files—aTV Flash definitely turns the Apple TV into a powerful, streaming multimedia center for your living room. Or, to put it another way, the type of product Apple should have made itself. If the price tag isn’t too prohibitive, aTV Flash’s extremely easy setup and plethora of features make it worth the money for any media buff who needs a lot more out of an Apple TV. However, an updated version of atvusb-creator may be available soon to provide some of the features offered by aTV Flash without the additional effort currently required.

Like many first generation Apple TV owners, I was sad to see that we were being left behind with the advent of the new Apple TV. That said, I have no plans to get rid of my original Apple TV. In fact, Apple’s decision spurred me to take action I have been thinking about for a long time: installing aTV Flash.

aTV Flash is a set of programs that add features to your Apple TV. It adds SSH/FTP access, allows you to use an external hard drive for additional storage, adds Boxee support, and much more. One of the big additions is the ability to watch AVI, MP4, MOV, WMV, and DVD (VIDEO_TS) files. You can even install Firefox and use the AppleTV as a web browser.

I’ve actually owned the aTV Flash software for over a year but had never gotten around to using it, because after each Apple TV update I’d have to wait for the software to be updated again. aTV Flash updates come out fairly regularly, but it was just the hassle of the process that made me averse to doing it. Now that Apple has declared the product to be essentially End Of Life, I figured there was no better time to start.

Installing aTV Flash couldn’t be any simpler. You simply download the installer (available for Mac or Windows), and it installs the aTV Flash software onto a USB flash drive. Unplug your Apple TV, plug in the aTV Flash formatted flash drive, reboot the Apple TV, and wait for it to finish. The whole process took only a few minutes. After being updated, the Apple TV interface looks mostly the same, except there are some new menu options to choose from.

The aTV Flash software sells for $50 and includes a year of updates. They are planning to keep developing additional features for the first generation Apple TV units, including Last.fm support. When I first looked into this about a year ago, there were apparently ways to do much of what aTV Flash offers by yourself if you had the time and inclination to find the instructions on a variety of websites. Personally I found it well worth it to pay for an easy way, but if you are looking to save some money, you might take a look via Google to see what’s available; it may have gotten easier since I last checked.

FireCore has launched aTV Flash 4.2, updating the Apple TV hack with support for Last.fm’s music streaming service. aTV Flash is primarily devoted to enabling formats such AVI, MKV, WMV and VIDEO_TS, normally incompatible with Apple’s firmware. It also adds a WebKit-based web browser, and permits expanded storage using an external USB hard drive.

The Last.fm support comes in the form of a dedicated app, with scrobbling compatibility, and artwork and bios for artists. The update also improves weather forecast presentations, as well as Sapphire and NitoTV support. Various performance enhancements and bugfixes have been made, for instance targeting the download/update process.

aTV Flash 4.2 requires a USB flash drive and an Apple TV with v3.0 firmware. Mac owners must be running Mac OS X 10.4, while Windows users must have at least Windows XP. The software is $50.

Apple TV Hacks and Extended Functionality

Immediately after Apple TV’s launch, users began hacking, or altering, its hardware and software to give the device new capabilities. Whether you’re looking simply to stretch Apple TV’s features a little or give it the ability to play content in new formats, there’s a plethora of ways to tweak this product to your liking. A major caveat here: Although Apple can’t stop you from hacking your Apple TV, doing so may void your warranty. You should also note that updates from Apple remove any hacked features you may install, but you can usually re-hack your Apple TV without difficulty.

Initial hacks targeted the first Apple TVs’ 40GB hard drives, which wouldn’t let you store many iTunes movies (around 1.5GB each) or TV shows (about 500MB each), without replacing them with more spacious drives. This procedure wasn’t terribly complicated for advanced users but the physical changes did alter the product’s aesthetics. This was only the opening act for Apple TV hackers, spawning sites such as AppleTV Hacks, where visitors trade tips for modifying their products.

Software hacks are easier for average users to perform and don’t require you to poke around sensitive components with a screwdriver. A so-called patchstick process lets you download free software from the Internet to a USB flash drive, plug the drive into your Apple TV and then restart the Apple TV so that it boots using the software on the USB drive. Depending on the patchstick version you choose, your Apple TV will have upgraded features, including new codecs that play .AVI, .WMV and other popular video formats, or new networking capabilities.

Some hacks let you access a broad array of online content using XBMC and Boxee. The XBMC and Boxee modifications are popular because they let you play content in formats that Apple TV’s original software won’t, such as .AVI and .WMV video clips. You need to register for an account to use Boxee’s popular combination of social interaction and multimedia content power. Once you do, you can use the software’s interface that lets you share opinions on content with other visitors, stream Netflix videos, and more.

The downside to these hacks, from the standpoints of Apple and producers of copyrighted material, is that users can play just about any content they want, including pirated videos and audio. This is a blow not only to Apple’s carefully constructed Apple TV business model, but it also steals profits from the makers of the material who are behind the purpose of owning an entertainment system to begin with.

To learn more about Apple TV and its capabilities, take a look at the links on the next page.

If you’re just getting started and trying to learn how to hack your Apple TV, then checking out the Beginners Guides section is probably the best place to start. This will help the novice get started with hacking the Apple TV, explaining steps in detail. Now in four flavours, we have:

* A Guide for the Second Generation AppleTV. This is for those who want to jailbreak the new AppleTV that Apple released in September 2010.

* A Guide for 3.x. This is for those who want to run the “new” menu system that Apple released in October 2009.

* A Guide for 2.x aka Take 2. This is for those who want to run the menu system that Apple released in February 2008.

* A Guide for 1.x. This is for those who want to run the “old” menu system prior to Take 2 which was released February 2008.

* HackMeNot or The Alternative To Hacking. Tried hacking and messed it up? Just can’t get stuff to work? Or think that it’s just too complicated. You can get more from your Apple TV than you think with a few free apps and the correct settings in iTunes.

* Automation Mac Only. How to use Applescript to watch a folder for new videos of any type, convert these files to Apple TV format, add them to iTunes, process them and name them neatly.

Apple has only one hobby that we know about and they call it the Apple TV ($229). What about you? Do you have any hobbies? Do you collect obscure stamps, rare coins, or funny pictures of your wiener dog?

Why not make Apple’s hobby your own. With a little bit of patience, and a lot of can-do attitude, you can take the Apple TV to the next level with a little help from some hackers.

If you are interested in hacking your Apple TV, then try one of the following options: avtusb-creator (free) or ATV Flash ($49.95). Both methods are great and as you check our list of reasons to hack the Apple TV, you can decide which one is right for you.

Note: After installing any third-party apps or hacks to your hacked Apple TV you should restart the Finder. To do this navigate to Software Menu>Restart Finder. This will save you a ton of frustration.

Lawyer-type note: While we’ve hacked our Apple TV on numerous occasions and have had no problems restoring it to factory freshness, there is always the risk of bricking your machine when you fiddle around with it. Especially if you decide to open it up and replace the hard drive.

“Why would I want to do this?” you say. We’ll give you the reasons in this list we’ve created:

20 Reasons Cool Reasons to Hack Your Apple TV

1. SSH (aTV Flash & atvusb-creator)

Hacking your Apple TV will allow you to enable SSH and once that is done, the things you can do to your Apple TV are practically endless. You can add and remove software, access the file system, etc.

First you need your Apple TV’s IP address. Navigate to on your Apple TV to Settings>General>Network there you’ll find your IP address. Make note of it.

Fire up the Terminal app located in the Utilities Folder. In the command prompt type in,

ssh frontrow@(IP Address)

When prompted for the password type: frontrow

There ya go, now your ready for SSH goodness with your Apple TV.

2. BOXEE (aTV Flash & atvusb-creator)

Enable Boxee and enjoy it’s 10-foot user interface and social networking features designed for the TV in your family room. Considered to be a Social Media Center, Boxee, will let you view, rate, and recommend content to your friends through social networks. Hack your Apple TV and get your own “Boxee Box” today!

3. XBMC (aTV Flash & atvusb-creator)

If you don’t like Boxee then consider enabling XBMC Media Center with its own 10-foot user interface designed for the TV in your family room. It allows you to easily maintain your collection of videos, photos, podcasts, and music from any computer, CD/DVD, local area network, and the Internet. Originally designed for the XBox this app now runs on your Apple TV.

4. Rearrange the Menu with Frap (atvusb-creator)

Tired of the way Apple arranged the Apple TV menu? You can change it. Plus, if you add more apps to the Apple TV, you’ll want to make sure your new apps show up in the menu. Anything with a -X will be off screen and unusable.

Navigate to the Software Menu>Frap Mover. From there you can move Frappliances (the name for apps) around with a weighting system. The higher the number the further right on the screen the Frap will be.

5. IMDB with Sapphire (aTV Flash & atvusb-creator)

Play and organize your own media using the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) using Sapphire. To install Sapphire, navigate to the Software Menu>Third Party. Scroll down to Trusted and you’ll see Sapphire. Click on Sapphire to install.

Once installed, locate Sapphire>Settings. If Sapphire is not showing up on your main screen, check your Frap order settings. Once you click Settings, click Populate File Data this will add information to all of your files video files on your Apple TV. Be patient, this could take a while.

6. nitoTV (aTV Flash & atvusb-creator)

It’s a media player, it lets you install an emulator, it lets you streams content. nitoTV allows you to install all that and more. You can even use it to install a plugin so that you can use a Composite cable with your Apple TV. nitoTV is similar to the Launcher app that comes preinstalled with the atvusb-creator. You can install the same way you install Sapphire. With atvusb-creator you may have to go into the Frap Mover to arrange it to appear on your main menu.

7. Turn on FTP Access (aTV Flash = easy & atvusb-creator = medium)

SSH is fine, but dragging and dropping files with the Finder is easier. To turn on FTP access you’re going to have to fire up the Terminal. For atvusb-creator, awkwardTV has all the code you’re going to need to enable FTP access. Once you’ve done that, you can sign in to your Apple TV with:

FTP: apple.tv.(ip address)

User: frontrow

PW: frontrow

8. Game Emulators (atvusb-creator)

Before you start scouring the Internet for ROMs, you need to remember that you should only use ROMs for games you already own. Don’t be a thief.

Okay, we got that out of the way. After installing nitoTV you can install emulators for NES, SNES, Genesis, Sega Master System, and GameBoy Advanced by navigating to nitoTV>Settings>Install Software>Install Emulators. When you do that it will install all of the emulators mentioned. It’s an all or nothing deal.

After the install navigate to nitoTV>Application and there you’ll see all the emulation apps.

9. Browse the Internet  – CouchSurfer Lite (atvusb-creator) =medium / CouchSurfer Pro (aTV Flash) = included

You might as well start browsing the web while you’re sitting on the couch. Instead of having everyone crowd around your MacBook, iPad, iPhone to read the latest article on MacLife.com, you can just load the site up on your gigantic HD TV and enjoy your personal space again. Also it’s harder to spilled your drink on your device when it’s 10-feet away. It’s not impossible, just difficult.

If you hacked your Apple TV with atvusb-creator you’ll need to install CouchSurfer Lite via SSH and FTP. Instructions on downloading and installing Couch Surfer are on awkwardTV. If you used aTV Flash, CouchSurfer Pro is already ready to go.

10. Bit Torrent with Transmission (atvusb-creator)

We know, we know, bit torrent is used primarily to download copyrighted material. But, you can find media on there that is actually supposed to be distributed via bit torrent. The bottom line, don’t steal. Now that we have that out of the way, you can install and run the Transmission bit torrent client on your Apple TV. Like CouchSurfer Lite, Transmission installation requires a bit more than a few steps. Once again, awkwardTV to the rescue.