File this under the "if you didn't tell me, I wouldn't have known" category. But did you know that the 2.1 update fixes a number of security holes on the Apple TV? Well, I'll be! Security holes on the Apple TV? I write about Apple TV all the time and use it every day and had no idea that security holes existed.

Thanks to ITWire , Stephen Withers has pointed out that Apple TV is not that safe from cyber attacks after all. Mr. Withers indicated that the new software fixes about half a dozen of these vulnerabilities. Most common holes are related to buffer overflow problems leading to "crashes and arbitary code execution".

Why should you care about an "appliance" being attacked? Well, in reality, the Apple TV is actually a full-fletched computer running a modified version of OS X. Once your "appliance" is attacked, your whole network is going to be vulnerable to other attacks.

There are still other security holes that 2.1 doesn't fix. However, it is better to have less holes than more. So if you haven't installed the software update yet, maybe now is a good time.

The release of the iPhone Remote application yesterday and the launch of iPhone 3G today, in my opinion, will definitely boost the lackluster sales of Apple TV. Judging from how well iPhone users have been raving about the new Remote app, I have no doubt that this will also spur new iPhone 3G owners' interest to try out the Apple TV. I'm sure this was deliberately planned by the marketing geniuses at Apple. But no matter. It's about time Apple TV gets some well-deserved attention.

The integration between Apple TV and iPhone has a great potential. Though the Remote app is still in its infancy and only works one-way to control the Apple TV (or iTunes), other predictable features will most likely be added on. These are some of the features I can think of off the top of my head:

• two-way control. How about being able to play the media on the iPhone from the Apple TV too? This is great for parties. Let's say your friends have a bunch of cools songs on his iPhone. Instead of docking it on some iPhone dock with crummy speakers, he can just play his music from his iPhone directly on your state-of-the-art home theater.
• video support. Why can't we watch our movies from the Apple TV on our iPhone too? It is not hard really. EyeTV3 software is already doing this on the Mac. It can definitely be done. Now, whether the Apple TV has enough power to support video streaming or not remains to be seen.
• screen sharing. As you well know, you only have so much room to work with on that iPhone screen. How about being able to see the iPhone screen on the Apple TV instead? This way, anything you can do on the iPhone can now be seen on the big screen. Web browsing. Checked. Email. Checked. Calendar. Checked. Anything else?

Believe me I have a pretty wild imagination and my actual wishlist is actually much longer than this. But I just didn't want to bore you with it. At least, you know where I'm going with this.

So as you can see, I am very excited about the release of the Remote app and how it will transform the living room experience when working in conjunction with the Apple TV. I have to say, I didn't spend a lot of time updating the site because there was nothing much to write about. However, if this is any indication, there will be more goodies coming out for the Apple TV very soon either from Apple or 3rd parties. And I can't wait to be writing about them and updating the site several times a day.

What's your take?

[Update] Adam Smith just informed me that Internet radio is now an offcially supported feature. This works by adding Radio streams to a playlist in iTunes and then either sync it to the Apple TV or share it via the "Shared Library".  When an Internet radio stream is highlighted, a picture of a radio tower shows up in place of the album art.

Are you just as excited a little girl on a sugar high? OK, maybe that's just me. But have you checked your Apple TV lately? There is a new software update waiting to be downloaded. If you haven't downloaded it already, do it now.

The new firmware offers many enhancements to the Apple TV:

• iPhone or iPod Touch as a remote. That's right, you can now use your beloved phone/mp3 player to control your Apple TV via WiFi. There is a new free application for the iPhone/iPod Touch to allow you to do just that. You can download the new application to iTunes using this link then download it to your iPhone/iPod Touch. iLounge has more information on this here . Whether you can add multiple remotes to one Apple TV or not remains to be seen. I need some volunteers to test this out, please!
• MobileMe Gallery support. Bye, bye .Mac, Hello, MobileMe. The .Mac service has been replaced by the new MobileMe service. Like before, you can view the photos in your MobileMe gallery. Yes, like the .Mac gallery; just a fancier name.
• Photo Thumbnails. Finally, after nagging Apple for this feature for over a year, my wish has come true. Instead of just viewing slide shows, you can now browse through your photos using thumbnails. The feature works with "My Photos" and also online photo albums for both flickr and MobileMe Gallery. However, the thumbnails are not available for "Shared Photos".

You also need to download the latest version of iTunes (version 7.7), to take full advantage of these new features.

Let me know how it goes. I only had about an hour to go through some of the features. If there are any more, I would like to hear from you. Just send email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Apple TV updates are few and far between but at least we can be certain what is going to be included in the next update: .Mac replacement - MobileMe.

As you may have heard along with the big iPhone 3G announcement on Monday, .Mac replacement is soon going to be replaced by a new service called MobileMe . This is basically a complete overhaul of the .Mac service with push email, push contact and all the other mobile goodness. Along with the changes, .Mac Web Gallery will now be called MobileMe Gallery.

From watching the introduction video and from what I gathered from the site, it seems like the new service is going to be just like the old one. I have to say, I was hoping for more.

So here's is my little wish list for the MobileMe-related features on the Apple TV:

• Calendar Viewing - this will really be great for a busy family. Each family member can just enter his/her own schedule on the calendar and let the rest of the famil know what they are up to. Just turn on the TV and you know that little Johnny has a soccer practice at 8:00 AM and Janet is going to a concert next weekend.
• Email Viewing- this is not asking much. If you already have the account information, why can't we view our email messages too? It would be so much more convenient. I don't even need the ability to write email message, just view. In fact, I don't even want to write my email on the Apple TV. Imagine using that on-screen keyboard with the Apple remote, it is not going to be pretty. So, yeah, just viewing email messages will be grand.
• Contact Viewing - sometimes, I just don't feel like turning on my computer or scramble around to find my iPhone to make calls. It would be nice if I can view my contacts on my big screen.

As many of you know, one of the popular features of this site is the frequently-updated list of all the closed-captioned movies on iTunes located at http://cc.appletvsource.com . However, I have just recently found out that iTunes already has a way to do this.

To search for closed-captioned movies on iTunes, select "Search..." under the Store menu. Once you are on the search screen, select "Movies" from the drop down menu on the left. Lastly, check the checkbox that says "Search movies that are available with Closed Captioning". Then, just click the "Search" button. You should see all the movies available with closed captioning in the search result.

Got something to share with other Apple TV enthusiasts? Let me know.

One person can only do so much. It's getting harder and harder to dig for Apple TV=related news. I think it would be more useful if we pool together and help each other.

I'm looking to compile a database of Apple TV-related tips. If you have some tips you would like to share, don't keep it to yourself. please send them to me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Frustrated with the Apple Remote? I know, it is supposed to be easy to use and intuitive. But admit it, it is down right inadequate when you have to deal with that on screen keyboard.

An answer may be on the way in the form of a Wiimote-like remote, according to AppleInsider.  The site found a patent filing from Apple that indicates a research into a 3D remote control system.  According to the filing, the x and y positioning of the remote can be used in video games to position user's character.  The remote can also be used to zoom into and out of an image.

Though this may sound exciting.  Like all rumors, we just have to take it with a grain of salt.  Just wait and see.

It's been a long time coming but the feature you'd been requesting for is here.

Apple TV is now enabled to allow movie purchases. No longer do you have to buy movies via iTunes then sync to your Apple TV. You can now do this directly on your favorite device. As far as pricing goes, new releases will be available for $14.99 and older titles for $9.99. Sadly, you still can't buy HD titles. I'll say give it a few more months.

The news came on the same day as the announcement that new movies can now be purchased on iTunes the same day as the DVD release . So now there's absolutely no reason to go down to the video store to buy DVDs. Just turn on your Apple TV and your purchases are just a few clicks away. Can it get any better than this?

"Happy Belated Birthday, iTunes. You finally turned 5 just two days ago. I hope it's not too late to wish you a very happy birthday."

Launched on April 28th 2003, iTunes was a bold attempt by Apple to streamline music purchases and, more importantly, legalize online music. Way back when, the only way to obtain music legally was to purchase CDs. Ripping music off CDs was still not considered "koshered" by the big music labels. Though there were many attempts at legalizing online music (Rhapsody subscription service, mp3.com's Beam-it, etc.), none was accepted well by the record industry.

It would take an act of one man to successfully convince the music labels. Not only did he convince them that the untested model of a music online store would be a success, but he even pursuaded them to agree to an unheard of pricing scheme: $0.99 per song.

Fast forward to today. I don't have to tell you how successful the iTunes Store is. There are other online music stores out there (some might even be better) but NONE is as successful.

On a personal level, it has changed me in many ways. First of all, I no longer have to go down to places like Tower Records and the Wherehouse to browse at CDs. Secondly, I now have a lot of floor space recovered from the shelving space used to house 1000's of my CDs. Lastly, I now have a one-stop shop for purchasing video, music and TV shows.  Of course, my only gripe is that it locks me in to using Apple-made media players.

So what's your take? How has half of a decade of iTunes Store's existence changed you? Let me know!

MetaX, our favorite meta tagger for movies, is now even better with support for tagChimp . With this feature, you can now retrieve and also share tags with other users of tagChimp . You no longer have to think too hard to come up with meta tags for your movies, just leverage what others have already done.

Here are other new features for this release:

• Image cropping capability
• Improved preset system
• Chapter deleting
• Chapter splitting
• Improved chapter name editing
• Several new preferences
• Greatly improved stability