I have been hit with flu so I haven't been able to update the site lately. Hopefully, I will be able to add some new posts tomorrow when I feel better.

Have you ever had a need to send audio from one computer to another or even to your home theater system? If you have and are still looking, you should look no further than Roge Amoeba's Airfoil.

Airfoil can send audio from applications like RealAudio, QuickTime Player, and Windows Media Player to AirTunes-equipped devices such as Airport Extress and Apple TV 2.0. You can stream audio from web-based applications like Pandora and Last.fm and even to audio devices like RadioSHARK, XM and Sirius radios.

Can't part with that $2.99 to rent movies from the iTunes Store? If you think that is too expensive, then how about 99¢? Got your attention yet?

Starting today and then every Thursday hereafter, Apple will make available one movie priced at an affordable price of 99¢. The special pricing will be in affect only until Monday. All the same 30-day/24-hour restrictions still apply to the "chosen" movie. The movie will be in standard defition for now. The movie will be available from both the computer-based iTunes Store and the iTunes Store on Apple TV.

Apple has chosen the movie "The Hours " to launch this new initiative. The movie, which follows the lives of three 1950-era women, stars Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore.

Now, you have run out of excuses not to rent movies from iTunes.

Everybody's favorite DVD ripper/converter, Handbrake, is back with a vengeance. The most significant feature for this release is the support for 5.1 AC3 surround sound for MP4 files, which is supported by the Apple TV. Now, you too can get full-surround sound from your ripped movies on your Apple TV. No need to spend money on HD rentals to get that feature.

Other notable features of Handbrake 0.9.2 include multi-track support for "iDevices" and anamorphic video support for iPhones. And, of course, bug fixes and faster and snappier version of x264 encoder are all included for FREE.

Mac users take note.  The new version only runs on Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). 

iLounge has published a two-part article that guides the readers to all they might want to know about renting movies from the iTunes Store. The guide is the most elaborate I have seen ;some might even say it's overkill. But you have to give it to the author, Jesse David Hollington, for covering just about every topic imagineable in regards to iTunes Movie Rentals. From buying vs. renting to rentals from the Apple TV to downloading movies to iPods/iPhones, it's got everything covered.

• The Complete Guide to iTunes Movie Rentals, Part 1
• The Complete Guide to iTunes Movie Rentals, Part 2

It took a few months. But fans of BBC shows don't have to wait any longer. You can now buy your favorite BBC shows from the iTunes Store. Granted the shows are only available from the UK Store.

Currently only 9 shows are available. These shows are Life On Mars , Little Britain , Spooks , The Catherine Tate Show , The Mighty Boosh , Torchwood , Ashes to Ashes , Robin Hood and Two Pints of Lager & a Packet of Crisps . Each episode is priced at £1.89 .

Hey, where are my Eastenders episodes???

Though Apple TV 2.0 upgrade is a big improvement over the previous version, many feel that Apple didn't address a lot of the issues that were present in 1.1. Others feel that version 2.0's text-based user interface is a big step backward.

Whether you like it or hate it, here's your chance to express your opinion on what you would like to see in the next version of the update.

OK, I'll go first. Here's my wish list for Apple TV 2.1 software:

Playlist for videos

It is about time , Apple. I've asked for this many times before. If there is just ONE feature I would like to see, it would be this one. It doesn't make sense to just have playlist support for music.

Or you can do it one better by making playlists support multiple types of media (music, movies, TV shows, etc.); you know, just like iTunes. And while you're at it, please make it loop.

Visualizer

This is a no brainer. I'm just tired of seeing the album art and album info flipping back and forth and back again every time I play my music. I can only take so much of that. And the screen saver with the photos floating upward, that just doesn't cut it. I don't want to see a bunch of flower pictures floating around when I play my metal music.

Even a basic visualizer that somehow responds to the music it is playing would be far better than what you have right now.

Internet Radio

OK, Apple. You're half way there. We could now sync playlists with Internet Radio streams embedded in them. But these are only visible when iTunes is loaded.

Instead, please give us the ability to pick and choose radio stations from the user interface. Just give us the same stations available on iTunes and we'll be happy.

Displaying movie titles without thumbnails

Those thumbnail pictures are nice but browsing through them is just slow. Also, I have little children at home. Some of the pictures are just downright scary for the little ones. This is one area where less is more.

Thumbnails for photos

It's all about control. Slideshow is good but it just too limited. I would like to be able to preview photos using thumbnails and only view the ones I like. I don't want to wait 5 minutes into the slideshow to see the photos I want.

Ability to purchase HD Movies

I have to admit that I watch most movies just once or twice. But there are just some that I would really like to keep, especially the ones available in HD. I don't want to fork out $300 to buy a Blu-ray player and then have a big rack full of Blu-ray discs. It would be nicer to just have everything on my hard drive. It's much more manageable.

That's it for me. OK, now it's your turn.

Not exactly the new User's Guide we were looking for. But at least Apple has made available a new setup guide with updated information for the Apple TV 2.0. It doesn't really go into much details about how to work with the user interface; just how to set it up. I mean, there are only 39 pages.

Looking forward to an updated version of the User's Guide soon.

The software has been out for only about a day and reviews are popping up like wild flowers. They are all pretty much the same. They either like or hate the new user interface. Still complaints about not having playlist support for videos.

So why am I not writing one? I know, the site whose purpose of existence is reporting about the Apple TV is not doing a review on the new software. Well, that is because there are so many already. And I'm sure you probably don't want me to repeat the same thing as what the others have already said.

I would rather concentrate on writing tips on how to get the most out of the Apple TV. So, in the mean time, just enjoy these reviews:

• AppleInsider - Apple TV Take 2: an in-depth review part 1 part 2
• DIGMO! - Apple TV 2 (new!)
  
• Engadget - Apple TV (take 2), take two
  
• ExtremeTech - Hands on with Apple TV 2.0 (new!)
  
• Gizmodo - Apple 2.0 Review
  
• iLounge - Apple TV 2.0 vs. Blu-ray, DVD and HD Cable
  
• iPod Tips - Apple TV Take Two- Quick Review (new!)
• Podcasting News - Apple TV Take 2 Review

[Update] I guess, it is just not meant to be. A reader named Zarkoff pointed out to me that the Internet Radio playlists would not be available if iTunes is no longer running on the computer that the Apple TV sync'd with.

You still have the option to use AirTunes to stream music from your computer to the Apple TV. You can find instructions on how to do this from this article .

I apologize for not researching this thoroughtly.

Now that the Apple TV 2.0 software is here, it's time to ditch your radio. I'm serious! This is because you can now stream Internet Radio right from the Apple TV. And with most live radio stations supporting Internet streaming, there is no need to fiddle around with your radio antenna anymore; just use your Apple TV. However, you still need a little help from your buddy iTunes 7.6 to accomplish this but it is still really easy to do.

You know you can listen to Intenet Radio from various Internet Radio stations via the iTunes' Radio "tab". There, you can find radio stations listed under multiple predefined genres like Alternative, Dance, Rock and Electronic.

But you don't have to rely on iTunes for a list of Internet Radio stations. A site called "US Live Radio " also maintains a comprehensive list of all live radio stations in the US that support Internet streaming. You can pick the stations by State or by musical genre. The only drawback is that iTunes only recognizes streams with either .pls or .m3u extension.

Apple TV itself does not have an Internet Radio menu so you can't actually choose a stream to listen to via its user interface. However, it does support Music Playlists. So what you have to do to get the Apple TV to play your Internet Radio streams is to save these streams inside a playlist. You can then sync this playlist to the Apple TV. To play the streams, just go over to the Music Menu->My Music->Playlists and pick the playlist in which the Internet Radio streams reside in.

Unfortunately, this feature only works via syncing. It does not work with playlists from a computer you stream from. Hopefully, in the next update, Apple will fix this. Or even better, just support Internet Radio from its user interface.