Web Browsing and Music Apps on the New Apple TV

Jailbreakers and iOS developers have been working hard on the new Apple TV since it was released a few months ago and progress is being made. Shortly after it was released, it was confirmed that the second generation Apple TV runs on iOS and was jailbroken shortly after it was released.

The problem is there are not many apps designed for the new Apple TV but that should be changing soon.

A company called Firecore has demonstrated the Couch Surfer browser and Last.fm streaming on the new Apple TV using their upcoming aTV Flash installer.

Here is a update on their progress;

Installer – 95% Complete
The new installer communicates directly with the AppleTV (no wires or USB drives required) and allows aTV Flash (black) to be installed onto the AppleTV in just minutes. Once installed additional apps (and updates) can be installed from the newly added ‘Maintenance’ item (as shown in the Couch Surfer video demo below).

Couch Surfer – 65% Complete
Couch Surfer is coming along exceptionally well. Most of the major hurdles have been overcome, basic browsing is working and we’re striving to enable support for more advanced web plugins. A video demo of Couch Surfer running on the 2nd gen AppleTV can be seen below.

Last.fm – 85% Complete
Streaming Last.fm radio isn’t far away – we’ve updated most of the critical components for the new AppleTV and also added a new slideshow layout. A video demo of Last.fm in action can be seen below.

Additional Video Codecs & NAS Streaming – 15% Complete
Not surprisingly this has turned out to be no trivial task – because of this we’ve teamed up with a few outside developers to move things along a bit more quickly. We’ll have more info as things progress but unfortunately this probably won’t make it into the initial beta version. The end goal however remains the same – robust support for non-itunes media (including DVD files).

Here is a video demonstrating the Installer and web browser.

Also, available on a jailbroken Apple TV is Groovy. Groovy is a music steaming service that allows users to stream music free of charge and their service is now available on a jailbroken Apple TV. Groovy has some instructions for installing the app on their website.

These apps look promising and I expect many more are coming.

Here is a demonstration of Groovy on the second generation Apple TV.

Originally posted 2010-11-18 05:42:48.