Apple TV 2G Hacked to Support Wiimote and Bluetooth Keyboard

Remember when jailbroken Apple TV 2G was hacked to run it's first app, a weather widget? Well, here's another developer and hacker by the alias Tom Cool has successfully hacked the 2nd Generation Apple TV to support the use of the Nintendo Wiimote.

Image via Flickr

This would allow WiiMote to communicate over Bluetooth to the Apple TV and bring us a pure Wii-style gaming on the Apple TV 2G. Check the video in action:

Also Mathias Ringwald in collaboration with the iPhone developer Optimo and the creator of Cydia, Saurik have successfully ported the bluetooth stack software BTstack from the iPhone to the Apple TV 2. Check this video of the bluetooth keyboard in action:

Cool, eh? What do you think? How about a hacked Apple TV to support video Airplay? [via TUAW, iClarified]

Plex Arrives to Jailbroken Apple TV

Some hackers could port Plex client successfully on the new iOS based Apple TV. So from now on, after installing Plex on your jailbroken Apple TV, you can technically play any Plex content on your Apple TV (i.e. you can stream media from Plex server to your jailbroken Apple TV 2G.). To be able to do so, you need a jailbroken Apple TV, so you can use our guide posted here to jailbreak Apple TV 2G using PwnageTool then follow the instructions below as written on the forums.

Known Issues
The Software so far is nothing more than a proof of concept, which isn't tested at all. However there are some known issues:
- "Local Servers" screen does only update when you press the up or down button on your remote
- Larger Sections timeout while they are loaded and do never show up
- Only Video playback is working (no music files, no images, no App-Management)
The following explains how you can install (and later on update) the plugin on your (Jailbroken) ATV. Use the software at your own risk and don't blame anyone except yourself if your ATV blows up in the process. Consider this the last warning!!!

Prepare the Media Server
Before you install the actual plugin you need to prepare the Plex Media Server (it needed some tweaks before it would talk to the ATV). Since those changes are considered ‘beta’, you need to tell your PMS to download beta plug-ins, by enetering the following URL in a Safari running on the same machine as the media server: http://localhost:324…s/set?AS_BETA=1
After that start Plex and check for updates in the PlexOnline section.

Enable a higher Quality (optional)
This part is optional, but if you feel like experimenting a lot, you might want to install a testing built of ffmpeg, that enables higher bitrates for the (currently) highest available quality (which is the only quality your ATV will use). This will also increase the image quality on other iOS devices, however you will need a potent Mac for the encoding! So If you still feel like installing use the following two commands in a Terminal on the Mac running your Media Server:

curl http://ambertation.de/downloads/PLEX/ffmpeg > ~/Downloads
/ffmpeg
cp ~/Downloads/ffmpeg ~/Library/Application\ Support/Plex/Plex
\ Media\ Server.app/Contents/Resources/

If you not use this, the plugin will still work, but the image-quality might not be on par with what you expect.

Install the Plugin
First off: you need to Jailbreak your Apple TV. I suggest you use the Pawnage method. For the sake of the following instruction I assume thet the IP-Address of your ATV is 169.10.11.12, and that you can log in using ssh.

- Start your ATV and log in to your ATV using ssh
ssh root@169.10.11.12

It will ask you for your password, which (if you did not change the default) is alpine. (I strongly suggest you change the password using the passwd command!!!)

- In that ssh session, you need to add new cydia sources using

echo "deb http://apt.awkwardtv.org ./" > /etc/apt
/sources.list.d/awkwardtv.list
echo "deb http://www.ambertation.de ./downloads
/PLEX/" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/plex.list

- Now update your cydia database using
apt-get update

- Install the plugins (and its dependencies like beigelist by DHowett) with
apt-get install plex-client-plugin

- Restart the GUI and hope that it comes back
killall Lowtide

- If the UI does not come up again, you probably have to restore your ATV!

Here's the video in action:

[via Redmondpie, 9to5mac]

Greenpois0n will Jailbreak Apple TV 2G ?

Just a quick little heads-up, chronic dev has just sent a tweet mentioning that the Apple TV might support the Greenpois0n jailbreak. As you’re probably aware that the Greenpois0n jailbreak will be released by October 10, but this release will be only for iOS 4th generation devices (iPhone 4 and iPod touch 4G) and iPad, so the hackers are focusing on this one, so don't expect to see the Apple TV 2G jailbreak in the next Sunday.

greenpois0n supports: The iPad, the iPhone 4, and the iPod touch 4. Probably the AppleTV as well.

For now there is no ETA (estimate to arrival) for Apple TV 2G jailbreak, as it still have some issues, but you have to know that dev-team has been succeeded in using the SHAtter exploit with PwnagTool to jailbreak the Apple TV 2G. We expect to see significant progress after we will get the Sunday Jailbreak.

You may also like:

• Greenpois0n is Untethered Jailbreak [Confirmed]
• Future Comex Jailbreak will Jailbreak iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 3G on iOS 4.1
• GreenPois0n Will Jailbreak iPhone 4, iPod touch 4G and iPad ONLY

Put Apple TV into DFU Mode [How to Guide]

DFU mode (Device Firmware Update) is a special mode where the device can still interface with iTunes. In DFU mode the screen will be totally black. StealthBravo has sent a tweet showing how to put the Apple TV in DFU mode. You will be in dire need of this guide when the jailbreak tool is released, especially the new jailbreak would be throw a custom firmware, as the SHAtter exploit loaded on the PwnageTool to jailbreak the Apple TV 2G.

Requirements:

• microUSB cable.

Apple TV's Micro-USB port

Steps to put Apple TV into DFU mode:

Step 1: Plugin your Apple TV to computer with microUSB.

Step 2: Hold menu + down button together for 6 secs to reboot.

Step 3: Once your Apple TV reboots immediately hold menu + play together until a message appears in iTunes telling you an Apple TV in recovery mode has been detected. [via Twitter]

You may also like:

• Put your iPhone into DFU Mode [How to Guide]
• Why Apple Should Stop Its War Against Jailbreak?
• Apple Bumper May Damage Your iPhone 4.

SHAtter and Jailbreak AppleTV 2G Done Successfully with PwnageTool [Video] [Update 1x]

Few moments ago, MuscleNerd of iPhone Dev-Team has sent a picture throw his twitter confirming that Apple TV 2G has successfully been SHAttered and jailbroken on iOS 4.1, as you know the SHAtter exploit has been discovered by Pod2g, also the same exploit already is being used in upcoming iPhone 4 , iPad and iPod touch 4G jailbreak (a.k.a Greenpois0n) on iOS 4.1.

AppleTV 2G SHAttered and jailbroken http://is.gd/fDAbc (not quite sure how to run apps yet!)

It makes sense that I conclude that the new jailbreak tool will see the light within little few days. We have to remind you again that if you are interested in the Apple TV jailbreak, so it's better to buy it early before Apple patches the discovered exploits.

Update 1: iPhone Dev-Team has just updated the SHAtter exploit post in their official blog, with a new video showing that SHAtter successfully tricked Apple’s new AppleTV 2G into restoring to a pre-jailbroken IPSW from PwnageTool too!

It’s confirmed…SHAtter can trick Apple’s new AppleTV 2G into restoring to a pre-jailbroken IPSW from PwnageTool too! Literally the only UI application on the ATV is Lowtide.app, but now the window is open for jailbroken apps of all varieties. (Just like the early iPhone days, the only apps you’ll see on the AppleTV will be jailbroken ones). In the meantime, here’s a video showing root access (via ssh) into Apple’s new product.

We will of course let you know once they are ready for prime time use. Stay tuned for that! [via Dev-Team]

You may also like:

• An Interview With the Vincent About GreenPois0n Jailbreak [EXCLUSIVE]
• Here's What's New in iOS 4.2 Beta 2 For iPad [Full Coverage]
• Jailbreak iPod Touch 4G with SHAtter Exploit [Video]