Most will agree that one of the best things about the iPhone, iPad and other iOS devices are the wealth of apps to suit just about any need the user may have.
The Apple TV has been around a long time now, and while the first version didn’t sell well, the new and smaller Apple TV is reasonably popular with tech hounds.
One of the things that many owners of the Logitech Revue set-top box running Android wanted badly on the console was access to the Android Market.
A recent update to the Revue brought that market access to the Revue for the first time. With the Revue getting access to apps, I would bet there are some jealous Apple TV owners out there that want access to the App Store on Apple set-top boxes.
If you are one of those folks that wants App Store access, a new hack surfaced over the weekend on a video put up by a developer known as “TheMudkip.” Dubbed MobileX, the hack is for the Apple TV and allows access the set-top devices to run full-screen iPad apps. The developer calls MobileX a window manager for iOS that replaces springboard and lets the iPhone and iPad apps run on the TV.
The bad news? The hack is currently in the early stages of development and is not yet available to the public. Also, one thing that may stop some users from trying the hack once it does come to the public area is that the Apple TV needs to be jailbroken using Seas0nPass. The rub is that you will likely lose any warranty on the box once jailbroken.
The hack offers an integrated menu to allow the control of the app since TVs at home lack the touch interface needed to operate the native menus.
AppleInsider reports that the hack uses Virtual Network Computing, SSH, and the Apple Remote to allow control of the apps on screen. You can check out the video above to see the hack in action – which shows Apple TV running Safari, maps, and YouTube. Of course, most people will probably be more interested in games like Angry Birds on their Apple TV.
