Easiest Hack Ever: Rev Up Your Apple TV with Boxee

Like your Apple TV?  Want it to do even more? The stock Apple TV is tethered to its native DRM formats, but with Boxee installed, you can browse your networked non-DRM media, watch streaming content from sites like hulu.com and CNN.com, and more.

Boxee is a frontend for your Apple TV (or laptop or other networked device) that will browse your media collections on your home network, automagically update cover art, ratings, and reviews, and stream from a broad selection of popular websites.  They're technically in alpha right now but the software is very close to fully functional, so sign up for alpha access and you could be watching Comedy Central shows for free by nightfall.

Installation on a laptop is as simple as any application install, but to get Boxee on the Apple TV is a little more complicated.  Fortunately Gizmodo has an excellent tutorial on how to get it running with a USB stick, the ATV-USB Creator software, a Mac (sorry Windows owners), and about a half-hour's worth of time.  Essentially, you use the software to create a USB stick that boots your Apple TV long enough to install some code, then reboot your Apple TV and use the newly installed launcher to download the Boxee frontend.

Want to know more about Boxee?  Visit the website or watch an introductory video below.

quick intro to boxee from boxee on Vimeo.

--Aric A.