Filed under: Odds and ends, Apple TV
Four things you might not have expected to find on Apple TV
Apple TV is proving to be a hacker's delight, a kind of subMini with a complete (if variant) OS X operating system, wireless networking, and many other useful features. It also has a lot of legacy associated with it. Here are a few things you can find on Apple TV that you might not have expected:
- Internet Explorer favorites. Dating back to 2003, you can find a list of Apple-related sites in /Users/frontrow/Library/Preferences/Explorer
- Perl. Apple TV ships with a full 5.8.6 Perl installation for your scripting pleasure.
- Screen capture. You'll find the utility screencapture in /usr/sbin. It works perfectly, allowing you to snap pictures from your Apple TV and store them in the frontrow account. e.g. /usr/sbin/screencapture -tjpeg ~/applelogo.jpg
- Sounds. All your standard sounds (Basso, Frog, Pop, Sosumi, etc) are located in /System/Library/Sounds. If you so hack your system, you can play them in VLC or QuickTime Player and they sound exactly the way you expect. However you have to bring over a copy of System Preferences if you want to assign them to your non-existent Apple TV alerts.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
HK said 4:05PM on 3-29-2007
Hi Erica,, could you please e-mail me? Would like to get in touch.
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Aruna Kulatunga said 4:43AM on 3-30-2007
How soon can we expect to see ATV mod'ed to interface with car navigation system / portable DVD screen /GPS and running as the central mobile AV control system, complete with steering wheel pedals /buttons for itunes control. Connected to a bunch of tiny security sensors and cameras, the centre could also help to track the vehicle in case of theft or for large logistic operations. There is enough firepower in ATV and the price is right for an embeddable mod.
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