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Apple TV jailbreak busts your box from behind bars

A US hacker has gone Shawshank on the Apple TV, jailbreaking the £100 palm-sized media streamer.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
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Richard Trenholm

The new Apple TV has busted out of jail like Steve McQueen. The jailbroken Apple TV was revealed by iPhone hacker Joshua Hill, tweeting as P0sixninja.

'Jailbreaking' is the name given to cracking Apple's restrictions on its mobile devices, including the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. By default, the fruit-flavoured gadgets only allow you to install Apple-approved apps from the iTunes Store. Jailbreaking allows you to download non-approved apps from outlaw app stores such as Cydia.

Apple TV has recently been revamped into a teeny-tiny 10cm square box. We love the hardware, although the range of services in the UK -- and their pricing -- look pretty poor next to what's on offer in the US. Our Yank cousins get services such as Netflix, while we don't yet even have TV shows. We do get YouTube, and photo galleries from MobileMe and Flickr.

A jailbreak could expand the repertoire of stuff to watch; Hill told a fellow tweeter he is planning to try the free, ad-supported, video on demand service Hulu, which also isn't available in the UK.

Be warned, though: Apple doesn't like jailbreaking, not one bit. Busting out of Apple jail will void your warranty and may cause your device serious problems the next time the software is updated.

Apple TV is available now and costs £99.

Image credit: Joshua Hill