New AppleTV Firmware Reveals Facetime and DVD Support



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As the AppleTV slips through mail slots across the country, enterprising hackers are already working hard to unlock the secrets of the firmware. They have already confirmed that the new AppleTV runs on iOS and have even spotted a secret reference to two new iPhone models. We now have two other little things to ponder.

The first is a reference in the AppleTV IPSW to the future possibility of Facetime support.

Theoretically, it would not be a big trick: the AppleTV runs on the same A4 processor as the Facetime-compatible iPhone 4 and the fourth-generation iPod Touch, after all. All that would be needed is an iSight for your HDTV. This may seem absurd, but keep in mind that several HDTV manufacturers are already partnering with companies like Skype to offer a video chat on TV and a VoIP solution. Apple has big plans for Facetime, and it seems logical that they end up releasing it from handset dependency as a video chat software platform … the only question is when.

The other interesting element is the reference to DVD media, especially in the .plist driver files for Sanyo, Sharp and Sony DVD players. These residual drivers of a previous prototype of AppleTV do they have the ability to extract DVDs? It seems hard to believe that this is the sign of the future: Apple will not strip the AppleTV of its basic components, but simply to reconstruct it with foreign material.

[More info at 9to5Mac]

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