ericIII, from the awesome AwkwardTV gang has constructed the first useful plugin (known as a ‘frapplication’) for the Apple TV.

It allows you to play video content stored on the AppleTV, but not inside the iTunes media file structure. This is a great first step towards integrating additional software features right into the Apple TV:

A couple plugins we would like to see are:

- A quit menu. We would like to be able access the other features that are being enabled for the Apple TV (alternative media players, 3rd party applications etc.) whilst keeping quick and easy access to the standard Apple TV GUI.

- A games menu. This would be a nice addition for people with kids, simple games that can be played using the remote.

- An RSS reader. Quickly and easily read news from your favourite websites on your TV, whilst eating cereal.

- A Record menu! This one would be a biggie, built right into the Apple TV, the option to record programs using a schedule.

What would you like from a plugin built right into the Apple TV?

Update: You can now download it here.

Joost, an iTunes competitor can now be run on an Apple TV. Joostteam and ars technica both have articles.

Joost, though still in beta, is the brainchild of the same people behind the Kazaa and Skype. It will offer Cable TV shows straight to your computer, via the internet by way of (legal) peer to peer filesharing. Obviously, this could be a brilliant function to have on your Apple TV!

A thread has been posted over at the somethingawful.com forums over by a couple of people claiming to have installed the Perian Quicktime tool, and Dropbear SSH server on an Apple TV.

We, however, remain skeptical for now; they provide one fuzzy image and a ‘promise’ it is real, as well as the claim that they guessed the password.

PCmag.com has posted and extensive review of the Apple TV. The awarded Apple’s latest toy 4 / 5 stars, and even took it head to head with an XBox 360.

Their main gripe isn’t with the hardware, but with the cost of content from iTunes:

I think Apple TV is a fantastic product—but I won’t be buying one until I can watch movies with it for less than the price of going to see one in the theaters.

It’s worth pointing out that there are alternatives to buying your Apple TV content on iTunes; and as time progresses we imagine there will be more and more sources for Apple TV content. We hope to keep track of these sources via our content category.