In case you didn’t have enough fun hacking your boxes for 3.0 update, here it comes…another “revolutionary” update. Apple says it prevents content from temporarily disappearing. According to them, when you have to update to 3.0.1? “When you are using Apple TV software version 3.0 and all of your movies, TV shows, and songs appear to be missing” or “When you are using Apple TV software version 3.0 and all of your movies, TV shows, and songs appear to be present, but you have not yet updated to Apple TV software version 3.0.1.” Interesting… Wasn’t it easier with “Don’t think too much, update your box immediately!”…?

Official Apple instructions here.

- XBMC launched beta 3 of Launcher 3.2.
We can confirm now – it’s compatible with 3.0.1

- Boxee says it is already working in 3.0.1 (with Launcher 3.2 beta 3)
Also confirmed.

- nitoTV released 0.8.2 version with 3.0.1 support
(RSS, USB and watchdog patches updated for 3.0.1 as well)

- aTV Flash released 4.0.1 version with 3.0.1 compatibility.

- Patchstick 3.0.1 is also available (with Sapphire and RSS)
You need to use LaunchMore version 0.4 or 0.4.1 to apply this update.

nitoTV

Released yesterday, 0.8.1 version (direct download) now supports 3.0 update.

nito says some features may have no chance of making it back in. Couchsurfer and RSS are not working, but they have restored the functionality for DVD, MPlayer, QuickTime, Weather, Network, download, installer and Application Launching sections.

Audio volume and sub toggling and resume returns in QuickTime playback! It is possible to turn off the volume control in General settings if this is not a desirable feature.

Guys warn things may be a little buggy from the OS transition.

Follow nitoTV thread at Hackint0sh.org

XBMC

Launcher 3.2 beta 1 (beta 2 is already on the way!) works with 3.0. However the new version is not ready for public use, and only people who are comfortable with the command line should install it.

Installing:
1) “patchstick” the 3.0 ATV
2) ssh into it and download Launcher-3.2.beta2-debug.run
3) install Launcher chmod +x Launcher.. ; ./Launcher-3.2…
4) install XBMC with Launcher or just re-symlink your old install (ln -s /Users/frontrow/Applications/XBMC.app /Applications/XBMC.app)
5) run XBCM

XBMC forum thread

Boxee

Today XBMC guys made it possible to run Boxee on ATV 3.0.

That’s how to do it:
1) “patchstick” the 3.0 ATV (You should just use your old patchstick you used previously on the ATV )
2) ssh into it the ATV and download 3.2 Launcher
Type:
wget http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/858897/XBMC/Launcher-3.2.beta2-debug.run

3) Install the Launcher
Type:
chmod +x Launcher-3.2.beta2-debug.run

Type :
./Launcher-3.2.beta2-debug.run

Enter the appropriate password “frontrow“  and answer “Y” when it asks to restart the finder.

4) From your ATV Menu> Launcher > Downloads, install Boxee alpha 0.9.14.6992.

Note: Please do not select the Launcher 3.1

5) Launch Boxee  from ATV Menu >Launcher >Boxee .

[via Boxee Support forum]

Others working in 3.0

• Patchstick created with OS 2.1 (SSH enabled; accessing AppleTV with Cyberduck (sftp) works great)
• Patchstick created with OS 3.0
• QuickTime components
• Composite Colour
• AppleFileShare Server (AFP) (working using afpinstall.sh and ATV-Recover image)
• LaunchMore! 0.4 (with ATV firmware 3.0)
• atvPWN (Not all of the plugins that can be installed through the latest atvPwn are actually compatible with 3.0)

Not working:

• ATVFiles
• aTV Flash (they say an update should be available by the end of the week)
• Sapphire
• Software Menu

In case you needed to downgrade back to firmware version 2.4.

UPDATE:

aTV Flash 4.0 Released!
Highlights: 3.0 AppleTV compatibility, improved update process, VNC server + bug fixes.

UPDATE 2

Patchstick 3.0 Update 3.0 released.
ATV 3.0 support, MobileAir Mouse, Bit torrent incl. Web UI, Boxee, XBMC and more.

UPDATE 3

Sapphire Browser beta 7.6 now supports AppleTV 3.0

Patchstick.ca has released the first Twitter client for the Apple TV – aTVitter.

For the present, the application lets you access and display the three timelines: friends’ timeline,  your own timeline and the public timeline.

It’s also possible to display the detail view of a selected tweet.

In order to read your and your friends’ timeline, you need to login to your twitter account using the “Settings” menu. To logout, simply delete the current user name in the Setting menu.

aTVitter also provides full iPhone integration for the Twitter account maintenance.

aTVitter it’s free and can be installed via the free base version of PatchStick 3.0 as well as via the newest Update 2.4a

Patchstick’s team ensure they are working hard to release more features soon. Full Twitter account management would be nice and the layout improvement – more than welcome.

Contact patchstick.ca to post suggestions, opinions and ideas of any kind.

On his blog dannyruchtie.nl, Danny has published short but exhaustive tutorial on how to hack the Apple TV to run boxee, XBMC and enable an external hard drive.

In just four steps he explains how to create and install a patchstick, access Apple TV and enable external USB drives. He ensures the whole process is completely free.

Read the article here.