Apple TV

[maccaroneski]

I bought the new (ish) Apple TV the other day, and for $129, it's absolutely fantastic. For the uninitiated, it is basically an interface between your TV and home entertainment system to your PC and the internet (or at least some parts of it).

The original problem that needed solving was that my PC with all of my music on it was in one room, and my digital receiver with an excellent set of speakers was on the other side of the house. I wanted something that would stream music from one to the other.

I post this here because I have found an unintended benefit - this will be my new way of showcasing photos to anyone who cares to come around to my house and look at them. It ties beautifully into flickr, and in fact I have it set up to use my flickr stream as a screensaver (in addition to being able to simply browse). Seeing my shots in 50 inch plasma glory is great - even my partner says that this has given her a new appreciation of my photography.

Flickr contacts can be added if you wish to that streaming service. Now I have top quality music where I want to listen to it, and as a bonus, my flickr stream adding the visuals.

And I can control it all from my iphone, essentially anywhere in my house or yard (as my wifi network covers this area).

To boot it was extremely easy to set up- if you already have a wifi network at home, it would not need anything in the way of tech savvy to get it going.