The hacker community is already hard at work at figuring out how to do more with the second generation Apple TV than it is capable of out of the box, and the entertainment appliance’s mini USB port may be just what they need. The USB port can be used to restore the Apple TV’s default software, which also means it can potentially be used to install jailbreak hacks and additional applications.
The new Apple TV, which is just beginning to make it into user’s hands, runs iOS like the iPhone and iPad, and its internal components looks to be very similar to the iPad as well.
A jailbreak for the new Apple TV may not be too far off since hackers have already figured out how to decrypt the device’s firmware. Once they have a working system in place, users should be able to hack their Apple TV and install third-party apps just like jailbreakers already do on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.
There aren’t any publicly available jailbreak hacks for the second genration Apple TV available yet, so it’s still unclear how current iOS apps might perform on the device.
[Thanks to The Apple Press for the heads up.]