Got something to share with other Apple TV enthusiasts? Let me know.

One person can only do so much. It's getting harder and harder to dig for Apple TV=related news. I think it would be more useful if we pool together and help each other.

I'm looking to compile a database of Apple TV-related tips. If you have some tips you would like to share, don't keep it to yourself. please send them to me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Frustrated with the Apple Remote? I know, it is supposed to be easy to use and intuitive. But admit it, it is down right inadequate when you have to deal with that on screen keyboard.

An answer may be on the way in the form of a Wiimote-like remote, according to AppleInsider.  The site found a patent filing from Apple that indicates a research into a 3D remote control system.  According to the filing, the x and y positioning of the remote can be used in video games to position user's character.  The remote can also be used to zoom into and out of an image.

Though this may sound exciting.  Like all rumors, we just have to take it with a grain of salt.  Just wait and see.

It's been a long time coming but the feature you'd been requesting for is here.

Apple TV is now enabled to allow movie purchases. No longer do you have to buy movies via iTunes then sync to your Apple TV. You can now do this directly on your favorite device. As far as pricing goes, new releases will be available for $14.99 and older titles for $9.99. Sadly, you still can't buy HD titles. I'll say give it a few more months.

The news came on the same day as the announcement that new movies can now be purchased on iTunes the same day as the DVD release . So now there's absolutely no reason to go down to the video store to buy DVDs. Just turn on your Apple TV and your purchases are just a few clicks away. Can it get any better than this?

"Happy Belated Birthday, iTunes. You finally turned 5 just two days ago. I hope it's not too late to wish you a very happy birthday."

Launched on April 28th 2003, iTunes was a bold attempt by Apple to streamline music purchases and, more importantly, legalize online music. Way back when, the only way to obtain music legally was to purchase CDs. Ripping music off CDs was still not considered "koshered" by the big music labels. Though there were many attempts at legalizing online music (Rhapsody subscription service, mp3.com's Beam-it, etc.), none was accepted well by the record industry.

It would take an act of one man to successfully convince the music labels. Not only did he convince them that the untested model of a music online store would be a success, but he even pursuaded them to agree to an unheard of pricing scheme: $0.99 per song.

Fast forward to today. I don't have to tell you how successful the iTunes Store is. There are other online music stores out there (some might even be better) but NONE is as successful.

On a personal level, it has changed me in many ways. First of all, I no longer have to go down to places like Tower Records and the Wherehouse to browse at CDs. Secondly, I now have a lot of floor space recovered from the shelving space used to house 1000's of my CDs. Lastly, I now have a one-stop shop for purchasing video, music and TV shows.  Of course, my only gripe is that it locks me in to using Apple-made media players.

So what's your take? How has half of a decade of iTunes Store's existence changed you? Let me know!

MetaX, our favorite meta tagger for movies, is now even better with support for tagChimp . With this feature, you can now retrieve and also share tags with other users of tagChimp . You no longer have to think too hard to come up with meta tags for your movies, just leverage what others have already done.

Here are other new features for this release:

• Image cropping capability
• Improved preset system
• Chapter deleting
• Chapter splitting
• Improved chapter name editing
• Several new preferences
• Greatly improved stability

A reader named Zarkoff pointed out to me that with the latest Apple TV update, the Internet Radio is now working better than before. Well, I have good news and bad news regarding this.

Good news first. As I mentioned last time, Apple TV can play Internet Radio streams from playlists from a computer that it syncs with. However, iTunes on that computer has to be running at the same time otherwise, the stations would disappear from the Apple TV. With the latest update, the playlists would persist even if iTunes is not running or the computer is turned off. So that's the good news.

The bad news is that once you restart the Apple TV, the playlists containing the Internet Radio streams would disappear. I tried to get around this problem but nothing seemed to work. So for now, if you want to listen to Internet Radio streams, just sync and don't restart the Apple TV. Putting the Apple TV to sleep (holding down the "play" button) does not make the stations go away, however; so that's a little bit of good news.

So to recap on how to get Internet Radio working on your Apple TV, here are the steps:

1. From iTunes, save the Internet Radio streams (stations) in a playlist (or multiple playlists, that's up to you).
2. Make sure that Apple TV is configured to SYNC (not SHARE) with the computer with the Internet Radio playlists.
3. Sync.
4. Now, go to Music Menu->My Music->Playlists. You should see the playlist(s) with the Internet Radio streams.
5. At this point, you should be able to pick any stream and Apple TV should be able to play it.

As I mentioned, Apple TV should now be able to play the streams independent of whether the computer it synced with is on or not. However, if the Apple TV is restarted, you have to sync the stations all over again.

For this tip, I would like to thank Zarkoff for pointing it out to me. Also, if you have any useful tips about Apple TV, please let me know at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it I would like to compile a database of tips that we all can share.

Guess what? Three more movies have been added to the closed caption list . However, these are pretty old movies. These are Air America (1990) , The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) , and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994) .

As usual, the reviews and information on these are available here:

Air America

• IMDB
• Rotten Tomatoes
• Yahoo Movies

The Day the Earth Stood Still

• IMDB
• Rotten Tomatoes
• Yahoo Movies

Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult

• IMDB
• Rotten Tomatoes
• Yahoo Movies

Three new movies have been added to the closed-caption list. These are The Molly Maguires , Hardball and A Shot in the Dark . Reviews and information about these movies are available here:

Molly McGuires

• IMDB
• Rotten Tomatoes
• Yahoo! Movies
  

Hardball

• IMDB
• Rotten Tomatoes
• Yahoo! Movies

A Shot in the Dark 

• IMDB
• Rotten Tomatoes
• Yahoo! Movies

Two weeks after Apple release the 2.0.1 update for the Apple TV, the company has released yet another update. And just like the 2.0.1 update, nobody knows exactly what this update is for.

Some members of the MacRumors forums have reported that the user interface is much smoother now. Other than that, there are no obvious changes.

If you think you know why Apple released this update, please shed some light.

A little competition never hurts. However, if it is from the biggest name in movie rentals, it could spell trouble.

Though there is no official announcement yet, Reuter has reported that Blockbuster is currently working on a set-top box, much like the Apple TV, for delivering video content via the Internet. The device will leverage the recently-acquired Movielink service, which currently allows users to view movies on their PC's.

If the rumor is true, Blockbuster will be not only be going against Apple but also Netflix, whose is partering with LG to deliver rentals via the Internet. However, Netflix's solution will be integrating its technology with LG Blu-ray players rather than a stand-alone box.