Ok, you know we have been digging the Apple TV since it came out as a somewhat fulfilled promise of future set-top boxes.

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(Right. What did he just say?)
Basically , you have a box, that, with wi-fi, connects to the internet and your computer(s) to stream all of your music, connect to iTunes (now you can rent/download HD movies), watch YouTube on your flatscreen, and……see all of your photos on your TV.
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And now you can build a slide show from the photos on your computer OR Flickr OR Mobileme, set a soundtrack and the next time folks gather at your place, set the tone with your version of an active art piece. Especially if you have a flat screen mounted on the wall.

Now this unit could do a bunch of this before. Except for the sound track. Critical piece.

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Slap a frame on that bad boy and sign the corner.

Or Maybe you just want a background piece that randomly cycles through your collection.
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As camera tout more and more HD quality images, take advantage and put them onto you big screen TV.
A slide show of your last vacation never looked so good. Maybe get a CD of music indigenous to the area you traveled to, and add it to the show. Doesn’t matter if went to India or Texas for the trip, you plus the flavor with some appropriate sounds.
So pick what works best for you.

There are 2 models available- 40GB for $230 and 160GB for $330. And if you want to get real trick: you can control the AppleTV with your iPhone. Free app.
And if you already have one, it’s a free software update to get all of the new stuff.
Thanks, Apple.
One thing to note though as you decide on the hard drive size: the photos are not streamed but have to sync, I.E. loaded onto the drive. Maybe the stream is too big?

We love watching YouTube vids on TV and use the randomizer for photos. Actually helps in the edit process for large personal projects. Sometimes when you live with images, you see the worth or the lack thereof, of a photograph.

Here is an amazing sharing tool that everyone can get something out of, in the house. Or Office.

Only thing we’d like to see is if it could read GPS info on a slide show and then link out to a google map or “more info” page.

Maybe next year.