If you’ve been holding off on the Apple TV 2 4.4.4 update for an untethered jailbreak, you can now update the device without worry. A new version of Seas0npass has been released to to untether the Apple TV’s unique iOS 4.4.4 build, the tool remains extremely easy to use and supports most of the 3rd party plugins, including last.fm, XBMC, RSS feeds, and more.

Download Seas0nPass Untethered Jailbreak for Apple TV 4.4.4

• Download now (Mac OS X)
• Download now (Windows)

As you may have guessed, the latest version of Seasonpass uses the same untether from the newest redsn0w iOS 5.0.1 jailbreaks.

Despite many similarities, Apple continues to not label the Apple TV 2 build as iOS 5 for the device, and continues to release builds as version 4. Apple TV OS v 4.4 brought a variety of new features to the device, but most notable are AirPlay mirroring (fun with the iPhone) and the addition of several live video feeds and trailers, along with bug fixes.

Using Seas0nPass to Jailbreak Apple TV 4.4.4 Untethered

Before proceeding, update the Apple TV 2 to the latest 4.4.4 build, update iTunes, and download the appropriate Seas0npass version from above. You’ll also need the aluminum Apple TV remote and a microUSB cable to connect the Apple TV to the computer to perform the jailbreak.

• Launch Seas0npass and click the “Create IPSW” button
• Allow the custom IPSW to build and then connect the Apple TV to the computer via the USB cable, leaving the power cable disconnected
• Wait for the front light on the Apple TV to flash rapidly, then point the AppleTV remote at the device, following the onscreen instructions to place the ATV into DFU mode (hold both the MENU and PLAY/PAUSE buttons for 7 seconds)
• iTunes will now launch and begin restoring the Apple TV 2 to the custom jailbroken IPSW, the restore will be confirmed and the ATV2 is now jailbroken
• Verify the Apple TV 2 is jailbroken by looking for the red “FC” logo in the lower right corner of the screen, shown in the screenshot below

Enjoy the newly jailbroken Apple TV 2, it’s untethered meaning you don’t have to connect it to a computer to boot or do anything funky. If you run into any troubles, check out the support pages of Firecore, the makers of the Seas0npass app.

Apple has rolled out two minor iOS updates, the first is for the second generation Apple TV and the second for the iPhone 4S. For Apple TV 2, the new build (9A406a) updates system software to 4.4.4, but it’s unclear exactly what the changes are, indicating this is likely a bug fix update. For iPhone 4S, it’s simply a new build (9A406) of iOS 5.0.1, and also doesn’t appear to offer any significant changes.

You can get the updates directly through either devices software update, although the iPhone 4S update doesn’t appear unless you haven’t updated to 5.0.1 yet anyway, indicating it’s not a crucial update for all users. If you prefer to use IPSW manually, these are the direct download links from Apple:

• Apple TV 2 4.4.4 9A406a IPSW (direct download link)
• iPhone 4S iOS 5.0.1 9A406 (direct download link)

There is some speculation that the iPhone 4S update may relate to international releases of the device, which is occurring tomorrow in a variety of new countries, including Russia, Brazil, Chile, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, Philippines, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel, and Vietnam.

The recently released iOS 5.1 beta 1 has already uncovered a few hints about potential upcoming products from Apple. First, the Sprint iPad 2 reference, then an iPhone 5 reference, and now a codename reference to an unreleased Apple TV unit dubbed “J33″ has been found.

Other than the reference to the devices codename there is no additional information on the unreleased Apple TV device. It’s possible the device will simply be a revamped existing Apple TV model that includes an A5 CPU and the ability to export 1080p video, which 9to5mac suggests could be the case, and there is also a vague possibility it could be the rumored “real” Apple television.

Currently, the Apple TV is a set-top box that costs $99, allowing users to stream iTunes and video content directly to their TV. After the passing of the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, there have been numerous rumors regarding a real Apple television set, said to debut sometime in 2012 or 2013. Dubbed “iTV”, the television is said to run iOS and feature Siri as the TV’s remote control, with heavy reliance on iCloud services.

Apple TV 2 has been updated to iOS 4.3 build 8F455, and the update includes several notable features: iCloud support for purchased TV shows, Vimeo support, and YouTube playlists. The update appears to only work in the US only for now, but other countries may be coming soon.

The beginning of iCloud support is the big story here, as DaringFireball is reporting that the new build supports the same cloud integration for TV shows that iOS 4.3.3 includes for books and music on the iPhone and iPad, making it possible to re-download any purchased TV shows from iTunes. These downloads are accessible through the ‘Purchased’ tab in the iTunes Store. DaringFireball calls it a cloud-based storage locker for TV shows, and suggest that movies are coming next.

Download iOS 4.3.3 IPSW for Apple TV 2

You can grab the Apple TV2 update through iTunes or directly from Apple below:

• AppleTV2,1_4.3_8F455_Restore.ipsw

This brings the Apple TV 2 closer to the remaining iOS product line, which is at iOS 4.3.5. A unification of the releases will likely come with iOS 4.4 or possibly even with iOS 5 in the fall. It remains to be seen if iTunes & iClouds automatic download feature will extend to movies and the Apple TV.

So you already setup your Apple TV2 to run XBMC, and now you’re bored with it. Why not turn the ATV2 into a webserver like the guys at MacMiniVault did? Yes this link opens a web page served from an Apple TV2. You can do this yourself with your own Apple TV without too much work, just a bit of patience.

Before getting started, you’ll need to jailbreak the Apple TV2 with Seas0nPass, Seas0nPass is the easiest jailbreak utility around, but you could use PwnageTool or Redsn0w if that floats your boat. After you’ve done this, here’s a rundown of what you’ll need to do:

• SSH into the newly jailbroken Apple TV2 from the Terminal, the default root password is ‘alpine’ and you’ll need to know the AppleTV2′s IP address or you can try using the hostname apple-tv.local:

ssh root@apple-tv.local

• Change the root password from alpine to something else by typing ‘passwd’
• Install Lighttpd onto the Apple TV2 by using apt-get:

apt-get install lighttpd

• Use your favorite SFTP app (CyberDuck is free) to upload a lighttpd config file to /etc/lighttpd.conf – here’s a sample lighttpd.conf to work from
• Now launch lighttpd server with (you may need to run this as /usr/sbin/lighttpd-angel):

lighttpd-angel -f /etc/lighttpd.conf

Your Apple TV2 web server should now be up and running, this can be verified by pulling up the ATV’s IP address in a web browser.

If you want the webserver to automatically start when the Apple TV boots or reboots, you’ll need to add a launch agent plist to /Library/LaunchDaemons/, plist files are different than bash scripts in that you have to spell out each individual flag and argument as a string. In this case, the command to execute lighttpd-angel would translate to plist keys looking something like this:

This walkthrough isn’t perfect yet, it’s an elaborated version from the super simplified instructions on MacMiniVault who setup this live Apple TV webserver just to see how well it will handle the traffic load.

Seas0nPass is probably the best Apple TV 2 jailbreak and it has been updated to work with iOS 4.3. The latest iOS is well worth installing on ATV2, it brings AirPlay support, has MLB.TV and NBA live streaming, and includes Netflix surround sound. Sounds good huh? The only downside is Seas0nPass is currently a tethered jailbreak (learn about tethered vs untethered jailbreaks), but if you tend to leave your ATV2 running all the time you won’t need to do this often.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• iOS 4.3: you can download iOS 4.3 directly for Apple TV or update through iTunes
• iTunes 10.2.1 (required for iOS 4.3)
• Micro-USB cable: this is a tethered jailbreak, which means you will need to use the micro-USB cable on each reboot
• Seas0nPass: you can download the latest version here (direct link – Mac OS X only)

Now that you have everything ready, let’s get started:
Read more »

If you’re not a fan of the AppleTV remote, or you just don’t want yet another remote control laying around your coffee table, you can sync a standard TV remote with an Apple TV. This should work with virtually any TV remote, cable remote, DVD/Blu-ray remotes, and universal remotes.

How to Sync a TV Remote with an Apple TV

This works the same on Apple TV 2 and Apple TV1:

• Turn on the Apple TV and have your remotes ready (including the Apple TV remote)
• Using the original Apple TV remote, select “Settings”
• Select “General”
• Select “Remotes”
• Choose “Learn Remote”
• Set your TV remote setting to something it currently doesn’t control that can be programmed, like a VCR (remember those?) or the auxiliary option
• Still using the original Apple TV remote, select “Start”
• You’ll see a series of buttons on screen that represent the up, down, back, forward, select, menu options, etc, you will sync these to your new remote
• Start the syncing process by pressing and holding the buttons on the TV remote you want to correspond with the Apple TV buttons, you will know it’s working by looking at the blue progress bar at the bottom of the screen
• Complete the syncing for each button

After the initial control buttons are synced you will be able to use the TV remote to control your Apple TV, you’ll also be able to set additional buttons for things like chapter selection, skipping, and fast forward and fast rewind.

Advanced: Get the most out of your Apple TV
If you really want to maximize your media experience, sync your remote and then try installing XBMC on the Apple TV 2, XBMC is great software and it really excels on the ATV platform. While pairing the remote doesn’t require a jailbreak, using XBMC on the ATV2 does, this might seem to make the setup intimidating but Seas0nPass makes jailbreaking the Apple TV extremely simple.

Apple TV Envy: What about the Mac?
Don’t have an Apple TV but still want a sweet media center? No problem, your Mac will do just fine. You can setup any Mac as a media center, we simplified that guide so it’s very easy and a lot of fun. If you want a more advanced setup or a dedicated computer for this purpose, check out how to setup a Mac Mini media center and remote torrents box instead, it’s focused on a Mini but it will work on any other Mac too.

DFU stands for Device Firmware Update, and Apple TV 2 has DFU mode like the iPhone does. This allows you to tweak and install firmware and is necessary for some of the hacks available to the device.

How to enter DFU mode on the Apple TV 2

Getting into DFU mode on the ATV2 is slightly different than other iOS hardware and requires the ATV2 remote control and a connection to your computer.

• Launch iTunes
• Connect the Apple TV 2 to your computer
• Using the Apple TV aluminum remote, hold down both the Menu and Down buttons for about 6 seconds until the device reboots
• After reboot, release both of the buttons, and then immediately press and hold the Menu and Play button together
• Continue holding until you see a message in iTunes saying an Apple TV in recovery mode has been detected

You will now be in DFU mode, where you can restore and update firmware.

Want some more Apple TV2 fun? Learn how to jailbreak and install XBMC on the Apple TV 2. If you just want to jailbreak without XBMC, check out Seas0nPass, it is very user friendly and one of the easiest jailbreak tools out there.

The excellent media center software XBMC has finally come to Apple TV 2, but beyond being a great media center, if you’re wondering why else you should care I’ll sum it up in one word: 1080p. Yes, using XBMC, you can unleash 1080p video playback on the $99 Apple TV2… the playback suffers from occasional choppiness on uncompressed bluray video, but hey it’s the first release, and could make the ATV2 the cheapest 1080p video playback device on the market.

You’ll need the following to get started:

• Apple TV 2 (Amazon link) running iOS 4.1, iOS 4.2.1, or later
• Seas0npass to jailbreak the Apple TV 2 (Instructions to jailbreak are below)
• A micro-USB cable (this is used for the jailbreak and tethered boot)
• The IP address of your AppleTV

We’ll now walk through the process of both jailbreaking the AppleTV2 and installing XBMC:
Read more »

Seas0nPass is a new jailbreak tool built exclusively for the AppleTV running iOS 4.1.1 (ie: iOS 4.2.1 for AppleTV). The app makes it very easy to jailbreak the AppleTV by creating custom IPSW in a similar fashion to PwnageTool, and Seas0nPass also gives a one-click tethered boot option (read: Tethered vs Untethered Jailbreak). Note that you will need a micro USB cable to perform the Apple TV jailbreak and a tethered boot.

Download Seas0nPass

Seas0nPass is currently only available for Mac OS X but a Windows version is under development.

• Download now (Mac OS X only – direct link)

If you’re familiar with the jailbreak world, using Seas0nPass on the AppleTV will come very easy to you, but even if you’re not the app has easy to follow instructions and a simple interface.

If you are using the app to jailbreak a fresh Apple TV, you do not need to download iOS 4.2.1 IPSW for Apple TV, the Seas0nPass app does this on it’s own to create the custom firmware.