Recently in Home Entertainment Category

Remember the original Slip 'n Slide, a yellow & blue piece of plastic, that when wet becomes very slippery, enabling you to dive head first onto the plastic so you can slide the length of the sheet until you reached the grass in less than 1.5 seconds? It was a very short-lived thrill ride. Funny how in the commercials they make it seem like the slide lasts like 10 seconds. Can't recall if they used slo-motion or if they took several clips and spliced them together to make it appear like a longer ride. Does this photo bring back the good ole days of being a kid and having not a care in the world?

Now you can buy themed Slip N Slides, including Spidernan, Superman, or even a double-slide - the Double Auto Racer. Well, kids today can have an even cooler water slide - one with actual elevation. No need to get a running start and belly-flopping onto the plastic like you had to with the original Slip N Slide! With the Banzai Falls Twin Blast Rapids you can race your friends down this twisting double slide.

This massive, twisting slide inflates in less than 3 minutes with the included continuous-airflow blower motor and easily attaches to any hose. It'll set you back $449.99 (if you buy via Amazon) , but your kids will love you since they'll be the most popular kids on the block.
Also check out these cool summer water slides, especially since the Banzai is often sold out or price goes up during the summer. Here are some other cool water slides by Banzai:

Banzai Fall Sidewinder Falls

Roaring Rapids Adventure

Speed Splitter Racing Slide

Roaring Rapids Adventure

Comprehensive Listing of ALL Banzai Water Slides

Features of the Banzai Falls Twin Blash Rapids

• Inflates in less than 3 minutes
• Heavy-duty Dura-Tech construction ensures lasting strength and durability while the constant airflow helps resist small tears and puncture
• Safe Soft-Bottom Landing Pad
• Detachable Water-Spraying Rail
• Waterslide Weight Limit - 400lbs
• 14" Blower Motor with 24' Power Cord and GFCI for maximum safety and convenience

Beginning today, Xbox LIVE, the most popular online gaming network now works with Windows Live Messenger on the Xbox 360. We knew this was coming, but this is exciting news nonetheless. Now you can VoIP or IM your XBox gamer buddies as well as your non-gaming Windows Live Messenger buddies. I wonder if Yahoo! Messenger users will be able to communicate as well, since Microsoft and Yahoo have an IM federation pact. That would give XBox users access to over 350 million user accounts. Still waiting for them to interoperate with VoIP though. In any event, Windows Live Messenger will be installed on XBox 360s as part of the Xbox 360 Spring Update, which will connect people across Xbox 360 consoles, Windows PCs and Windows Mobile devices. According to the Microsoft employees' Gamerscoreblog:

Xbox LIVE members will be able to socialize with people on their unified friends list, including their contacts from the more than 260 million Windows Live Messengers across the world. With Instant Messenger, Xbox LIVE members will have the ability to:

• Chat via instant messenger with up to 20 contacts in a single conversation, and have up to six different conversations at the same time with people on PCs, mobile phones and other Xbox 360 consoles.
• Instant message while playing games, listening to music or watching movies or TV shows downloaded from Xbox LIVE Marketplace.
• View at a glance if friends on Windows Live Messenger have gamertags and add them to a unified friends list.
• Utilize the virtual keyboard on the Xbox 360 to text chat or connect a USB keyboard to the console.  Launching later this summer, the Xbox 360 text-input device accessory will connect directly to the controller to support instant messaging.
• The ability to fast-forward, pause and rewind video as it is being downloaded on Xbox LIVE Marketplace
• Owners can now set their consoles to turn off after downloading content from Xbox LIVE Marketplace to help save energy, and download speeds have been increased.

The Xbox 360 Spring Update is free to all Xbox LIVE members. For more information, check out http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/news/2007/0408-im.htm.

Late last week, I wrote about how I went into Best Buy and ran into an AT&T U-Verse sales rep pitching their U-Verse product. Well, over the weekend, I received an email from this same sales rep that I met at Best Buy when he used the contact form on my blog. During our brief in-person chat, I never told him who I was, so to say I was surprised to hear from him is an understatement. I mean after all, the Internet is a vast place, and as much as my ego hates to admit it, my blog is but a grain of sand in the vastness of the Internet U-verse - I mean Universe .

Well, apparently this AT&T rep does read my blog, since one of his follow-up emails said to me, "I bookmarked your site a while ago, well before I started promoting U-Verse. It's indexed well and great content!"

Wow, what a small world! I know several AT&T employees read my blog, but certainly didn’t expect my casual visit to Norwalk’s Best Buy and talking to one of many AT&T sales reps would result in him finding my article online.

Ron, the AT&T rep first wrote me to explain a slight inaccuracy in my post last week, which I'll share here:

I believe I was the guy at Best Buy Norwalk who spoke with you about U-Verse.

There is a chance you spoke with someone else, but your photo on your blog reminds me that I spoke with or saw you in Best Buy.

You are incorrect for quoting that [I] offered you 1 free year of AT&T Dish Network if you signed up for U-Verse now, even if U-Verse is not available for your area. This seems like a misunderstanding. We just do not offer that incentive. We are currently offering 1 free year of the AT&T Dish Network either alone or along with several legacy DSL choices and the top of the line All Distance phone package at an VERY attractive, indefinite price for those who cannot get AT&T U-Verse yet. $50, $60 or $70 per month.

However, I may have offered that if you sign up for AT&T Dish Network, you can easily swing into U-Verse when it's available without incurring any early termination fees before the required agreement expires. The free year of AT&T Dish Network requires an 18 month agreement. Alternately, one could choose any other AT&T Dish Network higher package for the same contract length and deduct $34.99 per month for one year!
(Current promotion)

My pitch would be to immediately switch to the AT&T Dish Network service within the first 20 seconds of finding that you are in an area where U-Verse is not yet available, and rightly so because it's a great alternative and a fantastic price!

It was a pleasure meeting you and I enjoyed our conversation at Best Buy!

So, according to Ron, the free DISH Network offer is good, provided you are in an area where U-Verse is available but not yet on your street or road yet. Thus, the free DISH Network offer has to be in an area where U-Verse is planned to be installed shortly. I was a little unclear on this on my original post. Additionally, customers who sign up for AT&T Dish, get 1 year of HD for FREE, free installation and more depending on the package. For instance, if you choose a plan higher, with more channels than the base AT100 package, you can deduct $34.99 per month for 1 year! Sweet package!

U-Verse is coming to my town soon, but I just signed up for DirecTV a few months ago, so I'm sure I'm locked into a 1-year contract with exorbitant cancellation fees or else I'd consider switching.

Related articles worth a look:
AT&T U-Verse offering 1 Year FREE of DISH Network
AT&T Lightspeed ahead! (NOT!)
AT&T U-verse Doomed?

Yesterday, I was in Best Buy (Norwalk, CT store) walking past the TV section when I was approached by a guy standing by a table. He handed me some AT&T U-Verse literature and proceeded to pitch me on signing up for U-Verse. I mentioned that I didn't live in Norwalk, he asked where I did live and then he told me they didn't offer U-Verse in my area yet.

However, he stated that AT&T is offering a nice incentive - 1 year FREE of DISH Network service if I signed up now for AT&T U-Verse.

Correction - 5/7/07: The offer is good provided you are in an area where U-Verse is available but not yet on your street or road yet. Thus, the free DISH Network offer has to be in an area where U-Verse is planned to be installed shortly. It's also an 18 minimum month contract - so it's 12 months free, 6 months paid before you can cancel. This is still a sweet deal, available to perhaps millions of customers within the current U-verse coverage area.

I said, "Well, what if in one year from now you still aren't offering U-Verse in my neighborhood? Do I still get free DISH Network service?" He didn't really give a good answer to the question, but did say that AT&T is going gangbusters to rollout U-Verse in Fairfield County, one of the wealthiest counties in the nation and also very densly populated. So I asked "So you're focusing on deploying in Norwalk and Stamford first is my guess, correct?" He responded, "That's exactly right. We're targetting Norwalk and Stamford first, but plan on quickly moving to other towns." He briefly mentioned New York - not sure if he meant NYC, but that would put AT&T in Verizon's home turf with their FiOS service.

I expressed my skepticism that AT&T would reach their goal of 18 million homes back in March. However, when compared to the $20 billion Verizon is spending to rollout their FiOS fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service, AT&T's fiber/copper-hybrid rollout is a bargain. AT&T can more quickly recoup their investment faster than Verizon since Verizon has to dig fiber all the way to the home where as AT&T only needs to draw fiber to the neighborhood and then use copper the rest of the way to the home.

As I wrote previously, this hybrid fiber/copper approach gives AT&T a 20Mbps+ link to customers, enough to offer high-speed Internet, VoIP, and the company's IPTV service. The problem is getting towns to grant public right of ways for these massive 52B boxes, which hold DSLAMS, batteries, and cooling gear in rugged, weatherproof cases. Many towns objected or wanted AT&T to sign video franchise agreements. Lawsuits were filed, including cable companies that want to classify U-verse service as a "cable service" to force AT&T to abide by the same build-out rules, which has drastically affected U-verse deployment . In addition, the IPTV service uses proprietary set-top boxes from Microsoft, which had their own share of problems - mostly software related.

What is interesting is that today I read about Microsoft and Yahoo! are in talks for a buyout or merger to better complete with Google. So let me get this straight. AT&T and DISH Network have a deal. AT&T and Yahoo already have a close partnership deal with AT&T Yahoo DSL. AT&T is using Microsoft's software for their U-Verse set-top box.

Let me summarize:
AT&T - DISH Network
AT&T - Yahoo
AT&T - Microsoft
and now potentially
Microsoft - Yahoo

Which makes it a AT&T,  DISH Network, Microsoft, Yahoo conglomerate! That just might be big enough to take on Google. Might need to add in Walmart. Maybe Home Depot as well (just to make it a fair fight).

The brochure he gave me has 4 TV pricing models, titled U100 (110 channels), U200 (190 channels, 34 digital music channels), U300 (240 channels, 31 premium movie channels), and U400 (300 channels, 49 premium movie channels). For the data portion they have Express (up to 1.5Mbps), Pro (up to 3.0Mbps), and Elite (up to 6.0Mbps). Prices range from $59/month to $129/month. At $59/month for 110 channels and 1.5Mbps bandwidth is a steal! The brochure states you can record up to 4 programs at the same time. Wow! My DirecTV TiVO receiver can only do 2 programs simultaneously.

I asked the U-Verse rep about getting voice using U-Verse and he said you could bundle a traditional AT&T landline. I couldn't believe this, so I checked AT&T's website and this link says:

"Can I order phone service with AT&T U-verse?"
Answer: Please visit http://www.att.com for information on classic landline services and calling features.

What the hell is that? I'm getting high-speed internet from AT&T and yet I still need a separate landline? I could of course separately sign-up for AT&T CallVantage, a VoIP service, and use it over the broadband connection, but then I lose any sort of bundling or pricing reductions. This is ridiculous and once again reiterates my rant about AT&T and all the carriers doing a terrible job of bundling their services.

In any event, I'm not sure if  the 1 year free DISH Network service is being offered nationwide, but if you're interested in FREE DISH Network service, it can hurt to head over to your local Best Buy and see if an AT&T U-verse rep is there. Or you can call 877-MY-UVERSE.

The Da Vinci code has been solved. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is 09-F9-11-02-9D-74-E3-5B-D8-41-56-C5-63-56-88-C0 - the HD-DVD decryption key that Hollywood doesn't want you to know about. This number will let you copy your HD-DVDs as well as play them on Linux. This decryption key was posted on Digg.com and quickly attained elite status, with over 15492 Diggs before the story was pulled.

After Digg pulled the HD-DVD decryption key article and banned a Digg user, that riled up the Digg community and soon the entire Digg home page was filled with stories containing the decryption key. As Mike over at TechCrunch says, "The users had taken control of the site, and unless Digg went into wholesale deletion mode and suspended a large portion of their users, there was absolutely nothing they could do to stop it."

Jay Adelson, Digg CEO, after stating he has to abide by Digg's terms of use in order to avoid a lawsuit by Hollywood didn't anticipate the massive firestorm caused by this decryption number and did a quick turnabout when he said:

But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you’ve made it clear. You’d rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won't delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be.

If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying.

More around the Net:
How I got banned from Digg
Spread this Number
How this kid lost 80 million in 18 hours or not

Scobleizer talks about Microsoft throwing down the multi-media gauntlet with a new software called Silverlight that aims to take on Adobe Flash, the predominant video media format on YouTube and other websites due to its better cross-platform support. Microsoft's Silverlight faces an uphill battle against Adobe Flash since the Adobe Flash Player is installed on more than 700 million computers and content developers are used to Adobe's media creation tools. Not to be outdone, Adobe introduced Adobe Media Player, a standalone media player that can play content "offline", as opposed to streamed "online" like the current Adobe Flash player does. This is in direct competition to the popular Windows Media Player bundled with most Windows PCs. This brings back the glory days of the Microsoft vs. Real media player battles.

Scobleizer discusses 5 interesting reasons why Microsoft's foray into this space is important. He mentions Microsoft's huge lead over Adobe in HDTV. This is a valid point and considering Microsoft's strong relationship with cable companies and some carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile) with their set top boxes and IPTV platform called Microsoft IPTV Edition, Microsoft is positioned to offer a "converged" solution that has some interesting possibilities. For instance, you could download a movie to your PC, your cellphone, or your set-top box. In any scenario, Microsoft could allow you to play this downloaded content anywhere on any device. The media player wars just got interesting... Microsoft defeated Real quite handily (in my opinion), but Adobe has legions of fans that will make it a much tougher battle.

Apple TV has become the ultimate hacker magnet allowing users to use the Apple TV in ways Apple hadn't intended. As discussed recently, Apple TV was hacked to allow Asterisk, the open-source IP-PBX to run on it. Check out the Apple TV Asterisk tut. Now it appears that just a few weeks after launch, CNet is talking about an intriguing new feature for that will allow you to stream music from iTunes on your home computer to your cell phone leveraging Apple TV and Slingbox.


                                           Apple TV


It's a bit of a kludge since the iTunes music has to sync from your PC to the Slingbox and then to your mobile phone. Slingbox is actually working on making the Slingbox compatible with Apple TV. This would enable streaming of Apple TV content to a mobile device. In theory, both audio (mp3) and video content could be streamed from the PC to the Apple TV to the SlingBox and finally to a phone capable of running the SlingPlayer - i.e. Windows Mobile, Palm or Symbian. The Apple iPhone, due out soon supports EDGE (generally classified as a 2.75G network technology - not quite 3G) and is capable of 1 MBit/s peak speeds.

With these wireless speeds, if Steve Jobs ever permits the SlingPlayer to run on the iPhone, that could be a killer app for the iPhone when used in conjunction with either the Slingbox or the Apple TV. More likely, Apple will only permit their own DRM-infested audio/video player so you have to "pay up" to download music and videos from their iTunes store. I could be wrong. I hope I am. Though it is perfectly plausible that since both the Apple TV and iTunes run the same DRM protection, Apple could permit direct streaming from the Apple TV to the Apple iPhone. I mean you paid for the content, right? So I don't see why Apple would prevent you from streaming content you paid for to another device you own.

My Apple on Asterisk blog post immediately drew a response from several Asterisk fans, including the person that "hacked" Apple TV to run Asterisk (l0rdrock). I emailed l0rdr0ck and Steven Sokol about how to get Asterisk running on Apple TV and they provided me with the information on how to do this. The Asterisk 1.4.2 on AppleTV "soup to nuts" tutorial is courtesy of Steven Sokol from Sokol & Associates, Inc., who was the initiator behind this project when he proposed a "bounty" on loading Asterisk on Apple TV and which successfully won by Jeff Gambera (aka l0rdr0ck). The information below is a combination of material from www.appletvhacks.net (for the SSH stuff) and emailed information from l0rdr0ck and Steven Sokol for the main tutorial on loading Asterisk on Apple TV.

Ok, let the fun commence.

Installing Asterisk on Apple TV Steps:

First, get Apple TV. (obviously)

Enable ssh by using this tutorial:

http://www.appletvhacks.net/2007/03/24/enable-ssh-and-afp-on-your-apple-tv/
Since AppleTVHacks has been "dugg" to death, I am including the SSH instructions below taken from the Google Cache. The images weren't cached, so they may not appear below until AppleTVHacks go back online. Credit for the original information used in making this how-to goes to TylerL82 over at the SomethingAwful.com forums. Written up here by Jonathan Bare.

So while you have your Apple TV open and you’re installing a new hard drive or just following along with the people over at SomethingAwful.com forums to get Xvid working, you might as well un-break SSH so you can access the Apple TV remotely.

Opening the Apple TV and connecting the hard drive to your Intel Mac are covered in the hard drive upgrade and elsewhere, so we’ll skip those steps and jump right to the point where you have the OSBoot and Media volumes mounted on your Mac.

This process assumes using an Intel Mac because the sshd binary may or may not be the same in the PowerPC version of Mac OS X; we haven’t checked. If someone would like to try using the PowerPC binary and let us know if it works, that would be great!

There are 2 ways to go about this; using the finder, or via the terminal. The finder method is probably best if you aren’t sure what is going on, whereas the Terminal method is quicker if you are confident.

Step 1 - Using the Finder
Note: ignore any missing images since the Google Cache didn't have them

Once you have OSBoot mounted in the Finder, double click on its icon. You’ll see something like this:



From the Finder’s Go menu, select Go To Folder, or press Command-Shift-G. Type in /Volumes/OSBoot/usr/sbin/ and click Go.



Open a new Finder window and do the same thing to go to a folder, this time, however, select /usr/sbin/. This is the same folder located on your Mac’s hard drive.



From the Mac’s sbin folder, drag the file “sshd” to the Apple TV’s sbin folder. Your cursor will change in to the green plus sign to indicate that you are making a copy of the file.

Note: If you have accidentally ended up in /usr/bin instead of /usr/sbin and you accidentally copy the “ssh” file instead of “sshd”, you’ve made a big mistake and ssh will not work on your Apple TV. Be sure you are working to and from the respective /usr/sbin directories.



You now have sshd installed on your OSBoot volume. Now we need sshd to start when the Apple TV boots up.

In the OSBoot window, choose Go To Folder again and this time, enter /Volumes/OSBoot/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/.



If you open the Apple TV’s ssh.plist file from the LaunchDaemons directory, you’ll see why we need to replace it. Apple left a dummy plist file to throw us off the trail.



You could copy the ssh.plist file from the same location in your Mac’s /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/, but for simplicity, we’ve included the contents of the plist here. Using TextEdit, BBEdit, or your favorite text editor, copy and paste this text, replacing the original ssh.plist contents:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>com.openssh.sshd</string>
        <key>Program</key>
        <string>/usr/libexec/sshd-keygen-wrapper</string>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
                <string>/usr/sbin/sshd</string>
                <string>-i</string>
        </array>
        <key>SessionCreate</key>
        <true/>
        <key>Sockets</key>
        <dict>
                <key>Listeners</key>
                <dict>
                        <key>Bonjour</key>
                        <array>
                                <string>ssh</string>
                                <string>sftp-ssh</string>
                        </array>
                        <key>SockServiceName</key>
                        <string>ssh</string>
                </dict>
        </dict>
        <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
        <string>/dev/null</string>
        <key>inetdCompatibility</key>
        <dict>
                <key>Wait</key>
                <false/>
        </dict>
</dict>
</plist>

Close the file and save it. In a nut shell, the ssh daemon is activated by launchd whenever an incoming connection on port 22 is detected.

Step 1 - Using the Terminal
Firstly, copy the sshd binary from your Mac to the AppleTV drive:

cp /usr/sbin/sshd /Volumes/OSBoot/usr/sbin/.

Next, copy the ssh.plist file over, so launchd knows to start sshd on boot:

cp /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist
/Volumes/OSBoot/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist

(The above is all on 1 line - I hit enter so the above line didn't wrap into the middle column of my blog)

Alternatively, you could use the contents of the file from above to create an ssh.plist file.

Step 2
Unmount the OSBoot and Media volumes, reassemble your Apple TV, and power it on. You need to get the IP address of the Apple TV from the Settings menu, once you know that, open a Terminal window from your Mac (or any OS that has ssh installed) and type:

ssh frontrow@your.apple.tv.ip.address

Press return. Type “yes” when it asks if you want to permanently store the key. Then enter “frontrow” as the password.

You’re in.

Now What?
SSH opens up a lot of doors to accessing the Apple TV. For example, you can now type sudo /usr/sbin/AppleFileServer and cause the built-in Apple File Protocol (AFP) server to start. Then you can connect to the Apple TV from your Mac by using the Connect to Server command in the Finder. AFP, SCP or SFTP can now be used to copy files to the Apple TV!!

You can type ps auxww to see a list of running processes on your Apple TV. (Hey, what is /usr/bin/ripstop and why is it running under the frontrow user?)

One thing we’ve already learned from SSH is that the root filesystem on the Apple TV (aka OSBoot) is apparently mounted as a read-only filesystem. That means it’s not initially possible to copy any files to the root mount point (/etc, /usr, /var, for example) while it is running. TylerL82 has commented to point out you can remedy this with the sudo mount -uw / command.

It’s also important to note that any changes you make to the OSBoot volume will be wiped out by a Factory Restore of the Apple TV. It appears that a disk image of the stock Apple TV operating system exists on the unlabeled partition on the drive and is used to restore the OSBoot volume when Factory Restore is selected.
 ---
 ssh into the appletv using the tutorial above. everything below
 will be through ssh:

 ----
 Download Bison 2.3 from:
 http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/bison/bison-2.3.tar.gz

 (use curl via ssh)

 Decompress, open terminal, do:

 ./configure
 make
 sudo make install

 ------

 get wget:

 http://ftp.wayne.edu/pub/gnu/wget/wget-1.10.2.tar.gz

 decompress, terminal:

 ./configure
 make
 sudo make install


 close terminal.app and reopen
 ----

 do i need mysql here? is it installed?

 asterisk 1.4.2

 get http://ftp.digium.com/pub/asterisk/releases/asterisk-1.4.2.tar.gz

 decompress, open terminal, type:

 ./configure
 make
 sudo make install
 sudo make samples

 done. everything installed.

 --

 install a launchd service to start Asterisk.

 /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.asterisk.org.asterisk

 with contents:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC
 "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
 "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
 <plist version="1.0">
 <dict>
 <key>Disabled</key>
 <false/>
 <key>Label</key>
 <string>com.asterisk.org.asterisk</string>
 <key>ProgramArguments</key>
 <array>
 <string>/usr/sbin/asterisk</string>
 <string>-f</string>
 </array>
 <key>UserName</key>
 <string>frontrow</string>
 <key>GroupName</key>
 <string>frontrow </string>
 <key>OnDemand</key>
 <false/>
 <key>ServiceDescription</key>
 <string>Asterisk PBX</string> </dict> </plist>

 then do in terminal via ssh:

 sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/
 com.asterisk.org.asterisk

 ----
 GUI:

 svn checkout http://svn.digium.com/svn/asterisk-gui/trunk
 asterisk-gui
 cd in asterisk-gui
 ./configure (might not be needed) make sudo make install make
 samples sudo install samples

 mod the config files:
 cd /etc/asterisk

 manager.conf:

 enabled = yes
 webenabled = yes

 We will have to add a new user to `manager.conf`:
 [administrator]
 secret = wrxiur
 read = system,call,log,verbose,command,agent,user,config
 write = system,call,log,verbose,command,agent,user,config

 `http.conf`
 enabled=yes
 enablestatic=yes
 bindaddr=0.0.0.0

 make checkconfig to see if you messed up anywhere
 --
 change any other asterisk config files and reboot appletv. all
 Done!
 --

 gui can be accessed at:
 http://appletv.local:8088/asterisk/static/config/cfgbasic.html
 http://appletv.local:8088/asterisk/static/config/cfgadvanced.html

 If appletv.local is not the host, then change to the ip of the appletv.

You now should have a running version of Asterisk on Apple TV that should look like this:



Finally, if you want a PDF version of these instructions which has some additional interesting information (courtesy of Steven Sokol), click here to download. For instance, in the PDF, it states, "There is alot of testing needed and some call applications may not work yet. It's also unfortunate that the installation requires cracking the case and voiding the warranty. Hopefully in the near future somebody will come up with a reliable way to boot from USB and the SSH daemon, obviating the need for a hardware hacking."

Update
Sokol has also published a tutorial that is worth a look.

An interesting Apple TV hack from the AwkwardTV project features Asterisk running on an Apple TV box. The Asterisk story was Dugg over 500 times, as well as several other AwkwardTV posts, which caused the website to go gown (the Digg effect). Yet, when I go to the article, the screenshot of Asterisk running on Apple TV linked via Photobucket.com doesn't work and the article is devoid of any specifics on how this Apple TV / Asterisk "hack" was done.

I'm not doubting l0rdr0ck was able to get Asterisk to run on Apple TV, I'm just disappointed I can't see the screenshot or learn more on how he did it, so I can try it myself. (Once I get my hands on an Apple TV). I'm still trying to figure out how useful integrating Asterisk onto Apple TV might be and all the possible "synergies". I suppose CallerID popup on the Apple TV is one simple hack. That and you get a nice little turnkey Asterisk box for your house. The Asterisk running on Apple TV hack reminds me of the popular hack that lets you run Asterisk on your home Linksys WRT54 broadband router simply by flashing the firmware (Asterisk on OpenWRT). Hackers and Asterisk fans are using Asterisk in their homes to control security systems, light fixtures, etc. via the X10 protocol. In any event, l0rdr0ck if you read this post, details please on the Asterisk/Apple TV hack. We need details...

Update: I now have a screenshot  I can share (Click for large image):

Do you hate getting up and the blaring alarm clock only results in you hitting the snooze 5 times and arriving to work late? Surely, you curse the alarm clock and accuse it of snoozing for only 9 minutes instead of 10, robbing you of 1 minute extra sleep. (Actually, little known fact, most alarm clocks snooze for 9 minutes not 10.)

Truly, you want to make it to work on time, but ohhhhh how tempting hitting the snooze button just 1 more time is. More Americans suffer from "snooze button addiction" than any other. I myself suffer from snooze button addiction and that is why I was intrigued by this new alarm block from nanda called the Clocky that can help you break your snooze button addiction.

The Clocky alarm clock runs away and hides when you don't wake up. Clocky gives you one chance to get up. But if you snooze, Clocky will JUMP off of your nightstand and wheel around your room looking for a place to hide. That rascally clock! Damn thing can even jump 3 feet! Clocky is kind of like your dog or cat that comes pestering you on a Saturday morning wondering why this day is any different than any other day and why you're still in bed sleeping past 10am when you're usually up at 7am.

Of course, an obnoxious alarm clock that runs and hides while blaring the alarm could result in the alarm clock being thrown across the room, like Bill Murray did in the cute romantic comedy Groundhog Day.

Features:

Clocky is now commercially available.  He has a customizable snooze time, a sleek new look, and comes in 3 colors. Available at www.nandahome.com.