Title pretty much says it all. Available through software update and though the website.

The software update provides us with a hint of the new iTunes additions:

With iTunes 7.3, you can now activate iPhone service and sync it with your music, TV shows, movies and more. Also, you can now wirelessly share and enjoy your favorite digital photos from any computer in your home with Apple TV.

Update:After a quick download and review of 7.3, iPhone updates appear to be the only new features. Specifically an iPhone Help and Preferences have appeared. The Help provides links to the iPhone User's Guide, Safety Information, and Software License Agreement, all of which are not up on Apple's site yet. (links placed for future). The iPhone Help also includes 'About iPhone', and Service and Support (dead link)

Another update is in the iTunes Preferences. A new tab for the iPhone appears, but no real options are present. Probably because you need the iPhone. But the new panel reads "The following iPhones are backed up on this computer:" We'll probably get a better look at the Sync Pane once iPhones are in the wild.

The last update, is the ability to share your Photos with multiple AppleTV. Prior to this you would have to sync your photos. With iTunes sharing your photos, you can now access them through your AppleTV like you would through a Mac with FrontRow.

Miglia has been frequently in the news pages of EntertainMac as of late. From their merger with the HDMI Group, to ending their agreement with ElGato, and the introduction of some new products. Today they are making plans to produce their own software, MigliaTV.

Miglia's software promises a easy-to-use user interface. Functions such as Play, Add to iTunes, Burn to DVD, Show in Finder. The software goes beyond others by including video cropping and supporting MP4 as well as DIVX formats.

The latest version of the software is available for download.

Miglia is known for being one of the leaders in video tuner devices for the Macintosh. Their most recent hardware based TV Tuners, include the TV Max, TVMax+, and EvolutionTV.

For the most part we've tried to stay away from the iPhone media circus, but this news relates to all iTunes users. With the iPhone being released this Friday at AT&T and AppleStores, iTunes will reach version 7.3. This is according to the Apple iPhone specs page. 7.3 is not available through software update yet, but expect to see it within the next 48 hours.

iTunes was just recently updated to version 7.2, introducing iTunes Plus, while the update prior 7.1 added AppleTV support. Stay tuned for a complete review of 7.3 when it is available. You never know what other features Apple may slip in.

Brightcove is hosting a plethora of Leopard demo videos, captured from the latest leopard demo released at WWDC. When we saw this we immediately looked into 'FrontRow2' which is the AppleTV like interface replacing FrontRow packaged within most Intel Macs.

The demos walks us through the TV Shows, Movies, Music, Podcast, and Photo areas of the application. Noticeably the DVD option seems to be missing. Perhaps this was not ready to be released within the Leopard preview. But looking closer, it is our belief that FrontRow2 was brought over from AppleTV.

[VIDEO REMOVED]

About 16 seconds into the video, an Error Message appears:

"There are now photos on your Apple TV. Set up iTunes to sync photos to your Apple TV."

Wait a second... i thought this was on a Mac and not an AppleTV? Whoops... Apple... Whoops... All the rest of the error messages read properly, indicating the lack of music or movies in iTunes.

I would still like to see if those AppleTV hacks will apply to FrontRow2. We've got a gut feeling that they will to some degree.

For you AppleTV owners, be sure to run your Updates today. Apple has released version 1.1, which upgrades many of the features of the popular television component. Most notably is the YouTube feature, which was announced a few weeks ago.

Since announcing AppleTV's integration with YouTube, the site has been attempting to update all their videos to H.264, Apple's preferred MPG4 compression. The complete conversion of all their videos should be complete by the end of the year. The most notable item to note is that YouTube streams videos to your AppleTV rather then saving them locally on your hard drive.

Opening the AppleTV option, you are presented with 'Featured', 'Most Viewed', 'Most Recent','Top Rated', 'History', 'Search', and 'Log In'.

Apple has also announced that the same features will appear as the 12th App for their iPhone being released June 29.

In addition to YouTube, AppleTv owners now get Parental Controls added to the Setting Menu. This appears specifically so that restrict your kids from checking out questionable YouTube content.

So for the lucky people out there with AppleTVs, go run your software updates and dig around the YouTube features. What do you like, dislike, any other features?

Decal Girl has added AppleTV skins to their already extensive collection. The skins aim to spruce up your AppleTV (as if the OE look isn't good enough). But these aren't your typical single color pieces but full color pieces of art. The best part is that each kit includes a skin for your Apple Remote.

The skins come in at $14.99 USD, and custom skins are also available!

It appears that Miglia, is being taken over in a management buy-out, but the HDMI-Group. This is being completed with the support of SEGF, a venture capital fund. Miglia the European based TV-Tuner manufacture has been one of the top manufactures for Macintosh tuners.

The HDMI Group plans on continuing to provide support for existing products, with software updates, warranties etc. They are also looking to expand their collection of products with a series of Windows components.

Many tuners out there are simply re-branded Windows devices so, this makes sense, a company would want to do the reverse and will hopefully reduce the pricing for these devices in the future.

With Leopard adopting AppleTV's Backrow as its new FrontRow media center application it opens the door to its ability to handle plug-in. Since AppleTv's release the application has been sliced and dices to all plug-ins. Plug-ins such as a RSS-Reader, Sports Scores, and of course YouTube, which Apple has already adapted for AppleTV.

Since released in 2004, Apple FrontRow application has been nothing more then a skin for iTunes, DVD Player and iPhoto. It performed its duties well, allowing users with the largest libraries to quickly access photos and movies. However when you compare the user experience to Microsoft's Media Center Edition, MythTV, iTheater, or MediaCentral it was falling far behind.

Recognizing this El Gato built a FrontRow launcher into EyeTV, matching the looks and feel of front row. But it didn't take long before Apple had them switch it up. Other tricks such as getting Internet Radio into FrontRow and DVD Assist have helped but it still not all it can be. Which leads us to Leopard's FrontRow.

If Leopard's FrontRow application is based on BackRow, we could see this as a serious bonus for FrontRow. The ability to fill in functions that other media center applications take advantage of.

Here are some of our ideas:

• EyeTV/TheTube - Watch live cable/satellite tv
• Internet TV - Jump into Joost's wide assortment of channels or other provider
• Internet Radio - Is it really that hard to do?
  
• VideoConf - Use that iSight/iChat and do some instant video conferencing
• Widgets - Just a quick dashboard launcher to quickly get your scores, news, etc
• YouTube - Maybe already coming but not shown right now
Perhaps we are getting our hopes up, but Apple needs to do something if they want to keep up with MCE.

Keeping with the optimistic look on things. What plug-ins or features would you like to see? That is the ones Apple will allow...

Just after the Keynote, where Steve revealed the latest features of OS-X Leopard, the apple website was relaunched with a new inspired look. One thing EntertainMac took notice of is Leopard's version of FrontRow.

Only armed with screen shots it appears that Backrow, the mediacenter application running on AppleTV is essentially FrontRow 2.0. There are a few noticeable differences. FrontRow 2 has a DVD feature, previously not found in Backrow. But missing from the menus are YouTube, Setting and Sources. One must believe all this is controlled through iPhoto, iTunes and System Preference.

One can only assume FrontRow 2.0 will run quicker then FrontRow as it does not preview movies. Adding the descriptions DVD covers is just another added bonus. I can't wait to see this live and in person.

With the WWDC opening tomorrow, the CenterStage Project, (one of our favorite media centers apps) has release version 0.6.2. This release is a giant milestone for the project. It seems like it was just the other day the groups was wowing us with their online demo and screen shots.

EntertainMac has downloaded this release and has been kicking the tires for a few hours now. The Centerstage/Backstage combo comes to us as a 17.6mb download. A quick install and we were off and running. The interface is smooth and extremely responsive. We have encountered a few crashes, but in a Alpha release this is expected. I was pleasantly surprised with the Photo's section.

The developer team over at the CenterStage project have put a lot of effort into making this the most function release to date. The effort really shows. We are looking forward to the next release which should have some GUI changes. The team is also looking for more developers, to keep up / accelerate the current pace. You can keep track of the progress here.

Miglia is continuing to release new products for us Mac owners. The latest is the TVBook Pro Express and the TVMicro Express.

The TVBookPro Express come to us in the shape of a ExpressCard/34 for those MacBook Pro owners out there. The full featured digital tv tuner, includes 'The Tube' software, which allows for pausing, rewind, and recording of DTT signals. Also included is a USB amplified power antenna for better signal. Once again this leaves out the US, which doesn't have DTT broadcasts. It comes price tagged at £99.




The TVMicro Express is a USB Stick type device that allows for viewing digital cable broadcasts. Powered by your USB 2.0 port, you can use the supplied antenna or connect to your cable tv to start viewing your tv shows on your mac. Once again this product includes 'The Tube' software by Equinox.

Apple slipped ina new feature in their latest release. On the surface iTunes 7.2 and declare itself necessary for iTunes Plus, but with the latest release you can now convert your Movie files to AppleTV.

Previously only available in EyeTV and QuickTime Pro, AppleTV owners now have a quick way of getting the best native compression for their AppleTV. The converting process takes about the same time as QuickTime, and is no match for Turbo.264's conversion.

This feature should of been available in 7.1 with the addition of the AppleTV support, but its still nice to have it now.

Equinux has released version 2.6 of its MediaCentral product. The latest version now includes the ability to watch digital tv (DTT) with TubeStick. This is done with enhanced integration of 'The Tube' within version 2.6. This allows for time shifting and a more organized TV channel listing in both applications. Any show recorded in MediaCentral also appears in The Tube.

A few bugs and other improvements have also been made with this latest release, including the ability to eject your dvd without an enhanced keyboard, or exiting the application.

Previous owners of MediaCentral can update to the latest version, free, using the update feature. For those curious about the application, they have a 10minute trial available for download. The full version of the software may still be purchased for $29.95 (excl. tax) /€29.95 (incl. German VAT). And those interested in TubeStick / The Tube its priced at only € 39.95 (incl. German VAT).