Apple TV

Owners of the second generation Apple TV (ATV2) are in luck today, as FireCore has released an updated Seas0nPass jailbreak. Updating the ATV2 to iOS 5.1 brings users the brand new Apple TV interface along with additional features. If you were waiting to update to iOS 5.1 until the jailbreak was released, now the coast is clear.

The Apple TV was recently updated to third generation hardware, with several improvements including a single-core A5 processor and 1080p HD support. At this juncture, ATV3 owners must remain patient while developers work on a jailbreak solution for their devices, which are shipped with iOS 5.1 preinstalled.

While the release of the third generation Apple TV may have been exciting, tearing the device apart was even more so for one forum user at xbmc.org. In the process of disassembling the 2012 Apple TV they discovered that Apple has doubled RAM from the previous model to 512MB.

Not only this, but the new ATV sports an additional antenna over its predecessor. It's not entirely clear how the addition of a second antenna helps. When it comes to the processor, a single-core A5 chip is an upgrade from the A4. Some have suggested that the new ATV processor is simply a normal dual-core A5 with one core switched off.

We know that MuscleNerd was showing off his brand new jailbroken iPod touch 4G the other day. Looks like the same iOS vulnerability has just been used to jailbreak a second-generation Apple TV. After successfully using the SHAtter exploit MuscleNerd posted video of the Apple TV being accessed with ssh.

SHAtter tricks the Apple TV into restoring with a pre-jailbroken IPSW from PwnageTool. The same exploit should work across all iOS devices including the iPhone 4. Chronic Dev Team members are developing jailbreak tools for public release based on the SHAtter bootrom vulnerability. This method will be much more difficult for Apple to contend with, as a firmware update can't prevent the issue.