The new Apple TV

The new Apple TV may be pint sized with just 1/4 the size of the old Apple TV, it does pack a mighty  punch.

The new Apple TV  has HDMI, Ethernet, optical audio, and USB plugs around back, and of course 802.11n for the cable-averse and retails at $99 and will stream rental movies directly from iTunes, or beam videos from your own computer, without  local storage. Apple is offering $0.99 rentals from ABC and Fox, and full Netflix streaming support.

The initial feedback from the US based tech websites is overall positive.
“We like what we see. The streaming was speedy and extremely clear during our demo, and the overall speed of the interface seemed really solid. We also learned that the box is indeed 720p (just as we’d reported earlier). Apple told us that they felt that using 720p allowed them to strike a balance between quality and bandwidth.”  wrote Engadget.

“TV and movie rentals are really snappy and fast. After choosing to rent a movie or show, the Apple TV takes a few seconds to prepare a buffer and begins streaming right away. Also particularly cool was internet integration. I enjoyed searching through Flickr streams. Select a photo and hit the Play button and it immediately plays a slideshow with music and fancy transitions. I’m too lazy to check my friends’ Flickr streams the normal way on Flickr.com, aren’t you? Plus, the photos look great on a big screen through the Apple TV’s HDMI connection.’ raved wired.com