Cupertino's favourite son and the black sheep of the Apple family have strengthened their bond, with a software update allowing you to control the Apple TV using multi-touch gestures on the iPhone.

iPhone 3.0 users can take advantage of the new features courtesy of this week's Apple TV OS2.4 software update. In addition, you can search Flickr photo tags and use Flickr images as screensavers. New view options let you view movies by genre, by movie or unwatched while TV shows and podcasts can be viewed by date, by show or unwatched. Apple has also added transport and chapter modes for use during video playback.

I finally decided to lay down some cash on an Apple TV this week, but I can't say I'm too excited about the idea of using my iPhone as a remote control. By the time I fish the phone out of my pocket (or wrestle it back from my kids), unlock it and then load up the remote app, it would be faster to just reach for the tiny Apple remote or else a universal remote control.

The only reason I finally caved in a bought Apple's hamstrung media player is so I can hack the bejesus out of it for a magazine feature. I shopped around and got a very good price on an ex-demo 40GB model - which Apple seems to have discontinued in favour of the more expensive 160GB version which sells for $449. Of course once you hack an Apple TV it's easy to upgrade the drive or add external storage so I was happy to go with the 40GB model.

I've actually been surprised at how easy it is to hack the Apple TV and install extra apps. If you're a newbie, wiki.awkwardtv.org is a great place to start. All you need is a USB stick, 30 minutes and a healthy disregard for the various terms and conditions you're about to violate.

Unfortunately my timing has been bad because the Apple TV OS2.4 software update seems to have created problems for those who like to hack the Apple TV and unleash its full potential. My particular problem is that I can't get NitoTV to install, which in turn may be the reason why I can't get the BoxeeVPN plugin to work properly. Combining the Apple TV, Boxee and a VPN service such as Witopia would let you sit back on the couch and watch the wealth of free streaming content that is only available in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Such complications are the price you pay for hacking any device, although thankfully Apple doesn't seem to put as much effort into blocking Apple TV hacks as it does blocking iPhone hacks. I'm sure passionate Apple TV hackers will soon update their apps for 2.4. If you're after the ultimate media player, I'd certainly recommend investigating the option of running Boxee on a hacked Apple TV.