Apple TV

The Apple TV may just be a "hobby" in Apple's eyes, but it's been quietly improving over the last year. The current iteration of the product was released in the fall of 2010, and at that time was derided for only being able to stream a few Fox and ABC TV shows. Since then, Apple has issued a variety of software and service updates. Now, the entire iTunes video catalog is available for streaming. Apple has also tightly integrated Rotten Tomatoes movie ratings, and iTunes purchases are saved in the cloud, so you can always restream them--or download them to iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch) and computers running iTunes. And with the advent of iOS 5, the Apple TV's gotten a few new features, such as AirPlay mirroring and Photo Stream support. And all of that is in addition to a wider range of third-party content "channels," including Netflix, YouTube, Vimeo, a good sports lineup (NHL, NBA, MLB.TV), Flickr photos, the Wall Street Journal, and Internet radio and podcasts--some (but not all) of which require paid subscriptions.