The revolution will be televised, or so Apple says. We mentioned Apple TV a while back when Apple hit the news about no longer being a “computer” company, but instead simply “Apple, Inc.” Everyone was excited about this new offering by Apple. The Apple TV promised to change the way you watch TV. Well, it’s not really that revolutionary when it comes to technologies used, since IP-based television has been around for a while. But it’s Apple. And it’s supposed to be cool.

Apple TV basically lets you watch iTunes content on your TV. So these can be videos and full-length movies downloaded (or perhaps bought?) off the iTunes store. So it’s a bit like streaming IPTV services with video-on-demand, since you get to select which shows you want to watch, but this time you buy your videos from iTunes. And it’s like TIVO, since all your videos are saved for you to watch at your pleasure.

But then of course, this is Apple, so that makes all the difference.

Apple TV puts your iTunes library — movies, TV shows, music, and podcasts — plus movie trailers from Apple.com on your TV. And your digital photos from iPhoto on a Mac or Adobe Photoshop Elements or Adobe Album on a Windows PC appear in high definition, so you can put on a stunning big-screen slideshow.

The Apple TV does all this wirelessly, via WiFi. You can even connect up to five computers and all these can share videos, music, and photos for viewing on the TV. What’s great is that the Apple TV can also store up to 50 hours worth of videos, so it can both be used to play streamed media from your computers, or files saved locally.

Forevergeek hints that the Apple TV is ready to ship. The Apple TV is priced at $299. You can try reserving through your local Apple Store, but I hear these things might already have been sold out or all reserved through online stores by now.

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