Boxee, the Social Media Center, available for the AppleTV

Scott Davilla, a developer for the ATV-bootloader project, has adapted the AppleTV so people can install Boxee as an AppleTV plugin using an AppleTV's , or atv, bootloader on a USB flash drive.

Boxee is a media center based on XMBC that has a social component: in addition to browse and play media content from the computer or the internet, users can share it with their friends, send them recommendations etc...

The ATVUSB-creator installation is pretty technical and Boxee is still in private alpha, we might be able to get a few invitations for our readers. I did not test either Boxee or the ATV bootloader yet , so for those who already have an access code and want to try it for the AppleTV, read after the jump for the step by step "how-to" (provided by Boxee).

What level of geekness do you think you need to try this?

The process for updating an AppleTV with boxee/XBMC the steps are as follows:

Note: the ATVUSB-creator (the program used to create the patchstick with the ATV bootloader on it) is only available for Mac; Linux and PC versions will follow next week.

Step 1 - Download the ATVUSB-Creator from http://code.google.com/p/atvusb-creator/ (NEW URL!)
this is a different link than the Bootloader (http://code.google.com/p/atv-bootloader/)

Step 2 - Insert a "bootable" USB drive into your Mac

Step 3 - Run the ATVUSB-Creator
- select which plug-ins you'd like to install

- this list will grow over time, but currently includes SSH, boxee, XBMC, and some binary utilities

Step 4 - Remove the USB drive and plug it into your AppleTV

Step 5 - Power on your AppleTV and the patchstick will run the ATV bootloader
- previously the patchstick program was unavailable

- people had to manually format their USB drive to be bootable and install the ATV bootloader.

Step 6 - After the bootloader finishes, remove it from your AppleTV

Step 7 - Restart your AppleTV

Step 8 - It now has options for Boxee / Xbmc on the main menu

Step 9 - Click on boxee, then select update (this will download boxee from the Internet)

Step 10 - Once boxee is done installing, restart your AppleTV

Step 11 - Click "boxee", then select "boxee" in the sub-menu to start boxee