Well, it's not really a surprise, but that doesn't make it any less exciting - the next generation of Apple TV is here and it's small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.

Steve Jobs was keen to point out that Apple had learned from the "hobby" project of the original Apple TV and had discerned exactly what TV fans were after.

He pointed out that people wanted Hollywood movies and TV shows, everything to be in HD, lower prices for content, no need to have a computer hooked up, no storage management, no syncing and something that is "silent, cool and small".

So, that's exactly what the Cupertino contingent has come up with.

The second-gen Apple TV is a quarter the size of the original device, has just five ports for simplicity (HDMI, mini-USB, power, optical audio and Ethernet), is Wi-Fi 802.11 connected and comes with a shiny aluminium remote.

All content is available in HD (where possible) and there's no storage issues as everything is streamed.

It's purely rental based with HD movies costing £4.49 and TV shows for just 99c (only in the US at present, unfortunately). At the moment just Fox and ABC are on board but Jobs said: "We're hoping that the other networks see the light and get on board with us".

If you're a Netflix subscriber you'll also be able to stream your Netflix content for free as well. YouTube, Flickr and MobileMe content is also all gettable via Apple TV and you can stream movies and the like from your computer as well.

There's also brilliant connectivity with your other iOS devices, whereby you can pick up movies from where you left off, or stream your pictures between your Apple toys.

It's out in around 4 weeks time - so hopefully the end of September and it will cost £99 ($99 in the States). Pre-order now.

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