In a recent post titled ‘When will Steve Jobs open up the AppleTV?‘, I looked at what the future may hold for Apple’s set-top-box, noting the progress being made by hackers who continue to add new functionality. Today, AwkwardTV reports on the release of an unofficial AppleTV development kit which should significantly speed up the time it takes for third-parties to create new plug-in applications for the device.

Written by Mac developer, Alan Quatermain, the kit includes a template for Apple’s Xcode development software, as well as an AppleTV ’simulator’ for testing purposes.