AirPlay is awesome because it allows you to instantly stream video that you’re watching on your iPhone to your television utilizing a $99 Apple TV 2. But let’s say you don’t have an Apple TV 2, but you do have a Mac mini hooked up to your TV. What to do then?
Before today, the answer to that question was “not a whole lot.” Thankfully, though, there’s a new OS X app in town called AirPlayer, and it allows you to use AirPlay right on your Mac…
AirPlayer is a cleverly designed application that utilizes Apple’s Bonjour service, and essentially pretends to be an Apple TV 2. The AirPlay service on your iPhone then detects the service running on your Mac, thinks it’s an Apple TV, and displays it on the list of compatible AirPlay devices.
Something tells me that this won’t be the last time we see something cool done with AirPlay, which Apple never intended to happen. We say bring it on.
Personally, I think it would be awesome if there was an AirPlay app for the Mac that allowed you to stream to the Apple TV from any Mac app. Sort of like AirFoil, but more robust on the video end of the spectrum.
Currently AirPlayer is in a very early alpha state, but you can find the download, along with additional in-depth info at the link below.
Is AirPlayer something that you would consider using?
[TUAW]