The AppleTV just started shipping this week and there are already at least two major user-initiated upgrades that seem to work. You can swap out that 40GB hard drive for a roomy 120GB or larger drive, and you can reportedly add support for DivX and Xvid video codecs.

If you're curious what's inside Apple's latest box, our friends at Engadget have taken a peek at the AppleTV's innards.

And high definition video consultant Mike Curtis has already launched a new blog called Apple TV Hacker to share the latest information regarding user-initiated AppleTV upgrade. Mike's AppleTV hasn't arrived yet, but his site's already one of the best resources for anyone looking for a roundup of news and information regarding the $299 box and how to make the most of it.

Have you ordered an AppleTV to stream iTunes videos to your TV? Or do you think Apple's got a $300 piece of junk on its hands? Either way, the first two hacks make it look like this device is going to be a lot more useful than we'd initially thought. And hopefully there will be many more exploits soon.