As far as this fall’s hardware refresh, sources say that we can anticipate an improvement to Airplay. Users will be able to “tell the Apple TV to play content … directly from the cloud” without having to log in. Any movies, podcasts, and other content a user has purchased on iTunes can be played from anyone’s Apple TV. Convenient? Definitely.
September 18th is an important date to keep in mind; along with iOS 7’s release, Apple TV is scheduled for an internal overhaul. On top of that, the new iTunes Radio service will be accessible to U.S. users that day as well. It is expected, though not certain, that a second Mac and OS X focused event will be held later in the fall. Hopefully, the hardware update for Apple TV launches then. Though there was an internal update last year, the hardware hasn’t really been updated since then, and a refresh is long due.