“Out of the box, the Apple TV can quickly be configured to turn any HDTV into a stunning holiday decoration, even without an Apple ID or iTunes account,” Geoffrey Goetz reports for GigaOM.

“Using Apple’s ability to connect to Flickr, as well as its Internet Radio features, you can easily have a stunning backdrop to your holiday events in three easy steps,” Goetz reports. “If you’re looking to show off your own photos rather than someone else’s, and you want to play your own music,too, then there’s a little more work involved. With the Apple TV, there are two ways to access your music library: Either via Home Sharing or iTunes Match.”

Goetz reports, “This third method requires only that you’re at somewhere with an Apple TV, and have an iPhone capable of AirPlay. From Spotify, to Google Music and Pandora, you can use whatever music source you choose with this method, as well as your own on-device iTunes library.”

Full article, with easy step-by-step instructions, here.