can i control apple tv from my macbook? -- verification needed!

Point taken.

To any answer your one remaining question. I would have the browser on my laptop and paste to the native apple tv app via my osx remote.

Basically it would be like copying from safari mobile to the apple tv's native app via the remote app on ios.

In what way? What native app is mobile safari communicating with?

standard copy and paste

I understand that, but in what way is it communicating with a native app? In your example with mobile safari how is it doing this?

1. open safari mobile
2. research a movie on imdb or whatever
3. find a movie you want to watch
4. press and hold on the movie's title to copy
5. open the 'remote' app for ATV
6. use remove app to navigate to netflix's search
7. press and hold in search field in remote app
8. paste movie title
9. hit search
10. ATV native netflix app searches for movie previous researched in mobile safari

Ok, now that you clarified it makes sense. Anyway, the points, in regards to the computer aspect,have been made so we will leave it at that

I came here looking for the same thing FreshEyeBall wants. It makes perect sense to me.

There isn't much of a need so I don't see it happening but you can feel free to give direct feedback

https://www.google.ca/search?q=apple+feedback&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=saf ari

I don't understand this attitude of "I don't see why you'd want that, so here's some other, completely pedestrian suggestion, along with a little sarcasm." I'm sure that's what people were saying to guys like Ford, Edison and Jobs. "I don't see why you'd want a moving pointer on the screen controlled by this mouse thing, Steve."

I'm sitting in my living room, watching my AppleTV while checking my email and surfing the web on my Macbook. Why not have an app on my Macbook that allows me to control the AppleTV? Why must I go get the iPhone from upstairs and have a second computing device in my hands when I already have a much more sophisticated computing device already in my hands? After all, the slippery little AppleTV remote has slipped into the furniture somewhere, so I'm either going to have to go upstairs and get the iPhone off the charger, or download an app really quickly and use it. Sure, maybe copy and paste would be handy too. And being able to use the keyboard would also be nice. But the main point is that I want to jump around IN the AppleTV between Netflix and Hulu, or go into the Settings menu using my laptop as the controller. This is not the same thing as controlling iTunes and using AirPlay or using AirPlay from the Macbook. I'm looking for a simple app that can control the AppleTV just like the iOS Remote app does. In fact, as I am writing this, I found the AppleTV remote and the battery is dead. Doh! It seems like a no brainer to have an OS X app for this. Maybe YOU don't see a need for it, but the original poster does; I do. So comment if you can be constructive, but don't make these unhelpful comments like, "you don't need that because with airplay you can blah blah blah." In fact, the original subject line suggests a yes or no answer. And the keyword is "control", so AirPlay does not qualify.

My suspicion, since this seems like an app that must have been thought of by many a developer, is that Apple does not publish the specs for controlling the AppleTV over IP, or they simply have a restriction on apps submitted to the app store.

Well there have been very few people asking for it, if there was a need they would likely look into developing it. However, You are free to leave feedback directly, and if there really is a need and people let Apple know then it may be developed. As it stands there is nothing any user here can suggest.

Would it not make more sense to simply have a functional iOS emulator that could run apps already in your iTunes library? Note: the iOS dev SDK does NOT have this function.

Apple could sell so much more from the App store if they opened this aspect of their ecosystem. As a shareholder, just thinking out loud.

That is exacty what I was wondering. It is a pain to use the remote to search for things on You tube. I should be able to use my MacBook's keyboard. There should be an app for that!!

Provide feedback to Apple. In the meantime, there are alternatives in place like the remote app, 3rd party remotes, bluetooth keyboards.

"I don't see why you'd want that, so here's some other, completely pedestrian suggestion, along with a little sarcasm"

My god yes, it is so completely annoying.

For what it's worth, I want this too. So simple to make-- I assume if it were possible, someone would have already hacked this together? Closed system?

I was also very frustrated by the lsck of sn app. Clearly this is something a lot of people would want to do.

I came accros this gem http://www.eyalw.com/1keyboard Essentsilly makes your mac into a bluetooth keyboard and works fantasticslly to control apple tv - far batter than the IOS remote app in my humble

It does exacly what i need - it is awsome well worth the $7.