To repeat, do not upgrade your Apple TV to 3.0 if you’re running hacked ATV plugins like XBox Media Center or Boxee. I’m sure this will be fixed in a matter of days – if not hours – but as of right now it means a ride on the Failboat to Sad Trombone Town. That’s right: this update destroys the only thing that makes Apple TV usable and good.

Also, as an added bonus, Apple TV firmware 3.0 is insignificant. It adds Internet radio to the package and improves the UI. It also adds Genius playlists. My cup, as they say, runneth over.

UPDATE – Post has been update with instructions for downgrading to firmware 2.4.

It’s time to put on the Swami hat and predict just what we have in store for 2010 and beyond. Considering all of the movement in the gadget world in the past few months, I’m fairly sure most of this going to be accurate. Given the current status of some of these technologies, it’s hard to prognosticate very far out but there are a few things that have become apparent over the past year, especially the rise of Android and our expectations for the iPad.

Without further ado… the envelope please:

Apple TV -> 27-inch iMac -> Wall Mount for 27-inch iMac

It’s sad but true: Apple doesn’t care about Apple TV. All the real brain power is going to the desktop and laptop and probably onto the iPad. They’ve made it clear with the 27-inch iMac that they can make a high-resolution screen and powerful computer inside of a case the thickness of a college textbook. Who needs a TV, let alone an Apple TV?

The obvious conclusion here is that the 27-inch iMac becomes a real Apple TV. The Mac Mini already makes a great multi-media system and a quick update to FrontRow, now considered abandonware, may make it a great 10-foot interface.

Wait! Before you head off to that weekend costume party, snap yourself in your Halloween costume and enter our First Annual(TM) Halloween Costume Contest.

We’re offering one Xbox 360 Modern Warfare 2 Limited Edition Console to the winner of our First Annual CrunchGear Halloween Costume Contest.

Here’s how to enter.

So Juniper Networks makes network hardware. And they want to make an “iPhone of networking?” What could that be? A small networking device that’s insanely possibly and considered polarizing? Nah. It’s just a new logo, faster chips, and new software. This is all the beat Cisco, which is kind of futile.

Essentially what Juniper is doing is creating an app store for their routers, which is actually kind of cool. Sadly, things are a little rough for developers right now:

“Dewey defeats Truman.” “Ford to City: Drop Dead.” “1,000-plus people crowd new Microsoft Store.” Great headlines are rarely forgotten and they are made all the greater by the their cultural import. To wit: Microsoft’s new store in Mission Viejo was a rousing success, bringing 1,000 sleepy-eyed Mission Viejoians out to see people in blue and yellow shirts. In fact, it was so popular the American Eagle Outfitters store in the Shops at Mission Viejo mall was empty. Empty, friends. Not since the great Taco Bell grease fire of ought-one has the AEO gone empty.

I was Tweeting with Michael Gartenberg last night about all the great Android games. After all, the Android Marketplace has so many great titles like Civilization Revolution, Canabalt, iShoot, and… oh… wait…

All kidding aside, the reason there is such a dearth of great games has to do with some programming choices in Android itself and it’s a problem that can – and should – be fixed before the Droid comes to market this November.

We at CrunchGear are rarely at the forefront of fashion. However, once I reviewed the Vibram Five Fingers I knew I was onto something. Thankfully, there are other people out there who don’t think my love for foot gloves is not strange or weird. In fact, people wear these crazy shoes everywhere they go!

Take a look at BirthdayShoes.com. Editor Justin Owings gets testimonials from all over the world including folks who have run marathons in these things and other folks who stand around in India wearing them. Heck, even Sergey Brin is down.

Video after the jump.

Jeezum crow! This guy has made a fully functional (kind of) Proton Pack from Ghostbusters including a trap, ecto goggles, and some coveralls. He added a few lights controlled by an Arduino board.

The best part? He added lasers to the blasters. Now he just needs to remember not to cross the beams and that your halloween party can be a promotional expense so you should invite clients instead of friends.

Halloween is coming up and if there’s one thing I know it’s that geeks love Halloween. The opportunity to hide behind a mask, to subvert the status quo, and to dress up like sexy nurse/sexy witch/sexy balloon boy is a cause for celebration. That said, we’re offering one Xbox 360 Modern Warfare 2 Limited Edition Console to the winner of our First Annual CrunchGear Halloween Costume Contest.

Here’s how to enter.

While I’m not quite down with a lot of Watchismo’s aesthetic choices, you gotta respect his drive. This guy loves Swiss quartz, crazy designs, and even goes nuts over Hamilton Electrics, watches that are so odd that only one person in the world can fix them.

Do not adjust your computer because Bill Ruppert has put together a nice set of sound effects using only EHX pedals and some creativity. I love how he makes a clock sound with just the pick-up switch and then adds in some bells for spooky effect.

Verizon just confirmed that the Moto Droid will arrive next week for $199 with a new, 2-year contract and $100 mail-in rebate. Customers will need a voice plan starting at $39 and a web and email plan for $29 per month.

See our full Droid coverage here and look for a full hands-on later today.

HELLO HUMANS: DROID BY MOTOROLA ARRIVES NEXT WEEK

Verizon Wireless DROID By Motorola: World’s First Smartphone with Android™ 2.0

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. – High-speed Web browsing, voice-activated search, customizable large screen, access to thousands of Android applications and hundreds of widgets and the best 3G mobile network in the country: DROID by Motorola arrives on Nov. 6.

Verizon Wireless, the company with the nation’s largest wireless 3G broadband network, and Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT), a pioneer in the mobile industry, today unveiled DROID by Motorola, the first smartphone powered by Android™ 2.0. DROID by Motorola features the brainpower and breakneck speed of a modern smartphone, designed to outperform where other smartphones fall short.

The Net Neutrality argument is fairly nebulous for the average user but this image from a Reddit reader shows the effects of the law in a way everyone can understand. If you’re tired of paying tiered pricing for stuff like cable and Internet access, how would you like to pay tiered pricing for the websites you visit. Want to watch Hulu? Add $10. Need eBay, even for a month? $5, please.

Libraries, the places where homeless people, famously, shave and go BM, are seeing an uptick in subscribers thanks to their embrace of ebooks. Our own Brooklyn system has had downloadable ebooks for a few years now and the system is fairly simple: you check out a book to read on your device and then “check it back in” when you’re done. This frees up the download for the next person. The book deletes itself automatically past the due date.

“Media insiders” in Australia are reporting that Apple has approached them to produce content for a device “larger than the iPhone.” The Sydney Morning Herald puts another shrimp on the barbie by saying:

Apple has sent specifications of the device to Australian media companies in an effort to sound out whether they would be interested in delivering their content to the tablet. None would speak about the device on the record.

This follows Bill Keller’s offhand remark that the paper was working for content on an “Apple Slate.”

I call bull.