While set-top boxes like the Apple TV, Foxtel IQ, Fetch TV and others make it easy to get a stack of content on your TV, that may not always be convenient or cost-effective. You're often limited to the content that the hardware provider supports and the cost can be significant.

But if you already have a computer, tablet or smartphone, it's pretty easy to hook your device up to a TV. Here's how to do it.

Windows/Mac/Android: If you want to show off your iPhone or iPad screen, typically you need an Apple TV. Reflector puts your iOS screen on a Mac, PC or Android device by acting as an AirPlay receiver.

Android: Streambels is a new app that streams music, videos, photos and YouTube from your Android phone to any AirPlay or DLNA compatible player with just a few taps. That means you can push media from your phone to an Apple TV or iOS device, right to your TV or receiver, game console or almost any set-top box.

I was fed up with having so many cables floating around in my car, and I wasn’t happy with the compressed audio quality with Bluetooth. So I came up with an awesome wireless audio solution. If you're bold enough to pop open an Apple AirPort Express and modify its innards, here’s how to hack Apple AirPort Express to put AirPlay in your car.

Mac: We love Quicksilver, the great Mac app launcher that does so much more than launching. Thanks to a feature called Triggers, you can turn almost any action or script into a keyboard shortcut. That now includes switching AirPlay sources on the fly.

iOS can stream audio to any AirPlay destination, but it can't stream audio to multiple AirPlay speakers like iTunes can. This little workaround with streaming app Airfoil solves that problem.

iOS (jailbroken): AirFloat is a jailbreak app that turns your iOS device into an AirPlay receiver. It allows you to wirelessly stream music to it from anywhere.

Few things are better than kicking back on the couch and streaming your favourite album wirelessly to your stereo from your phone. That's easy to do with AirPlay, but if you don't want to pay for Apple's solutions, a Raspberry Pi does the job remarkably well.

If you want to get wireless music streaming and AirPlay functionality on your home theatre system you have to buy either an Airport Express or Apple TV and then connect it to a stereo. But if you want to DIY it on your own, blogger Jordan Burgess shows off how to make your stereo AirPlay compatible with a Raspberry Pi.

Windows/Mac: AirPlay is an awesome way to stream music to your main stereo, but it only really works with iTunes. Airfoil streams any audio to your AirPlay devices, and it's on sale right now.

Mac/iOS: It's easy to share your computer's screen from anywhere, but when it comes to your iPhone or iPad, that's not always the case. Fortunately, a clever method discovered by entrepreneur Matt Galligan offers a simple solution.

Android: Apple's media-streaming technology, AirPlay, is designed to stream only to "Apple approved" devices, but Android users can get around this by restriction with Android HIFI. The free app turns your Android device into a receiver for streaming music from AirPlay clients like iTunes and iOS.

AirParrot is a straightforward tool that fills in a big hole in AirPlay's functionality: it can mirror your Mac's display on any AirPlay-compatible device. That means your AppleTV or iDevice, or even another Mac if you're utilising another tool called AirServer.

This morning, Apple announced that the next version of Mac OS X, dubbed Mountain Lion, is scheduled to be available later this year. It's filled with cool new features, but who wants to wait to get them? Here's how you can get the best features of Mountain Lion right now.

Want to check out the hair at the nape of your neck, see what the back of your throat looks like, or look into places where you can't fit your head? If you have an iPhone 4S and Apple TV you can set up AirPlay mirroring so whatever your camera is recording is displayed on your TV in real time.

In iOS 5, Apple added some slick multitasking gestures to the iPad that allow you to four-finger swipe to pull up the multitasking drawer, swipe left and right between apps, and five-finger pinch to view the homescreen. They also added AirPlay mirroring, which allows you to view your iPad's screen on an Apple TV. Both of these features are great, but for whatever reason, Apple decided they were best relegated to the iPad 2. Here's how to enable the new multitouch swipes and mirroring on your first generation iPad, no jailbreaking required.

Safari: For Safari users who have been itching for the same Airplay functionality built into iOS to hit their computers, these two extensions, ClickToPlugin and Media Center, will add Airplay streaming to Safari.

Mounting ceiling speakers to your room and steaming your favourite beats to any or all your rooms with an Airport Express and your iPhone or iTunes is more than just convenient, it's a touch of luxury. I'll show you how easy it is to setup a room, in less than an hour, and free your music library.