Lost among the noise of the Apple event and subsequent online whinefest by idiot tech hacks was the gem you see when you scroll down to ‘more features‘ on Apple’s iOS 5 features page:

AirPlay now supports video mirroring. Which means you can wirelessly — and securely — stream whatever’s on your iPad 2 or iPhone 4S to your HDTV via Apple TV. Everyone in the room sees exactly what’s on your iPad or iPhone display up on the big screen — even when you rotate your device from portrait to landscape or zoom in and out.

For some people, this won’t make any odds, but for me, this is fantastic. It not only enables me to get mirroring over AirPlay without buying an iPad 2 (hello, iPad 3 instead!), but it shows Apple’s moving ahead with this technology, for any devices that have the relevant clout. This is particularly good news for gaming. By next year, Apple’s iPods will have A5 chips, meaning all current-gen iOS products will have AirPlay mirroring with an Apple TV. This has the potential to revolutionise Apple’s ‘hobby’ device, not least in the field of gaming.