“Sling Media made quite a splash with its Slingbox last year, giving people the opportunity to watch all those TiVo or DVR showsanywhere they went via an Internet-connected, Windows-based PC or laptop. The Slingbox itself doesn't look like much -- a large silver "brick" with several inputs on the back. But attach it to your network and cable provider at home, and it's ready to connect you to your living room wherever you go.
The news from CES is that Sling Media will be adding a mobile component to the Slingbox.
The company says any wireless-enabled Windows Mobile Smartphone or handheld will soon be able to see live or taped TV shows on the go. We used a Sprint Pocket PC phone provided by the company, and it seemed to work just fine.
The frame rate slowed when we had a bad signal, but it never dropped out entirely, and the speed of the video adjusted depending on its surroundings. In Las Vegas, we were able to watch the movie "Hoop Dreams" that was recorded on the Sling Media rep's home TiVo back in San Francisco.
There will likely be some debate over licensing, copyright, etc. in the months and years to come, but the company is confident that it's only providing people a way to access cable content they already own or pay for.
The Slingbox retails for $249, though the company has not announced whether the mobile component will cost more. That will be revealed sometime this quarter when the service becomes available.”
If I had this I'd never get any work done ever again. For reals. Well, unless my job description was changed to include television watching.
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