Sling Media makes products that allow you to watch your home TV or DVR in another location by streaming the audio and video over the Internet. Connect a Slingbox (different models range from $180 to $300) to your home entertainment system (Cable, Tivo, DVR, etc.) and then you can watch live or recorded TV using a laptop anyplace else in the world as long as you have an Internet connection. You can sit in your hotel room in the West Coast and watch your local news or sports being shown on your TV on the East Coast.
Sling Media has developed software to allow you to also watch your TV on a mobile device. They have software for Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Palm OS and Symbian smartphones, and at Macworld Expo they showed off the upcoming SlingPlayer Mobile app for the iPhone. The app appears to be well suited for the iPhone’s large screen. The app will let you watch anything that you could watch at home on your TV on your iPhone, including the ability to change the channel or watch something recorded on your Tivo/DVR.
Want to see more? The folks at The iPhone Blog have a seven minute video demonstration of the SlingPlayer Mobile app running on an iPhone, CNET has a shorter but very good video, and Apple iPhone Apps.com has a video interview with Sling’s Director of Public Relations along with a nice demo. The app should be available in a few months, and while no price is set yet, Sling charges $30 for similar programs on other mobile devices.
