Hail to Bhupen Shah, co-creator of The Slingbox, and Sling Media's partners Texas Instruments and Microsoft Windows Media Team! (I didn't think I'd every be saying hail to Microsoft in my lifetime, but I am now.)
Sling Media touts itself as a media gadget maker.
From our standpoint, it's the ultimate gadget -- right up there with the iPod and the TiVo.
The Slingbox is similar to TiVo, in that it gives viewers the ultimate control as it to when and where they would like to watch television or any form of electronic media.
Where TiVo offers the world the ultimate "when" solution, the Slingbox offers you the ultimate "when and where" solution.
Whether you're on the road, in your bathroom, out in the garden, Slingbox delivers.
Sling Media's Solution When You're On The Road
Sling Media's solution to viewing your own TV while on the road involves two pieces of technology.
In addition to the Slingbox hardware which always remains connected to your television source, they provide you with the SlingPlayer software--which is installed on any Windows-based desktop or laptop.
This software program gives you 100% control over your source. It encompasses several innovative technologies, including their SlingStream optimization algorithms that automatically give you the best picture possible.
You can watch your TV in full-screen or windowed mode.
There's also the Slingbar mode, which docks the SlingPlayer on either side of the desktop.
Your desktop will dynamically resize to fit the remaining screen space, so you can watch TV while using your computer for other functions such as surfing the Web or working on a presentation.
Or in my case, working on my next American Idol story.
A New Definition for "Prime Time" TV
Sling Media's Slingbox lets television audiences in California receive television programs aired three hours earlier on the East Coast to wireless laptops, portable devices and Windows Mobile cell phones over a high-speed Internet connection.
If you're in Hawaii you can use the Slingbox to watch American Idol six hours earlier.
If you're in London, and you're really hard core, you could get up extremely early in the morning to see the British cad Simon Cowell at his best -- or worst.
An Alternative To Putting Content on DVDs
The Slingbox also offers you the opportunity to share your favorite content with loved ones.
For instance, we can videotape our daughters' piano recital. Then, rather than recording their performance to our computer, burn a DVD, and put the DVD in the mail, we can stream it live -- via the Slingbox -- to grandparents located nearly anywhere in the world, as long as they have SlingPlayer software installed on a computer or Windows Mobile cell phone and a relatively high-speed Internet connection.
Setting Up The Slingbox
Necessary tools:
The Slingbox -- which comes with a setup wizard that guides you through the process step-by-step (in case you're not lucky, as I am, to have a graduate from MIT in your house)
A high-speed Internet connection
A computer to initially set up the Slingbox and to watch your favorite programs, if this is your desired viewing platform
Optional tools:
A television set -- for a larger audience (note: prepare for some pixelization when you go full screen)
A cell phone (yes, the Slingbox enables you to watch and hear Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul in miniature form)
Not Required
No new cables are required.
No subscriptions come with their product offering.
A Young Parents' Dream Machine
Of course, we could have flown to Maine and set up our dream time machine from our cottage in Kennebunkport. However, we don't own a television set in Maine. Nor do we want to.
In our case, we sent our second Slingbox to Washington D.C. where our sister, Ellen and tech-savvy lawyer brother-in-law, Gabe Fineman successfully set it up in their house. Thanks Uncle Gabe & Auntie Ellen!
We then broke down and bought a Dell Computer (for twenty years we have only owned Macs).
While Sling Media is coming out with a Mac-friendly SlingPlayer in the first half of this year we couldn't wait.
Before Tim went to the dark side, he dropped by Sling Media's "booth" during the MacWorld Conference in January. On just one day of the conference, Sling Media set up shop at a local Starbucks to show off their cool, award-winning technology. It was there that Tim got confirmation that he had no choice but to bite the bullet and buy a PC.
"We'll be coming out with the SlingPlayer Mac next quarter," said Jason Krikorian, Sling Media's co-founder and their VP of Marketing Development.
From the time Sling Media debuted their first product last June, it was Tim's initial intention to buy a Slingbox, test it out here in San Francisco, and then ship it to Gabe and Ellen in Washington D.C. He used our old DVD player, which he hooked up to the Slingbox, and tested it out over our local area network by watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
After Tim set it up, he started to think about all of the different ways we could use the Slingbox in our own from home and from afar.
For instance, we have a television upstairs but no cable or satellite hook-up in our bedroom. That tv set is reserved exclusively for NetFlix movies.
However, with the Slingbox we have the capability of recording a show on our TiVo downstairs. The Slingbox enables us to stream that TiVo recorded content to our upstairs tv.
Now we have the capability of watching 24, Commander In Chief or The E-Ring even in the rooms where we do not have a TiVo in place.
Tim was so impressed by the ease of set-up that he decided to hook-up our first Slingbox to our TiVo at home, and then purchase a second one to send directly to the East Coast.
Fortunately, our siblings Gabe and Ellen also have TiVo.
When our girls got home from piano lessons at 5:10pm on Tuesday evening, we called up Uncle Gabe and Auntie Ellen to say we were ready to watch American Idol. (Note: The IR Blasters that came with our East Coast Slingbox don't seem to be working, so we are not able to use the remote control feautre of the SlingPlayer software. In the meantime, Auntie Ellen is acting as our "remote control.")
From our tv, we could see the results of Ellen controlling her television set. We watched as she rewound the show to the beginning.
At the time, it felt a bit voyeuristic -- like we were doing something we shouldn't be.
But we quickly got over that when Ryan Seacrest came on the screen and welcomed us to the fifth season of American Idol three hours earlier than expected.
As long as we're starting the program before Ellen and Gabe go to sleep, we're in good shape. In fact, Sling Media has created another great reason to stay in closer communication with our siblings.
From our Dell into our set-top box, at 5:30pm -- not 8pm -- we were watching American Idol along with millions of others on the East Coast.
While SlingRemote lets you change channels, view recorded content, fast-forward and set up a season pass with virtually any A/V device, we have yet to master that one.
Once we do, when we're on the road, we'll be able to watch programs from either our laptop, our cell phone, or, if we decide to get really nerdy, from the television set in our hotel room.
Needless to say, January 31st will go down as a milestone night in this household.
At 6:30pm (one-and-a-half hours before the rest of the people in our local world were getting ready to watch American Idol) we were turning the tv off, and transitioning to practicing the piano, helping the girls get ahead in homework, having family time, and watching Bush's latest State of the Union Address.
Meanwhile, Sling Media, Inc., based in Silicon Valley, California, was celebrating the fact that they had just raised $46.6 million in new financing.
On Tuesday, the company announced it had landed a new round of financing from media conglomerate Liberty Media Corp. , satellite TV operator EchoStar Communications Corp. , Goldman Sachs, Allen & Co., Doll Capital Management, Mobius Venture Capital and Hearst Corp.
This gives us further assurances that our $220 investment is only going to increase in value.
Of course, we wish we could have added a couple of zeroes behind that $220 and been in on Sling Media's new round.
The company's CEO and co-founder, Blake Krikorian, 38, said the funds will help the company roll out a number of new products, as well as give the company an acquisition war chest, should the need for one arise.
Krikorian said:
What this means for us is that we can expand sales to other parts of the world.
But we also want to expand our product portfolio, and provide a family of different products.
Congratulations Blake and Jason Krikorian, Bhupen Shah, and all those behind this unique, magical dream machine.
Rugged Elegance has added The Slingbox to our portfolio of 1,500 products in our marketplace.
Tim Fredel and Jennifer King personally recommend it to our monthly audience of 600,000, and to anyone else who comes upon this story via Google News or other media sources.
Enjoy!
About Sling Media
Sling Media, Inc. is a digital lifestyle products company creating a family of consumer electronics products that are a natural extension of today's digital way of life. The first member of the Sling Media family is the award-winning Slingbox, a device that allows consumers to access their living room television experience at any time, from any location, using a variety of different displays including laptop and desktop PCs, handheld computers and smartphones.
This past holiday season the Slingbox was one of the hottest holiday gifts and has been met with critical acclaim from major personal technology reviewers, including columnists for The Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine, MSNBC, CNET.com and The Financial Times, among others.
The Slingbox has also received numerous industry awards across multiple categories, spanning innovation, engineering and design.
Sling Media most recently received a PC World "Innovations" award, Time Magazine's "Best Inventions of 2005," BusinessWeek's "Best Products of 2005," a "Best of What's New" award from Popular Science and a "Breakthrough Innovation" award from Popular Mechanics.
For more information on Sling Media or the Slingbox, please visit:
www.SlingMedia.com
Inspire & Be Inspired.
Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful, "dream machine" living!
~ Jennifer Carolyn King, Rugged Elegance, LLC
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