The Gillmor Gang — Robert Scoble, John Taschek, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor — took a WiFi stroll through the forest that is Hollywood’s attempt to lock down our TVs. And by stroll, this one features @stevegillmor at a leisurely somewhat brain-cell challenged pace. You can almost see him think, except that there’s not much thought going on there. No, really. The others are in good condition, unless you count @scobleizer once he starts hitting the whiskey toward the end.

As to the battle for control of our TV, it’s really too late, what with SOPA boycotts, reverse engineering of the Apple AirPlay bus, and Microsoft’s slow fade from CES underway. But that doesn’t stop the Cartel from trying. It may turn out that you can someday move network news shows from Slingbox to iPad and back up to Apple TV over WiFi; for now the realtime bus is getting choked. In fact all things streaming are about to collide with bandwidth caps, at least in our house. With 4 Apple TVs and counting, it won’t be long before WiFi consulting becomes a trade school offering. Me, I’m off to Fry’s to follow the chat room advice. Happy Holidays.

@stevegillmor, @scobleizer, @jtaschek, @kevinmarks

Produced and directed by Tina Chase Gillmor @tinagillmor

Boxee Box owners, get ready for even more content. The SlingPlayer app is available for your downloading (auto-playing video warning) and ready to catch content slung from a SlingBox Solo or Pro-HD.

This simple app allows big things. When paired with the appropriate SlingBox, Boxee Box users will be able to remotely control and access a cable box, DVR or satellite receiver. This turns the Boxee Box into a content consuming monster.

The SlingBox sits alongside a set-top cable or satellite box and essentially captures the video stream. It then allows users to remote access and control the connected box. This stream is then broadcasted online where owners can access it via a web browser, smartphone, tablet, and, just recently, Facebook. The Boxee Box app is just the latest addition.

With a connected SlingBox, a Boxee Box basically turns into a one-stop-shop. The device was already one of the best streamer with access to most online video sources including Netflix and all the media companies. Now, as long as there’s a SlingBox in play, the ‘Box has access to cable content. Put a SlingBox on one of your cable boxes and then install the Boxee Box on a bedroom TV. Or, even better, convince one of your buddies to let you put a SlingBox on one of his cable boxes.

The app was demonstrated over the summer prior to its beta phase. The two companies took to the wire this morning to announce the app is finally ready. Fortunately there doesn’t seem to be a cost for the app or service.

Slingbox has made the act of watching your television from anywhere stupendously easy over the years, and now the company has added yet another way to catch up on Community on the go: now you can watch from your Facebook account.

That’s right, if their Android, iOS, PC, and Mac clients weren’t enough to keep you connected, Slingbox has recently released their new SlingPlayer Facebook app. Not every Sling fan will be able to partake, though: the SlingPlayer Facebook app only works if you have a PRO-HD or SOLO unit running the latest firmware update.

While cool, the Facebook app’s utility is a bit suspect considering users can already access their Slingbox’s streams from the Sling website. It could potentially see use in the workplace (though I’m sure none of our readers would ever do that) where IT departments can blacklist certain sites, but if that’s the case then they’re probably filtering Facebook out too.

The app’s social features are pretty limited too; users can post potentially TV-related status updates from within the app, but that’s about it. Slingbox promises to bulk up their app’s social functions in the future, so we’ll keep our ears to the ground for any new developments. For now, current Slingbox users can get cracking by clicking right here.

[via @davezatz]

Sling Media, an EchoStar subsidiary, this morning announced the availability of SlingPlayer for tablets running Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) or later. The app is available on Android Market now and costs $29.99, the same price Sling Media charges for any of its mobile applications.

The application basically lets Slingbox owners watch home TV from their Android tablets. (The Slingbox retails for $180 and up).

New to this release of SlingPlayer is a revamped program guide that Sling Media says makes it easier to browse content choices while continuing to watch TV, change channels and control their DVRs.

The earlier released SlingPlayer app for Android phones will continue to work in “Compatibility Mode” on tablets at no extra charge – that version of the application streams from all Slingboxes but not at the higher-quality resolutions available on tablet devices.

Sling Media first teased its SlingPlayer app for Honeycomb devices a few weeks ago with the video below, but you can download it now for $29.99, ¥2600, £20.99 or 23.99 euros.

DISH Network is First Pay-TV Provider to Give Customers Ability to Watch Their Live TV on iPad

Free DISH Remote Access Gives DISH Network Customers Ability to Transform Their iPad into a TV

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Dec. 1, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — DISH Network L.L.C., today announced that DISH Remote Access, the free application that gives DISH Network customers the ability to watch their live and recorded TV on compatible smartphones, tablets and laptops, is now available for the iPad™. To enjoy live and recorded TV viewing on the iPad, DISH Network customers must have a broadband-connected, Sling-enabled™ device such as the Sling Adapter™ – a small placeshifting device that pairs with DISH Network’s ViP® 722 or 722k HD DVRs.

“DISH Network is the only pay-TV provider to offer a true TV everywhere solution, and now we’ve extended that experience to the iPad,” said DISH Network Chief Marketing Officer Ira Bahr. “Unlike mobile viewing from cable and telcos that limit access to select programs, our TV Everywhere services give consumers 24 x 7 access to all of their live and recorded content included with their DISH Network programming subscription.”

In addition to TV viewing, the DISH Remote Access app also gives DISH Network customers with compatible DVRs the ability to browse and search up to nine days of programming, schedule DVR recordings, manage conflicts, delete shows on multiple receivers, and transform the iPad into a fully-functioning remote control.

The DISH Remote Access app for the iPad can be downloaded for free from the iTunes App Store. For more information about DISH Remote Access, visit www.dish.com/tveverywhere.

Slingbox has released four new placeshifting devices. They are, in order of appearance:

Slingbox 700U
This box allows HD receivers to “sling” their “content” over the “Internet” directly, cutting out the laborous process of videotaping TV, converting it at one of those strip mall conversion places, and mailing it in the post. It connects to any set-top box with a USB port, a strange requirement to be sure..

Sling Receiver 300
The Sling Receiver connects to any other Sling HD cable box and grabs HD streams over the local home network.

Sling Monitor 150
Wait, what? A TV? The wireless sling monitor is a portable TV that can grab sling streams. You can carry it from room to room or, if you’re daring, into the bathroom.

Sling Touch Control 100
And now the piece de resistance or the most resistant piece! A touchscreen remote control! I would sleep with this one.

We’ll take a look at all the devices tomorrow but until then, thank us for making your morning.

But Spawn Labs offering is actually a bit more robust because it includes a social element as well. A key part to playing video games is playing them against other people. And with the Spawn HD Pro appliance, you’ll be able to do just that. Say a friend has an Xbox 360 in California and wants to play a game against you, but you’re in New York. From New York, you would simply install the Spawn Player application on your computer, and you could remotely connect to their system, to play a game.

The key to all of this is of course the Spawn HD Pro box, which will retail for $199 (available on their site today). These boxes will be able to transmit HD-quality (720p) content over the Internet to the computer on the other end. On those computers, users can play the game with an input device of their choosing.

The idea of playing popular video games over the web is a hot area right now. The two most well-known names in this field are OnLive and OTOY. But both of those are attempting to use their own servers to create a completely online experience, Spawn Labs is simply allowing you to take an existing console and transmit the content over the Internet. Of course, one potential issue with this method is that someone must be on the other end (where the console is) to make sure it has the game disc you want to play inside of it.

Eventually, the plan is to expand Spawn Labs’ technology beyond video games as well. They’d basically like to handle any and all video content over their box. Computers, other set-top boxes, and even mobile devices are all in the pipeline to be hooked up to Spawn Labs’ services.

Today, President and CEO David Wilson presented alongside QA engineer Daniel Bethke.

Expert Panel Q&A (paraphrased)

The experts: Don Dodge, Yossi Vardi, Ron Conway, George Zachary, and Jason Hirschhorn.

Q: Is it a weakness to have one game in at a time?

DW: That is something we thought about, but the direction of the industry is to have games on console’s hard drives.

Q: How do the graphics travel? And is this software on the console itself eventually?

DW: When you’re in a bandwidth constrained around, the network will downscale.

Q: So this is more targeted in the home?

DW: We’re targeting both.

Q: The bet is that customers will pay $200 for a hardware device to play games remotely. How often do players do that?

DW: Right now they can’t do it. But there is a strong desire for this. We have orders from several of the top game developers in the world for this.

Q: What kind of support?

DW: It runs any game on the supported consoles. (Xbox 360, Wii, Gabecube, PS3, etc)

Q: This also assumes the player has their controller?

DW: You don’t need one, but you can use any controller you want.

Q:  What about the handhelds?

DW: Theoretically yes, not sure yet though.

Pictures

http://www.ustream.tv/flash/video/2162380

TC50: Spawn Labs lets you play your console games on your laptop VentureBeat.
TechCrunch50: Remote-Controlled Xboxes, Cableless Cables Gearlog.
Spawn Labs launches way to play console games remotely on PC BigDownload
Spawn Labs HD-720 enables streaming of console gamesjoystiq.
Gaming Tech Firm Spawn Labs Launches With $1 Million In FundingpaidContent.
Spawn: It’s SlingBox for Your Console GamesTechnologizer.
Spawn Labs launches at TechCrunch 50 AustinStartup.
Spawn Labs Allows You To Play Your Console Games On Any PC #TC50 Techgeist
Spawn Labs launches at TechCrunch 50 Austin Entrepreneur Network.
Startup lets you play console video games remotely Yahoo! Tech.
Word Of Mouth Has The Most Influence On GamersWebProNews.
Finally — a ‘SlingBox’ for Your Games PC World.

Woot! is selling a refurbished Slingbox SOLO (why do companies insist on capitalizing words for no reason?) for $99.99 plus $5 for shipping. This same unit, new, sells for well over $150 elsewhere — the lowest I could find was $155 on Amazon.

If you’re not familiar with Slingbox, it’s an apparatus that you connect to your cable box and your internet connection that allows you to watch whatever’s coming out of your cable box over the internet from anywhere in the world. Basically it’s for sports fans and local news junkies, along with people who travel overseas and can’t stand foreign television.

Slingbox SOLO [Woot.com]

Don’t you think it’s rather nice of Sling to offer this discount on new hardware rather than simply putting out a firmware upgrade for the older crop? I do. You have to have something to spend your unemployment check on. Why not a gadget?

Man alive! Dish Network will have a DVR with built-in Slingbox tech. It’s the Vip 922 HD DuoDVR; we don’t know when it’ll be available, nor do we have any pics. Later today, I suppose.

It’s the first time that a non-Sligbox box will have Slingbox tech built in. The San Francisco Chronicle says the new DVR is “definitely a high-end product.” Good idea to release such a device in this environment.

I’ll have the boys on the show floor—again, I’m still in New York this week—find out more for y’all.

Amazon has the Slingbox-like HAVA Platinum HD extender for $86.99, down from its $149.99 list price. The box takes in an HD video signal and streams it back out over your home network via the built-in Ethernet port.

Video on your local network gets compressed as DVD-quality MPEG-2, while you’re also able to watch everything over the internet, too, compressed as MP4 files. The HAVA can also record shows to your home computer for later viewing.

HAVA Platinum HD TV Device [Amazon.com]

Sling Media, the company behind the popular Slingbox TV-streaming hardware devices, has opened the gates to its video portal Sling.com. The site pits Sling directly against Joost and Hulu (though Hulu is a Sling partner), allowing users to stream a variety of television shows and movies for free through an intuitive Flash player.

Sling’s selection of media is pretty comprehensive, offering content from most of the major networks and studios including Warner, Sony, and MGM (Sling is licensing some of its content from Hulu). The site also offers movies from a number of smaller sources, like College Humor’s shorts. But there are a few notable exceptions: Comedy Central is nowhere to be found, which means The Daily Show and Colbert Report aren’t available (Hulu began offering both shows in June).

Read more…

The details are slim at this point, but sometime in the near future, Blackberry owners will be able to control their TiVos while on the go. 

Initially, BlackBerry smartphone users will gain the convenience of being able to discover what shows are on and schedule television recordings while away from the living room and on the go. Future collaboration between the companies will focus on software applications that further simplify mobile access to video content.

As a Blackberry and TiVo owner, I for one, welcome my new TiVoberry overload. Give me full TiVo access via a 3g network similar to Slingbox, and I will be yours forever my lord.

Attention Sling fans-

The Pro-HD is finally shipping and it’s cheaper than what we reported from CES at $300.

The SlingCatcher is a bit more than Sling was hoping for, but it, too, is $300.

via Zatznotfunny

A man named MegaZone (his real name, which, thinking about it, is really cool, like Cher in a Gundam suit) emailed us explaining that he now represents Sling and wanted to share with us the news that Sling has created a version of its software for the iPhone. You, too, can even take a look. He writes:

We have a proof of concept version of SlingPlayer Mobile already running on ‘jail broken’ iPhones.  We’ll be holding live demonstrations of this client on the iPhone and iPod Touch for those attending the WWDC.  Product Manager Vicky Shum will be at the Starbucks at 120 4th Street, San Francisco (across from the Metreon) between 10:00 and 16:00 (10am and 4pm) on Monday, June 9th.  So if you’ll be in town attending WWDC, please stop by for an SPM demo.  The demos are open to all comers, so please feel free to invite your readers to drop in as well.  We do ask that you hold this news under embargo until midnight Eastern/9pm Pacific tonight.

We do not intend to make this available to customers, it is a proof of concept.  We are looking forward to the iPhone SDK becoming publicly available this week and fully intend to develop SlingPlayer Mobile using the SDK and are looking forward to selling it through the iTunes store.  We started the development process before the SDK was available to characterize the performance of the platform and ensure that we could deliver a high quality customer experience on the iPhone & iPod Touch platforms. The results have been very promising and we are eagerly awaiting the SDK’s release so we can hopefully leverage what we have done already to deliver SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone
 

Thanks, MegaZone. good luck at Sling.

This is basically a Slingbox on steroids. By using a video camera and Mac Mini, David Glover created a DIY Slingbox that can transmit just about anything on you’re watching.

He basically used his camera as a DV input for a Mac Mini and then transmitted that signal using QuickTime Broadcaster. It’s a bit of a kludge but it seems to work just fine.

Your friendly cable company may soon be carrying the SlingModem, a combination SlingBox and DOCSIS 2.0-certified cable modem. Basically, you’d only have to connect one coax cable to the box and you’d get your internet access, plus you’d be able to sling the cable signal right out of the gate. Sounds cool, I guess.

SlingModem is one of Sling Media’s newest place-shifting devices, combining a DOCSIS 2.0-certified cable modem with the award-winning and innovative features of the Slingbox™. Cable subscribers can use the device as a traditional DOCSIS cable modem that includes the added benefit of built-in Slingbox functionality.  By connecting SlingModem directly to a coax cable input or set-top box, subscribers can receive live or recorded television on any Internet-connected device. SlingModem is easily installed through a single coaxial cable, eliminating the need for additional home networking connections.

The box will be branded and sold directly to cable providers by Echostar, who bought Sling Media last year. Pricing and availability are unknown, but more details should emerge at the Cable Show in New Orleans May 18-20.

Full press release after the jump.

From SlingMedia.com,

EchoStar Develops Products and Services for Cable Industry

EchoStar Announces DOCSIS® 2.0-Certified SlingModem

Englewood, Colo., May 14, 2008 — EchoStar Technologies L.L.C, a subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), today announced its entry into the cable industry with the introduction of CableLabs Certified^® DOCSIS® 2.0 SlingModem at CableNET® in New Orleans, La. Earlier this year, EchoStar Corporation™ spun-off from DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH), retaining its set-top box business and certain infrastructure assets. EchoStar purchased Sling Media last fall and is now pursuing OEM relationships with cable operators worldwide.

“The introduction of the SlingModem demonstrates our operator-agnostic philosophy, as well as our dedication to the cable industry,” said Sling Media CEO Blake Krikorian. 

“We are firmly committed to becoming the vendor of choice in the cable industry, leveraging decades of systems and manufacturing excellence,” said Mark Jackson, president of EchoStar Technologies. “We are excited to announce our first cable-ready product at the annual Cable Show, where we can meet face-to-face with industry veterans looking for innovative solutions that will reduce churn and increase average revenue per user.”

SlingModem is one of Sling Media’s newest place-shifting devices, combining a DOCSIS 2.0-certified cable modem with the award-winning and innovative features of the Slingbox™. Cable subscribers can use the device as a traditional DOCSIS cable modem that includes the added benefit of built-in Slingbox functionality.  By connecting SlingModem directly to a coax cable input or set-top box, subscribers can receive live or recorded television on any Internet-connected device. SlingModem is easily installed through a single coaxial cable, eliminating the need for additional home networking connections.

EchoStar enters the cable industry with a strong consumer electronics background in innovative and intuitive products, including state-of-the-art, award-winning DVR set-top boxes and value-added features such as Sling Media’s placeshifting technology. EchoStar’s set-top box veterans have more than 35 years of experience in engineering, manufacturing, product development, and end-to-end systems.

SlingModem is the first product from EchoStar and will be sold to cable operators. EchoStar is working on a variety of other products and services for cable operators to be introduced later this year.

The Cable Show is an annual convention for members of the cable and telecommunications industry to gather for networking, training, and discovery of new products. The Cable Show, sponsored by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA), takes place May 18-20, 2008 in New Orleans.

via Crave

The rumor that Sling Media is working on an iPhone-compatible version of its Sling software refuses to die. In speaking with iLounge, Dave Zatz (of Zatz Not Funny fame, now at Sling Media) confirmed that Sling Media has an iPhone SDK and that’s it’s currently planning what move to make next. “We know it’s [iPhone] a hot platform and we’ll see what our options are,” said Zatz. Smart man, that Zatz.

Sling on the iPhone would be huge for us techies. I don’t know how many times I’ve been in class and have wanted to be watching Champions League on ESPN2 or car chases on Fox News. Of course, I’d need an iPhone first, but, as I’ve said in the past, my next phone will be either iPhone v2 or an Android-based phone, just waiting to see how it pans out.

A blog I’ve never heard of, Electric pig, claims that an “extremely senior source” (they’ve fans of All the Presidents Men) at SlingMedia has promised an iPhone and iPod Touch version of the SlingBox software. If true, that would mean you’d be able to watch your at-home TV channels, DVR’d content and the like on your iPhone and iPod Touch. The rumor is slightly more credible because Apple supposedly gave SlingMedia an iPhone/iPod Touch SDK a few months ago.

This is probably Sling’s best chance to break through to the masses. What better device to promote your service than the iPhone/iPod Touch? You can almost picture Steve Jobs demonstrating it during an overhyped media event, sprinkled with a few “booms” for good measure.

CES 2008: Slingplayer coming to iPhone [Electric pig via Mac Rumors]

Amazon’s head of consumer electronics cautions: Don’t let the marketing speak convince you that the Xbox 360 or latest Motorola set-top box is truly “excellent.”

Paul Ryder, who’s in charge of CE at Amazon, thinks so-called convergence devices fall into one of two categories: the “capable”, like the 360—good enough, but often too hard to fully exploit for the average person—and the excellent, those that work perfectly without any headaches. What makes the excellent list?

• The EyeFi. A 2GB SD card with a built-in Wi-Fi antenna. Instantly, and easily, upload digital photos and video straight from your camera.

• Slingbox. Your TV shows wherever you go. I take it you’ve heard of it before.

• Flip Video. A VGA-quality video camera with a built-in USB port. No headaches there.

• Unbox and Kindle. I think the Amazon guy was just shilling, but I do like the Kindle, you may remember.

Converging On Greatness [Forbes.com]