Click NOW to build your FREE WEBSITESlinging in reverse
What's the opposite of the Slingbox? The new SlingCatcher.
The SlingCatcher is a set-top box that will let users project Web content to a TV screen, either wired or wirelessly, through an application called SlingProjector. Navigation can be done with either the included remote or through a PC.
SlingCatcher
(Credit: Sling Media)The device is set to be announced Sunday at CES 2007 by Sling Media, the same people behind the Slingbox, which lets you watch your home TV channels on a laptop or a smart phone. The SlingCatcher retains the Slingbox's familiar trapezoid shape.
With an eye on Apple's upcoming iTV, Sling Media CEO Blake Krikorian said announcing the new device for bringing Web content, such as YouTube videos, to a living room is his company officially "throwing our hat in the ring there."
Krikorian said the SlingCatcher will be available for "less than $200" sometime in the second quarter or as late as this summer.
Erica Ogg is a CNET News reporter who covers Apple, HP, Dell, and other PC makers, as well as the consumer electronics industry. She's also one of the hosts of CNET News' Daily Podcast. In her non-work life, she's a history geek, a loyal Dodgers fan, and a mac-and-cheese connoisseur. E-mail Erica.
This sling product would probably have been a great addition to my living room, if nintendo hadn't just done the same thing almost a month ago as a free addon to it's Wii. The Opera browser is fully flash enabled, so you can watch YouTube or Homestarrunner all you want, on your televison, will all your friends not croweded around a laptop, controlling the system from your easychair with the fairly elegant Wiimote.
Since the Nintendo only runs $250, this Sling product will have to run way under $200 for it to be feasable. Good idea, but unfortunatly it looks to be a little late on the draw.