slingbox

LAS VEGAS--A new front opened Monday in the fight to own place-shifting devices when Sling Media, a subsidiary of EchoStar, filed a lawsuit against two of its rivals that accuses them of patent infringement.

Sling, maker of the Slingbox devices that allows users to watch and control their home television from anywhere, filed suit against competitors Belkin International and Monsoon Multimedia. Both are California companies that make devices that compete with the Slingbox at lower prices -- Belkin's @TV and Monsoon's Vulkano.

The announcement comes on the same day Dish Network, a key technology partner of EchoStar, announced an expanded version … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Netgear's NeoTV player's feature list just went up a notch today.

Netgear announced at CES 2013 that it has added Sling Media's SlingPlayer to its line of NeoTV players: the NeoTV (NTV300), NeoTV Pro (NTV300S), the NeoTV Max (NTV300SL), and the just-announced NeoTV Prime with Google TV (GTV100).

The addition of the SlingPlayer means that now those with a Slingbox can use the NeoTV as a set-top box for streaming live TV shows, sporting events, recorded programming, and even movies on any TV via the Internet. It also means you can extend TV viewing to a … Read more

You asked, we answered. It turns out that the iPod Touch is the product a surprising number of you wanted to see unboxed and tortured on our show -- so here you go! In addition to the regular gauntlet of tests, it seemed pretty obvious that the Wild Card for the iPod Touch pretty much had to involve children. So we rounded up four kids, ages 2 to 5, and gave them pizza, chips, candy, fruit, and juice, and let them go crazy with the iPods. Let me be honest: I could watch this video all day long, and not … Read more

What's the only thing better than a cheap deal? A freebie, of course.

As you may recall from last Friday, I'm celebrating five years as The Cheapskate. (Confession: I think it's the single longest job I've ever held. It's definitely the best.) Where, oh, where did the time go?

I don't know (I've looked everywhere, even under the couch), but I'm thrilled to have the chance to offer some great prizes during this monthlong contest-fest.… Read more

I'm not sure I like the name, but Belkin has made a surprise entry into the place-shifting arena with @TV Plus, a $149.99 set-top box that allows your to stream video from your home TV to your tablet, smartphone, or laptop over Wi-Fi or a 3G/4G cellular connection.

Belkin makes no bones about it: this is a direct competitor to Slingbox, which was acquired by EchoStar a few years ago and has languished a bit while maintaining the dominant position in the niche place-shifting market.

Like the Slingbox, @TV Plus works with both standard and high-definition programming … Read more

DirecTV appears to have its sights set on Slingbox with a new platform, called Nomad.

The satellite provider launched a page on its site recently, showcasing a device that connects to customers' DVRs and allows them to stream programming to other devices, including computers, smartphones and tablets.

"Take your movies and shows from your home DVR where you go," the Nomad site reads.

If DirecTV follows through with a Nomad competitor, it wouldn't be much of a surprise. EchoStar, which is closely affiliated with DirecTV's chief competitor, Dish Network, owns Sling Media. Sling made a name for itself in the home-entertainment space by offering a box that connects to any DVR and lets users control the DVR and watch TV programming from computers and mobile devices.… Read more

Slingbox functionality is on its way to Google TV, according to a new report.

Technology blog ZatzNotFunny is reporting that Sling Media has developed a Web-based application for Google TV that allows users to control their DVR and access programming from the site.

Sling, which is currently showing off the product at the Consumer Electronics Show, reportedly told ZatzNotFunny that the Google TV option features the same interface available on the company's SlingPlayer Mobile Android app, which launched in June.

ZatzNotFunny says the Google TV-optimized site streams content at 1080i and should launch "sometime this year."

Further … Read more

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded:

Verizon gets ready to turn on its 4G network

YouTube lets you skip ads you don't care for

Microsoft launches an Xbox Live Rewards program to repay your loyalty

Amazon.com adds Wikipedia pages to its site to help you make more informed shopping choices

Dish Network lets you watch content from your cable box on your iPad via a Sling Media device

Netflix gets new indie films in its streaming video service from film studio FilmDistrict

Google updates its mute feature in Gmail

A new Michael Jackson song debuts exclusively on Ping, … Read more