David Pogue The New York Times March 23, 2006
IN the olden days, Americans gathered in front of the television sets in their living rooms to watch designated shows at designated times. You had a choice of three channels, and if you missed the broadcast, you'd feel like an idiot at the water cooler the next day. Quaint, huh?
Then came the VCR, which spared you the requirement of being there on time. Then cable TV, which blew open your channel choices. Then TiVo, which eliminated the necessity of even knowing when or where a show was to be broadcast. What's next -- eliminating the TV altogether?
Well, sure. Last year, a strange-looking gadget called the Slingbox ($250) began offering that possibility. It's designed to let you, a traveler on the road, watch what's on TV back at your house, or what's been recorded by a video recorder like a TiVo. The requirements are high-speed Internet connections at both ends, a home network and a Windows computer -- usually a laptop -- to watch on. (A Mac version is due by midyear.)
Today is another milestone in society's great march toward anytime, anywhere TV. Starting today, Slingbox owners can install new player software on Windows Mobile palmtops and cellphones, thereby eliminating even the laptop requirement.
On cellphones with high-speed Internet connections, the requirement of a wireless Internet hot spot goes away, too. Now you can watch your home TV anywhere you can make phone calls -- a statement that's never appeared in print before today (at least not accurately).
Now, if you don't travel much, and even if you do, your reaction to this statement may well be, "So?"
Sure enough, the Slingbox has always been intended to fill certain niches. It's for people with a fancy satellite receiver downstairs in the living room, but who want to watch upstairs in bed before retiring. It's for the hotel-room prisoner who wants to watch a movie on a TiVo at home, having realized that it's cheaper to pay $10 for a night of high-speed Internet than $13.95 for an in-room movie. It's for the traveler who wants to keep up with his hometown news while away.
And if you have friends who can't see the big game because of a local broadcast blackout - really, really good friends - you could even let them download the free Slingbox player software and watch your local broadcast, though the Slingbox folks don't endorse this last use.
Now that all of this is available for cellphone viewing - with no monthly fee - well, the mind boggles.