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September 11, 2006

The Ledger Domain

Place Shifting and the MLBAM

by Maury Brown

There’s no place like home.
--Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz

We are drawn to our television sets each April the way we are drawn to the scene of an accident.
--Vincent Canby

Ah, Home, Sweet Home. Our domiciles are our safe havens, and while most people love to travel, most all look forward to coming back to that familiar and safe place we call home. Those who go on extended trips may bring something with them: something from home that reminds them of that safe harbor … a picture… a trinket… their television… Wait a second, their television?!?

If you haven’t heard, there’s a new technology buzz word out there called "Place Shifting" that, in some senses, allows you to do just that. With "Place Shifting" technology it is no longer a matter of where you are in the world that dictates what you have to watch on television, but rather whether you wish to watch your television service that you have at home, just as long as you have a piece of hardware hooked up between your cable box and your computer. As long as you have internet access--no matter where you are in the world--you can watch anything that you can watch at home on your television.

San Mateo, California-based Sling Media, Inc., the makers of SlingBox, has created one of the hottest gadgets on the market these days. At a retail price of $200 you can geographically "Place Shift" your television with no additional fees or costs.

While Sling Media has popularized the technology, Sony has had a line of products called LocationFree for two years, which works under the same premise as the SlingBox: stream your television through their hardware and your computer across the internet. This past week, Sony reintroduced two new products within the LocationFree line of products which they hope to dovetail off of the SlingBox buzz. The only reason Sony’s products haven’t taken off in popularity is due to ease of setup: The SlingBox is straightforward out of the box, while LocationFree is a bit more complicated to get going.