THE Most-loved Gadget

Every once in a while, the tech industry develops a gadget that users truly adore. These are the rare things that people talk about with sincere affection, like they might about their dogs, or great steak house. In the past, products that reached that level include the iPod, TiVo and Blackberry.

At CES this year, it's become obvious to me that there is a new product in that category: the Slingbox. Sling Media is not a new company -- it debuted in 2005. But it now seems to be getting some traction. In dinner conversations this year, people who own a Slingbox have been telling me how they just can't live without it. Keith Nowak of Nokia just was saying that he has to go to Finland often, and sits in his hotel room essentially watching his home TV and TiVo on his cell phone. Others tell me their kids use cell phones to watch the home TV from the back seat on long car trips.

Maybe that's the key to Sling's increasing popularity -- wireless systems are finally good enough so people can watch decent quality video coming from a Slingbox. The original concept was more about being able to watch your TV from a laptop screen connected to the Net no matter where you are.

Anyway, my bet is that Sling becomes an increasingly interesting factor in the next year.

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