SlingPlayer Mobile for iPad delivers a higher-resolution image tailored to Apple’s 9.7-inch tablet screen, and features a redesigned program guide using native iPad UI elements. You also get a recent channel feature that provides a heck of a lot more versatility than that “Last” button on your remote. SlingPlayer Mobile works over both Wi-Fi and 3G, although in my brief experience with the iPhone app, quality degrades considerably outside of your home network.

The app is one of the higher-priced, consumer-focused ones we’ve seen yet in the iTunes store, at $29.99. Users who’ve already paid $29.99 for the iPhone app will likely be disappointed that Sling Media opted to release a separate app instead of introducing universal support to the existing software to make it compatible with both. In its official PR release, Sling suggests that iPhone app owners can continue to use it in “Compatibility Mode” if they’d rather not pay for the app a second time.

I question Sling Media’s decision to ask users pay a full $30 a second time over for an app, since many of those looking to buy the iPad version will likely already have the iPhone one. It seems especially risky now that Netflix and Hulu Plus make streaming from cable and satellite sources less of a priority for many iPad owners. Anyone planning on ponying up for iPad access?

Related video — Demo of SlingPlayer Mobile for iPad:

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Sling Media, Inc. have announced at Macworld that they are working on a version of SlingPlayer Mobile for the iPhone. Demonstrations are being given at the conference, and the software would seem to be in the later stages of development.

The software provides a way to push TV content wirelessly (via 3G or Wi-Fi) to your iPhone; everything including standard TV content, local channels and video on demand. The iPhone is also able to function as a wireless remote control for your digital video recorder, to control the playback of recordings and schedule new ones.

Blake Krikorian, co-founder and CEO of Sling Media noted:

SlingPlayer Mobile is ideally suited for the iPhone’s large touch screen display and I know iPhone users are eagerly anticipating the application’s availability. Add to that HD streaming support for Slingbox PRO-HD customers and live TV support on our video entertainment site, Sling.com, and you can see Sling Media is committed to delivering great solutions for Mac users.

In addition, the company unveiled a prototype of the new SlingPlayer for Mac HD, allowing the streaming of HD content to your Mac. It will be a web based system, accessible from Sling.com.

Availability & Pricing

SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone is scheduled to be passed to Apple for certification in the first quarter of 2009, and will be compatible with the iPhone and iPod touch. The price hasn’t yet been finalized, but is expected to come in at around $30 — similar to SlingPlayer Mobile on other devices.

SlingPlayer for Mac HD will be available for free via Sling.com at around the same time.

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Wednesday at Macworld Expo marked a distinct change from the hectic activity around the keynote and the open of the show floor. The big news today was the announcement of the Best of Show awards from Macworld. The products recognized this year are…

Best of Macworld 2009

• iPhoto ’09
• Cisco WebEx Meeting Center
• Things
• Ecamm Network BT-1 Bluetooth Web Cam
• Filemaker Pro 10
• HP MediaSmart Server
• Livescribe Pulse Smartpen
• Daylite Touch
• Sling Media SlingPlayer for iPhone

Our Impressions

iPhoto ’09 is a great upgrade and worthy of the attention, despite the appearance of Google’s Picassa for Mac as a possible competitor. We love Things around here, and quite a few of us actually use it to try and stay on top of, well, things. We introduced you to the Ecamm Bluetooth Web Cam on Monday. Filemaker Pro 10 is a nice update. I talked to a few developers today that are looking forward to the new scripting features, but the UI overhaul is just something that’s long overdue. Daylite Touch really redefines what an iPhone app is capable of doing. We had a chance to talk with Marketcircle yesterday and will share our impressions of using the app soon. One thing I can let slip now, this is definitely not going to be a $.99 app store purchase. Daylite Touch is a full-featured app that rivals what you can do with a desktop app and you should expect it to be priced accordingly.

The Rest of the Best

The HP MediaSmart Server is a really interesting solution for home users that want to store and share media. SlingPlayer is very cool and something to keep an eye on as soon as it gets released to the app store this quarter. We’ll bring you more info on that announcement soon, along with some details on the Livescribe Pulse Smartpen, and Cisco WebEx Meeting Center.

Other Announcements

If you’ve been wondering what happened to the Xserve RAID team after that product was discontinued, several of them have resurfaced at startup Active Storage. I had a chance to talk with Alex Grossman on Wednesday and I am very impressed with the attention to detail, and the particular attention to the needs of Mac users, that Active Storage has put into their products. If you are looking for high-density storage solutions that you can easily manage from the Mac, you may not need to look any further than Active Storage.

Intelliscanner has a new update to their SoHo and Mini scanners. If one of your New Year’s resolutions was to get organized and catalog stuff around your house, you’ll love this little scanners and the accompanying software.

Axiotron recruited Steve Wozniak to demo their new Modbook Pro this week. The Modbook Pro, as the name suggest, is based on the MacBook Pro system just as the Modbook is based on the Apple MacBook.

Ambrosia, one of my favorite developers, is announcing iToner 2 and WireTap Studio 1.0.7 this week. iToner 2 adds three new features: ClearTone to help get the audio levels right so your ringtones always sound great on the iPhone, cropping tools to edit snippets right in iToner, and 40+ professionally mastered ringtones that you can use right out of the box. WireTap Studio has been updated to improve performance and add some new control schemes .

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