The app costs $36.99, so it’s not exactly the cheapest thing on iTunes at the moment, but reports from tipster Alex is that it works an absolute treat.

[iTunes – Thanks Tristan, Vic and Alex]

You can grab your own Slingbox Solo, Slingbox Pro or Slingcatcher now from your local JB Hifi, Harvey Norman, Domayne or Good Guys now. The SlingLink Turbo 4-Port, which gives you four ethernet ports via powerline networking, will hit shelves in August.

[Slingmedia.com.au]

We all know that tens of thousands of iPhones streaming TV 3G from their Slingboxes would slow down AT&T’s already saggy network. What we don’t get is how AT&T is justifying their position.

Here’s AT&T’s stance:

Slingbox, which would use large amounts of wireless network capacity, could create congestion and potentially prevent other customers from using the network. The application does not run on our 3G wireless network. Applications like this, which redirects a TV signal to a personal computer, are specifically prohibited under our terms of service. We consider smartphones like the iPhone to be personal computers in that they have the same hardware and software attributes as PCs.

That said, we don’t restrict users from going to a Web site that lets them view videos. But what our terms and conditions prohibit is the transferring, or slinging, of a TV signal to their personal computer or smartphone.

The Slingbox application for the iPhone runs on WiFi. That’s good news for AT&T’s iPhone 3G customers, who get free WiFi access at our 20,000 owned and operated hot spots in the U.S., including Starbucks, McDonalds, Barnes & Noble, hotels, and airports. AT&T is the industry leader in WiFi.

They’re saying that watching regular video on the internet is fine (it better be, since YouTube is bundled right on the damn phone), but Sling is not because it “redirect[s] a TV signal to a personal computer.” Ignoring the personal computer part (others phones are still able to stream Sling over 3G, which is kind of an insult to Windows Mobile phones and BlackBerry phones), Sling is not a TV signal. It is streaming video, which happens to be TV, but is really no different from a YouTube video.

Seriously, there’s no actual difference other than the fact that people would use a lot more bandwidth when they’re using a SlingPlayer for their iPhone because they’re watching full shows instead of 2 minute clips, and that would kill the AT&T network. Why are customers paying for unlimited internet when it’s not unlimited? Thanks, AT&T. [Sling for iPhone review]

We’ve been testing the player for a couple weeks and it definitely works great. On Wi-Fi, it’s smooth—smoother and better looking than other Slingplayers for other mobiles—which is great, since that’s the only way you’ll be able to use it.

It was actually fine over 3G (which I tested with, but you won’t get to use), with slightly more lag and noticeably worse video quality, but that’s the compromise you have to make when you want to WATCH TV ANYWHERE. Looks like that rumour about AT&T not being happy with Sling pulling down so much data over their network was true.

In any case, watching Slingplayer Mobile is fine, but controlling Slingplayer Mobile—especially if you have a TiVo or other DVR—is somewhat clumsy. There are various remote screens that work, but have to refresh whenever you hit a button. It’s slow, so setting up your show will be tedious. That’s the limitation Sling had to work with since the iPhone has no physical buttons. And, there’s black-bar issues around the side (and sometimes top) of the phone that’s occasionally impossible to get rid of (depending on the aspect ratio you’re watching), which is a limitation of the player software.

If this had been 3G-capable, we’d happily pay $US30 for the privilege of watching TV on the train or at the bank. As is, you’re limited to Starbucks, your office, or anywhere else where you can latch onto a network.

We are glad that it’s now compatible with older Slingboxes, which is something Sling did very right. You just won’t get tech support for it if you use the older models.

The app should appear in the iTunes App Store at the latest by tomorrow morning.

While it’s designed to work over Wi-Fi and 3G—like that rumoured and delicious Hulu app—AppleInsider suggests it might need to be Wi-Fi only to appease AT&T, who fears what it would do to its network. After all, at best its retracted Skype-and-Sling-banning terms of service update was a Freudian slip. [Boy Genius, AppleInsider]

Dave says that Motorola imagines the Media Mover as a “Swiss Army knife” of USB gadgets. It’ll transcode lots of different video on your DVR and broadcast it locally or remotely over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, kinda like Sling. Motorola was demoing it sending video to a Moto Q9M, iPhone (pictured) and a laptop. It’s also got a low-res nanny cam built inside, so you can watch how much of the good wine they’re drinking on your iPhone.

No price or date yet, but it’s supposed to be “low cost.” [ZatzNotFunny]

The language added on March 30 to AT&T’s wireless data service Terms and Conditions was done in error. It was brought to our attention and we have since removed it. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Raise your hand if this BS smells like roses to you.

Here’s the dirty clause, uncovered by Public Knowledge:

This means, by way of example only, that checking email, surfing the Internet, downloading legally acquired songs, and/or visiting corporate intranets is permitted, but downloading movies using P2P file sharing services, customer initiated redirection of television or other video or audio signals via any technology from a fixed location to a mobile device, web broadcasting, and/or for the operation of servers, telemetry devices and/or Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition devices is prohibited.

That pretty much describes Sling in a nutshell—throwing video from your house to your phone. It remains to be seen how strict they’ll be on that, but it is lame cakes in writing, at least.

Net neutrailty just doesn’t apply to invisible internets, you know, since you don’t want them to run out. [AT&T via Public Knowledge via NewTeeVee]

As the product team was working on the future roadmap we realised that the hardware on the older boxes would not support the kind of high quality streaming video and advanced features across all platforms we want to offer moving forward.

This is why it doesn’t work with the Slingbox, Slingbox AV and the Slingbox Tuner, and only with the SOLO, the Pro or the Pro-HD. This seemed weird to us, since 640×480 of the original Slingbox was fine enough to watch on laptops even outside the local network, why wasn’t it enough to watch on iPhones with even lesser resolution?

Their answer: the decision was based on the entire roadmap, not just the iPhone. So, they’ve got some more interesting things coming up that they decided that NOW was the time to make the cutoff on old devices. It’s true, the old devices are lacking in processing power, and no matter when they do the cutoff people will be upset. Might as well be now.