The Sling Media family have been quite the busy bees of late. First, the TV-transporting company has just gotten approval on a brand new, unnamed variation of the Slingbox, which forgoes the external Slingbox HD Connect cable used with the Slingbox Pro (that gives you component ins / outs) and instead includes a single set of component hookups right on the box. Additionally, during a Revision3 interview with Blake Krikorian (Sling Media's CEO) the venerable Om Malik managed to get Blake to let loose new about the now-rumored Slingbox HD, which (after some arm-twisting) Krikorian says is coming in "January," though in what year he wouldn't say. Honestly, if it's any later than 2008, it's too late.

Read -- Slingbox FCC report
Read -- The GigaOm Show Episode 3 - Sling It, Baby

This is it, the moment you've been waiting for. After all these long months you can finally cast your ballot for the 2006 Gadget of the Year! Our Engadget Awards nominees are listed below, and you've got until 11.59PM EST on Wednesday, April 18th to file your vote. You can only vote once, so make it count, and may the best gadget in all of 2006 win! The nominees: Apple MacBook Pro, Dell 3007WFP-HC, HTC Hermes / 8525, Nintendo Wii, SanDisk Sansa E280R, Slingbox PRO, and Sony PlayStation 3.

Now's your chance to cast your ballot for the 2006 Home Entertainment Device of the Year! Our Engadget Awards nominees are listed below, and you've got until 11.59PM EST on Sunday, April 15th to file your vote. You can only vote once, so make it count, and may the best tech win! The nominees: DirecTV HR20, Slim Devices Transporter, Slingbox PRO, Sonos ZP80, Sony BDP-S1 Blu-ray player, TiVo Series3, and Toshiba HD-XA1 HD DVD player.

It took them a while, but Sling Media has finally seen fit to officially release its current batch of Slingboxen in Canada, carting its Slingbox Pro, Slingbox AV, and Slingbox Tuner across the border. Canadians hoping for a little something extra given the delay, however, will likely be a bit disappointed, with the only changes coming in the currency. In Canadian dollars, the Slingbox Tuner will set you back $180, while the Slingbox AV carries a slightly higher $200 price tag, and the Slingbox Pro tops things off at $300 -- the HD Connect cable and SlingLink Turbo 4-Port will also both be available in Canada, running $60 and $180, respectively. In addition to the hardware, Sling also took the opportunity for officially announce its SlingPlayer Mobile software for Windows Mobile and Palm OS devices in Canada, with the former version now available for $35 Canadian and the latter still open for beta testers.

Jimbo, an intrepid member of the Sling Community, recently tore open his Slingbox PRO to document the chips inside, and in the process seems to have discovered an infrared receiver hidden away behind the Sling logo. No one's quite sure what this is for, but Dave Zatz, an Engadget special correspondent, is speculating that this may give the PRO some "SlingCatcher functionality" -- making it possible to watch a remote Sling feed on a TV -- or that it could possibly be used to display additional information somewhat like the upcoming Wii channels. Zatz has put in an inquiry to Sling and will keep all of us posted.

[Via Zatz Not Funny]

Last week we put our final Slingbox -- a Slingbox PRO -- out to give away, and we've got a winner! G-Man is taking this one home, but don't feel sore, we've still got plenty more giveaways to come. Thanks for entering everybody, and be sure you've entered our other contests, as well!

• Fourth shot at a Zune
• Win a VidaBox SLIM for the best Halloween costume!
• Seriously, you can win a Philips 42PF9631D 42-inch plasma
• Xbox 360 Premium Pack here!
• HD has a Helios X3000
• Nikon D80 for our photo contest!

Last week we put a Slingbox AV out to give away, and we've got a winner! Randy P is taking home that AV, but today we're giving away the new top of the line Slingbox, the Slingbox PRO. This thing pretty much does it all, including high def, so today in order to have your chance to take home a PRO we want you to leave us a comment telling us what kind of phone (or laptop) you have that you're planning on using this thing with. You'll have until next Wednesday (the 18th), then we'll pick the winner at random, assuming s/he follows the rules:

• You may enter other Engadget contests, however...
• You may only enter this contest once; if you enter more than once on this particular contest post you'll be automatically disqualified and barred from all future giveaways. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) You may enter future Engadget relaunch giveaway contests though!
  
• You can only win once. (If you win and then try to go for a second prize during our relaunch giveaways, you'll be automatically disqualified, etc.)
• This contest is open to the US only, sorry!
• You will be shipped your PRO when all the contests are up, so sit tight!

Good luck, and be sure you've entered our other contests, as well!

• Here's a second Xbox 360 Premium pack
• The final Nikon S7c digital camera!
• Fourth shot at a Zune
• Win a VidaBox SLIM for the best Halloween costume!
• Seriously, you can win a Philips 42PF9631D 42-inch plasma

So we've had a Slingbox Pro kickin' around the joint for a couple weeks now, one of the three new Slingboxen released late last month; we figured it was time to let you know whether it was worth plunking down for, especially if you are already a current owner. So let's get on with it.

The Pro, much like the classic Slingbox, features an analog cable input, as well as an S-Video input. But unlike the previous Slingbox, the Pro features an analog cable passthrough (thanks!), as well as composite and S-Video ins (and their respective passthroughs, as well). Of course, the Pro in the title less likely comes from all those standard def inputs, and more likely from the long awaited HD support the unit now features. There are just two catches, though. First: it's not HDMI -- which we can live with. Second: to use the high def, you have to pay another $50 for the dongle, bringing your price up to $300 total. Read on for the full review.

While you've seen the first round of Slingbox photos that we posted in the wee hours this morning, more details are starting to emerge, namely that the Slingbox Pro and Tuner versions will be released on October 22. We got this luscious piece of intel from a devoted Sling fan who acquired it after spotting the AV at a Best Buy in Augusta, Georgia, and then subsequently grilled the staff on the availability of the Pro and Tuner. As we mentioned previously, the FCC confidentiality agreement lifts on September 28, so perhaps this new release date is what we should be expecting from Blake & Co.?

[Thanks, Dennis]

It apparently slipped beneath our FCC-radar, but a posting on Sling Community shows some interesting developments according to FCC filings. Sling Media's apparently planning at least three new devices (here, here, and here), the Tuner, AV, and Pro. All are listed with confidentiality agreements, but here's what we know, between the FCC and the forums: the SB220-100 tuner will supposedly just have coax in and out; the SB240-100 A/V is the one we saw a week ago today, with S-Video and composite ins (and is apparently not equipped with a tuner); finally, the SB200-100 Pro supposedly has HDMI, a coax tuner (like the original Slingbox), composite, component, and S-Video inputs and outputs. The FCC confidentiality agreement goes up next Thursday, the 28th, so it would seem either Sling's going to have some announcements to make, or the FCC's going to have some announcements to make for them.

[Thanks, KC]