NewsGator and Firefly

In all the excitement of the last couple of weeks, I almost forgot to post about something pretty cool.

SnapStream recently shipped their $49 Firefly remote control…basically you can hook this baby up to your PC, and control it from across the room.  I’ve got a couple of them in my office – it’s quite nice, and it’s a RF remote so you don’t have to worry about pointing it the right direction. Combine it with Beyond TV (another of their products), and you’re got a pretty inexpensive but very powerful PVR.

What’s even more interesting, though, is the recent launch of SnapStream Spotlight. This is similar to the “Online Spotlight” feature in Windows XP Media Center Edition, but it ships with the Firefly. And NewsGator Media Center Edition is supported within SnapStream Spotlight.

So why is this cool? Well, Windows XP Media Center Edition used to be the only way to use NewsGator MCE. And it only ships on new PC’s…which means there are millions of folks out there who can’t watch streaming on-demand video (and view any other content) with NewsGator MCE, until they buy a new computer. But with a Firefly, anyone with Windows 2000 or later can use it now. That’s a pretty serious jump in potential market.

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