You know a product has become mainstream when you see it on the shelves in Costco. While dragging my over-filled cart around the local store the other day, I noticed a new piece of technology that I thought was still being held hostage by the geeks and early adopters in high-tech land. There on the shelves, besides the flat-panel TVs and Ipods was a grey and silver box called ‘LocationFree’ by Sony. This little box and a similar one by Slingbox will change the way we watch television. The concept is pretty straightforward, you hook the box up to your TV, DVR or Cable/Satellite Box and plug another cable into your home Internet connection. Through the marvels of modern technology, you can now watch your TV wherever you are by simply turning any Internet-connected PC into your personal TV.

The possibilities appear endless. You’re sitting in an airport half way around the world connected to the internet via wi-fi. Your boss wants you to download your email and work on it before your 14 hour flight home. But what if you could connect to your DVR at home and watch last night’s episode of ‘The Sopranos’ , or better yet, watch the latest breaking news on BBC America. With placeshifting it’s all possible. If you’re lucky enough to be on a plane with an Internet connection, you can continue to watch your favorite programs at 30,000ft. Finally, you can control what you watch and when to watch it. No more watching some ‘b’ grade movie on a 2 inch screen with inferior sound while trying to cut your mystery meat with your plastic fork. You can even pause, stop and change channels just like you could if you were sitting in front of your TV at home. Got a favorite XM radio station? With placeshifting, you can ‘listen’ to it even if you’re not in the satellite’s broadcast area. Just connect your laptop to the internet and change the channel to the station of your choice and you’re listening to music wherever you are. The days of downloading an old episode of Desperate Housewives onto your Ipod, and squinting to view it while on the way to your meeting in San Francisco are over. Find a seat in one of the carriages on the Capital Corridor with wi-fi and you can watch it live on your laptop’s big screen. Who said you have to use the internet to do serious stuff for the boss every day?

So how much does all this technology cost? The magic boxes retail for around $200. If you have a high-speed internet connection at home, then you won’t need anything else. Just a laptop with wi-fi capability and a internet connection to ‘plug’ into wherever you are. With more competitors expected into the market in the coming months you can expect the price of the boxes to drop. But why wait? The technology is here today and it’s just amazing.

Paul Robinson