The Sky Gnome gets your TV audio on
By Ryan Block 
posted Aug 3rd 2005 12:22PM
posted Aug 3rd 2005 12:22PM
Let's face facts, TV is way too distracting. Why do you think radio,
Podcasting, and music are all making such a huge comeback, huh? Huh? So UK
satellite TV provider Sky's stepping it up (and taking it back) a notch here with the Sky Gnome, a wireless media
device that streams audio off your Sky box to wherever you happen to take the little bugger around the house. Yes, all
the action and adventure of television without all those damned distracting visuals. (Oh yeah, you can stream their
radio channels, too.) Available this October in Cool Blue and Funky Orange colors. So you can pretty much tell how good
an idea they had when it comes to making a marketable, desirable new product, right?
[Via Stuff]
I thought europe and asia had satellite radio before we did. No?
Yeah, i know this is slightly different, buts its subscription radio.
Very clever device. The audio on Sky is streamed at a much higher bitrate than DAB so it should sound very good indeed. I wonder how it will work with Sky+ (the PVR version)
no - we've had digital radio, but not satellite.
oh yes we have had satellite radio for many years, jonno, via Sky
I think it would be fun to listen to 'Wheel of Fortune' without the visuals.
this is really stupid...
Yeah! Podcasting is making a comeback! I remember back in the day listening to podcasts on my 286! Yeah, those were good times.
And also, music comeback? Crazy! I never thought we'd hear music again! Who exactly is listening to music, anyway? Show yourselves!
Ugly little thing. Presumably you would only need one of these if your reception was poor on an actual radio. In my own case it might make sense as I live on the continent but listen to UK radio. If only Sky's license agreement allowed to use their dish overseas ;-)
AFAIK the Worldspace satellite radio has been available in Europe for several years.
This is, sort of a good idea.
We have had satellite radio in Europe since the 1980s. But we don't have ground-based relays like you have in the USA. So the recievers have to be connected to a satellite dish. So, obviously, they're not portable.
People do listen to radio via Satellite, but generally just by turning their TV to a radio channel. This device 'frees' the radio from the TV, so Satellite Radio becomes more valuable. It's like having a ground relay on a very, very small scale.
Thing is, satellite radio enthusiasts have actually been waiting for Sky to release this - http://www.pacemicro.com/corporate/products/prodinfo.asp?PID=DSR210F. Which would have it's own tuner. The big flaw with the gnome is that it doesn't have that.