Sling takes its video portal public

Sling.com, the streaming site of Slingbox maker Sling Media, has emerged from private beta and is opening up access to its video content to the public. Sling.com, featuring current television content from networks like NBC, CBS, and Fox, along with a selection of movies, older televisions shows, and video from Web-based video sites like College Humor.

Viewers can subscribe to the video feeds of shows currently on the air like The Soup and House, as well as recently and long-canceled shows like Arrested Development and MacGyver. The movie selection, which appears to be imported from Hulu, is limited, but Sling says all categories of video will expand in the future as it works with studios and other content providers. The Sling portal enables users to create profiles listing shows users have watched and marked as favorites; users can also sign up as fans of other Sling.com users and subscribe to video feeds of current and long-gone shows.Sling is off to a good start - its interface compares well to Hulu and Joost, and its selection of content is impressive if not unique. Once it nails down its live streaming (hopefully with full Mac support and no plugin needed)