The first announcement was SlingCatcher, their latest product. In essence, SlingCatcher is the reverse of Slingbox. It allows you to view television signals from one TV on any other TV in your house. This is useful if you only have one digital cable set-top box, which is hooked up in your living room. Using a Slingbox and SlingCatcher combination, you can watch digital channels on your bedroom TV.

Accompanying SlingCatcher is the new SlingProjector software. SlingProjector will take whatever is displayed on a PC monitor, and stream it to a TV. YouTube videos can now be viewed from the comfort of a couch.

The second announcement was the new Clip+Sling feature, which will be built into SlingPlayer. Clip+Sling lets you record short clips from your favorite TV shows, and share them online. You can clip Jon Stewart’s latest quip, and sling it to your friends via the web.

This sounds like something that would garner the ire of the major broadcasters. However, they’ve partnered with CBS for a beta test of the feature. If this works out, and they can secure the cooperation of other media companies, this will help Sling market their products virally.

Dave Zatz has excellent analysis of the two announcements in his posts: SlingCatcher Is Real! and Sling Media Is Insane.

Naturally, this has excited many Apple fans, myself included. With unparalleled brand loyalty behind it, Apple is building on the momentum of Mac OS X and the iPod + iTunes combination. They’ve already announced the code-named iTV, and the rumor mill is in full effect for next week’s Macworld Conference & Expo.

Coinciding with Macworld is CES, where the consumer electronics industry makes their big announcements. Combined, the two events mark an exciting start to the new year for gadget-lovers everywhere. I’m sure to be on sensory overload.