S60 owners should take notice. Sling Media's been hard at work on a new build of SlingPlayer Mobile for Symbian S60, which, along with the typical helping of minor fixes and patches, adds support for new handsets like the popular Nokia E71, E71x, and brand new E72.

Furthermore, Sling also says they expect this build to play nicely with all 3rd edition Symbian S60 devices, even if they're not on the officially supported list. All 3rd edition users are encouraged to download the 30-day trial to see if it works on their handset. 

Officially supported list:

• Nokia N96
• Nokia N95 8GB
• Nokia N95
• Nokia N85
• Nokia N82
• Nokia N79
• Nokia N75
• Nokia N73
• Nokia E75
• Nokia E72
• Nokia E71x
• Nokia E71
• Nokia E65
• Nokia E63
• Nokia E52
• Nokia 6790 Surge
• Nokia 6120

5th edition devices won't have any luck with this build, but Sling says they're hard at work on that front, but no specific time frame has been given.

Download SlingPlayer Mobile for Symbian S60, and post below if your Symbian S60 handset is now up and running.

Sling Media may seem to be spending more time on their web-based version of the SlingPlayer software, but it looks like they've also been giving the desktop player a little love as well. New builds are available for both SlingPlayer for PC and SlingPlayer for Mac, taking each iteration up a minor tick.

Based on what we've gathered, Sling's not adding the world here. SlingPlayer for PC 2.0.4 and SlingPlayer for Mac 1.0.10 appear mostly to be a maintenance upgrade intended to squash a few bugs in the player and firmware, update the remote control base for Macs, and fix some connectivity problems. The PC player, however, has gotten a few extra goodies that are worth mentioning.

For starters, users of specific netbooks (namely certain hardware revs of Dell's Mini 10 for now, like the Dell Mini 1010) may be able to take advantage of a new hardware acceleration feature in the menu. If the option's grayed out, your netbook isn't currently supported, but those who can use it should enjoy improved performance when running SlingPlayer. From the looks of things, this is only the beginning, and may be extended to more netbooks and computers over time.

Next is something everyone with a current model Slingbox can enjoy, which has to deal with "improved remote connectivity in certain cases." Essentially, using the new firmware for the Slingbox PRO, PRO-HD and SOLO along with the new player, users behind a restrictive firewall trying to establish a remote connection should have greater success.

The latter is something we'll have to take Sling's word on for now, but if you've typically had a hard time connecting to your box behind firewalls, hit us up in the comments section and let us know if it's working any better for you.

For you technical folks, here's the skinny of all the software and firmware versions hitting today:

• SP PC - 2.0.4 (.521)
• SP Mac - 1.0.10 (.271)
• SOLO FW - 1.3.0.70
• PRO FW - 1.3.0.80
• PRO-HD FW - 1.3.0.170

Hit the upgrade button when prompted by the player, or download the latest build directly from Slingbox.com.

According to a report at THR.com, Sling Media's VP EMEA, Stuart Collingwood, had serveral interesting facts to share.

For starters, Sling Media's speard across the European continent continues. Right now, users 15 different countries accross Europe have access to the Slingbox and serveral forms of SlingPlayer, including the iPhone SlingPlayer that went global a few weeks ago.

Sling's aspriations don't stop there, however. They're currently planning on spreading into Eastern Europe and the Middle East sometime in the next year, though as of now there's no indication on exactly when in the next year that may happen. 

Also interesting is some use statistics Collingwood shared. According to him, even though the Slingbox enables remote TV viewing, some 70% of consumers claim they primarily use the Slingbox within the confines of their own home. That, he says, is a number that's increased 40% from the year prior.

What we don't know is if that statistic is specific to the European audience or is a general reflection from users in all nations, but either way, it's hardly a shocking statistic. If anything, it shows that people are finding more and new uses for Slingbox than just for travel (most are usually at home a lot more than they're out anyway), and with devices like SlingCatcher in the mix, the usefulness of Slingbox around the home continues to increase. 

What about you? Where do you use Slingbox the most?

Read the full story on THR.com