A new service called Personal Media Portal debuted Monday that could revolutionize the mainstream and online adult industry.
For $9.99 a month, Orb Networks Inc.allows broadband subscribers to remotely access digital media files — including copy-protected ones — from any gadget with an Internet connection, company spokesman Jeff Urquhart told XBiz.
The technology from Union City, Calif.-based Orb grabs a user's digital files stored on their home PCs and streams them to web-enabled devices such as cellphones, laptops, or personal digital assistants. Orb users can even access cable and satellite TV video output.
"[We’ve] developed a brand new way for people to be connected to their digital media all the time from anywhere in the world," Orb CEO James Behrens said. "We have found a way to bring consumers what they want —simple access at any time. We think this is extremely viral technology, taking the ‘home' out of 'home media.'"
Users must first download Orb software onto their home computers and set up a password-protected account. To access home media files over the Internet, users need to be able to launch a web browser and have a media player — either by Microsoft Corp.'s Windows, RealNetworks Inc.'s RealPlayer, or one provided by Orb — on their portable devices.
Urquhart claims that Orb, pending approval, will soon be able to work with TiVo or a cable digital video recorder set-top box.
Orb will be demonstrating its Personal Media Portal during this week’s DigitalLife 2004 conference at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York, Oct. 14-17.
