Orb (software)
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| Developer(s) | Orb Networks |
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| Stable release |
3.20.0035 / October 4, 2012
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| Operating system | Mac OS X, Windows |
| Available in | International (multiple languages) |
| Type | Media player, media center |
| License | Proprietary. Freeware for server, commercial shareware for portable players |
| Website | www.orb.com |
Orb was a freeware streaming software that enabled users to remotely access all their personal digital media files including pictures, music, videos and television. It could be used from any Internet-enabled device, including laptops, pocket PC,smartphones, PS3,Xbox 360 and Wiivideo game consoles.
In 2013, Orb Networks, Inc. announced that they were acquired by a strategic partner and would be shutting down operations. Also in 2013, Co-founder Luc Julia indicated that Orb Networks' technology had been acquired by Qualcomm, but no accompanying press release had been issued.
Orb's website (accessed May, 2014) announced: "...about a year ago Orb's team and technology were acquired by Qualcomm Connected Experiences, Inc." and "Orb Networks will no longer be offering any Orb software downloads or support for our web based products such as OrbLive and Mycast." The statement invited people to "check out Qualcomm's AllPlay media platform" but did not specify how Orb software may have been utilized.
Orb was available for Intel Macintosh, Windows or Media Center PCs. Users create an online account to remotely access their computer.
All the music, pictures and video files stored on a home computer are made available for streaming, provided that the computer is connected to the Internet. The media files are transcoded and streamed directly from that PC, or available for download with the use of a file explorer plug-in.
The current version of Orb can be used as a replacement for Microsoft's Windows Media Connect software for computers running the Windows operating system. This allows the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 consoles to access the videos, audios, and images on the computer with Orb installed, natively. This allows the user to also watch videos not in the Windows Media Video format without having previously re-transcoded their videos. Orb will transcode the video files from the computer on the fly as they are requested as long as the computer running Orb has the correct codec for doing so.
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