'Tis The Gadget Season, But Without Orb MyCasting Consumers May Find It Difficult To Simply Push "Play" Christmas Morning
Free MyCasting Service Lets You Enjoy Audio, Video, TV and Photos
EMERYVILLE, Calif., - Nov. 29, 2006 - This holiday season consumers are expected to snap up more than $21 billion in consumer electronic gadgets. As in years past, many will wake up Christmas morning to a dizzying number of digital formats and device compatibility hurdles that stand between them and the entertainment they envisioned - those not familiar with the free Orb MyCasting service, that is.
"Simplicity is what consumers are looking for in today's media experience," said Joe Costello, chairman and co-founder of Orb Networks. "They just want to press play and begin enjoying their media. The number of formats and device compatibility restraints are overly confusing."
Costello went on to say that gadget checklist of capabilities can be eliminated, e.g., can it do audio, video, TV, etc. "Most of the time you end up getting something you don't want or it can't do what was promised. Frankly what is the consumer benefit of the mandated device, player and application combinations? Device manufacturers and service providers have to realize the opportunity they lose when consumers have to be educated to check whether their cell phone is running on Symbian OS, Palm or Linux, or if their mobile TV cell phone solution is compatible with a specific service running Qualcomm's MediaFLO or DVB-H, and what will happen to their media if they change service provider. What matters is packaging digital content in a way consumers' want, so they'll consume more of it. That is what MyCasting is all about."
Immediately out of the box and with only an Internet connection with a browser and a streaming media player, consumers can push play on virtually all Internet- and media-player-enabled gadgets and start organizing, enjoying and sharing their photos, videos, and music, live and recorded TV, podcasts, documents and other digital media, anytime and anywhere they choose. Orb MyCasting is available free at www.orb.com.
Costello, a digital industry veteran and visionary, predicts that all mobile devices will have streaming media players within the next two years. "When consumers have full control of their media experience wherever they are, on whatever device they are using, without having to figure out ‘does this recording work on my cell phone or can I stream this music at work?' that's when media will be truly be mobile. As consumers get a taste of this type of content, control and media freedom, it will result in media players on every device and will lead to even more media consumption."
How Orb MyCasting Works
The MyCasting service turns the home PC into a personal broadcasting system, and lets users build and organize their own "channels" to enjoy their music, photos, video, TV, documents and other extras, using the devices they already own. The free software is downloaded onto an always-on home PC; there is no Orb player software download required or other add-ons to install on the device used. Once the Orb MyCasting application is installed, the user can use most any Internet-connected device with a streaming media player to stream their media content - be it live or recorded TV, music, videos and photos -- anytime, anyplace.
About Orb Networks, Inc.
Orb Networks is an award-winning developer of software and services that unlock the digital media stored on personal computers. Orb MyCasting gives consumers secure, free, instant, and everywhere-access to everything from their photos and video to TV and music on virtually any Web-enabled device. The company's partners include: AMD, Vodafone, Hauppauge, Nokia, AOL Winamp and Creative Labs. Orb Networks is a privately held company in Emeryville, Calif. For more information about Orb Networks and the Orb MyCasting service, please visit www.orb.com.
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