Orb

[Jonathan Mosen]

 Hi Lala, At the CSUN conference in LA recently, I did a presentation on
beyond the basics of PAC Mate. One of the products I featured and
demonstrated during that presentation was Orb. I will be posting a recording
of that presentation sometime soon, probably this month or next, in an
edition of Freedom Scientific's Podcast, FSCast, which I produce and host.
So you may like to look for that.

But anyway... Orb can be found at http://www.orb.com. What they offer, is a
free piece of software. Orb allows you to play media and view other content
on your home PC, from anywhere in the world and on a wide range of devices.

You download this software, and install it on the computer in your home on
which your multimedia content lives. For example, in our house, we have a
Windows Media Center, which is at the heart of our home entertainment. On
that machine, there is around 400-500 gigs of music, movies, radio shows
etc, as well as the material we record off TV. So it is on this PC that I
have Orb installed.

When I first installed Orb, I had to configure it, which requires a wee bit
of work with the JAWS cursor but nothing too complex at all. I told Orb
which folders I wanted it to monitor for new media etc. It also detected
that the media Center PC had a TV tuner card, and walked me through the
process of configuring the channels and naming them. This means that I can
stream my local TV channels from anywhere. If you are in the US, and some
other countries too I believe, they will also get you hooked up with a
programme guide for local TV, so you can see what's on and record your
favourite shows through Orb, assuming of course that you have a TV Tuner
card. If you don't, then Orb will just skip this part of the set-up.

Orb will build a database of all your music and then you can log on from any
web browser and search for artists, songs and genres, easily build a
playlist, and play your music anywhere.

The cool thing is that it can offer this content to you in a variety of
formats. For example, on my PAC Mate, I can stream in Windows Media Player.
This would also apply to any other true Windows mobile device of course. On
my N82, and it's nice to say I can now get into Orb on the N82 thanks to the
Talks update just released, I have it streaming in Real Media or can choose
from a range of other formats.

Orb has a very comprehensive Internet Radio Guide, which is searchable and
offers a good range of stations. And the nice thing is, it doesn't matter
what format the station is originally in, Orb will send you the stream in
the format you have selected for the device you are using at that time.

Further, if you add a folder to Orb's database containing, say, Windows
Media Playlist files pointing to streams, then Orb will transcode these too,
allowing you to do Windows Media on Symbian devices. Conversely, if you are
running Windows Mobile and don't have a RealPlayer installed, Orb can take
care of that too.

I hope this helps.

Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com
[mailto:blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com] On Behalf Of LaBrentha Coles
Sent: Friday, 4 April 2008 11:36 a.m.
To: The Accessible Phones Discussion List
Subject: Re: Orb

Hi Jonathan,
Thanks for responding so quickly.
I know nothing about Orb, so please start from the beginning.
.  If you think the info might be too elementary for the list, feel free to
send to lamaco at cox.net.
Thanks loads.

Lala


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan Mosen" <jmosen at mosen.org>
To: "'The Accessible Phones Discussion List'" 
<blindphones at mosenexplosion.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 4:32 PM
Subject: RE: Orb


> Hi Lala, I changed the subject line, since I was very naughty and didn't
> change it yesterday.
>
> Before I answer your question, how much do you know about Orb? Should I
> start from the very beginning?
>
> Jonathan
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com
> [mailto:blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com] On Behalf Of LaBrentha 
> Coles
> Sent: Friday, 4 April 2008 10:23 a.m.
> To: The Accessible Phones Discussion List
> Subject: Re: Nokia 6620
>
> Hello Jonathan,
> Please explain more about Orb.
> I'd very much like to be able to hear Windows Media streams on my N95-3.
> Might I be able to use Orb as a transcoder?
> If so, how is that done?
>
> Lala
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jonathan Mosen" <jmosen at mosen.org>
> To: "'The Accessible Phones Discussion List'"
> <blindphones at mosenexplosion.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 5:56 PM
> Subject: RE: Nokia 6620
>
>
>> Hi Aman, thanks as always for your very reasoned and objective response.
>>
>> The phone in question that would not output the speech to the Smartlink
>> was
>> the HTC S630. I bought this one because it offered 3G in New Zealand, and
>> had very good specs.
>>
>> I can confirm that, at least in my experience, there is no Nokia phone
>> that
>> charges from the USB port when you are synchronising or have the device
>> connected for any purpose. However, it's possible to charge a Nokia by
>> running a cable from the power socket to the USB port, which served my
>> needs
>> OK.
>>
>> You mentioned that you are willing to put up with poorer battery life
>> because of the increased capability of WM phones. I would be interested 
>> to
>> hear what you perceive the increased capability to be? The only annoyance
>> I
>> have with the N82 is that it won't stream Windows Media streams, but Orb
>> as
>> a transcoder can get around that one.
>>
>> Thank you for your view that the Windows Mobile devices crash a lot more,
>> I
>> think there can be little doubt of this. For me personally, this is the
>> clincher. I don't want to be waiting for a call, only to find that I
>> missed
>> it because of a crash.
>>
>> Jonathan
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com
>> [mailto:blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com] On Behalf Of Aman Singer
>> Sent: Thursday, 3 April 2008 11:46 a.m.
>> To: 'The Accessible Phones Discussion List'
>> Subject: RE: Nokia 6620
>>
>> Hi, Jonathan.
>> It's precisely as you say, this is one of those OS debates, but
>> allow me, if I may, to stick my nose into this one. After all, even an OS
>> debate can, at times, be interesting.
>> I'm particularly interested because I use a smartlink myself and
>> find it works perfectly with all the Windows Mobile phones I've used it
>> with. These are the T-Mobile dash, HTC s720, HTC wizard, and HP HW 6955.
>> I'm
>> not sure which phone you used this unit with, I do remember your posts
>> about
>> it but don't remember the model in question, but I have, as I said, used
>> it
>> on four WM phones without trouble. I have also used it, for demo 
>> purposes,
>> on several Symbian phones without difficulty and generally have found 
>> that
>> it is a very well-behaved Bluetooth device and that most phones support 
>> it
>> quite nicely.
>> I'd also mention, for anyone who doesn't want to buy the smartlink,
>> which is, IMHO, quite expensive, that there are two or three Bluetooth
>> neck
>> loops/silhouettes for hearing aids. I've only tried one, the Artone
>> Bluetooth loop, needing, as I did, my Smartlink for other uses, but that
>> too
>> has worked well with all phones.
>> Finally, I find that, though the battery life on WM devices is
>> sometimes slightly less than that on Symbian phones, this isn't
>> significant
>> given the increased capability of the WM phones and their ability to
>> charge
>> from a USB port, which the Symbian phones I've used don't seem to have.
>> Finally, I have found that the WM phones most certainly crash more than
>> the
>> Symbian phones do. I should say, though, that I don't say that Symbian is
>> in
>> any way bad. It's a matter of preference, IMHO, what is to be used. 
>> Having
>> used both, I appreciate a good many things about each device type.
>> Aman
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com
>> [mailto:blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com] On Behalf Of Jonathan
>> Mosen
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:53 PM
>> To: 'The Accessible Phones Discussion List'
>> Subject: RE: Nokia 6620
>>
>> Hi Isaac, well now, you'll get a variety of opinions on that question. My
>> opinion is worth what you paid for it, but here you go.
>>
>> I really like my Windows Mobile-based PAC Mate for writing documents and
>> running a whole bunch of cool programmes, but I have never particularly
>> liked Windows Mobile-based phones. It would take a lot to convince me 
>> ever
>> to buy one again. They don't sound as good to me, and they lock up too
>> much.
>> Others will have a different view. It's just another operating system
>> debate
>> and you'll have proponents of either. I will say though that the main
>> reason
>> why I got rid of my last Windows Mobile phone was that I couldn't get
>> speech
>> to go through my Phonak Smartlink, which is Bluetooth capable. That, and
>> the
>> lock ups and the absolutely abysmal battery life.
>>
>> For me, you can't go past Symbian on phones for stability, sound quality,
>> and awesome hardware.
>>
>> Jonathan
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com
>> [mailto:blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com] On Behalf Of isaac obie
>> Sent: Thursday, 3 April 2008 9:46 a.m.
>> To: The Accessible Phones Discussion List
>> Subject: Re: Nokia 6620
>>
>> Jonathan,
>> Excellent points. Not only do I hear the music when the phone boots p, 
>> but
>
>> I
>> can feel it as well. It's just that this is my first real experience with
>> a
>> phone. I've seen them, touched them, but not really done anything with
>> them.
>>
>> I wish it would pla some music when shutting down as well. More than a 
>> one
>> second jingle. But the loop setting is a great idea. I never thought of
>> that. that setting sometimes let me know people have left the monitor on
>> on
>> the computer. Do you think I might do better with the I-Mate sp5m phone?
>> thanks.
>> Isaac
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Jonathan Mosen" <jmosen at mosen.org>
>> To: "'The Accessible Phones Discussion List'"
>> <blindphones at mosenexplosion.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 11:59 AM
>> Subject: RE: Nokia 6620
>>
>>
>>> Hi Isaac, the phone will take a few seconds to boot up. The 6620 is a
>>> smart phone, so it is in fact a computer.
>>>
>>> It's been a while since I've seen one but I would estimate you'd have
>>> to wait a good 15 seconds at least. The phone should then play the
>>> Nokia start-up sound which you may or may not be able to hear. One
>>> trick I find quite useful, given that you wear hearing aids, is to put
>>> your hearing aids onto the loop setting. If the phone is on, you
>>> should definitely be able to detect some electromagnetic activity from
>>> the phone to tell you that it's on.
>>>
>>> Jonathan
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com
>>> [mailto:blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com] On Behalf Of isaac
>>> obie
>>> Sent: Thursday, 3 April 2008 3:52 a.m.
>>> To: blindphones
>>> Subject: Nokia 6620
>>>
>>> Hi all:
>>> Why does it take so long for the phone to come on once you press the
>>> button?
>>> It acts like a windows 98 computer, slow as molasses climbing a hill
>>> in the middle of winter. I can't tell if it's on or off at times. that
>>> button seems to be worn out. You have to press it so hard for so long.
>>> I don't think I am going to like this phone much. Are they all
>>> stubborn like this?
>>> Thanks
>>> Isaac
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>>
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