Orb Networks Makes Your iPhone ROCK!

Ok, that's a stretch right now, but it's definitely getting there.

A special shout out to Yohan Le Nerriec, Orb's chief architect and the rest of the development team at Orb Networks. Orb seem to be on a mission to make streaming work with the iPhone even before the Flash update (which according to Walt Mossberg will probably be available within 60 days).

I know Orb's goal is not specifically to make me happy, but it works out that way. Orb's slogan is "Media Freedom", so we are very philosophically aligned.

Orb has already made updates so that I can stream MP3. It's early days, and I can't "shuffle all" or run a playlist, but I can stream individual files over WiFi and over WiFi, it's not slow to access the individual files.

I can even stream some of my MP4 and M4V videos – it's nowhere near an ideal circumstance yet, but for less than a week after the launch of the iPhone, it's definitely very cool progress!

In terms of "media freedom":

• Pictures: fully liberated
• Music: Fully Liberated (on a song by song basis. as long as it's unprotected .MP3)
• Video: definite progress – which is more than I can say for the Sony PSP's stand alone browser
• My TV wherever I am: TBD
  

Considering I can't stream video to the PSP's browser via WiFi at all (and it's been out a couple of years) without buying additional hardware, I think this is great progress after only one week of iPhone availability. Orb only runs on Windows, but whether you have a TV tuner card or not, if you have a lot of pictures or MP3s or Video on your hard drive and a broadband connection, it's definitely worth checking out at http://www.orb.com/