Orb streams digital media over
the Internet
Orb
The product: Think watching TV on your desktop is silly? Wonder why you'd ever want to cuddle up with your favorite show in the office? You may change your mind and fork over some cash for a TV tuner card once you get a load of Orb, a software/service combo that lets you access all the media on your home PC from any device connected to the Internet. The new service, introduced at CES, performs quite a number of connectivity feats--provided you have a TV tuner on your PC and subscribe to a cell phone data service. Among other tasks, Orb lets you:

• Watch TV on your handheld or laptop.
• View photos from your PC on your cell phone.
• Easily send camera phone shots back to your PC.
• Listen to your music files from your cell phone.
• Program your PC-based DVR from any Net-connected device.

The price: Currently, Orb offers two months of trial service free. After that, the service costs $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year, plus a bit more for additional users.

The prospects: Orb solves some previously annoying problems--especially for those of us who hoard digital media files on a home PC or have a million digital photos stuck on a cell phone. It's also a great way to watch TV anywhere, anytime, but not many consumers have a PC TV tuner yet. PC TV tuners are still a Martian concept for the masses, and it's unlikely that consumers will want to shell out a sizable annual fee for Orb sans TV-streaming functionality.

By Lindsey Turrentine, section editor, CNET Reviews