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Google does an Orb

Builds cloud streaming into Android

Google's Android music service will do an Orb and allow you to stream your home music collection when you're out of the house. It will require a small piece of server software to run on your home PC.

If this sounds a bit deja vu, that's because it is. The pioneer in this area, Orb, has had a similar service for over five years, clocking up over 30 million downloads.

Orb has also been on the iPhone for over two years, and was officially blessed with App Store approval in 2008. You might recall Sling did something similar too, with an emphasis on TV, but required a hardware box.

What a shame no one told Farhad Majoo at Slate, who in this breathless and gushing write-up appears to think Google has just invented the 'MyCasting' concept.

"Programmers have created similar systems for the iPhone and iPad, but Apple has rejected them from the App Store," claims the Salon guru, incorrectly.

"That could be a sign that Apple plans to build that functionality into its devices. Or it could be a sign that Apple is just being Apple," he predicts.

Well it might, if it was true. But since the foundation of his premise is false, so must be his conclusion.

"The syncing era is clearly on the wane," he also claims, fancifully.

Really? Maybe it is, but we'd like to see some evidence of that.

Farhad is the author of a book called True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society. We suppose he's simply leading by example.

Boom boom. ®

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