Michael Bohlin, a Microsoft Business Development Manager over in Sweden working with Online Spotlight partners sent this to a bunch of people this morning. I thought is was pretty cool and asked if I could reproduce here. Michael said yes. Enjoy!
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A day in a traveller’s life:
I start the morning by unplugging my portable device (PMC, SmartPhone, DAP..) from my Windows XP Media Center computer on my way to the airport. While waiting for the gate to open I sit down and I watch the latest news broadcast and parts of yesterday evening episode of Lost. When on the plane and the seatbelt signs has been turned off I go to my music library and select the latest technology update from CNET before I tune in to some soft music and enjoy the flight.
When arriving at the hotel I log-in to my remote TV service and schedule what I want to record this evening and for the upcoming days. I go to work and when I get back in the evening I log-in to my remote service and stream the recorded TV show over a secure line and the last thing I do before I go to bed is listening to some music and watching some family photos from the same remote service.
How?
- I schedule everything I want to record as usual on my Media Center PC.
- I install a podcast application like iPodderX and have it pull the latest from CNET and put it in My Music library under podcasts (this way it will always be available and synched).
- I create an account at TvOnTime which enables me to remote which recordings I want to have on my Media Center PC.
- I create an account at Orb Networks which exposes my shared media folders to my account when logged in (not uploaded only listings). When I log-in to orb.com I can choose any content available on my Media Center PC and have it streamed over https (it generates an asx-file) to my laptop wherever I am in the world assuming that I have decent bandwidth available >300kbps (it will adjust, but 400 gives a good TV image).
This is nothing futuristic! Try it today!
In the near future with Xbox360 and TV’s you will be able to access all media in-house no matter where it is stored. Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) which has been driven by DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance (which Microsoft is contributor to) has starting to see daylight. UPnP will give us non routable access to our in-house devices. This means that you today would be able to walk up to a speaker and select what music you want to listen to without knowing where it comes from except that it is either an internet service you have or it is stored somewhere in-house on your Set-top box, Xbox360, DVD Recorder, TV, PC, Media Center PC, etc.
Did you know that if you connect a portable music player which has the “Plays For Sure” logo like iRiver, Creative, Samsung Rio etc. (www.playsforsure.com) they will be able to play through your Xbox360 to the TV speakers or whatever you have it hooked up to. It can also of course synchronize with music library that you might have on the Xbox360 already. MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) is a technology that is royalty free that anyone who wants to be able to synch audio, video, tv, photos etc. between itself and portable devices can download and implement no matter what OS.
This is nothing futuristic! Try it today!
Philips TV’s does today come in versions called “Connected Planet” which accesses all your PC’s in-house.
Goal
Any piece of content that comes into the household should be able to be played out anywhere in the household and depending on the rules that applies to the copyright etc. you might be able to synch it to a portable device. Notice that we are not trying to move things around the house; we focus on playing it out remotely to whatever device you’re using.
A Possible Future?
- It won’t be long before making digital backup copies of DVD’s to your hard drive is a legal reality.
- It won’t be long before we will be able to buy full DVD movies over the web.
- It won’t be long before operators can manage WindowsCE based Set-top boxes with Microsoft Operations Manager.
- It won’t be long before Windows Vista will be the premium place to manage digital media content on huge storage devices in your house.
May the streams be with you!