Orb's online Media Center Extender

Apparently Orb went and snuck a really cool feature into version 2.0 without bothering to tell us about it. Orb generally lets you access videos, live TV, photos, audio, and other files from your computer through a web interface.

But Ian Dixon was snooping around his computer the other day and found a file called orb.mcl in his Orb directory. Hey, MCL files are Windows Media Center files! What happens when you click on it? Windows Media Center starts, and asks you to sign in with your Orb username and password.

Here's where it gets really interesting. If you're running an Orb server client on your home computer, but login using orb.mcl on a different computer, you can browse all of the shared files on your home computer using Windows Media Center's 10-foot interface. Pop on over to your buddies house to watch the big game that you recorded last night. Go visit grandma and show her your latest vacation photos for a change. This is all assuming your grandma and buddy have Windows Media Center and a broadband connection.