Still on Linux...Kerbango!

[Alan DuBoff]

Hi boys and gals...

I started a new job working on Linux again...and I'm having a couple problems
that I hope some of you debhead gurus can help me with. Will follow up in
different messages.

As some of you might know, I've been a consultant for about 20 years. I
finally broke down and took a "real" job as an employee to a startup. The
company has quite an interesting internet appliance and I must say it is one
of the few jobs I've had that really gives me a chubby, in a long time...and
it was one of the first computer jobs I had where each person who interviewed
me asked what my "axe" was...;-). The company is located in Cupertion, about
3.1 miles from my house. I'm willing to roll the dice on this one, it's a
pretty nice gig.

We will be one of the first to come to market with an internet appliance, the
Kerbango Radio.

The radio is a standalone appliance that will plug into the net and stream
audio as well as MP3 files and even pick up radio broadcast as well (athough
the internet broadcast are more our specialty).

The radio has an embedded linux kernel that runs on a PowerPC chip and
development is done on an Intel box using a gnu cross compiler. It is very
similar to a desktop radio, but modernized for the info superhighway...I am
working on porting the RealAudio player to our linux kernel. This is very cool
for me, seeing as I've been doing some boring business type application work
for the past year, although it was on Linux which has been fun...the work
itself was nothing you would write your Mother about however...:-/

Along with this appliance that the press is going ga-ga over (internet
appliances seem to be the buzz of such right now), one of the values Kerbango
adds to their radio, along to all of the net for free, is a tuning service. 

Kerbango's database currently has over 4000 active audio streams, including
but not limited to internet broadcast, concerts on demand, worldwide regional
news, interviews, sports broadcasts, etc...all available over the net...*and*
a site you can use for free with the newly available RealAudio player for
Linux (currently in beta, but it works pretty well).

You can use the website with your browser in conjunction with the RealAudio
player and have access to all of these streams, check it out, it's really
pretty cool!

You can check the website out at:

http://www.kerbango.com/

Where you can see a picture of the radio as well as get to the tuning service.

We have an audio 'bot that goes out checking streams and updating the database
so you can see the signal strength as well as if the line is currently up.
I've noticed that some stations who broadcast nearby (KKSF for instance) have
a hard time keeping their feeds up, but others like Virgin Radio in London is
more reliable. It's truely amazing to get broadcasts from the other side of
the globe! Internet Radio is very cool. Of course, don't forget to check out
KPIG, broadcast from over the hill by Santa Cruz in Freedom, CA., it's one of
the largest web radio stations going (and also broadcasts on FM as well).

--

Alan DuBoff
Software Orchestration, Inc.