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Wireless Networking Java Programming Hardware

Gloolabs Readies A Java-Based WiFi Audio Device 149

Posted by timothy from the field-crowding dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A new Java powered home entertainment audio device design promises to simplify sharing computer music files among computers and stereos in connected homes. Gloolabs's Gloo is Java middleware that puts an iPod-like interface on music files it "discovers" around the network. Gloo, which will be licensed to multiple device makers, is available now on one device that runs embedded Linux, and Gloolabs is currently bootstrapping a Gloo developer community. Gloolabs is currently taking orders for the $250 MacSense HomePod, the first Gloo-based device, which will ship in January 2004. A limited quantity of the $350 Developer Edition is available now."
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Gloolabs Readies A Java-Based WiFi Audio Device More

Gloolabs Readies A Java-Based WiFi Audio Device

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  • Open-ish source.... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by tcopeland ( 32225 ) * <tom@NoSPaM.thomasleecopeland.com> on Wednesday December 17, 2003 @02:05PM (#7747204) Homepage
    ...or something like that. From the GLOO site:


    Open firmware philosophy - The Java source will be made available to the GLOO
    developer community. Developers will be able to enhance any of the software
    components including the firmware running on the hardware.


    So, buy the Developer's Edition and you get the source code. Cool.
    • "Gloolabs will launch a developer community and standalone SDK the first week of January, according to Saal. The SDK will include a hardware emulator, enabling developers to hack Gloo on their desktops, regardless of whether they have purchased any hardware. "

  • useful (Score:5, Funny)

    by petwalrus ( 645792 ) on Wednesday December 17, 2003 @02:10PM (#7747273) Journal
    Now I can play my neighbours mp3 collection in the convenience of my living room!

  • I ordered mine in JANUARY (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Of 2003. They said it would ship in March.

    Still waiting.

  • "Pod"? "Pod"?? (Score:5, Funny)

    by heironymouscoward ( 683461 ) <heironymouscowar ... m ['oo.' in gap]> on Wednesday December 17, 2003 @02:10PM (#7747276) Journal
    This is the buzzword for 2004? We are living in an alien spaceship?

    A HomePod sounds distinctly like a scene from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".
  • They're going to have Apple's legal team up their ownPods
  • For a second there I thought Larry W. had renamed "Perl".

  • Neat idea, but (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ActionPlant ( 721843 ) on Wednesday December 17, 2003 @02:12PM (#7747308) Homepage
    I'm already thinking of security compromises. What's to stop an outside source from eventually being able to search this in an attempt to determine if you have illegal music? Also, error logs could pose a problem. I'm assuming they have that worked out, but using java to do this worries me. With an intelligent search, the ability to spider your own network looking for files...should it grab the *ahem* "wrong" file and surprise you with it when your parents are visiting...uh oh.

    Damon,
    • Considering that 71% of wireless networks didn't have any WEP encryption when warflying over LA and Orange County [slashdot.org], the "outside source" already ownz your files.
    • Speaking of security, it's odd that their site mentions Wi-fi for the pod, but doesn't mention WEP support. I can't imagine a single /. user (hopefully) who doesn't have 128-bit WEP, not to mention MAC filtering, and maybe more. If the HomePod doesn't support at least WEP, there's no way I'm opening up my network to the world just so that I can have some music to go with my cereal.

      With decent security, it might be fun to hook the HomePod to my cellphone, connect to my home w/s over the Internet, and play m
      • I like the phone idea. Now we need to see a big advance in securityto ship with it.

      • Re:Neat idea, but (Score:4, Informative)

        by Crazy Man on Fire ( 153457 ) on Wednesday December 17, 2003 @02:37PM (#7747514) Homepage
        I can't imagine a single /. user (hopefully) who doesn't have 128-bit WEP

        WEP (128-bit or othewise) really isn't very secure. If you're that freaked out about it, you should be using something else...
        Of course, 128-bit WEP is better than nothing, but it really isn't any better than any other strength WEP.

        From this [arstechnica.com] Ars Technica article:
        Using today's computing horsepower, this feature (128-bit WEP) increases the time it takes to brute force crack a WEP key from a few days to approximately 20 weeks. While it seems like a good idea, there are several key areas where this security initiative falls short of the definitive security solution. On top of the management problems using static WEP keys there are two serious issues that plague 128 bit WEP. First of all, the attacks on WEP have nothing whatsoever to do with the key length itself. Whether you are using a 64 bit or 128 bit WEP you still have the exact same 24 bit IV which is the source of the weaknesses. This increases security absolutely zero for today's wireless implementations because no one bothers to brute force a WEP key when it is so easy to use one of the other attacks.
      • I have 104-bit WEP enabled on my AP, but I don't do anything beyond that. From what I've read MAC filtering is really easy to get around, so I don't bother with that, and VPN would be overkill. There's nothing interesting or important on my network anyway, so I'm not so worried about it. Besides there's at least one other WEPless AP at my apartment complex, so why would anyone bother trying to crack mine.
        • Why? Because you're there. Seriously, saying there isn't anything interesting on your network just shows that you don't know what makes an interesting target. I'm not proud to admit that I've gotten into other people's system just to read their e-mail. If you don't think that's a big deal, just send me your e-mail for the last 7 months so I can forward key bits to your friends and family. Don't forget all those order confirmations from online stores. That's pure gold!
          • With WiFi there everything is so easily sidestepped that I don't see the point of bothering with it. WEP is like locking a door, not fool proof but it's something, so I do that. MAC filtering, turning SSID off, I don't see the point. Sure it's possible someone will read my e-mail, but it's not real likely, and online ordering and banking is all SSL'd .
        • Because your there and because it's an easy way for someone to launder their internet usage (and guess who's door the MIBs are gonna come knocking on?). Breaking into an AP is typically not about the data on your network, but being able to crack other network's without getting caught.

          Sure, MAC filtering isn't the end-all of security, but if it makes your AP harder to crack then the one next door... well, guess which system the cracker is going to go after first? (A lot of security practices are simply m
    • Why does using Java worry you? The security concerns are valid, as are the random file selections :) But it's not like Java makes your wifi inherently less secure. In fact, I'd go so far as to say I believe Java to be inherently more secure (in some ways) than other languages which allow such nastiness as buffer overflows.

  • ...an appliance with the Java logo on it (at least I hope). As a Java programmer, I have been dying for a toaster or microwave oven with the Java logo on it. Yahoo!!

    Now how long will it take for someone to hack this thing and get it sharing music over the Internet using the Gloo network protocol without all that PC hardware getting in the way?

  • Impossible equation (Score:3, Funny)

    by JamesP ( 688957 ) on Wednesday December 17, 2003 @02:17PM (#7747360)
    Java + Wi-FI + Audio

    I reckon the universe is going to explode....
  • seems the latest slimp3 device does this stuff. somebody please clarify why this is better/different than the current market offerings?
  • cute...

    i'll stick to using an old pc wired to the stereo to do the job though - i got THAT for free

  • Ouch (Score:4, Interesting)

    by djupedal ( 584558 ) on Wednesday December 17, 2003 @02:23PM (#7747419)
    "*While standard ACC files are supported, Apple Music Store Downloads are not due to DRM restrictions."

    A bit of creative capture should solve this, I believe. However, it bodes not well for other formats.

    • Re:Ouch (Score:3, Interesting)

      by laird ( 2705 )
      Right, there are two basic approaches (that I can think of) to playing DRM'd music on a device like this.

      1) Implement the DRM on the device, and handle the key management, etc., so that the device has the same rights to decrypt and play the DRM's content.

      2) Use the DRM on the desktop computer, and stream the result to the device.

      I think that (2) is the better approach, because it means that you don't need to do the work of porting a zillion proprietary DRM systems to your box, but can leave that on the d

  • Lack of creativity (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Clsid ( 564627 )
    Although I like the idea from a technical side and they open source approach they are adopting, I wonder if it is really that hard to make a new device that's not a blatant copy of the iPod design.
    • I've used some of the devices that don't copy the iPod scroller -- such as the Napster player and Dell's music player, the Archos, the Zen -- and they're all much harder to use. Most of them use a similar idea besides...scroll arrows that act exactly like the pod's wheel does, only without the precision. As for the buttons in a four corner position, technically this isn't iPod design. The older iPods had four buttons but they were arranged in a sort of a prong-of-an-iron-cross fashion around the wheel, h
  • I live in a dense apartment block, and while I only own a PDA currently, it has 802.11, and I've used it to pick up over 17 (17!!) open access points within range of my apartment. Most of these people have extensive mp3 collections which look highly illegal (though since I don't own a computer and I've never talked to them, I don't know if they have the new Strokes album through iTunes or what...). One guy has like the complete works of Jimmi Hendrix; it's awesome.

    Anyway. I could buy one of these things, h
    • It doesn't just magicly pick up mp3s on computers, you have to install a GLOO server on the computers that will do the sharing.
    • This would be great for college campuses too!!!

      In my experience, most college students do not run an WAP from their dorm room. Typically, they just use the line going into their room.
      • My guess is that your experience is a couple years old. Since laptop (and wireless equipment) prices have been coming down over the course of the last year or two, it's incredibly convenient to drop the $ for a wireless router and use that for your laptop's network access.
    • Most of these people have extensive mp3 collections which look highly illegal...I've never talked to them

      Devil's advocate, but please don't take the RIAA's route in assuming that mp3 == illegal. I personally have over 400 albums worth of mp3s on my computer, all 100% legally obtained by ripping my CD collection many moons ago.

      Unfortunately for anyone who lives close enough, they're not shared over my wireless connection. Well, unless you can get onto non-shared drives on a computer that denies connection
  • Are there any other such devices that pick up internet radio (Shoutcast-only is fine) besides MP3 playing? I don't think the Slimp3 does radio, right?

  • Hey idea guys... (Score:3, Funny)

    by rubenmiranda ( 680189 ) <rubenmiranda@gmail.com> on Wednesday December 17, 2003 @02:38PM (#7747525) Homepage
    Want to come up with a real moneymaker? Make a Wi-Fi shower stereo. To me that's really where the power lies in making music asccessible...making it accessible where you sing like a dying cat!

  • Ogg? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Damon C. Richardson ( 913 )
    No Ogg? forget it! ( here's my dollar walking away ).

    • Re:Ogg? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Keith Russell ( 4440 )
      No Ogg? forget it! ( here's my dollar walking away ).

      Ah, but that's the beauty of HomePod: Open firmware! I'm sure it won't be long before you can download a patch that supports your Codec of Choice. So don't let that dollar get too far away.

    • Nope. The only open format supported by this thing is AAC, which is a part of the Mpeg-4 standard and has about a dozen types of compression, many of which are comparable to OGG in size/quality, and some of which easily beat it for specific uses.

      The whole POINT to Ogg was that it was going to be high quality for the audiophiles, have small file sizes for the network users, and have none of the licensing issues of MP3, WMA, etc. Well, AAC fulfills all of those points.

      Ogg is good and all, but it's a forma
    • I'm with GlooLabs. As you can imagine we've had a busy day from this slashdot coverage. We designed GLOO (that's the middleware running on the HomePod) to be very open. We have an architecture that allows different CODECS to be pluged in. We are offering the source and support to developers to help with this process. I think we will have an 'ogg' CODEC running on the homepod very quickly once enough units are in developer hands. We use standard a JNI interface to talk to CODECS and all the interface a
  • Imagine if your auto radio exchanged music files with other cars it passed.
  • What I'l love to know is, if I keep this in my bathroom, will the humidity from the shower kill it? Methinks it will be ok since I have a $20 clock-radio/CD player in there now, and it's ok. I don't know if I want to risk the $250 though...

  • They're probably going to have to change the name. Using "HomePod" to refer to a digital music player is too close to "iPod." I wouldn't be surprised if they get a friendly letter stating that in legalese.
  • "Gloolabs is currently bootstrapping a Gloo developer community."

    Wow, interesting use of nerd-lingo, but since when does boot-strap mean 'organize?'
  • Basically, I want an iPod with a remote and an ethernet port.

    I don't want to stream from a 300W server, I want a little device I can turn on when I need it, and that I can operate with a remote and hook up to a home network to push more files into its storage.

    Anyone know of something like this, other than that $1500 Rio unit?

    Thanks in advance.

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