Sometimes you find the absolutely coolest things completely by accident, proving my theory of “Zen Internet Navigation” (you rarely find what you want, but you often find something you needed to see).  Last night I found SlimServer, a music streaming server that has to be about the coolest thing I’ve seen in ages (yes, even better then graphical Links).

SlimServer is the server component of a music appliance by a company called Slim Devices (WWW).  The SqueezeBox is a really funky-looking network music player — you hook it up to your stereo system and can stream not only music from a SlimServer (in MP3, MP2, WAV, AIFF, OGG, AAC, FLAC and Apple Lossless formats — it can even do WMA if you want to run SlimServer on Windows), but also Internet Radio (Icecast and SHOUTcast).  Here’s a look at the basic black and cool coloured versions of the SqueezeBox (images from the Slim Devices website):

While there are a good few of these types of devices on the market nowdays, I think the two neatest things about the SqueezeBox are:

• There is an open API for writing plugins for the SqueezeBox, and Slim Devices have created a community around just that, and
• A software developer has written a Java-based SqueezeBox emulator called SoftSqueeze (WWW), allowing you to have a pretend SqueezeBox on your PC desktop — it even handles most of the SqueezeBox plugins!

While the SlimServer protocol provides for a lot of interaction between a SqueezeBox or SoftSqueeze player and the server (the ability to control the player from the server’s web interface, for instance), just about any player that can handle a network audio stream can be run from the SlimServer.  As proof, I configured my Asterisk PBX to use a stream from SlimServer as music-on-hold — in seconds I was listening to tunes from my collection over the phone.  SlimServer can handle supplying different streams to different players, or SqueezeBoxes can synchronise each other to the same stream.

As I mentioned, SlimServer’s web interface gives you a lot of control over not only the server, but also the attached players.  This means that you could, for instance, control your SqueezeBox at home while at work (of course we all want to have music playing at home while we are at work!).  Here’s a look at a snippet of the web interface (image from the Slim Devices web site):

Speaking of remote access, SoftSqueeze has built-in support for tunneling the audio stream via SSH, so you can listen to your home audio collection while at the office.  I’ve only scratched the surface of what SlimServer, SqueezeBox and SoftSqueeze can do.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: Free Software is the way of the future.  I really am very impressed by this set of products — even though a SqueezeBox would cost more than the Netgear or D-Link media players I’ve been looking at recently (certainly once the Australian Customs parasites got done with it), I’m seriously considering putting an order in for one of these pups.  As for SlimServer, I’ve had to create a new “highest rating”: “Would Pay Real Money For It”!  Bravo, Slim Devices, seriously good gear!

He’s had bumps on the head, tumbles from prams, and other assorted spills, but today Nicholas spilled claret for the first time.  Just to prove that you can NEVER truly be prepared for all eventualities, he managed to find something sharp to cut his finger on.

I blame myself, of course.  As soon as he started crawling and became fascinated with the drain covers that we have in a few places in our tiled wet-areas at home, I thought that the small openings in them might be places where little fingers could get stuck.  Then I talked myself out of it: I was being TOO safety-conscious, I told myself.

Sure enough, this afternoon he caught one of his fingers in one.

The wound is largely superficial, although he did manage to get an impressive amount of red stuff on the floor, on a napkin and on Mummy’s shirt (so Mummy and Daddy have both passed a parenting test: not passing out at the sight of a child’s blood).  Dunked in a disinfectant solution and patched up with some Liquid Bandage (absolute magic stuff, although a bit overpriced IMO), he was right as rain in minutes.

And yes, the drain covers are now protected.