Google gadget turns PC into media server

The Google Media Server, a new Google Desktop gadget, can send audio, video, and photo files from a Windows PC to some connected devices.

by Stephen Shankland

June 27, 2008 2:14 PM PDT Follow @stshank

The Google Media Server gadget can send audio and video from a Windows PC to another device.

(Credit: Google)

Google has released a software module that can turn Windows PCs into devices that streams media files to other devices.

The Google Media Server is a gadget that works on the Google Desktop software. It sends the data to other devices over a Universal Plug-and-Play connection such as a Sony PlayStation 3, according to the Google Desktop blog.

With it, people can play videos and music and view photos on a PC. In addition, it can connect to Web sites including Google's YouTube for video and Google's Picasa for photos.