They say that man does not live on bread alone, and those folks are absolutely correct. After all, what is the point of life if there is no music? Long before there were movies to entertain folks en masse, there is the radio. I guess you can say that radio programs are the equivalent of books, especially when those require you to make use of your imagination. Movies are definitely an art form that is worth watching, but the directors (and special effects team these days) tend to do all of the “thinking” on your behalf, so much so that your imagination more or less remains in a dormant manner. Well, if you want to get back to the world of radio, perhaps you can do so in style with the WorldRadio from Geneva?
Yes sir, the Geneva WorldRadio is a contemporary take on the classic world receiver, where the world receiver is actually a radio which had the operational capability of receiving all of the available radio stations simply by using the broadcasting technologies of that particular era, such as FM, long, and short waves. Fast forward to today, and you will find that majority of the popular local radio stations will be broadcast over FM, while select European countries decide to take the DAB digital radio route, and of course, how can we leave out the thousands of other Internet radio stations?
You can say that the new Geneva WorldRadio would be a converging point for all the above mentioned, since with just a single device, you are able to access to the complete offering of today’s radio stations, in addition to what the classic world receiver did for generations prior. Just what does the Geneva WorldRadio pack? Of course, it boasts of a powerful audio system, a digital color display with touch controls, a digital FM tuner, Bluetooth capability to go wireless if you want that vision for your home, and an alarm clock, all crammed into an elegant, streamlined chassis with aluminum handle and tuning controls.
You can pick up the Geneva WorldRadio from next month onwards in silver, red, and black metallic finishes for $299.95 a pop.
Clicking off the radio to rid your ears of an annoying DJ or an overplayed pop song is easy enough, but it could be more satisfying. How? Well, you could stuff a literal cork in your radio, of course. Normal speakers wouldn’t be phased by mere wine stopper, but by design, the DAB compatible Plugg is. The project is the brainchild of Skrekkøgle, a pair of Norwegian designers, and was built to investigate the “physical and metaphorical interaction with electronic devices.” The DIY project features a pair of volume buttons and the obvious cork for an on / off switch. There aren’t any build instructions and the prototype isn’t available for sale, but inspired builders can get a look at the speaker’s construction (including a trip to the 3D printer) on the team’s Flickr page. Head past the break to see the final product in action.
It’s time to get smart with the developers behind the music streaming app Rdio – updated today for iOS as well as Android. This update brings on a fully redesigned user interface that’s ever-so-slightly cleaner than we’ve ever seen from the app before and will likely instill much more confidence in the system for both artists and those looking to subscribe to the pay service. Last month the team launched a Rdio Artist Program and a massive advertising campaign over the past few months to bring the app into prominence.
We’ve seen the most major billboards in Time’s Square showing off no less than the logo for this app and a blast-faced Madonna looking over the landscape. Does that make a great app? Sure, why not? And while the developers behind this app were at it, they updated the software as well – might as well!
What we’re seeing here is an update that makes the app for mobile devices resemble the web browser-based environment, this bringing the whole family together for a fun party. You’ll see an extremely large back-library of artists still sticking around through this update – essentially the same as Spotify with 18 million. While it would appear, according to TechCrunch’s figures, that Spotify is the more popular of the two services, Rdio may well be coming up quick.
The new Rdio app update will certainly have you thinking twice about updating past that free trial you get when you first sign up. If on the other hand you’re in the mood for free music at home, you’ve got lots of choices beyond Rdio – lots with advertisements backing them up, of course. Rdio remains the same as it was when it launched all those months ago – free trial to pay-to-use only – and no advertisements anywhere.
This app is available for download in the iTunes App Store now. It’s also available in a slightly different iteration for Android in the Google Play app store right this minute!
If you spent your fair share playing all of the Grand Theft Auto titles in your spare time, you undoubtedly know all about the different radio stations that played while you were driving around town in your Banshee. All that radio goodness is now available in the Google Play store in the form of an Android app.
Android users can now duplicate their Grand Theft Auto experience in their own cars using the GTA Radio app. Of course, we mean listening to the different radio stations, not causing mayhem while driving down your local main street. The best part is, the app can work in the background while you use other apps so that you’re always listening to GTA Radio while you browse Facebook and Twitter.
GTA Radio consists of most of the stations in all of the Grand Theft Auto titles as early as Grand Theft Auto III. This includes GTA III, GTA Vice City, GTA Liberty City Stories, GTA Vice City Stories, GTA San Andreas, and GTA IV. A few stations are missing from GTA IV, but the team is working on adding all the stations eventually in future updates.
The only caveat is that the app is only available on Android, and there’s no word on whether or not it will come to iOS anytime soon. Our guess is that it’s a licensing issue that Rockstar is dealing with, but we’re not sure if they’ll be able to get past it or not. All we can do is cross our fingers and hope for an iOS version at some point. In the meantime, you can download the Android version for free and start enjoying some classic GTA radio.
Introduced back in May 2011, the T9 from Iriver is a USB Stick like DAP that come with full support of FLAC alongside the usual MP3, WMA, WAV and APE. Today or slightly more than a year later, Iriver announced in Japan a small upgrade of its DAP that now comes in a 8GB version instead of the previous 2 or 4G offering. The 8GB T9 will be available in Japan starting this month at 6,980 Yen.
The popular internet radio service iHeartRadio has announced that they have reached the 20-million-user mark. Furthermore, they claim that their app has been downloaded over 135 million times. Clear Channel, the company that owns and operates iHeartRadio, says that they now have almost 240 million monthly listeners.
While 20 million listeners registered on iHeartRadio seems like a lot, Clear Channel says that users don’t need an account to use the service, meaning that millions more people are using the service. iHeartRadio was launched 13 months ago at the inaugural iHeartRadio Music Festival back in September 2011.
Brian Lakamp, President of Digital for Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, says that “iHeartRadio has experienced unprecedented growth,” and the service “truly creates unmatched promotional power that is unique to Clear Channel and allows [them] to be wherever [their] listeners are with the products and services they expect.”
iHeartRadio provides instant access to over 1,500 live broadcast and digital-only radio stations across the US from 150 cities, and by signing up for an account, you can get access to user-created Custom Stations inspired by a variety of favorite artists and songs. The iHeartRadio App is available across multiple platforms including on the web, and on iOS and Android devices.
If there’s one thing we love about the current state of mobile devices, it’s the innovation that’s being ushered in by forward-thinking brands like event-specific handheld device group FanVision. With the FanVision Controller, these folks are bringing in in-depth information about the event they’re covering with a device that’s interactive, not just a tiny display, and connected to their data source via UHF. Believe it or not, the signals they’re working with are an older technology than the mobile data your smartphone uses, but here at each live event they work with, it works one whole heck of a lot smoother.
We had a chance to speak with FanVision’s VP of marketing mister Kevin Weinhoeft who was quick to tell us that the easiest way you can describe this device is to imagine you were at home watching the big race with a taste for all the data you could swallow in and around the track. You’d have to have your television, a computer, a radio, and maybe even your smartphone to get the same content you’re able to get sitting at the live event with a FanVision Controller. The first person he told this story to made the case: “you must have been in my living room last time I watched a race, that’s what I was doing exactly.”
This device has live statistics, live cameras, and replays of events on the track right after they occur. UHF connectivity makes the dedicated network at the track possible and isn’t interrupted by the massive amounts of data being blasted around with everyone else’s smartphone. Weinhoeft spoke on how the device was made also to be relatively rough and tumble, too, not fragile like a smartphone or a tablet.
“FanVision was designed to work in the elements. Whether it’s really cold weather or whether it’s really hot weather or whatever else. Now it’s not waterproof, by any stretch of the imagination, but – we’ve had a lot of races where there’s rain or moisture or whatever where of course we don’t have any issue with the device going down because it’s getting a little bit of rain on it.” – Weinhoeft
Everything you look at when you’re at a race on the FanVision device is curated by the dedicated FanVision staff at the race. FanVision works with the cameras that are on-site and the information that comes direct from the source, updating every statistic and element as it changes.
“We’re not doing any kind of production, we don’t have people with cameras that are in the pits or in the garages or anything like that. We’re taking content directly from, as an example, in Phoenix, we’re taking the SprintVision content that’s being fed to the track. So we’re not – in essence – taking ESPN’s content. And as a matter of fact, the radio broadcast for this weekend will be MRN. So if we’re at an IFC track, it’s MRN radio, and if we’re at an SMI track, then it would be PRN radio.”
Then there’s the video – from the on-track cameras to the in-car cameras, you’ll be getting more up-close-and-personal than you’ve ever been before, right on the FanVision Controller device. Weinhoeft makes it clear that the content they’ve got here is everything you’ve ever had on your television at home, the smart device in your pocket, and more – and right as it happens.
“The one thing, of course, we have is the live race. The second thing that is constant is that we have the fastest instant replay that’s in production. What does change from race to race is the in-car cameras. We do have 8 in-car cameras for a cup race and typically for nation-wide as well. So the in-car cameras can change. As an example, last week, all of the in-car cameras for Cup were chase drivers. That’s how the content can change from week to week.
One of the other things you’ll see on the device is Driver Cards. Basically all the details about the drivers. All the information on the drivers is updated in real-time as well. So lets say, as an example, maybe the driver had a crew chief change. If the driver would have a crew chief change, then that data would change inside the Driver Card.
Another thing that would change is on the Twitter Feed. We have specific Twitter feeds on the device, but as we move from track to track: this weekend it would be the @PhoenixRaceway handle. as opposed to a track from earlier in the season.”
Then there’s the digital scanner – made to let you in on the radio feeds that are blasting back and forth across the track between crew chiefs and racers. Right out in the open, there for you to catch. If you’d love to get in just about as close as you possibly can without literally being in the pits (like SlashGear’s own Vincent Nguyen will be this weekend, mind you, at the Advocare 500 Sprint Cup Series race), you’ll need to listen in to the words being spoken by the crews using your own lovely radio scanner – built right in to the FanVision Controller.
“One of the biggest features on the device is the scanner. Because it’s digital, there’s no frequencies the fans have to program in. So they just select their drivers and they go.
The thing that goes with that, too, is instant replays. So you can listen to the last conversation between the driver and the pit. So as an example, something happens on the other side of the track and the drivers’ got to go to the garage, well, you can go to that driver’s Card and you can listen to their last conversation.”
We’ll be having a look at this device when we’re live at the Advocare 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race this Sunday as well as the following schedule of in-person events:
1. Pace Car Ride at speeds of 120+ MPH 2. Tour of NASCAR garage 3. Driver’s Meeting 4. Meet and Greet with General Motors Racing’s Chevrolet program manager for NASCAR’s top-tier Sprint Cup Series Alba Colon 5. AdvoCare 500 race (312 laps, 312 miles) Sunday, Nov. 11, 3 p.m. ET on ESPN with LIVE coverage here on SlashGear from Vincent Nguyen!
Be sure you check out the SlashGear main news feed and our Twitter as well @SlashGear to stay up-to-date on all things technologically awesome in the automotive universe! Have a peek at our brand new NASCAR tag as well to keep crusing on this particular track!
JVC Kenwood outs today in Japan a new thin and compact (170x139x198mm) CD and Bluetooth Player with the C-535. Announced at around 35,000 Yen and schedule for a launch mid-November the C-535 Series, available in Black and White, comes with a Pair od 2x20W speakers, USB support, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR with A2DP, AVRCP, an AM/FM radio tuner and with the support of MP3 as well as WMA files either stored on a USB thumbdrive or a CD-R/RW.
Stitcher is already a heavy hitter in the world of mobile apps, but users will now find their favorite radio shows and podcasts are accessible from the desktop. Today, the company announced an HTML5 version of its popular app that’s optimized for all of the major browsers. Upon login, Stitcher users will discover their existing favorites for on-demand listening, playback controls at the bottom of the screen, along with Stitcher’s discovery and sharing tools. While still in beta, the service is integrated between the desktop and mobile platforms, which lets users resume listening from wherever they left off, regardless of the device or platform. If you want to see more of what’s in store, feel free to check the gallery below, or simply follow the source link to start listening for yourself.
Microsoft has just outed Data Sense, a new app for Windows Phone 8 that helps ensure you don’t burn through your data plan. On top of tracking your usage app-by-app, it compresses every single web page you browse to keep data consumed to a minimum, and also sniffs out WiFi hotspots when they become available. The app features a Live Tile to give an ongoing saga of the megabytes you’ve consumed and will warn you near a preset limit. Redmond claims the hotspot sniffing and compression will let you consume 45 percent less data “when compared to the competition” — likely a reference to iOS and Android, which already have a similar feature. Data Sense will arrive first on Verizon this fall, but there’s no word yet on when other carriers will have it. To check the PR, go past the fold.
For more, check out our Windows Phone 8 event liveblog!
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
They say that man does not live on bread alone, and those folks are absolutely correct. After all, what is the point of life if there is no music? Long before there were movies to entertain folks en masse, there is the radio. I guess you can say that radio programs are the equivalent of books, especially when those require you to make use of your imagination. Movies are definitely an art form that is worth watching, but the directors (and special effects team these days) tend to do all of the “thinking” on your behalf, so much so that your imagination more or less remains in a dormant manner. Well, if you want to get back to the world of radio, perhaps you can do so in style with the WorldRadio from Geneva?
