Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re an Android-toting SiriusXM fan, you’ve probably spent the last month wondering when your smartphone would get the newfound flexibility to tune in beyond live radio. As of Sirius XM’s version 2.2 update, Android is back on equal footing. The upgrade supplies On Demand streaming, both for catch-up and the occasional classic, as well as downloadable copies to keep the music and talk flowing offline. As before, the access is considered a free perk of a SiriusXM subscription; if you enjoy Howard Stern’s cynicism enough to want it at odd hours of the day, your angsty fix awaits at the source.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile

SiriusXM for Android update brings On Demand and offline listening originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 06:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Stitcher is all about giving the people what they want and, only days after introducing its popular lists, it’s back with an offline mode for its iOS apps. Despite boasting one of the smallest data footprints in the streaming game (0.2MB per minute), you can now download over 10,000 radio shows for unconnected listening. Beware — the app will automatically update the shows on your custom stations, so if you plan on using it to save that precious data for other things, make sure to set it to only pull over WiFi. Along with that major enhancement, there’s a new comments system and other improvements in Facebook sharing, searching and AirPlay compatibility. The PR says the update is live, but iTunes disagrees, so you’ll have to wait a little longer before going off-grid.

Continue reading Stitcher updates its iOS app with offline mode for data-free radio

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Internet, Software, Mobile

Stitcher updates its iOS app with offline mode for data-free radio originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Sep 2012 08:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple is engaged in talks with record labels to create a Pandora-like music streaming service. According to the outlet’s sources, the service will be ad-supported and will be accessible from Apple’s wide array of hardware — there’s even hope that PC users may be able to catch some of the action. However, it’s said that Android devices will be left out in the cold. The sources also say that the company had previously toyed with the idea of a service similar to Spotify with a monthly fee, but that this effort appears more serious. Licenses supposedly being sought by the House that Jobs Built could let them air songs more frequently than competitors and allow for additional interactivity. Since Apple’s negotiations are at an early stage, it’s expected to take months before the service materializes. At any rate, if you’re still jonesin’ for something fresh from Cupertino, we hear that something’s been cooked up for next week.

Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Handhelds

WSJ: Apple developing competitor to Pandora, could launch within ‘a matter of months’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Batteries used to be the only way to power implantable gadgets, but additional surgeries are needed to replace the power packs once their juice runs out — a less-than-ideal solution for patients. Recent discoveries, however, have such medgadgets being powered by photons, hip hop and now high-frequency radio waves. Electrical engineers at Stanford built a cardiac device that uses a combination of inductive and radiative transmission of power, at about 1.7 billion cycles per second, to its coiled receiving antenna.

Previous prevailing opinion held that the high frequencies needed for wireless power delivery couldn’t penetrate the human body deep enough, and the lower frequencies that would do the trick require antennas too large to work as implants. That conundrum was solved by getting the high-frequency signals to penetrate deeper using alternating waves of electric and magnetic fields. That allowed a 10x increase in power delivery — up to 50 microwatts to a millimeter radius antenna coil — to an implant five centimeters below the skin. That antenna also was also designed to pull power regardless of its orientation, making it ideal for applications inside always-moving human bodies. Of course, the implant’s really just a proof-of-concept at this stage, but hopefully it won’t be long before battery powered implants go the way of the dodo TouchPad.

Filed under: Science

Stanford researchers make heart implant powered by radio waves, put batteries out of a job originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 02 Sep 2012 23:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome to Engadget’s back to school guide! The end of summer vacation isn’t nearly as much fun as the weeks that come before, but a chance to update your tech tools likely helps to ease the pain. Today, we have speaker docks in our sights — and you can head to the back to school hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back — at the end of the month we’ll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides — and hit up the hub page right here.

If there’s any post-adolescent period that deserves its own soundtrack, it’s your college years. Sure, our portable audio picks will let you jam on the go, but the best collegiate experiences are shared with friends — and listening to music should be no exception. Even if you’d prefer to keep your playlist out of your friends’ feed, be it in person or online, you’ll still need to wake up each morning, and what better way to ease into the waking world than with your favorite tracks? These speaker docks offer more functionality than your average smartphone clock, and they’re certainly better equipped to play DJ when it comes time to close the books. Join us past the break for our 2012 picks.

Continue reading Engadget’s back to school guide 2012: docks and clocks

Filed under: Misc, Household

Engadget’s back to school guide 2012: docks and clocks originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Aug 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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