Feb 05
Files discovered by 9to5Mac in the Music app on newly jailbroken iPads suggest that Apple’s long-rumored radio service might turn out to be more than a rumor after all. More »
Feb 04
Stitcher overhauls its Android app to dovetail with Google’s interface world
Posted in: Today's Chili 
Stitcher’s Android app can do many things with radio and podcasts, but one thing it hasn’t done lately is blend in — its interface is out of sync with a platform that has had its own distinct style for more than two years. A major remake today helps make amends. The new Stitcher app relies on the Action Bar and overall concepts of Holo-native apps for input, simplifying things for anyone who’s comfortable with Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean — and more than a little prettier, we’d add. It’s more than just eye candy, though. The Android build now has a dedicated Smart Station to listen to recommendations, browsing that keeps interruptions to a minimum and Jelly Bean-specific playback controls in notifications. While there’s no fundamental changes that would lure someone who’s wedded to a single-purpose app, the Stitcher refresh could be worth a look if previous versions ever felt like strangers on Google’s turf.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile
Source: Google Play
Jan 28
Ok, I admit it, I never have been really fair in the past with Toshiba and I hope you will believe me when I am saying that I have nothing against the brand and actually I even own a REGZA TV and love it, at least until two dead pixel pop-up 9 month after I bought it… Anyway, it seems that in Japan there is a market for old stuff like and today Toshiba outs the TY-CRX70, a gold old CD and FM/AM Radio combo that even comes, brace yourself, with a USB port and the support of MPA/WMA files …
Jan 18
Here you are another very well designed product from Sony with the XDR-55TV. Unlike the SRS-BTX300 and SRS-BTX500, the XDR-55TV is not a portable Bluetooth and NFC Speaker but a simple AM/FM Radio with 1Seg Support that will stream Japanese TV programs audio wherever you are. The XDR-55TV comes in Black and White, weight 480g for a size of 190x36x95mm run on two AA batteries that will give you enough juice for 17hrs of continuous 1Seg Audio playback!
The XDR-55TV will be sold in Japan early …
Jan 11
Slacker Radio hasn’t done too much the past few years. While they’ve definitely been spreading their service to different devices and platforms, like the Roku streaming media player, and just recently Chrysler’s UConnect at CES 2013, the service hasn’t been making waves like its competitors, Spotify, Pandora, Rdio, etc. However, we’ve been told that Slacker Radio will be holding an event sometime in the near future to reveal a complete overhaul of the service.
A PR representative for Slacker told us that the company will launch a major overhaul of the radio service in order to better compete with Spotify and other popular music-streaming services. We’re not told about any specifics, so exactly what they’ll be bringing to the new service is still a mystery.
However, the service will see a refocusing of its efforts, and the redesign and restructuring will be completely different than what the service is currently all about. It’s supposed to be a pretty major event for the company, and we’ve been hinted that there may be some famous musicians making an appearance at the event, but no details regarding special guests have been confirmed yet.
In any case, we hope to learn more info fairly shortly when the company reveals the new service. They already have a Premium service available, which is fairly similar to Spotify already, so we’re curious as to how the company will redesign the platform, and what new features they’ll bring to the table.
Slacker Radio planning major overhaul is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jan 06
Live in Tornado Alley? Just generally afraid of being swept away by a cyclone? You may want to cast those eyes in the general direction of the La Crosse 810-163TWR weather alert radio. The walkie-talkie-like device is up to all of the NOAA standards, tuning you in to national weather alerts. You can set an alarm on the gadget that’ll turn radio alerts on any time there’s a national disaster. New this time out is a devoted tornado button. Click that and it will only trigger when faced with that specific disaster. The device is due out in April and should you around $50. Sadly the unit present here at CES was just a dummy, so if there are any tornadoes in the area, we’re all out of luck.
Dec 25
It’s time to get ready for the inevitable zombie apocalypse now that we’ve passed by the Mayan end of the universe – what better way to do it than with your own self-chargeable AM/FM/NOAA weather ALERT radio, USB smart phone charger, and LED flashlight. This machine goes by the name Eton FRX3 and comes in two fashionably powerful shades: black/gray/yellow and red/gray. Up top you’ve got a solar charging panel, on the side you’ve got a hand-crank turbine, and on the inside you’ve got both a place for batteries of your own and the single rechargeable Ni-MH pack you’ll be pumping up with the crank.
This machine is made to be rugged, prepared to stick with you be it in your own home for an emergency or out along with you camping. You’ve got connectivity with radio along AM and FM as well as all seven NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) weather band stations – and an “Alert” system to boot! This “Alert” function, when activated, automatically has your unit broadcasting emergency weather alerts from your area.
The turbine is quoted as giving between 10 and 15 minutes of radio and flashlight use per one minute cranked – and we’ve generally found that to be entirely accurate. If you’re in an area where you’ve got your own supply of AAA batteries, you can feel free to use those too – and if you’ve got a wall socket, this machine takes in DC power via mini-USB. This machine also has the ability to “dump charge” your smartphone with its own USB port – plug your own microUSB cord in and let it pump up!
You’ve got the ability to play the radio stations as a standard radio would or you can choose to play tunes through the machine’s AUX-input. This means that if you’ve got your smartphone and an audio cord, you can plug in and blast the tunes out through the FRX3 like a pro! There’s also a 3-LED flashlight that can shine straight-up white or blink red, and all of the buttons around the entire device are illuminated. The area around the solar power panel is also glow-in-the-dark.
You’ve got a small display in the center of all this that shows you what you’ve got turned on or off, which radio station you’ve got on, and if you’ve got an alarm set up – yes indeed you can set this machine up to be your alarm clock, too. The display is back-lit so you can see it in the dark, and the whole device measures in at 7.875 H x 7 W x 3.5-inch D. You can pick this machine up at fine electronics stores near you for right around $60 USD, and it’s worth every penny.
Eton FRX3 hand turbine Radio and USB Charger Review is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Dec 24
I don’t use many gadgets every single day. Smartphone, sure. TV? Nope. But these little battery-operated Sony radios—I have two of them—receive local airwaves every morning, every night, and for almost 48 hours straight on weekends. More »
Dec 02
You use buttons to turn things off and on all the time, and it gets boring. Surely there are cleverer ways to go about such a toggle. That’s what the designers at Skrekkøgle thought when they came up with this neat little radio that shuts up when you cram a cork in it. More »
Nov 30
Twitter is probably the most up-to-date source of both the most useless as well as the important issues of the day; it’s like a thousand free radio stations where some broadcast nothing but ads while the rest have schizophrenic DJs and reporters. So… it’s not like a radio station at all. But I still find this tweet-speaking radio to be an awesome mod.
The not-radio was made by Sean Hathaway, who calls his device “Volume and Noise.” It has a wooden case from an antique radio but its innards and display have been upgraded with equipment like a newer amplifier, an Arduino microcontroller and a meter that shows the number of tweets per minute.
It filters tweets based on user-defined search terms and then converts them to speech using synthetic voices. In the video below Volume and Noise is tuned in to political search terms. I like the addition of static and tuning sound effects.
I wonder if it would be possible to order it to make a voice command that tells the radio to save or mail a link to the tweet it just read. That way it would be even more useful.
[via MAKE]
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