Note: While the BlackBerry version supports station caching, the iPhone app doesn't.

Slacker told the Wall Street Journal that the G2 will be phased out in the second half of next year, saying "it no longer fit with the company's long-term strategy."

The $4 bucks a month subscription based streaming service, and access from hardware like the Logitech Squeezebox and Bravia TVs isn't going anywhere, though. In fact, it looks like that's where Slacker will refocus its efforts. [Wall Street Journal via Electronista]

In a survey of brand names dropped in the tweets and facials (is that the right term?) of today's social-networking mavens, Google came out primero, with Apple at #2, and Microsoft at #3. (Blackballed fans would know that Apple is #2 because it's the shit, but anyway...) The funny part is what didn't make the top 10: HP is there, but Dell is not; BMW yes, but Mercedes, nope; I see a Samsung, but I do not see Sony. As unscientific as this study by Sysomos is, it must tell us something. [AppleInsider]

Wired wrote up MIT roboticist Sangbae Kim, father of the gecko-inspired Stickybot. His new plan? To make a robot that looks like a cheetah—and runs as fast as one. Yep, he's saying his carbon-fiber quadruped will hit 70 mph. Trouble is, this is all chalkboard chatter: It'll take 18 months for Kim and his colleagues to whip up prototypes of this evil-looking dude, so we have to wait to find out if he was right or nuts. [Wired]

NPR today showed off a product that will hopefully soon come free with a donation to listener-supported radio. I say that not just as a fan of listener-supported radio, but as someone who would never specifically buy an NPR-branded radio. It aggregates all of NPR's affiliates under one button, and offers on-demand streams of Terry Gross and other awesome NPR folks, but none of this is exclusive to this device. Charitable notions aside, this makes no more sense than an NBC-branded TV (that also lets me watch Fox). [CNet]

Having spent my whole life in the northern parts of these United States, I have always assumed that it's up to the sunnier parts to get with the solar-power program. At least San Diego sees the logic of this, and is going all in with alternative power. UC San Diego and CleanTECH San Diego are building a smart grid, which puts power back into the system when claimed from solar panels and other alternative sources. The school will produce 3.4 megawatts of renewable energy by next year, while San Diego Gas & Electric pledged to get 33% of its power from renewable sources by 2020. Maybe when they get over 100%, they can share the excess sunlight with those of us stuck in Cloudyville. [Treehugger; Image credit slack12/Flickr/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]

The ZonePlayer S5 will be $400 on November 10, and gives you an all-in-one option to extend your Sonos music network into a new room. It looks a little like the Bose SoundLink on the outside, and inside has a 5-driver speaker system consisting of two tweeters, two 3-inch mids, and a 3.5-inch sub.

You can control the S5 using the Sonos CR200 touchscreen controller, or via free apps for the iPhone/iPod touch and Mac or PC. [Sonos]

SONOS INTRODUCES THE SONOS ZONEPLAYER S5: THE ALL-IN-ONE WIRELESS MUSIC SYSTEM CONTROLLED WITH AN IPHONE

* Wirelessly play music in any or every room of the house for $399 per room
* Enjoy room-filling, high-performance sound with all digital architecture
* Access your iTunes® library, plus thousands of radio stations and millions of songs from the Internet
* Control your music experience with free Sonos Controller for iPhone™ app or any other Sonos Controller

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – October 13, 2009 – Sonos®, Inc., the leading developer of wireless multi-room music systems for the home, today introduced the Sonos ZonePlayer S5, an all-in-one wireless music system that can be controlled with an iPhone, iPod® touch or any Sonos Controller. The S5 delivers crystal-clear, room-filling sound that rivals much larger, more complicated audio equipment. Plus, the S5 provides instant access to unlimited music with control from the palm of your hand. Now music lovers can find and play any song from an iTunes library, plus, a world of music and radio on the Internet, in any room of the house. The S5 will be available for $399 in late October. To see the S5 in action, please visit: www.sonos.com/S5demo.

"Our customers tell us they listen to twice as much music after bringing Sonos into their homes," said John MacFarlane, CEO of Sonos. "The new S5 is our latest effort to simplify the Sonos experience so more people can enjoy more music than ever before."

The S5 features a 5-driver speaker system that packs a big sound – filling an entire room with music. Sonos uniquely designed the S5 with an all-digital sound architecture for precise sound reproduction. The S5 includes two tweeters, two mid-range drivers and a built-in single subwoofer – each individually powered by a dedicated digital amplifier and optimized to deliver room-filling sound with smooth tonal balance and deep bass. All filter settings, bass and treble controls, active equalization, and time-alignment are done in the digital domain through state-of-the-art DSP circuitry, so there's absolutely no loss of audio quality or energy.

With the Internet-connected S5, you can listen to way more music than you can with a dock that only plays the songs that fit on your iPod. The S5 gives you instant access to a world of music, including 25,000 Internet radio stations, shows and podcasts -all free of charge and pre-loaded on Sonos. Sonos works seamlessly with the most popular music services to provide computer-free access to millions of songs and stations from the likes of Last.fm, Napster, Rhapsody, Pandora, SIRIUS Internet Radio, and Deezer. The S5 also gives you instant access to any iTunes library stored on any computer or Network Attached storage, such as an Apple Time Capsule. The S5's analog audio input lets you connect to an external audio source (such as an iPod, CD player, TV, DVD, VCR, or radio) and play music or audio on all ZonePlayers in the system.

When it comes to controlling your S5, you simply reach into your pocket for your iPhone or iPod touch. With the free Sonos Controller for iPhone app (available on the iTunes App Store), you can search for songs and stations, choose the music and control the volume in as many rooms as you like. And because the iPhone is controlling the music, and not the source of it, when a text comes in or you need to make a phone call, the music doesn't stop. That also means you can keep your iPhone in your pocket, not stuck in a dock. The S5 also includes free Sonos Controller software for your Mac or PC. Or you can let everyone in the house share the control with the dedicated Sonos Controller 200 (sold separately).

As with all Sonos ZonePlayers, the S5 is simple to set up, easy to expand and 100% compatible with all other Sonos products. Just plug in the S5 wherever you want music. One ZonePlayer or Sonos ZoneBridge™ (sold separately) must be connected to your router and all the rest will work wirelessly. When you're ready to play more music in more rooms, simply add S5s or other ZonePlayers without adding wires. Now you can play the same song in every room with perfect synchronicity or mix it up by playing different songs in different rooms.

Excessive royalty rates were the main reason sites like Pandora hovered near the brink of collapse last year, but this agreement will see a 40-50% reduction in those fees through 2015. However, Pandora will have to give up a 25% share of its revenue as part of the deal. Because these fees are higher than those of traditional radio, Pandora will also have to impose 40 hour limits on users of the free version. Should you surpass that number, you will be required to pay a $.99 fee to continue listening through the end of the month. Users of the paid version will not see a service change.

All in all, it seems like a pretty fair compromise for the listeners, but the truth is that the internet is the future of radio—and it appears that the music industry is going to screw them while they can. [TechCrunch]

With Pandora One, which is available from today (sorry, still only in the US), you're mostly paying for one thing: no ads. But unlike their old premium service, this promise really means no ads—no ads on their website, no ads in their audio streams, and no ads in third-party apps, like their popular iPhone client. And about those clients: now there's an official desktop app, built on the cross-platform Adobe Air. According to TechCrunch, it's a bit minimalist, but good.

In addition, Pandora One provides an option for high-quality 192kbps streaming, which is a boon to anyone who uses their PC as a home stereo. Pandora One also eliminates the nagging timeout functions, which would cut off your stream after a set period of inactivity.

It's not a massive upgrade to the core service—listening to Pandora One will be quite a bit like listening to free Pandora—but if Pandora is your primary source of music, the $2/mo door charge is probably worth it. [TechCrunch]

The change comes with a new developer API that will actually make things much easier for other developers, who've had to rely on a few undocumented calls up until now. Current licensing agreements with labels—who Last.fm is in no position to alienate—prohibit mobile streaming, though the company's official mobile radio apps—right now just on the iPhone and Android—will still work fine.

As you could imagine, this kind of blows for a lot of people. Windows Mobile users will no longer be able to use Pocket Scrobbler, Symbian folks will have their beautiful baby, Mobbler, ripped from their hands, and BlackBerry owners will soon find FlipSide, a pay app, rendered silent. And as much as I'd like to, I don't really believe that we'll see official clients for any of the platforms, at least not soon. [Last.fm—Thanks, Jealousy!]

Vudu notes that this is the first music application to be folded into the RIA platform. It joins YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, and 120 web-based video channels that are currently available for Vudu owners.

And since many households have several individuals with individual tastes, the new Vudu-Pandora UI supports multiple accounts. A nice touch. Full presser follows.

VUDU Introduces Pandora, First Music Application for VUDU

Latest Major Application Built on the VUDU RIA Platform Enables VUDU Owners to Bring Truly Personalized Radio to their Televisions and Home Theaters For Free

Santa Clara, CA, March 16, 2009 – VUDU, a leading provider of digital on-demand entertainment products and services, announced today that VUDU owners can get immediate access to Pandora's free, personalized Internet radio service on VUDU. Pandora represents VUDU's first music application for its growing RIA (Rich Internet Application) platform.

Pandora joins YouTube, Flickr, Picasa and a selection of more than 120 channels of web based video content available to VUDU owners in their living rooms for free.

"As we continue to expand our RIA platform, we look forward to bringing many more popular services like Pandora to the VUDU Service," said Edward Lichty, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Content. "Our open development environment allows us to easily release new applications in partnership with some of today's most popular services and content delivery platforms, increasing the value of the VUDU service platform for our users and partners."

"Pandora is committed to enabling our listeners to enjoy their Pandora stations in all the places they listen to music; at home, at work or on the go," said Tim Westergren, Founder of Pandora. "We were impressed with VUDU's speed and the quality of development and think that VUDU is a great way for our listeners to access their favorite Pandora stations in the comfort of their living room."

VUDU customers can now experience Pandora on their televisions with all of the functionality that has made Pandora the leader in Internet radio. Using VUDU's award winning remote control, VUDU customers can create new stations and personalize them by adding new variety to the station and "thumbing" songs up and down as they play. Additionally, Pandora on VUDU supports multiple accounts enabling every member of the family to play his or her own personalized Pandora stations.

Pandora (www.pandora.com) is a free, personalized Internet radio service based on the Music Genome Project, which began in 2000 and is the most thorough analysis of popular music ever undertaken. Each song in the massive collection, which includes Pop, Rock, Jazz, Electronica, Hip Hop, Country, Blues, R&B, Latin and Classical, is analyzed and assessed against up to 400 distinct musical attributes (encompassing melody, harmony, rhythm, etc.) to capture its unique musical identity. Pandora uses this information to build playlists based on musical similarity. By entering a favorite song or artist, a listener is instantly launched into a personalized listening experience. Listeners can create up to 100 of these personal radio stations and refine them by providing thumbs up or thumbs down feedback.

Introduced in late 2008, VUDU's RIA is a standards-based platform that makes Web-hosted rich applications and services easily accessible through the VUDU Labs area of the VUDU service. Consumers can now use the VUDU remote control to access their favorite Internet content in their living rooms, optimized for display on their HDTVs. Combining the openness and ease of development of Web applications and a lean-back user experience optimized for television, VUDU RIA will be opening to developers later in 2009.

Luckily, Wi-Fi internet radios have gotten a lot cheaper lately: That Aluratek I reviewed has fallen to $120, from $200. Internet radio in hand, you need a vintage shell to stuff the guts into. Then you need a thick coat of elbow grease: Gut the Wi-Fi radio, paint its buttons, get the vintage shell ready, mount the display and speakers, and if necessary, you might have to reshape the Wi-Fi radio's motherboard.

It's definitely more of a weekend project than an evening endeavor, but every nerd could afford to do a little more handicrafting. [Instructables via Lifehacker]

With it comes nice scrolling touch lists of album art, along with all the good Slacker goodness you've come to expect. It's available now by heading to slacker.com with your Storm.

Slacker Announces Availability of Mobile Radio Application for the BlackBerry Storm Smartphone

Free Slacker Personal Radio Mobile Application Features Touch Screen Navigation and Station Caching

SAN DIEGO, CA – February 4, 2009 – Slacker, Inc. today announced the availability of the free Slacker Mobile application for the BlackBerry® Storm smartphone from Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM). BlackBerry Storm users* can now listen to their favorite Slacker radio stations anywhere they go, whether they are connected to a wireless network or not – a Slacker Mobile feature exclusive to BlackBerry® smartphones. The application, which is optimized for the handset's unique touch screen, is available as a free download by visiting Slacker.com from your BlackBerry Storm.

The Slacker Mobile application provides BlackBerry Storm smartphone users in the U.S. with a personalized music discovery and listening experience, pulling from over 100 expert-programmed Slacker stations, over 10,000 artist stations or a nearly unlimited number of the listener’s own custom-created stations. Features include vertical as well as horizontal modes, an intuitive interface optimized for touch operation, as well as “peek ahead”, allowing the listener to see a preview of the next artist and album in their stations’ rotation.

Slacker station caching, an exclusive feature for BlackBerry smartphones, enables listeners to store favorite stations on a memory card, allowing the Slacker Mobile application to play without a network connection, reducing battery life consumption by up to 5 times that of a streaming playback, and enhancing application performance. In addition, BlackBerry smartphone enthusiasts can enjoy Slacker Personal Radio while doing other tasks such as emailing, instant messaging or web browsing.

The Slacker application for the BlackBerry Storm smartphone includes detailed artist bios and album reviews for each song, providing the ultimate resource for music discovery. The Slacker Mobile application works with the free Slacker Basic Radio service, along with Slacker Radio Plus and Slacker Premium Radio subscription offerings.

“The Slacker Mobile application for the BlackBerry Storm offers an engaging and intuitive mobile listening experience that takes full advantage of its unique features,” said Dennis Mudd, CEO of Slacker. “With an intuitive touch screen interface as well as station caching, BlackBerry Storm owners can now easily enjoy their favorite music wherever they go.”

Slacker Personal Radio, available online at www.Slacker.com, enables listeners to personalize over 100 professionally programmed stations or create, edit and share their own Personal Radio stations. Slacker listeners also have easy access to artist profiles, album reviews and cover art on the web, with the Slacker G2 portable and now on the BlackBerry Storm smartphone.

Slacker Mobile for the BlackBerry Storm offers:
• Free music library featuring millions of songs
• Optimized for Storm Touch Screen operation
• Vertical and Horizontal modes
• High-quality stereo playback from cached stations and all streaming wireless connections
• Over 100 professionally programmed genre stations
• Create custom artist stations
• Station caching for music playback anywhere, greatly improved battery life and accelerated application performance
• Multi-tasking – listen to music while doing email
• View artist biographies and photos
• View album art and reviews
• “Peek Ahead” artist and album preview
• Pause and skip songs
• Rate songs as favorites
• Ban songs and artists you don’t like

Pricing and Availability
The Slacker Personal Radio Mobile application for the BlackBerry Storm smartphone is available immediately as a free download by visiting Slacker.com from your BlackBerry web browser or visit www.slacker.com/blackberry for more details.

The campaign, which started yesterday for a targeted segment of pandora listeners, brings a 15-second audio spot for the Fox show "Lie to Me" (yay!) after you stream 10 songs, and then again after an additional 20 songs are played. Users who are targeted for the ad should expext to hear 15 seconds of advertising every 2 hours.

As much as I don't want to be coaxed into watching "Lie to Me" in between my non-stop flow of "coldly rhythmic" Berlin trance, this is definitely something I can put up with for a completely free and brilliant service.

[Daily Geek]

I've played with it briefly, and the experience has been fantastic so far. Because Apple does not allow caching like RIM does with the BlackBerry, the content is streaming—but the music plays back well even when you are on EDGE (and the coverflow-style switching was smooth). The app is free, but if you don't have a Plus subscription you will have to deal with the occasional advertisement and a skipping/request limit.

Features:

Slacker Mobile for iPhone:
• Free music library featuring millions of songs
• High-quality stereo playback from any wireless connection
• Over 100 professionally programmed genre stations
• Create custom artist stations
• Fine tune stations to play more of the music you like
• View artist biographies and photos
• View album art and reviews
• "Peek Ahead" artist and album preview
• Pause and skip songs
• Rate songs as favorites
• Ban the songs and artists you don't like

[Slacker on iTunes]

You can also take your track-based stations (previously only generated via artist and e-mail them to friends, just like the artist stations (Update: Pandora says something here is new, but you folks are right, you could do this in the last version. Weird. The emailing bit is still true.) Artist biographies also show up inline now to supplement Pandora's ingenious descriptive tags.

The update is available now on iTunes, even though the App Store page still says version 1.2.1: [Pandora via TechCrunch, LifeHacker]

All of your preferences, providers and searches are customized on miRoamer's site, and you can instantly flip back and forth between internet or terrestrial radio stations in the console. The secret sauce is 3G GSM. Since it's just a plug-n-play SIM, it theoretically means you could get the Australia-based service working in the States on AT&T, once it goes from being built-in equipment to a setup you can buy separately.

Even if it's not available over here immediately, just because it's the first doesn't mean it'll be the only one like this—this is just the beginning of car internet radio, for sure. Plus, I'm pretty sure someone will find a way to hack the 3G to use it tether it to your laptop over the system's built-in Bluetooth (as long as it has the right protocols built-in, anyway).

miRoamer Partners with Blaupunkt to Introduce the World's First Internet Car Radio

Drivers can access largest and most diverse global selection of Internet radio from their car stereo

(Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas, NV North Hall Booth #5418 – January 8, 2009) – miRoamer, a global innovator in the Internet radio industry, is announcing a partnership with Blaupunkt, one of the world's leading consumer electronics manufacturers and specialists in car multimedia, at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The partnership will introduce the world's first Internet car radio, giving drivers access to the world's largest and most diverse selection of Internet radio content through their car stereo.

"The beauty of Internet car radio is the customized user experience," said George Parthimos, Founder and CEO, miRoamer. "Today, users want to jump in their car and go – no pulling out third-party devices or plugging in cords to access their music and information. miRoamer's development with Blaupunkt is the first seamless Internet radio solution. Now, with the simple push of a button, users can access AM/FM stations or Internet radio's thousands of music, entertainment, news and talk stations from around the world, all from the same car stereo."

The world's first Internet car radio by Blaupunkt will enable drivers to tune into miRoamer's tens of thousands of radio stations and really feel like they're there. Users' favorite Internet radio stations can be easily chosen via clearly arranged information on a large screen display, enriched by state-of-the art performance in terms of car multimedia and consumer electronics connectivity.

"The move to develop an Internet car radio solution is a new paradigm and a real starting point for in-car digital media," said Robert Demian, Head of Global Sales, miRoamer. "miRoamer was the first and remains the only true digital media platform. By partnering with Blaupunkt, who has always been recognized as the first to introduce new and innovative products to the car audio markets, consumers now have access to all of the great benefits of Internet radio in their car, while experiencing unparalleled sound quality and reliability that is far superior to what they are accustomed."

"Integrating Blaupunkt stereos with miRoamer technology was a logical step in creating a truly multimedia driving experience," said Dr. Gerhard Pitz, Head of Product Center, Car Radio, Blaupunkt. "Drivers will be able to use all the features they're familiar with, such as phone, address book, Bluetooth and navigation, but with the first Internet radio, driven by miRoamer, we are able to offer them the ability to tune into the world."

miRoamer also offers the ability to browse genres or stations and customize preferences, providers and search options online at miroamer.com. The Internet portal also allows users to add media that is not currently offered on miRoamer, by simply providing the URL and adding it to their favorites.

Availability
Blaupunkt Internet car radio stereos, driven by miRoamer, will be rolled out as built-in original equipment. For more information on currently available miRoamer software, content or technology, please contact Robert Demian at +61 401-674-123 or visit www.miroamer.com.

About miRoamer
miRoamer is an Australian-based subsidiary of Mi Media Holdings Limited. Their miRoamer technology is a category-leading software for enhanced Internet radio entertainment, which can be installed in a variety of consumer electronic products, including car radios, smart phones, digital picture frames, and audio-visual equipment from televisions to home stereo systems. Users have access to media content from a common platform, using as many electronic products as they wish. The miRoamer Internet portal allows users to access favorite content providers and stations, as well as customize how they access them. For more information, call 317-806-1900 x120 or visit www.miroamer.com

[Blaupunkt]

If you don't happen to have one of these phones, don't worry. Pandora plans on getting around to other Windows Mobile devices over time. The video above illustrates the service running on a Moto Q9c. [Phone Scoop and Artificial Ignorance]

Preloaded with a worldwide database of genre-sorted channels, the R227 can also be programmed with any stations it may be missing. And if you find that internet radio isn't your thing, the R227 is still equipped with a digital FM tuner for OTA music and a line-in for your MP3 player of choice. The system will go on sale this January for $170, otherwise you can make the trek up to Canada to score one now. [Electronista]

Discover New Music from Pandora on Your Chumby®

New Content Keeps Music Fans Engaged with Pandora Radio, Music Videos from Avot Media and News Headlines from Rolling Stone

SAN DIEGO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Chumby is now giving music fans a new way to stay constantly connected to the music of their favorite artists, while also introducing them to new music they’ll love. All chumby players can now tune into personalized radio stations from Pandora accounts and have Pandora set as the audio source for custom alarm clocks. Additionally, chumby users will now be able to search and view music videos and more from a music video widget powered by tipMotion from Avot Media, Inc., and receive up-to-the-minute music news and images from RollingStone.com, all without logging onto a computer.

“We know music is a big part of people’s lives and fans want to have always-on, always-fresh access to their favorite artists,” said Stephen Tomlin, CEO of chumby. “A benefit of buying a chumby is that the product is always improving as we add new content and features through automatic upgrades. Now chumbys can be used as radios for the Pandora service at no charge, so whether you bought your chumby months ago or today – you win.”

Pandora is an Internet radio service that is now accessible through chumby. When you indicate a song or artist that you enjoy, Pandora responds by playing selections that are musically similar. You can provide feedback on the individual song choices to further refine the playlist to suit your taste. Your chumby can also wake you with your favorite Pandora station and let you listen to “personalized” radio all day.

“Chumby’s innovative connected media player is a natural fit for Pandora,” said Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora. “With Pandora now available on chumby, our listeners have even more ways to hear their favorite artists and discover new music.”

Also available on chumby are music videos powered by Avot Media, a video formatting and streaming solution provider. Now chumby users can watch the most popular music videos each week, and search for thousands of popular music, entertainment, news, and sports videos on the most popular search engines at the touch of a button.

Chumby music fans will also be able to receive the latest news and images of their favorite bands through updates from RollingStone.com. In addition, Wenner Media, Inc., publishers of RollingStone.com, will also showcase content from other Wenner publications such as UsMagazine.com.

The addition of music content from Pandora, music video streaming from Avot Media and music news updates from Wenner Media complements the strong music and podcast offerings already on chumby, including thousands of AOL SHOUTcast stations, music news from MTV and VH1, and dozens of great streaming stations on Radio Free Chumby.

The Price: $200 for 25-station 4GB, and $250 for the 40-station 8GB unit. The free service is ad-supported and allows six skips per hour, while the premium service costs about $10/month and is ad-free, offers unlimited skips and the ability to save songs to the device.

The Verdict: The Slacker G2 looks a million times better than its first-gen sibling. The older player was bigger and thicker than a deck of cards, with poorly placed buttons and a capacitive touch strip that felt somewhat cheap. The G2 trims the fat from the device, leaving a screen just big enough to show album art, and controls that are far more intuitive than its predecessor. The 2.4" display is clear, text is very readable, menus are simple and it's about as tall and thick as an iPod dock (but much lighter), a good size for the hand.

For this portable Pandora-style player to succeed, it needs two things. The first thing is, it needs a great selection of songs, tailored to the user's tastes. In this respect, it's awesome—even pre-programmed stations (think satellite radio rather than Pandora) have a wide ranging and thoughtful collection of artists, and stick mostly to singles or fan favorites so you don't get many strange deep cuts. Custom built stations (which you have to create in the web player) are even better. In both cases, you can favorite or ban song suggestions that you don't like, but if you design a station with more than 200 songs, you won't get any outside suggestions (though you probably no longer count as a true "slacker").

The other thing the G2 absolutely needs is a solid connection for refreshing stations. Sadly, this is where it falls short. A full refresh took almost two hours; stations took at least 10 or 15 minutes apiece to download. Adding a custom station for the first time took forever, and so did refreshing stations that I listened to often, favoriting and banning many songs. You can't refresh one station at a time—only all stations at once—and you can't create stations directly on the device either. I'd love to see these two things in a firmware update. Slacker may have shown us its more viable future in smartphone software with its recent BlackBerry announcement. Still, with some software tweaks and better networking, the company could make the G2 a decent alternative for those who fear convergence. [Slacker]

In other words, a computer or other wireless device that taps into the Vi-Fi system would select one base station at a time as an anchor. Using a complex algorithm, the system will calculate the probability that a packet received by an auxiliary base station was not received by the anchor. If the probability is high, the auxiliary will relay the packet to the anchor as a backup.

Microsoft hopes that their research will lead to the first truly reliable Wi-Fi system for vehicles, and recent tests conducted on their campus have been extremely successful. The next step is to scale up the project around the campus, but how or when a Vi-Fi system could be implemented in the real world has not been determined. Of course, one major hurdle would have to be that a serious municipal Wi-Fi infrastructure would be required to get the project off the ground. [SeattlePi via DailyTech via Newlaunches]