Gizmodo: Radio

Ceramic Kitchen Radio Is Good with Morning Coffee

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:40:00 EDT

This Ceramic Kitchen Radio is so cute and simple that is worthy of Dieter Rams. Easy to clean, easy to transport, and easy to use: Just turn the the lid to tune into your favorite station. And it will go perfectly with your morning china:

[Agata Norkroos via Mocoloco]

Areaware 2B Radio: Minimalist Design and Features For Your Stylish Grampa

Dan Nosowitz — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 14:00:00 EDT

Kids these days, with their baggy jeans and their MTV and their fancy networked booming boxes, they don't know the joy of sitting around the old-timey radio and listening to the soothing stories. The Areaware 2B radio just might be the bridge to these whippersnappers: its visible vacuum tubes have a cool retro feel, not to mention a warm sound, and the minimalistic design is hip with the Apple generation. And thank god, this radio is only a radio, without any wifi, 3G, DRM, or any of those other scary acronyms. The 2B will ship in November for a price of $550, but what's a few hundred dollars for such comforting simplicity? [Apartment Therapy]

Lightning Review: Slacker G2 Portable Radio

Benny Goldman — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:25:20 EDT

The Gadget: Slacker G2, a slimmer, updated version of the original Slacker portable internet radio player.

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]

PopSci Gets Grubby Paws All Over Upcoming XMp3 Satellite Radio Player

Jack Loftus — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 15:00:00 EDT

All we have is a blurb in Popular Science magazine this afternoon, but it would appear there's a first look of sorts going down today with the XMp3. The portable device is an XM Radio player that can record up to five satellite stations at once. "Other portable players save only one channel," PopSci notes, "but the XMp3 can decode five incoming streams to snag multiple songs whether it's in the dock or in your pocket." That's it for now. Expect more soon or whenever XM decides to give up more info. [Orbitcast]

Slacker Internet Radio Comes to BlackBerry for Lazy-Ass Music Lovers

Benny Goldman — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:30:00 EDT

Slacker, the Pandora-esque internet radio service, will release a free app for BlackBerry phones next month. It's remarkably similar to their own hardware—users choose pre-programmed stations or build their own, and songs are downloaded directly to the phone's memory card, so they don't require Wi-Fi or a cell connection to play. Telling Slacker what songs you like and don't like tailors the stations to your tastes, almost like getting a Genius Playlist of songs you don't have to pay for or otherwise acquire. Up to 8GB of free music that changes all the time? Almost sounds too good to be true. [Slacker]

Fusion CA-1P500 Is the First Head Unit That Hides, Docks Your iPod

Jason Chen — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:20:00 EDT

We can't believe it, but Fusion CA-1P500 is apparently the first head unit that allows you to dock and hide your iPod directly inside the face. The thing costs £149.99 ($278), which isn't too bad for a head unit that has an OLED menu, a knob that corresponds to the iPod's scroll wheel, and SRS Wow. It fits the classic, touch and nano, but supposedly not the iPhone. Weird, aren't the touch and iPhone about the same? In any case, what we'd love is for it to take in the iPhone and give us full handsfree calling capabilities through a mic in the head and output through the speakers. [Fusion via T3]

Police Radio Keeps Disrupting Sprinklers, Local Residents Get FCC Involved

Jason Chen — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:00:00 EDT

The police around Cedar Hill, DeSoto and Duncanville Texas have a fancy new communications system that broadcasts their 10-4s and 187s up to 30 miles, which coincidentally enough is screwing up a fancy radio-controlled networked sprinkler system in that general area. Turning off the sprinklers may not sound like it does anything except for making the grass die, but that's exactly what local residents are pissed off about—pissed off enough to get the FCC involved. Too bad for residents that the precedent for FCC decisions on cases where two frequencies overlap is to award use to public safety. If they don't, those same residents would be enjoying that fresh, green lawn when they're burning to death. [Dallas News]

KitRadio Teaches Electronics By Turning Components into Diorama

Kit Eaton — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 08:50:00 EDT

From Samuel Rhoads-Clarke, KitRadio is part DIY radio, part mini-artwork diorama. It's designed to teach you about the inner workings of a gizmo that we take for granted as a "black box" item nowadays, or "become familiar with the technology behind the product" as Samuel puts it. To that end, the wooden box and components with brass images attached are self-assembly, and create a tiny urban- or farm-scene diorama when they're completed. Sounds totally bizarre, and slightly cute at the same time... just the right thing to get techy kids interested. No word on whether it'll become a product rather than a prototype. [Dezeen]

Cuntblocker 5000, If Ron Popeil Were a Total Prude

Mark Wilson — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:00:00 EDT

Thank goodness the brightest television inventors of our generation aren't the prudish sorts who will pull words like "cunt" from our morning weather report. Because then even the sunniest days would be filled with the subfusc clouds of rain.

* If the repetition of the word "cunt" didn't give it away, this video has an NSFW audio track. [via bbGadgets]

CEO: Fully Merged Sirius XM Devices To Hit Shelves In Q1 2009

Matt Hickey — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:00:30 EDT

When Sirius and XM finished their merger dance it was said that they would be able to offer interoperable radios—that is units that work with the full lineups of both XM and Sirus—within a year of the merger. Then they told the FCC they'd have devices within nine months. Now Mel Karmazin, CEO of the new merged company, has said that we can expect merged receivers "a number of months" before that deadline, likely in the first quarter of 2009. This is both good and bad news for the consumers. It's good because they'll get the full benefits of the merged systems, but it's bad because to get those benefits they'll have to purchase another receiver. Karmazin also said that "a la carte" radios—those that would offer a full lineup of either XM or Sirius and individual channels from the other service—will be here for the holidays, but we'd hold off.[OrbitCast]

FCC Chairman Backs Sirius/XM Merger

Mark Wilson — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:26:00 EDT

It's not official yet, but FCC Chairman Kevin Martin (one of five relevant votes) has decided to allow the merge between Sirius and XM satellite radio providers. However, there are a few caveats that the companies would need to accept—but it's all good news for the consumer.

1. The company(s) would need to freeze prices for three years.
2. "A la carte" options would need to be available within three months of the merger.
3. 8% of their airspace (24 channels) would need to be dedicated to noncommercial and minority programming.

Also of note, the FCC has leaked that Sirius and XM have agreed to open manufacturing on the radios to all companies, creating more marketplace competition (and hopefully some better tech). It's looking more and more like this deal is gonna happen...sometime. [NYTimes]

XM and EMI Settle Portable Recording Radio Lawsuit

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:28:28 EDT

XM Satellite Radio and EMI Music have settled the lawsuit over the recording of digital songs by XM users. Nobody knows the terms of the deal, but it probably involves virgins and kittens' blood. [Reuters]

Brando's Cyber Tap Radios Suck (Onto Your Shower Cubicle)

Kit Eaton — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:15:00 EDT

Brando's Cyber Tap bath-time radio is not massively high-tech, sure, but its cuteness is undeniable. Stick its 4.7-inch sucker onto tiles or glass, adjust FM/AM frequency and twirl the volume tap to boogie away to showertime music. Is the red one more suited to Hot Gossip while the blue one's best for Coldplay? Who knows, but after a bad joke like that you'll be pleased to know the water-resistant, battery-powered Cyber Tap costs $16. [Brando]

Spirit of St Louis Boombox Gives Your iPod Retro Aviation Chic

Kit Eaton — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 09:50:00 EDT

Forget the boringly-plastic iPod boomboxes we've shown you before: I want one of these. It's in period aviation "Spirit of St Loius" style: wooden cabinet, shiny dials and satisfyingly chunky switches, meant to look like a WWII battlefield radio. Inside there's an iPod dock, CD player and AM-FM radio that's also an alarm clock. It's powered by 8 "D" batteries, so you can haul it along to picnics in the park, and measures 19 x 8.7 x 7.9-inches. The one drawback: its price is also satisfyingly chunky at $586. [Product via BBGadgets]

Brando BTM-118 Bluetooth Headset Squeezes in FM Radio, Display

Kit Eaton — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:35:00 EDT

I kind of like the BTM-118 from Brando, with its weird fusion of Bluetooth headset and FM radio in one gizmo. Maybe because I use a similar clip-on headset (partly to avoid fashion geekiness.) I guess this might be useful if you're into radio but your cellphone doesn't do it: most ones with built-in radio use the earphone wires as part of the antenna circuit, don't they? Anyhow, the BTM-118 will give you 12 hours of FM, 10 hours of talk and 200 hours of standby. It's Bluetooth v2.0 and is available in black or white for $53. [Brando]

Phoenix to NASA: "Houston, We Have a Probstatic"

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 28 May 2008 05:00:00 EDT

Just two days after touchdown, NASA's ~~Phoenix Mars Lander~~ Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is having problems with their UHF radio, which was used more than a hundred times before but now is refusing to work. Without it, you can't give orders to the spacecraft, but don't fret: fortunately they can use the ~~orbiter~~ Odyssey to relay signals, as well as activating the secondary radio unit available on board. NASA said the problem was caused by a "transient event." What does that mean? They don't know for sure, and that means we can pick our own. Update: my bad, I misread. The problem is with the MRO UHF radio, not with Phoenix, which is working just fine.

[Aviation Week]

Smart Dog USB Hub Has Four Paws, Four Ports and a Radio

AddyDugdale — Fri, 09 May 2008 05:55:00 EDT

This Smart Dog USB hub is a bit of a three-in-one marvel. As well as the four USB ports, the bow-wow acts as a shonky computer speaker. Then, if you rip the head off this iridescent puppy, you've got yourself a portable radio with autoscan capability. Cost is $19.15. [Gearlog via UberGizmo]

Lightning Review: Aluratek Wi-Fi Internet Radio Alarm Clock

matt buchanan — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:00:00 EDT

The Gadget: A Wi-Fi internet radio alarm clock from Aluratek, with over 11,000 free stations worldwide.

The Price: $199.

The Verdict: I actually like this thing a lot despite its laundry list of flaws—it's a bread-and-butter gadget that mostly works as advertised. It's got more radio stations than you could possibly ever listen to, from a good portion of the United Nations and organized into a bunch of different genres. Whether or not you want it basically comes down to how much you love radio, and if having thousands of stations on your alarm clock makes you tingly.

Here's what I dug: You can use any radio station (internet or otherwise) as your alarm. Bookmarks for your favorites, a necessity. The stations are about as well organized as you can hope for in cataloging thousands of them, and you can sort them by genre or location. Setup is simple, even without instructions. The sound and size aren't bad, though the bass could be a bit punchier. And I just like the concept of the thing—the core internet radio functionality works really well, above all.

Not groovy: The screen and UI are ugly, straight out of the early '90s. A significant issue is that the Wi-Fi receiver is weak—my DD-WRT router blasts the signal at 85mW, and on the other side of my apartment (which is by no means cavernous) two rooms away, I only got two bars. In a larger pad, this will be a problem. It lost service occasionally, requiring a reboot. And I never could get it to sync up with Windows Media Player, even though it saw my computer, and my computer saw it. Given these issues, $199 is just way too much, as much as I like this thing's soul. [Aluratek]

Olinda Radio Lets You Hear What Your Friends Are Listening to

Kit Eaton — Mon, 05 May 2008 09:37:00 EDT

Ever wondered what stations your friends are listening to just at the same moment as you spin the dial on your own radio? Well, that's where Olinda comes in: a working prototype commissioned by the BBC, it's got a plug-in module that lights up when your friends are online. A simple push of the corresponding button, and via Wi-Fi and the BBC's "playing now" service you get to listen along with your pal. There're other innovations too, including a double-tuning dial that lets you switch to stations alphabetically or just choose among your favorites. And because the design is modular it allows for expansion with other widget-like plug-in units.

There's the "Klippit" module, which has a single button you press when you find a radio program you like: it gets added as a favorite on your Facebook profile, has an audio snippet recorded, and extra info gets emailed to you. There's the "Volume Voting" module that rates popularity with how much you turn up the sound when your favorite tune comes on. A push-to-talk module lets you have a quick VOIP chat with a friend, perhaps about the program you're listening to, and there's an MP3 recorder-player, and a phone-charging module too.

Designers Schulze and Webb really envisage their device being a physical social hub for your home too: they suggest a key-storage module that sets up the radio to your user profile, and handily stores your keys; and a kids "tear-off" fluffy portable module that stores most-listened to stuff, and glows brightly when the program is due on.

Despite all these extra modules being hypothetical, there's some clever design here exploring social networking, radio-listening habits and the like. But we can't help but think it's based around the wrong sort of technology: isn't radio a bit passé now? Make it internet-radio based, and we'd be very interested indeed. [Schulze and Webb via Like Cool]

Radio to MP3 Recorder Looks Old-Style, Has Docking MP3 Player

Kit Eaton — Thu, 01 May 2008 04:23:06 EDT

While yesterday's radio-to-MP3 recorder reminded us of a modern Chumby, this one's style cues are more last decade. It's basically a digital-tuner radio, with FM, AM and short wave reception, but with a built-in, un-dockable portable MP3 player that can record to its own 256MB memory.

That 256MB gives you about 10 hours of radio recording, or you can transfer music to it from a PC and it even functions as a voice-recorder. The radio itself has a digital alarm clock, 400 presets and can receive NOAA weather band info, and two-way marine, aviation and ham radio broadcasts. So, despite looks that may appeal more to your Dad than yourself, it's pretty feature-packed. Which might be why it's available for a seemingly-large $179.95. [Hammacher via Book of Joe]

Sirius Starmate 5 Coming With XM Support?

Elaine Chow — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 13:00:00 EDT

Sirius' update to its Starmate line, the Starmate 5, is currently in front of the FCC for testing, and it looks like it might have a little trick up its sleeve. The gadget includes the standard abilities to pause, rewind, and replay up to 44 minutes of live radio, a memo feature to store up to 30 favorite artists or songs and a wide-angle 5 line display, but it also might just have the ability to play XM radio stations as well.

Though the function to grab sweet sounds from its partner-to-be isn't listed in the Starmate 5's spec sheet, a memo between a testing firm and the FCC authorization staff hinted at Sirius XM interoperability. In a letter asking the testing firm to do another bandwidth test, the FCC said that it "used the satellite radio signal coming from either XM or Sirius."

If the hint means what we think it means, the Starmate 5 could be the first hybrid satellite radio receiver out on the market — kind of a bold move, considering the FCC isn't even thinking about voting on the merger until late May or early June. [Electronista]

BlackBerry Users Get XM Radio, Excuse to Take Phones Into Bathrooms For $7.99 a Month

Jason Chen — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:44:47 EDT

I used to sleep through class by tuning my cellphone's FM radio to a classical station, sitting in the back, and putting a jacket over my face, so this XM Radio on BlackBerry is pretty spectacular news. All you need is a BlackBerry 8800, 8700, Pearl or Curve and $7.99 a month. You'll get 20 "exclusive" XM channels (list after the jump), and you can download the app here or text "XM" to 47201. Time for a nap. Since this uses the phone's regular data connection, you hopefully won't be forced to wear giant ridiculous looking headphones in order to get reception.

LAS VEGAS, April 1, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — CTIA Booth #4544 —
XM (Nasdaq: XMSR), the nation's leading provider of satellite radio with
more than 9 million subscribers, and QuickPlay Media, the leader in mobile
TV and video solutions, today announced that XM Radio Mobile has selected
QuickPlay's OpenVideo(TM) as the first media management platform to make XM
Radio Mobile universally available on select BlackBerry(R) smartphones from
Research In Motion (RIM). The service, which can run across major U.S.
mobile service providers' networks, enables consumers to get 20 exclusive
XM channels of commercial-free music and 24-hour comedy programming for
just $7.99 per month with an option for a complimentary 24-hour trial.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070313/XMLOGO )

The XM Radio Mobile offering provides BlackBerry smartphone users with
unlimited access to a wide selection of the most popular commercial-free
music channels, including XM's 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s decade channels,
20on20 (Top 20 Hits), Ethel (New Alternative Rock), The City (Hip-Hop/R&B
Hits), XMU (Indie Rock), Watercolors (Easy Jazz) and Highway 16 (New
Country Hits). Customers can also listen to XM comedy channels, The Virus
(outrageous uncensored talk) and XM Comedy (uncensored comedy).

"Together with QuickPlay, XM Radio Mobile will provide BlackBerry users
with access to a compelling selection of XM's acclaimed music and comedy
programming virtually anywhere they go," said Vernon Irvin, EVP and Chief
Marketing Officer, XM Satellite Radio. "Today's announcement reinforces
XM's commitment to making our industry-leading content available to
consumers in ways that fit their lifestyles."

All XM channels are easily accessed via a simple user interface with
graphical icons for content genres and channels. While listening to one XM
Radio Mobile channel, users can see the song title, artist and album, as
well as what's currently playing on other XM Radio Mobile channels.
Subscribers can also multi-task as XM Radio Mobile can run in the
background while the user accesses other data applications on their
BlackBerry smartphone.

BlackBerry smartphones supported by the XM Mobile Radio service require
BlackBerry Device Software 4.2 or higher and include the BlackBerry(R) 8800
Series, BlackBerry(R) 8700 Series, BlackBerry(R) Pearl(TM) Series and
BlackBerry(R) Curve(TM) Series smartphones with a BlackBerry data plan on
major U.S. mobile carrier networks. The service, and a complimentary
24-hour trial, is available via a downloadable application that can be
easily accessed by visiting http://www.xmradio.com/bb from the BlackBerry
smartphone's browser, or by texting "XM" to 47201 and clicking on the
download link provided. Subscribers can opt to have their purchase charged
to their credit card or where available billed directly to their service
provider.

"QuickPlay Media is thrilled to partner with XM, the leader in audio
entertainment, to offer BlackBerry smartphone users the ability to easily
discover and enjoy music and comedy from XM Radio Mobile, regardless of
which U.S. service provider they subscribe to," said Wayne Purboo,
president and CEO, QuickPlay Media. "Additionally, we are proud to continue
to expand our portfolio of services for the BlackBerry platform, including
the first audio streaming service for BlackBerry, called QuickPlayer; and
the first free video streaming service for BlackBerry, called
VideoStreams."

[PRNewswire]

Solar Powered Music, Fake Detection and Flashlight in One

Kit Eaton — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 07:09:37 EDT

I love this weird combo, multi-tool gadget: it's a mashup between the Solar Phone Charger and the great 5-in-1 Pen. It's got a solar cell to top up your gadgets with juice (USB connector, or cellphone adaptors), a UV note-checker, LED flashlight and, best of all, an FM radio. Why not an MP3 player? Where's the tool for getting stones out of a horse's hoof? Nope, just an FM radio. At least we have this reassurance "Security guarantee: There is not any danger to use." Yours for $45.99. [GizFever via RedFerret]

FM Radio Antenna Lets You FM Radio It Up Without the Headphones

Jason Chen — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:30:55 EDT

What a pain in the ass it is to have to plug in headphones to your cellphone in order to catch Kasey Kasem and his sappy dedications on FM radio. No more! This FM Aerial (antenna), which you can easily find on eBay, lets you bypass using a set of headphones as an antenna and lets you use an antenna as an antenna. Clever, yes, but it also makes it necessary to unplug it whenever you want to take a call, unless you're making a one way call—the antenna has no microphone built in. [eBay via Symbian Freak via Into Mobile]

Iona Radio Cube Means You Physically Flip Through Stations

Wilson Rothman — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:00:00 EST

This Wi-Fi radio concept design from Cambridge Consultants is a rubber-edged plastic cube. Four of the sides are assigned your four favorite stations via a web interface (maybe some of you have more, but frankly, I think four about covers it for me). The minute some annoying commercial or crap song starts playing, you just roll the Iona over to the next channel. Gizmag says adjusting volume requires twisting the cube itself to the right (up) or left (down), though I'm not entirely sure what that means. The fifth side houses a mono speaker, and the sixth has a non-roly-poly on-off switch. [Gizmag via Ubergizmo]

Slacker Player Gets Glowing Review

Haroon Malik — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 23:59:59 EST

Ever since we heard about the Slacker Portable we were a little excited, but the object of our portable streaming radio affection has just come up for its first review seating. According to the fine fellows at Wired, it is slacking its way into their hearts as we write this very article.

Among the things they liked about the player included the supported artworks, band biographies, ability to store Wi-Fi keys and the option to have access to a free, or paid, enhanced music services. The Slacker Portable also auto refreshed channels when it detected a trusted network, as well as automatically refreshing whilst recharging.

What didn't go down so well was the buggy touch sensitive strip; the jog dial was far better, and was used instead. The free mode meant only 6 songs could be skipped per hour. as well as the terrible obligation to listen to adverts during your music time. As the stations are cached for the times you are out of range of a wireless network, there is little room left on the player for your own tunes. (Either 500MB, 1.5GB or 4GB, depending on the capacity of the player chosen.) Content cannot be downloaded from a Mac, and the 10-hour battery life was not great.

The folks at Wired easily looked past the Slacker Portable's shortcomings, and we think we might follow suit. Now, why is our review unit taking so long to get here? Damn slacking postal service. (Sorry.) Check out the full review, as well as some unboxing pics by hitting the link. [Wired]

Voz Sports Multy LYNK Communications Helmet for Extreme Sports

Kit Eaton — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:41:57 EST

The Voz Sports Multy LYNK is a multiple-impact proof helmet packed with radio and Bluetooth communications gear. It's also submersion-proof, so it's suitable for a whole bunch of action sports where you need to protect your head while keeping in touch with pals at all times. In fact, this thing is more loaded with tricks than Batman's belt.

The Voz Sports Multy LYNK also has music playback using the Bluetooth connection and built-in stereo speakers with removable ear covers. Communication with your teammates can happen via two-way Family Radio Service radio with voice control and 14 channels (plus 38 privacy codes) or via Bluetooth, with mobile headset profile. A noise cancellation system sorts out background sound pollution from its directional mike, and if everyone you're talking to is really spread out then it has an extended-range antenna.

Add in a NOAA weather receiver, customizable rear fin and head-fit, 30-minute submersion-proofing in 1 meter of water, ABS shell, cheap-to-run AA battery operation, and multiple sports safety ratings and you've got a tech-loaded skull protector. Simply shouting to your friends while you're snowboarding down a mountain or kayaking downriver has never seemed so passé. On sale in April for $300. [Voz Sports via Besportier]

CES 2008: Comprehensive Robot Roundup

Haroon Malik — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 02:00:00 EST

We had a wail of a time at CES 2008, but we were not the only ones. The various robots on display were also going nuts at the convention. We have rounded them all up in this excellent video, showing you the neat robotics that we thought were worthy of a video shout out. Hit the clip to see them in action, and then read on for a full breakdown of all the droids featured.

From first viewed to last viewed:

• Mr. Clock Radio by Geewiz Entertainment ($99.99), is primarily an alarm clock radio. However, it does have a line-in jack, making it usable as a personal speaker set. It also has some three-hundred different wake-up message (half are aggressive, half are charming), and a fun/pointless "fortune telling" mode. The price is a little steep for the basic tech it implements, (flashing lights, portable speakers and pre-recorded messages), but we can't help loving the guy for his fantastic witticisms. [Geewiz Entertainment]

• Comprehensive Robot Kit by Bioloid ($869.00), one of the most complete and versatile robotics kits we saw on display at CES '08. The Comprehensive Robot Kit is really a a super-glorified Lego kit. It comes with various robotic bits'n'bobs, including IrDA receivers for dual robot communication, microphones for sound detection, luminosity detectors, piezo-electric speakers, essential battery packs and a full software suite for programmable characteristics in your robot's behavior, all via your PC. At this price, the kit is strictly an educational tool or for serious enthusiasts. [Bioloid Comprehensive Kit]

• Wrex the Dawg by WowWee ($TBA), has three emotional modes (happy, sad and angry), 14-motors for movement and a remote control for general locomotion. Expected to ship this Spring; if Wrex's quirky styling does not have reaching for your wallet, perhaps his mechanized wagging tail will? [WowWee]

• Tribot by WowWee ($99.99), is the robot that will replace the much loved Robosapien. The Tribot comes pre-loaded with a series of games that rely on the user to position the bot in various different orientations, it has three wheels that allow it to have a wide range of movements, a motion sensing controller that allows for Wii-esque navigation and it will hit the shops this summer. [WowWee]

• iRobiQ by Yujin Robot has been doing the rounds since CES 2007. It is a home information service that is able to display the news, weather, cooking recipes, photos, videos and sing some karaoke if you get bored. All this information goodness is displayed on a 7-inch LCD screen, but the iRobiQ also accepts voice commands for various jobs, like sending images to a cellphone, ordering a room to be cleaned by pairing with a Roomba type device and even read books that are stored on its central server. The iRobiQ, at present, has no US distributor, so do not expect it to ship anytime soon. [Yujin Robot; Korean link, via Tech Digest]

• E1 by Roboware ($1,500), recognizes set voice commands via a Bluetooth headset, connects to your network to transmit pictures captured via the on board camera, which it can also display on its tiny LCD screen and boasts bi-pedal motion, generated by a ton of different joints. At present, it is not ready for shipping, as the engineers are working out the bugs in the system. The final model will come with a full software suite, as well as an online developers community that will be launched along side the bot. Roboware hopes to ship the E1 by March, and envisions a truly malleable robot that can be completely defined by its users. [Company website is not live at present]

• Zeno by David Hanson (concept stage); we have covered Zeno an awful lot here at Giz, but the creepy bot was displaying his moves at CES '08, still in prototype stages. Zeno did not look so horrific in the real "frubber," but he still made us a little unsettled. Zeno will be able to talk, recognize faces and detect specific sounds, as well as be user upgradeable via an online community, with which Zeno can remain wirelessly connected thanks to the inbuilt support for Wi-Fi connectivity. [Hanson Robotics]

• FemiSapien by WowWee ($TBA), the FemiSapien is coined as Robosapien's girlfriend, and when the two interact, hilarious girlfriend/boyfriend rifts take place. The Femisapien is able to control Robosapien, but not visa versa. The female bot will be able to dance, move, sing and carry out a range of movement like her out-dated boyfriend. We are not sure the robot god approves of them living in sin, but we did not see them romp. However, if Robosapien carries on acting like this (VERY NSFW), we are sure robot god will be most displeased. Expect the FemiSapien to ship this summer. [Robots Rule]

That's the best of the robots we uncovered at CES '08. It looks like it is going to be a great year for fans of this genere of toys, but Sony, if you are reading, we wouldn't mind Aibo joining in the festivities at some point. Until then folks, there should be more than enough here to tide you over.

iPhone Gets Sticker Display, AM/FM Capability? (No)

Mark Wilson — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:38:08 EST

While we doubt that this Lax-Max AM/FM radio is one of the many new products sure to be unveiled at Macworld next week, we couldn't help to admire the design. A printed sticker display makes for an extremely energy efficient device and we're fairly certain that the (classic) AM/FM radio will provide as much entertainment as that internet/MP3/talking fad anyway. All in all, a good solution for the kid who always wants to touch/drool/poo your precious piece of Cupertino.

Grundig Eton Satellit 750 Shortwave Radio (Yes, Shortwave)

Brian Lam — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 20:30:37 EST

The Beef: I am not a shortwave enthusiast, by any means, but the industrial design, open for a literal interpretation on the industrial. It's got AM, FM, shortwave, longwave, SSB and aircraft band frequencies. There's a scan or manual input by 10-key. And check the analog gauge and yellow-glow back lighting. Very nice. There's also an aux in for audio input.
The Catch: It's shortwave. And $300.

Grundig Eton FR1000 Voicelink Survival Radio Is Gorgeous

Brian Lam — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 20:19:08 EST

Awesome: The Eton FR1000 Voicelink is maybe one of the most pornograpic survival radios I've ever seen, but functionally so. IT has AM/FM/NOAA Weather/2-Way GMRS Radio. And a Flashlight, siren, and Cellphone charger. It runs off of 4AAs, but has a hand crank. The design seems superfluous, but those cutouts actually protect the knobs. There's a large handle on the back. If I were to die stranded in the wilderness, I might be slightly less upset clutching one of these beautiful machines. $150.
The Catch: No word on water resistance, and the recessed knobs seem hard to turn with gloves on.

Blik RadioStation: DAB, Wi-Fi, and FM Radio All-in-One

Sean Fallon — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 19:00:41 EST

Revo, the company behind the Blik RadioStation claims that their new device is the first to combine DAB functionality, Wi-Fi internet radio and traditional FM radio in a single unit. It also offers a digital alarm clock function and the option to play your iPod tunes through the speaker. Apparently, the internet radio alone will provide access to over 9,000 channels, so if you get DAB signals it may be of some interest. Not sure about the look though —It reminds me of something. Available for £149.95 ($305) starting on December 19th. [Revo via Pocket-Lint via Techdigest]

Slacker's portable Wi-Fi radio has been delayed ...

Benny Goldman — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:15:00 EST

Slacker's portable Wi-Fi radio has been delayed until January 31st, 2008. Pre-orders will be delivered on that date, but customers who can't wait can cancel their orders. [Slacker]

Slacker Portable Personalized Radio Player Video and Gallery

Wilson Rothman — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:00:29 EST

Now that Slacker is out in the open, here's a close look what the thing actually will offer you. The video above was shot by our own Benny G, and after the jump there's a full gallery of the interface and features.

It's not as small as a nano or flash Zune, but its got a beautiful 4" screen and a offbeat capacitive touch strip for quick scrolling. The interface still confuses us a little: we know this is one of those products that will make more sense as you use it, because it's trying to do something different than everything that's happened up until now. You carry around a player that is essentially building its own vast virtual music collection of songs it thinks you might like. (That's why there are easy-access "heart" and "ban" buttons.)

But what about sound quality? How easy is it to refresh when you're not near your computer? Will there be enough fresh music for long trips away from a net connection? Do I really need more than 15 virtual personalized radio stations? I find it hard to imagine 40. These are all questions we'll have to answer in a full-blown review.

Press release:

Slacker Announces Availability of Portable Personal Radio Players

Slacker Portable Players Give Music Lovers Freedom to Enjoy Personal Radio Anytime, Anywhere

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - November 15, 2007 - Slacker, Inc., today announced the availability of the world's first truly portable personalized radio players. Slacker Portable Players in 15, 25 and 40 station capacities extend the personal radio experience of the free Slacker Basic Radio and recently announced Slacker Premium Radio services.

Whether choosing the free or premium radio services, the players provide customers access to the extensive Slacker music library and associated artist profiles, album reviews and large cover art on the 4" vivid color display. Simply refresh your personalized Slacker stations via Wi-Fi or USB to ensure you always have the newest hits and classic favorites at your fingertips.

"With the Slacker Portable Radio Player, for the first time, people can play their personalized radio stations wherever they go, " said Dennis Mudd, CEO of Slacker. "We've created a groundbreaking portable music device that lets people play their favorite music without working at it, whenever they want to listen."

Revolutionary DJ technology built into the device, and a new class of radio licenses, allow the Slacker Portable to play highly personalized radio stations even when not connected to Wi-Fi or any network.

Slacker has previously announced new licensing deals with all of the major record labels and thousands of independent record labels, which provide the Slacker Portable direct access to an extensive music catalog. The portable players can automatically create perfect radio stations without the requirement of having to manage content or even a direct connection to a Mac or PC.

About Slacker Portable
Designed to work with Slacker Basic Radio and Premium Radio services
Personal radio stations play anytime: online or offline
Automatically refreshes personalized stations via Wi-Fi or USB
Heart and Ban buttons enable personalization on the go
4" color screen displays artist profiles, album reviews and large cover art
Available in 15, 20 and 40 station capacities
Plays your existing music collection (MP3, WMA & AAC)
Up to 10 hours of battery life
Removable, rechargeable battery

The Slacker Portable comes with earphones, USB 2.0 cable and carrying case.

Slacker listeners that order the Slacker Portable will have the free option to have the player pre-loaded with their favorite stations and linked with their Slacker account (Basic or Premium) so it is ready to play right out of the box with personalized radio content.

Slacker Portable Availability
The Slacker Portable Player is available for pre-order in the U.S. now at www.slacker.com at a MSRP of $199.99 (15 stations, 2GB), $249.99 (25 stations, 4GB) and $299.99 (40 stations, 8GB) and is scheduled to ship on (or before) December 13th, 2007. Pre-loading of personalized stations is available on all purchases from www.slacker.com.

About Slacker, Inc.
Slacker is the world's first Personal Radio company, providing a new kind of radio that enables consumers to play highly personalized music everywhere. Visit www.slacker.com for more information.

[Slacker]

AT&T Throws Pandora Smart Radio Down Your Wireless Pipes

Jason Chen — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:40:45 EST

Pandora, the music station that takes one artist or song you like and feeds you—with pretty decent accuracy—other artists and songs you might like, has just gotten a content deal with AT&T. If you've got a Samsung SYNC, a717, a737, Moto V3xx, RAZR 2, LG trax, LG Cu400 or CU405, you can stream up to 100 Pandora stations over AT&T's 3G network. This program unfortunately costs you $8.99 a month on top of your 3G plan, which is $19.99 a month. With all the Pandora and Last.fm fans out there, getting custom radio stations on the go is pretty much only one step away from having a DJ follow you around for nine bucks a month playing only songs you like. [AT&T]

A Fully-Functioning Nanotube Radio

Annalee Newitz — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:20:40 EDT

A team of researchers at UC Berkeley have invented a radio made of a single carbon nanotube. The device is just a few billionths of a meter in size - so small that it could fit inside a living cell, or float along in your bloodstream. According to physicist and project lead Alex Zettl, who helped researcher Kenneth Jensen come up with the idea for the radio:

A single carbon nanotube molecule serves simultaneously as all essential components of a radio — antenna, tunable band-pass filter, amplifier, and demodulator. Using carrier waves in the commercially relevant 40-400 MHz range and both frequency and amplitude modulation (FM and AM), we were able to demonstrate successful music and voice reception.

Zettl and his colleagues imagine that there will be many applications for the radio. It could be used in medical devices that swim through your body, responding to radio commands. Or it could be put inside tiny wireless devices. It could even be put inside a human ear, an idea which inevitably leads to visions of a dark future where people are implanted with radios and telephones that they can't ever turn off.

So how does it work? Essentially, the nano radio is a very tiny vacuum tube. According to a release about the invention:

The carbon nanotube radio consists of an individual carbon nanotube mounted to an electrode in close proximity to a counter-electrode, with a DC voltage source, such as from a battery or a solar cell array, connected to the electrodes for power. The applied DC bias creates a negative electrical charge on the tip of the nanotube, sensitizing it to oscillating electric fields. Both the electrodes and nanotube are contained in vacuum, in a geometrical configuration similar to that of a conventional vacuum tube.

Incoming radio waves cause the tube to vibrate. The tube itself can be "tuned" to respond to vibrations that match certain frequencies, or "channels" on the radio dial. This makes the UC Berkeley nanoradio slightly better than the UC Irvine nanoradio we talked about last week — that one was only a demodulator. (Can we have a fight between Irvine and Berkeley nano geeks please? That would rule.)

Of course, Zettl, Jensen and their lab buddies tested the nano radio by broadcasting the Beach Boys song "Good Vibrations." Says Zettle proudly, "The nanotube radio faithfully reproduced the audio signal, and the song was easily recognizable by ear." Image courtesy of Los Alamos National Lab. [Eurekalert]

MusicPal Streams Internet Radio Stations, Shows RSS Feeds

Adam Frucci — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 10:00:00 EDT

If you don't like choosing what you listen to, instead trusting your audio experiences to DJs at Internet radio stations, then the Freecom MusicPal is for you. It'll stream 5,000 radio stations from your computer and play them out the built-in speaker. It also displays RSS feeds on its screen for some reason, which I suppose has some practical applications for someone, somewhere. It's a bit too big to carry around with you, which makes me wonder why you can't just stream the Internet radio stations right on your computer instead of relying on a secondary device, but perhaps I just don't "get" Internet radio. [Product Page via Crave]

Motion Activated iPod Speaker: Control the Tunes With a Wave of Your Hand (Maybe)

Sean Fallon — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 14:47:13 EDT

Now, here is a great idea —a speaker that connects to your computer, iPod or any other MP3 player that can be controlled with a wave of the hand. Plus, it gives off a "soft ambient glow." According to the product site, the motion detection system allows you to adjust the volume or tune into a different FM radio station, but there is no mention of the ability to cycle through the tunes on your MP3 player. Surely a company wouldn't go through the trouble of developing a motion-activated MP3 speaker without incorporating this functionality, right? Available for £45.95 ($94). [Product Site via GeekAlerts]

World's Smallest Radio Is Just Atoms Wide, Still Needs AAA Battery

Wilson Rothman — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:24:49 EDT

University of California researcher Chris Rutherglen shows off a radio made of carbon nanotubes, measuring "a few atoms across," that's 1,000 times smaller than today's radio technology.

As you see in the video, the bummer is that the teeny weeny radio still needs what looks like a AAA battery to power up. This doesn't have Rutherglen and his prof, Peter Burke, too upset. It's a breakthrough that will spread, as they explain in their research paper:

"Though we have only demonstrated the critical component of the entire radio system out of a nanotube (the demodulator), it is conceivable in the future that all components could be nanoscale, thus allowing a truly nanoscale wireless communications system."

The sky's the limit for this stuff: they're already talking smart-dust computing, with meteorological, geophysical, biological and of course military implications. [BBC News]

Mr. Clock Robot Alarm Doesn't Take No for an Answer

Sean Fallon — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 20:20:59 EDT

If you need a little extra incentive to wake up in the morning, the Mr. Clock Radio may be just what you need. He can wake your lazy ass up in one of 30 different ways—from gentle coaxing to flat-out drill sergeant-style orders. He can even tell fortunes, read the time aloud, wink and blink, react to light or motion, and play music via AM, FM or iPod/MP3. Just remember that this little bastard costs $79.99 before you go punching him in the face. [SkyMall via 7Gadgets]