tech.nocr.at » internet radio

Oxygen Audio’s iPhone Car Deck

Frank — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 05:57:36 +0000

If your car doesn’t come with some sort of built in iPhone control then you know your limited to bluetooth or cable hook-up to enjoy the tunes on your phone. If you want to eliminate the need for all those wires then the O Car stereo deck from Oxygen Audio might be something to consider.

The unit turns your iPhone itself into your car stereo by allowing users to control of the stereo functions right from their iPhone; Internet radio stations, GPS navigation, Google maps and pretty much anything your iPhone can play or do. Your iPhone docks right into the head unit and melds right into your car’s dashboard.

For US$349, the O Car has pre-amp outs, 4×55 watts of power, FM/AM presets and supports the iPhone 3G/3GS/4. The price seems a little steep, but if you want to enjoy streaming apps like Pandora and don’t want all of the clutter on your front seat it’s one of you’re only choices.

Oxygen Audio’s iPhone Car Deck originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/11. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Open Source HTPC’s That Don’t Suck

Frank — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 21:30:11 +0000

In our next installment of Distros That Don’t Suck we will be looking at open source HTPC software. Sure you can load up VLC or even use Windows Media player, but having a dedicated solution with a UI that is made for a TV is a lot easier and pleasing. I’ve left the PVR-centric software like MythTV and Freevo off the list since their main purpose is to act as a PVR. I’ll be reviewing open source PVR software by itself at a later date.

XBMC – The Xbox Media Center Project started as homebrew software for the original Xbox gaming system and has since been ported to Linux, Windows, OSX, AppleTV and even as a standalone Linux based LiveCD/LiveUSB image. It offers a clean UI, intuitive interface and can play just about anything you throw at it. It offers a plugin system with a huge repository of community plugins to enhance the experience. It’s real easy to setup and it’s configuration is portable across operating systems. If you have an old Xbox laying around this makes a great HTPC that is powerful and best of all cheap.

MediaPortal – This is a Windows based HTPC software so technically it’s not 100% open source since it requires Windows and doesn’t offer a Linux port. If offers everything you would expect in HTPC software; Video streaming, DVD playback, Internet Radio, Picture Gallery and it’s own plugin system. You will need a compatible TV Tuner card to enjoy PVR features and to watch TV but it’s not needed to run the software. If you are a Windows fan and are looking for an alternate to Windows Media Center this is as close as you can get without the cost.

Element – Element is an open source HTPC system that comes pre-loaded with XBMC and the ability to play back just about any media locally or over the Internet. Element also has it’s own framework for offering add-on modules that allow you to play content from services like Hulu, Cooliris, Boxee, Clicker, Amazon on Demand and Youtube. They have adapted the UI’s of popular open source software like Firefox and Pidgin so that it fits the TV experience better than their native desktop versions. They also offer an Android app that allows you to use your Android phone as a remote control; definitely a neat idea for the times you can’t find the remote anywhere.

GeeXboX – A Gentoo based fully functional media center that can be run from LiveCD, LiveUSB, or be installed on a hard drive. GeeXbox is a very lean distro that doesn’t require a lot of processing power so it’s perfect for older hardware. It uses Enna as it’s primary media center application to play your music, videos or look at your pictures. This is the perfect distro for the no-frills experience when you just want to play your media and aren’t looking for any additional functionality.

Open Source HTPC’s That Don’t Suck originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/06. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Allegro Portable Internet Radio

Frank — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:04:12 +0000

Let’s face it, terestrial radio is all but dead. Who wants to wade through all the commercials and limited avalability of the FM or AM dial? I listen to internet radio all the time, when at work at my desk and even on my iPhone when in my car and this little baby while now complete my internet radio experience.

The Grace Allegro Wi-Fi internet radio can run for about 8 hours on six AA batteries and streams over 16,000 radio stations from the likes of Pandora, Sirius and Live365. Is has built in 802.11b/g/n support and even has an iPhone remote control app so you can change stations without walking up to the unit.

You also get MP3/WMA/Real Audio/WAV/AAC/AIFF codec support, alarm functions, built-in speaker, 4-line display, standard remote control.

The unit will cost you $170 and is available right now from Grace Digital Audio

Allegro Portable Internet Radio originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/02/25. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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MVIX MX-780HD – Medica Center With Torrent Client

Frank — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 18:00:08 +0000

Mvix’s new MX-780HD Media Center not only has all of the basic features you would expect for a dedicated media center like a multitude of supported video and audio formats, streaming capabilities from your computer via either Wi-Fi or ethernet, internet radio capabilities, and HiDef support in the form of 720p, 1080i and 1080p format, but it also has a built in torrent client so that all you pirates, errr I mean video podcast lovers can get your content without the need of a separate computer.

Although the MX-780HD isn’t listed on there site yet, here’s a look at what the MX-780HD will offer.

Supported Video Formats: DivX, XviD, DVD (ISO/VOB/IFO), MPEG, VCD(DAT), WMV(WMV-9), ASF(WMV-9), TP, TS, TRP
Supported Audio Formats: MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, PMC, AC3, M4A, DTS decoding (down-mixing / Pass though)
Supported Image Formats: BMP, JPG, PNG
Subtitle Support: SMO, SRT, SUB
Video Out: HDMI, Composite, S-Video, Component Audio Out: RCA, Digital Coaxial
Optical TV System: NTSC, PAL, Auto
HD Support: 720p, 1080i, 1080p
Networking: 802.11b/g (WEP/WPA), 10/100 Ethernet, NDAS
Internal Disk: 3.5â€ IDE or SATA
USB: Slave (for connecting to computer) and Host (for additional storage)

If your crafty enough you can already hack an AppleTV and get a pretty decent torrent client on it. Only time will tell if the price is right when they announce a price and shipping date.

MVIX MX-780HD – Medica Center With Torrent Client originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/18. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Skype wont let me log in!

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Hello all,
Here’s the latest on the sign-on problem. We’re on the road to recovery. Skype is stabilizing, but this process may continue throughout the day. An encouraging number of users can now use Skype once again. We know we’re not out of the woods yet, but we are in better shape now than we were yesterday.
Finally, we’d like to dispel a couple of theories that we are still hearing. Neither Wednesday’s planned maintenance of our web-based payment services nor any form of attack was related to the current sign-on issues in any way.
We’ll update you again as soon as we can. Thanks for hanging tight.
Please see our Heartbeat blog for ongoing updates.
UPDATED 17 August, 2007 11:00 GMT

There are a lot of industry professionals that often rely on Skype. Bloggers, Internet Radio stations, Podcasters, all of these people who rely on Skype (sometimes more so than their POTS line or Cell phone) are out of luck today. They woke up and were unable to sign on, unable to get to their list of clients, or interviewees. Some times we don’t realize just how quickly an internet service that drives our lives can disappear. If you weren’t able to to sign in to your favorite instant messenger would you still be able to contact everyone you had on that list? Maybe, maybe not.

Skype is working hard at getting everything back up and clicking on the hearbeat link above can get you an actively updated list of down/up services at Skype.

Skype wont let me log in! originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.