Tag: Pandora

Roku & In Praise Media Streaming Players

Linda Reimer

Got Wi-Fi at home?

Do you like to watch TV shows and movies when you want to, listen to Pandora and possible international radio stations through TuneIn Radio?

If so then you might be interested in a streaming media player — You can plug one of these players into your TV and connect it to your Wi-Fi network and in about 5 minutes you can access videos and music from the Amazon Instant Video store, Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, Redbox, TuneIn Radio, Acorn TV and more!

The entry level Roku is a great streaming and can be found for sale for about $50. The Apple TV streamer costs $99 and just FYI the Google Chromecast, another streaming device that recently debuted and which currently offers accessed to fewer video services, costs about $35.

And I concur with Colin McGuire, the author of the article In Defense Of … A Roku Television Revolution — that the best option right now is a Roku Player because you get access to the best and widest selection of video and udio content.

I love listening to music streamed through my TV from Pandora, radio stations through TuneIn Radio, and the variety of TV shows offered through the PBS, Amazon Instant Video and Netflix apps!

Of course if you dwell in the Apple universe — the Apple TV box is a solid choice too! And for $35 the Google Chromecast would be a good choice for someone who is just a little bit curious about what this streaming video thing is all about!

Here’s the link to the McGuire’s article that praises the Roku player and offers some interesting insight into the evolution of streaming video services:

http://www.popmatters.com/column/178535-in-defense-of-a-roku-revolution/

Have a great weekend!
Linda R.

Pandora’s Updated Android App, All Things D’s Walt Mossberg Recommends The iPad Air, Pandora For Chromecast & The F.A.A. To Allow Passengers To Use Wi-Fi Devices All Flight Long

Linda Reimer

Pandora’s Updated Android App: The popular music streaming service Pandora has released a new and improved app for Android tablets. The new app has upgraded options which include options to easily find out more information about an artist or song title that listeners like and the ability to tweak the song list played on a listener’s customized station. So if you have an Android tablet you might want to check out the new app or update your old Pandora app.

Here’s a link to a CNET article titled “New Pandora app woos Android tablets as Apple radio grows” that offers more information on the updated Pandora app for Android devices:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57609908-93/new-pandora-app-woos-android-tablets-as-apple-radio-grows/

All Things D’s Walt Mossberg Recommends The iPad Air: The Wall Street Journal’s All Things D senior personal tech guru Walt Mossberg has tried out the new iPad Air, which goes on sale on Friday, November 1st. And Mr. Mossberg, who has certainly seen a great many tablets in his career, said in his review that he not only likes the new iPad Air very much but to quote him that the iPad Air “is the best tablet I have ever reviewed!”

And of course, anyone who has read this blog for any length of time or who has encountered me in the library will know that I am a huge Apple fan.

Having said that for my two cents worth the best overall tablet experience includes the following general points:

  • How well a tablet operates
  • How many advanced features a tablet has
  • How often the tablet operating system is updated
  • The quality of the apps available for that tablet

And in my opinion, the best overall tablet experience today can be found by using an Apple iPad. I’ve owned an iPad since the day the first generation model was released in 2010. And I’ve now upgraded three times and have been equally pleased, with each upgraded model, with the performance of the iPad, the user friendly software that runs the iPad, the great variety and quality of apps available for the iPad and the ability to stream video content from the iPad to the HDTV in my living room.

And the new iPad Air is undoubtedly going to be even better than previous generations of the iPad not because Apple has added tons of new features but because they’ve simply made what was great about the iPad even better. The iPad Air has an upgraded the chip which makes it faster and more powerful, improved battery life; and it is much lighter than previous iPad models. In fact, the iPad Air is called the “iPad Air” because it is so light! The iPad Air weighs only a pound.  Previous generations of the iPad were all heavier and the 4th generation iPad weighed 1.44 lbs. so this new iPad is quite a bit lighter, has battery life that according to Walt Mossberg lasts 12 hours, runs faster and is more powerful than the last generation iPad because of the new chip it uses.  So if you’re interested in buying a tablet in the near future check out Walt Mossberg’s review and stop by the library and try out one of our iPads!

And without further ado here’s the link to Walt Mossberg’s video review of the new iPad Air:

http://allthingsd.com/20131029/speed-and-power-packed-into-a-thin-ipad-air/

Pandora For Chromecast: The Chromecast, which if you’re not familiar with it is a  cheap ($35), small flash drive sized device you plug into an HDMI input on your HDTV; and which once plugged in to your TV sends the video you bring  up on your tablet, laptop or smartphone to your TV with Wi-Fi, has just added the Pandora music channel to its list of supported video services you can stream video content from; the other video services are Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV and Google Play Music.

And just to clarify, you can access any of the video apps previously mentioned through the Chromecast but you can also stream any video content you bring up using the Google Chrome web browser on your Internet connecting devices to your TV via Chromecast.

And here’s a link to a Tech Land article titled “Pandora Gives Chromecast Some Much Needed Tunes” that offers more information on the new Pandora music app for Chromecast:

http://techland.time.com/2013/10/31/pandora-gives-chromecast-some-much-needed-tunes/

The F.A.A. To Allow Passengers To Use Wi-Fi Devices All Flight Long: The F.A.A. has just announced that air plane passengers will shortly be allowed to use their Wi-Fi connecting devices in “all phases of flight.” However, cell phone use to talk or text will still be prohibited. The new F.A.A. policy is expected to be implemented for all U.S. airlines by the end of the year.

Here’s a link to a New York Times article on the subject titled “F.A.A. Allows Use of Electronic Devices Throughout Flights” that offers more information on the subject:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/01/business/passengers-to-be-free-to-use-electronics-on-flights-faa-says.html?_r=0

Have a great day!

Linda R.

References

McCracken, Harry. (2013, October 29). iPad Air Review: Apple’s Full-Sized Tablet, No Longer So Full-Sized: A whole new class of iPad — but instantly familiar and useful, too. Online. Accessed October 31, 2013, http://techland.time.com/2013/10/29/ipad-air-review/

Mossberg, Walt, (2013, October 29). Speed and Power Packed Into a Thin iPad Air. All Things D. Online. Accessed October 30, 2013, http://allthingsd.com/20131029/speed-and-power-packed-into-a-thin-ipad-air/

Solsman, Joan. (2013, October 30). New Pandora app woos Android tablets as Apple radio grows: The top online radio company rolls out a new version of its Android app designed specifically for tablets, tweaking it for bigger screens with more functions. CNET. Online. Accessed, October 30, 2013, http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57609908-93/new-pandora-app-woos-android-tablets-as-apple-radio-grows/

Wald, Matthew. (2013, October 31). F.A.A. Allows Use of Electronic Devices Throughout Flights. New York Times. Online. Accessed October 31, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/01/business/passengers-to-be-free-to-use-electronics-on-flights-faa-says.html?_r=0

What Is Streaming Music, Home Networking Basics Tips From CNET, The Digital Future Of The Washington Post & If You’re In The Market For A New Coffee Table…

Linda Reimer

What Is Streaming Music: I had lunch with a friend over the weekend and she asked me an interesting question. She said “What is streaming music anyway?” And the answer to that question is that the term “streaming music” means to access music via the Internet – in other words, the music isn’t stored on your computer but is stored on the computer server of the company offering the music for you to access and listen to.

There are three main types of streaming music services you can access online: personalized radio services, music on demand services and online accessed radio stations.  Personalized radio includes Pandora and the upcoming Apple (or possible iTunes) music service, on demand services which allow you to specify which songs and albums you wish to listen to including the Spotify and Rdio services and online accessed radio services like TuneIn Radio allow you to access radio stations offering the same content they transmit to radios over the air via the Internet.

If all of that sounds confusing it probably is at least a little bit!

So let me try and offer some examples. If you use Pandora Internet Radio which is a personalized radio service and which you can access via the Pandora site or Pandora app, you create playlists based upon songs or artists. So at home I have a Billie Holiday station that plays music by Billie Holliday and other similar artists that Pandora chooses. Likewise I have a Peter, Paul & Mary station that offers folk-rock and pop hits from the 1960s for my listening pleasure and again Pandora offers the song selections based upon whatever artist or song I’ve told Pandora I want it to create a personalized station around.

On the other hand if I were to listen to Internet accessed music from Spotify or Rdio, via the web or an app, I would be using an on demand streaming service and I could create playlists that include specific songs and/or artists – so if I wanted to hear the Billie Holiday album “Lady Sings The Blues” in its entirety  — I could do so which is not something I can do with Pandora – Pandora can only play 4 songs an hour by a specific artists for any of its listeners.

And on the third hand, say I just want to tune into a radio station like WSQX that doesn’t come in without static at my house via a traditional radio; I can use the TuneIn Radio app or site which allows me to access that Binghamton based radio station by accessing the content that WSQX now offers online (you can go directly to the WSQX site and stream the music too via this link: http://www.wskg.org/streaming/wsqx_player.html?new).

And I mention the TuneIn App, even though you can stream WSQX content directly from their site via the web, because although many radio stations now offer their radio shows and content to be accessed (streamed) via the web– TuneIn is a cool app that allows you to access thousands of radio stations from all over the world from one place – so you can listen to radio stations from countries across the globe, save your favorite stations to your favorites list and easily switch between your favorite stations at the touch of a button which is cool!

So basically Pandora creates genre playlists based upon what artists you tell them you like, Rdio and Spotify create on demand music playlists that allow you to select the specific songs you wish to listen to and traditional radio stations like WSQX now broadcast their programs live over the web – so you can access music via any of these services and have a static free listening experience!

Here’s a link to a Guardian article on the subject titled “Rdio’s streaming Stations aim to understand music fans, not just music” that offers even more information on the subject:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/appsblog/2013/aug/08/rdio-stations-streaming-music-radio

Home Networking Basics Tips From CNET: CNET is offering an entire series of how-to articles on that focus on how to set up a home (Internet) network. Here’s the link to part 8 of the series which offers an in-depth explanation of how to set up a router and modem; the article even offers tips as to when it makes sense to buy your own equipment instead of renting Wi-Fi equipment:

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-3132_7-57597651-98/home-networking-explained-part-8-cable-modem-shopping-tips/

The Digital Future Of The Washington Post: NPR offers a video interview with current Washington Post CEO Don Graham that is interesting because it speculates on the future of newspapers particularly the Washington Post which was just purchased by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos – and the basic gist of the situation is that the future of “print” is digital and not paper:

Here’s the link: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec13/washpost_08-06.html

If You’re In The Market For A New Coffee Table…And if you are in the market for a new coffee table and you like technology and have $7,000 to spare – you might consider buying the new wooden Hammacher Schlemmer 32″ Windows 8 touch screen coffee table! You get the full Windows 8 touch screen experience beneath every cup of coffee you set on it!

Here’s the link to the Coolest Gadget’s article on this brand new coffee table:

  http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20130808/giant-coffee-table-touchscreen-computer/

Have a great day!

Linda R.

References

Dredge, Stuart. (2013, August 8). The Guardian. Rdio’s streaming Stations aim to understand music fans, not just music: New personal radio feature shows streaming service is a credible alternative to Spotify, Deezer and other rivals. Online. Accessed August 12, 2013, http://www.theguardian.com/technology/appsblog/2013/aug/08/rdio-stations-streaming-music-radio

 

Edwin. (2013, August 5). Giant Coffee Table Touchscreen Computer. CoolestGadgets.com. Online. Accessed August 12, 2013, http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20130808/giant-coffee-table-touchscreen-computer/

Madrigal, Alexis. The Music Is Waiting to Be Tapped’: Listening in the Era of the Stream. (2013, August 9). The Atlantic. Online. Accessed August 12, 2013. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/13/08/the-music-is-waiting-to-be-tapped-listening-in-the-era-of-the-stream/278466/

Ngo, Dong. (2013, August 9). Home networking explained, Part 8: Cable modem shopping tips. CNET. Online. Accessed August 20, 2013. http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-3132_7-57597651-98/home-networking-explained-part-8-cable-modem-shopping-tips/

‘Our Future Is Digital’: Don Graham Reflects on Washington Post’s Turning Point.’ (2013, August 6). PBS Newshour. Online. Accessed August 12, 2013. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec13/washpost_08-06.html

 

 

Windows 8 Apps & Apple Expected To Launch Online Radio Service In 2013

Linda Reimer

Windows 8 Apps: Now that Windows 8 is available I thought it might be a good idea to mention some solid Windows 8 apps – available from the Windows App Store – that you might find useful if you upgrade to Windows 8 or buy a new Windows PC, laptop, tablet or hybrid tablet in the near future.

The apps include: Netflix, IM+, TuneIn Radio, StumbleUpon, MovieGuide, Maps, Free Books, Google Chrome, Kindle, MetroTwit (Twitter), Skype, Google (for direct access to the Google search box), HuluPlus, FlipToast, AllRecipes, Evernote, WeatherBug and more.

Here are links to three articles on that very subject of apps for Windows 8 – just in case you buy a new laptop over the weekend!

1. Top 12 Windows Store apps from CNET:

http://goo.gl/RMyUZ

2. 10 Windows 8 apps you should download first by PC World

http://goo.gl/bvHQK

3.  The 10 Best Free Windows 8 Apps For Work And Play by Business Insider

http://goo.gl/le2nM

Apple Radio Service: According to the Apple Insider in 2013 Apple is slated to introduce a new internet radio service to compete with the likes of Pandora and Spotify. And if you’re not familiar with internet radio – it is a popular way to listen to music because you can customize the music to fit your personal taste. So, for example, if I create a Frank Sinatra channel on Pandora* — then that channel will play the music of Frank Sinatra and other persons of that vintage and in that style – so you might here a Frank Sinatra song followed by a Harry Connick Jr. song followed by a Louis Armstrong song etc. Likewise if I create a Beatles channel I’ll hear music by the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who and various other classic rock artists.

Some of my personal favorite Pandora channels are: George Winston Radio, Billie Holiday Radio, Beatles Radio and Christmas Radio.

The Apple Insider article, tilted Apple reportedly planning to launch online radio service by early next year, may be accessed via the following link:

http://goo.gl/PdIL7

Have a great weekend!

Linda R.

*Pandora is available and you can access the service via apps or through your web browser at http://www.pandora.com/