RAIN 10/13: FCC plan for free national wireless Net gets engineers' go-ahead ·Oct 13, 12:10 PM FCC TECHS GREEN-LIGHT PLAN FOR FREE, NATIONWIDE WIRELESS SERVICEIn a report, FCC engineers say they have found no technical reason not to move forward on a proposed plan for a nationwide, free wireless Internet service. The FCC plans to auction spectrum to a bidder who agrees to offer free, national Internet access, and could begin hearing bids by early next year. T-Mobile, which uses spectrum adjacent to the bands in question, had argued against the proposal, suggesting the new service’s signals would interfere with the company’s 3G wireless network. The Wall Street Journal reports here.
VODKA MAKER SUES UK ABSOLUTE RADIOSwedish vodka brand Absolut has filed suit against the former Virgin Radio, which now calls itself
Absolute Radio, for trademark infringement. V&S Vin&Sprit, which owns Absolut vodka, says, “consumers are likely to be confused over the use of the similar names and that Absolute Radio could be detrimental to its vodka brand.” There’s more from The Guardian here.
ONLINE REVENUE AT NEWSPAPER SITES IS FALLINGThe New York Times reports that the nation’s newspapers are now dealing with the fact that their online advertising growth, which publishers “saw as their salvation has slowed to a crawl.” While overall online advertising remains strong, “after 17 quarters of ballooning growth, online revenue at newspaper sites is falling.” Read more here.CBS RADIO ADDS LAST.FM-BASED “NOW PLAYING” WIDGET TO STATION SITESCBS Radio has added a “Now Playing” widget to the sites of a handful
of major market stations Friday. The widget displays song information (title, artist) and a purchase link to iTunes or Amazon. Additionally, there’s a function allowing users to “dedicate” songs to others using Last.fm technology (the recipient gets a dedication e-mail message). CBS says it will add the widget to every remaining station website in the next 4-6 weeks.
RADIOTAGR ALLOWS RADIO TAGGING…WITHOUT HDA new service called RadioTAGr allows users to “tag” a song they’d like to purchase when they hear it on FM (or AM) radio. The service works on computers and hand-held devices (including the Blackberry and the iPhone), and is basically an aggregated “now playing” service for stations in many (but not all) U.S. markets. Users choose their market and station to find out what song is currently playing, and can immediately (or later) purchase the song from iTunes or the song or CD from Amazon.
share: del.icio.us. Reddit Digg Yahoo Wink Windows Google Newsvine
Comment Other stories RAIN 2/8: Pandora CEO Joe Kennedy to keynote at RAIN Summit North RAIN 2/5: Streaming music site TheSixyOne adds game-like features, visual beauty to Net radio experience RAIN 2/4: Apple enables desktop browser previews of iPhone apps RAIN 2/3: Karmazin addresses competing with Net radio, for in-car listening and for Howard! RAIN 2/2: Radio's battle with webcasters for local advertisers may have begun RAIN 2/1: Sixty million in U.S. will listen to Net radio this week, study says RAIN 1/29: iPad's limitations will challenge app makers, including webcasters, says WSJ RAIN 1/28: RAIN announces 2010 Las Vegas Summit RAIN 1/27: Apple iPad to run iPhone apps; CBS names Kucharz to head digital efforts for radio and TV RAIN 1/26: News format most popular online last year, says RadioTime |




not to move forward on a proposed plan for a nationwide, free wireless Internet service. The
of major market stations Friday. The widget displays song information (title, artist) and a purchase link to iTunes or Amazon. Additionally, there’s a function allowing users to “dedicate” songs to others using Last.fm technology (the recipient gets a dedication e-mail message).
users to “tag” a song they’d like to purchase when they hear it on FM (or AM) radio. The service works on computers and hand-held devices (including the Blackberry and the iPhone), and is basically an aggregated “now playing” service for stations in many (but not all) U.S. markets. Users choose their market and station to find out what song is currently playing, and can immediately (or later) purchase the song from iTunes or the song or CD from Amazon.














even a moron in a hurry can tell the difference between vodka and a radio station
— mike allen · Oct 13, 12:54 PM · #