 RAIN 3/4: RadioTime, Pandora fuel race to power Net radio in autos ·Mar 4, 12:49 PM RADIOTIME TO BE PART OF MINI IN-CAR INTERNET RADIO SYSTEM Internet radio platform company RadioTime announced today that its technology will be integrated into the recently-unveiled MINI Connected in-car Internet radio system.
The MINI Connected option, which will be available in the car maker’s 2011 Countryman model, will feature a web radio function based on the RadioTime directory via Apple’s iPhone Internet connection. This will allow drivers and passengers to tune to thousands of AM/FM and Internet-only radio stations worldwide.
RadioTime’s Internet radio tuning platform is used by the Logitech Squeezebox, the Sonos Music System, and the recently-launched Spark Radio iPhone app (among others).
PANDORA NAMES SIRIUS EXEC VP OF AUTO BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTGeorge Lynch is Pandora’s new VP of Auto Business Development, according a press release from the company. He previously spent 11 years at Sirius (now Sirius XM) and has also worked for the Panasonic Automotive Electronics Company.
The big news at this year’s CES was Pandora’s announced partnership with Ford to integrate voice command-enabled Pandora into Ford Sync. Alpine and Pioneer will also support Pandora’s recently launched “PandoraLink” technology that enables dashboard control of the webcast in automobile radios. And if there’s any doubt left about Pandora’s intentions when it comes to cars, senior VP Jessica Steel clears it up by stating (here), “Delivering Pandora’s personalized internet radio to our 48 million listeners in their vehicles is a key focus of our company this year and we think we have got the best person on board to help Pandora cement our presence in the automotive arena.” TIVO, CABLEVISION UPGRADES BRING NET TO TV SCREENSLeading DVR tech firm TiVo has unveiled two new hardware models (available next month) that can pull in “movies and TV from across the Internet, letting you access Blockbuster, Netflix and Amazon content, YouTube and (this is huge) video podcasts. You can also stream music from Rhapsody and listen to radio on Live 365,” writes Wired.
Meanwhile, cable television company Cablevision has announced “PC to TV Media Relay.” After a software download to customers’ PCs, it “pushes whatever is on the computer through to a dedicated channel on the cable box,” writes Engadget. A pilot program will launch in June. Seems like it could be another cool way to easily get audio that’s on your PC into your home theater or stereo system. Read Wired for more TiVo coverage here. Read Engadget on “PC to TV Relay” here. BUSINESS INSIDER SAYS MLB APP “SOLVES” BACKGROUND STREAMING ISSUE FOR iPHONEMLB’s new At Bat 2010 app offers streaming radio coverage of any Major League baseball game this season, and Business Insider reports it also comes with a new feature that allows background listening — a feature the iPhone is notoriously known not to support.
However, as RAIN reported here, the iPhone now can stream music in the background when done so through the Safari web browser. So, according to Business Insider, the MLB app simply sends the radio stream to Safari. Users can then move along to other apps, but the radio stream continues to play. “The best fix,” notes the news source (here), “of course, would be allowing apps to run in the background.” share: del.icio.us.  Reddit  Digg  Yahoo  Wink  Windows  Google  Newsvine 
CommentCommenting is closed for this article.  Other stories RAIN has upgraded (and moved)! RAIN 9/13: RAIN Summit Chicago takes place today! RAIN 9/12: First Summit in RAIN's hometown takes place tomorrow RAIN 9/9: Summer holidays, "doldrums" impact July Webcast Metrics, but audience up over last year RAIN 9/8: Clear Channel launches new customizable iHeartRadio beta; RAIN goes hands-on RAIN 9/7: Meet more speakers you'll hear at RAIN Summit Chicago in less than a week RAIN 9/6: Clear Channel taps The Echo Nest to take on Pandora RAIN 9/2: RAIN reviews Spotify's radio-like product Artist Radio RAIN 9/1: UK online radio aggregator Radioplayer campaigns b'dcasters to create "all radio" ratings RAIN 8/31: Execs from Merlin, Triton Digital, jacAPPS and more to appear at RAIN Summit Chicago |
The company has published a demo video, screenshots and answered Frequently Asked Questions on its site 
