 RAIN 05/11: Livio announces mobile app designed for in-car Internet radio ·May 12, 12:35 PM LIKE CAR STEREOS, INTERFACE OPTIMIZED FOR USE WHILE DRIVING Detroit-based Livio has announced its new iPhone/iPod Touch Internet radio app specifically designed for listening in the car.
The app, available this month, features large pre-set buttons for easy tuning while driving. The app can “recommend” new listening options: the user simply swipes a finger across the screen while a station is playing to retune the app to another station of a similar genre. The app can use the Apple devices’ built-in GPS to find links to local stations (helpful while traveling). And, Livio says it can “stream music in the background on the iPhone while using other applications (via Safari),” which would be helpful if a driver needed to pull up navigation software or traffic info. The app has already been named a Top 25 finalist in the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show’s Mobile Apps Showdown. Livio is the company that developed the Livio Radio for NPR (RAIN coverage here) and Pandora (in RAIN here) listeners to access those streams without a PC. Livio founder and CEO Jake Sigal spoke at both our RAIN Summit North and RAIN Summit West events (see video from RTTNews.com here and here). WFMU LAUNCHES “FLASH-LESS” HTML5 WEB PLAYERLast week, WFMU made its live 128k stream available in most browsers using HTML5 instead of the ubiquitous Flash.
Adobe’s Flash platform, used for countless web applications (including streaming for many webcasters, such as AccuRadio) is not supported by Apple’s mobile operating system (and thus Flash-based applications are not available on the iPhone). Some webcasters — like NPR — have created Flash-less versions of their sites with HTML5 (the updated markup language that’s the basis of the Web). WFMU technology director Doron Gura told RAIN, “As far as we can tell this is the first example of live mp3 streaming audio done entirely in the browser. At present the station considers its HTML5 player to be an experiment but it’s a decent example of how ‘thick’ clients (Winamp / iTunes / etc.) and Flash will likely get phased out for a purely browser based solution.” You can try out the player here. WFMU is a listener-supported, non-commercial radio station in Jersey City, New Jersey. SPRINT’S EVO LOOKS TO BE PERFECT RADIO DEVICE: APPS, FM AND MOREThere’s still no word on when exactly the first U.S. 4G smartphone — the HTC EVO on Sprint — will be released, but as more details come to light about the device it’s becoming clear it’s a radio-lover’s dream gadget.
First off, it runs on Google’s Android operating system, which can run apps from Pandora, Slacker, and Jacobs Media’s jacAPPS. Secondly, it has an FM tuner on board for local radio. Finally, you can turn the EVO into a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot, allowing you to share your 4G connection with devices like the iPod Touch, iPad or any other Net radio Wi-Fi gadget. Oh, and we hear it makes phone calls, too. 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 app uses RadioTime’s tuning platform to access over 42,000 AM/FM and Internet-only radio streams.
