radio

Congrats to Ning Z. of Elmhurst, N.Y., for winning a Samsung LN40D550 in last week's giveaway. Ning beat out more than 2,900 other entrants to score the 40-inch flat-panel TV.

This week, we have another great prize, a portable Internet radio from Grace Digital Audio. The Mondo Wi-Fi music player features a 3.5-inch color LCD display and comes equipped with more than 18,000 Internet radio stations and endless on-demand content from providers including NPR, BBC, iHeartRadio, and CBS (disclosure: CBS is the parent company of CNET).

You'll also get access to premium free music services such as Pandora, iHeartRadio, and Dar.fm, as well as premium pay services such as SiriusXM Internet Radio and Live365 VIP. Basically, you'll have loads to listen to--and wake up to (the radio also functions as an alarm clock).

The Mondo measures 3.5 inches by 9.75 inches by 5.75 inches, weighs 6 pounds, and works with any 802.11b/g/n wireless router with an Internet connection. The product can be powered by an AC adaptor or rechargeable battery that promises up to 13 hours of play at average volume levels. … Read more

Let's get one thing straight: this is not a dictatorship. You may have noticed that just below every bright red CNET editors' rating is a cool blue user rating. And just below every review is a place where you, dear user, can make yourself heard by writing a short, sweet user review! Sometimes the editors and the users agree, sometimes we butt heads, but both views are important to the big picture.

Nowhere are user reviews more important than in the GPS category. The core function of the device and the accuracy of its map data relies heavily on the geography and topography of the area where it's operated. A GPS navigator that performs perfectly near the CNET offices in San Francisco may not be as accurate in another city with more tall buildings blocking the sky. On the other hand, maps that aren't 100 percent accurate for our testing area may be perfect near you. That's why it's so important that we hear from our readers.

With that in mind, I've rounded up a selection of the portable navigation devices with the highest average user ratings. If you've got a favorite GPS navigator, pop over to our GPS reviews list and leave a rating! … Read more

As implantable medical devices become smaller and less power hungry, they are taking on a variety of new roles. What began as largely stationary objects, such as pacemakers and cochlear implants, are becoming small enough to actually pass through our bodies (i.e. in the form of pills) to deliver drugs and perform diagnostics.

Now, a new class of medical devices is emerging that adds a twist to the traditional implant: the devices are so small that they can travel through our bloodstream, not to mention are powered wirelessly via electromagnetic radio waves, according to Stanford electrical engineer Ada Poon.

By moving through the bloodstream, these tiny implants will be able to perform minor surgeries such as removing blood clots, Poon told an audience at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco this week.… Read more

Stitcher, an app that is essentially Pandora for news radio, says it is now the first service to tightly integrate such programming with Facebook's Timeline. The move could be the biggest mobile implementation of Timeline to date, the company says.

Stitcher, which gives iPhone and iPad users access to more than 6,000 on-demand news radio shows and podcasts, and which lets those users create custom stations around them, is launching its Timeline integration today, a step it says will help news junkies discover large numbers of new programs as they see, in real-tme, what their friends are listening … Read more

With an Android app called Scanner Radio, you can turn your Android phone into a portable police scanner. Volunteers with scanners provide over 3,100 audio streams from police and fire departments, weather radios, and amateur radio operators.

You can let Scanner Radio search for scanners near your current location, or manually search for scanners based on area, genre, or source.

Once you find your favorite audio feeds, you can add them as favorites for quick access. You can also listen to archives of certain feeds, but that feature requires the Pro version ($2.99).

That's it. Just a … Read more

Audio Hijack Pro is an affordable audio-recording workhorse for the Mac, capable of capturing audio from applications, devices such as microphones, or any other source that runs through your machine.

Audio Hijack Pro's clean, two-paned, iTunes-like interface focuses on sources that you can capture--which means just about anything, from software to hardware. By default, the left pane includes some of the usual suspects that you might want to record (DVD Player, iChat, iTunes, QuickTime Player, RealPlayer, Safari, Skype, your system audio, and default system input), but you can easily add additional sources, such as other apps or devices.

You … Read more

There's just one thing wrong with Internet radio: there's too much of it, and what's wrong with that, really? Free music in every style, genre, era, fashion, and flavor, crystal-clear and streamed free of charge directly to you. All you have to do is choose what to listen to. So the only real "problem" with Internet radio is sorting out an overwhelming number of choices, not only which stations to try but also which format. You need a dedicated Internet radio app; something like TapinRadio.

It supports major formats such as MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, … Read more

Streaming radio site Slacker Radio has a brand-new station that might get its more softhearted listeners in the mood for some love-making.

The new DJ-curated "Old School R&B" station takes you back in time with some of the silkiest hits from artists like Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and Etta James. But '80s babies (like me), don't fret, because the station also extends into our golden era with more-contemporary, yet still decidedly old-school, crooners like Mint Condition, Boyz II Men, and Maxwell.

Curated and socially programmed stations are available free to all Slacker users, … Read more

Ever since Spotify launched its API for mobile developers last August, engineers have been hard at work designing apps that integrate the music service into iOS.

Now there's one that could spell trouble for Pandora--SpotON Radio.

This app by Swedish Application Development was released January 8 and is free (for now); SpotON Radio allows iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad users stream music directly on their devices--much like Pandora Radio. Features include access to more than 15 million tracks from Spotify and the ability to create personal radio stations, like and dislike songs, and share music with friends.

However, … Read more