pandora

Recently I finished a three-month trial of SiriusXM Radio. And despite a relentless onslaught of calls and e-mails from the company, I elected not to continue my subscription. The only channels I really wanted were the comedy ones, which, frankly, weren't that great.

Pandora to the rescue! Yesterday, the incomparably awesome Internet-radio service introduced comedy stations. My first thought: "Please let them be available in the mobile apps. Please let them be available in the mobile apps." Because I figured that such an incomparably awesome addition to the service must come with a catch.

Huzzah! Turns out I can enjoy the likes of Daniel Tosh, Bill Cosby, Steven Wright, and Mitch Hedberg on my iPad, iPhone, Android phone, and so on--wherever there's a Pandora app. And make no mistake: Pandora's comedy stations are infinitely better than the ones on SiriusXM, if only because the mix caters directly to my tastes.… Read more

Get ready to laugh when you load up Pandora.

The company today announced the launch of comedy stations, and just as with music streaming, users can listen to tracks, skip those they don't like, and give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to personalize what they hear. According to Pandora, a team of analysts have culled through thousands of performances to classify them based on style and content.

Pandora debuted in 2000, allowing users to stream music over the Web. Since then, the company has secured a growing (and dedicated) user base that creates stations on different genres or topic areas, … Read more

Add Pandora to the list of apps that BMW has integrated with its 2011 and 2012 models. The latest version BMW's Connected iPhone app makes it possible for drivers to view and control the streaming music service in the car using the iDrive system.

Using their iPhone to integrate Pandora and supply the Internet data connection, BMW owners will be able to view and interact with the music app on the in-dash display using the iDrive controller or steering wheel buttons. Almost all of Pandora's features are available and functionality includes accessing existing stations, creating new stations, thumbing-up or thumbing-down tracks, and bookmarking songs. Pretty much the only thing you won't be able to do is buy music.

The new feature is available on all 2011 BMW models built after March and equipped with the $250 BMW apps option. To use Pandora in the car, BMW owners need to download the latest version of the BMW Connected and Pandora apps from the iTunes store. Unlike Toyota's Entune platform, the pairing doesn't work using a Bluetooth connection--users must link the phone using the USB cable or the optional snap-in adapter in the center armrest. Pandora joins Twitter and Facebook as the third app that BMW Connected supports. … Read more

In Daniel Suarez's book "Freedom," he describes a world in which members of a revolutionary "darknet" use glasses with heads-up displays to literally visualize the publicly available information about every person on earth.

It floats above them as a callout: Social Security numbers, bank balances, cell phone numbers, addresses, purchasing history, baby pictures, social network posts. That data is visible by anyone with the means to harvest it, and it can be manipulated at will by malicious hackers (like Loki, the Suarez character who "data curse" on someone who annoys him), by governments, … Read more

commentary If Google is weary of waiting to license music from the top record companies and wants to wade into digital music without delay, then acquiring Pandora could be the answer.

The online radio service has the kind of brand recognition and audience (80 million registered users) that YouTube had when Google acquired the video-sharing site in 2006. Pandora also possesses an established advertising business, something that YouTube lacked and something Google understands. In the first nine months of 2010, about 85 percent of Pandora's revenue, or about $78 million, came from ad sales. Another $12 million was generated … Read more

Update at 4:41 a.m. PT April 14: As first reported by CNET, Spotify is setting new limits on free music. According to a post today on the company's blog: as of May 1, people who signed up for the free service on or before November 1, 2010, will get access to each track for free up to five times. People who signed up after November 1 will see these changes applied six months after the time they set up their Spotify account. Total listening time for free users will be limited to 10 hours per month after the first six months. (CNET's original story from yesterday is below.)

Spotify is considering a plan to further cut back the amount of free music it offers to users and is expected to impose new limits perhaps as soon as this week, sources with knowledge of the plans told CNET.

Spotify, the online music service that has attracted more than 10 million users in Europe in part by offering free-of-charge access to millions of songs, may cap the number of times users can listen to the same song and limit the total number of hours that existing users would have access to its free service, the sources said.

Last May, Spotify capped access to free music for the first time. As part of an offering called Spotify Open, new users were given 20 hours of free song listening per month. If they wanted more they had to upgrade to Spotify Unlimited, which offers all-you-can-eat listening for a monthly fee.

Whatever changes Spotify makes would go into effect sometime in May, said the sources. A Spotify spokesman was not immediately available for comment. … Read more

News and media typically find their way to your eyeballs through three types of screens: your TV, your computer, and your mobile phone. The Chumby 8 hopes to add a fourth screen to that equation.

Part tablet, part digital photo frame, and part jukebox, the Chumby 8 packs a ton of content behind an 8-inch touch screen. Unlike its forefathers (the Sony Dash, Insignia Infocast, or the original Chumby), the Chumby 8 offers a simplified new interface and a built-in Web browser.

Throwing a browser onto the Chumby 8 makes it possible to add and delete apps from the device … Read more

"Hey, Buzz Crew ..." Google seems to be building out a version of Chrome OS for tablets, which we're calling their "double rainbow" strategy: it breaks your brain. Plus, what Epsilon knew about their social phishing vulnerabilities, and when they knew it. Samsung cuts tablet pricing again, why we're never using Pandora again until we get an email from Tim Westergren, and a seriously old-school hacker story. --Molly

Federal prosecutors are looking into whether mobile application makers, advertisers, and mobile app store owners are violating the law when it comes to transmitting users' personal data. But what's it all mean for average consumers?

The music service Pandora disclosed in a U.S. Securities Exchange Commission filing recently that it has been subpoenaed by a grand jury to provide information about how its mobile app collects data.

The investigation appears to be prompted by a report published by The Wall Street Journal in December that evaluated 101 popular mobile apps. The newspaper said in that article that more … Read more