Livio Radio for Pandora

Last year, when I was dictating to my staff the details of my burgeoning Internet empire, I told them that I might want to have a food blog, but I definitely wanted a gadget blog. My food blog lasted about a week. Some dingbat complained that I stole her recipe, but, under basic fair use rules, I was solid. I deleted the food blog. I truck no complaints from dingbats.

I started gadjimatronics because I like to invent words. I came up with "widebody slapfaces" and "barfunked" and "skadiggety" and "bum scuffles" and a bunch of other brilliant words, but I think "gadjimatronics" is probably the best one of all. You're welcome.

When you have 20 or more blogs, and only spend about twenty minutes a day working on them, things tend to get a little loose. Don't expect too many posts over there for a while. I have naps to take, and pictures of hotties to give the thumb up or the thumb down to. Byron selects ALL of the hottie pictures, and I sit on the couch, watching Sportscenter. He patiently tabs through them, and I give him an up or down, and then he crops them and organizes them. The boy is masterful when it comes to Internet pornography, I have to admit.

Miranda drops in once in a while and changes the text below the title and then tells me what to write about. Some of this comes from her mother, my ex-wife, so I have to be careful.

Anyway, the point of this post was to yap about something called Pandora Radio:

Pandora Inc. has struck a deal with electronics maker Pioneer Corp. that promises to make it easier for drivers to listen to its personalized radio service in cars—bringing Internet radio one step closer to snagging a built-in spot on dashboards. The development represents a direct challenge to broadcasters of satellite and traditional radio, who have long dreaded the arrival of Internet radio in cars.

Starting in March, Pioneer will sell a navigation and entertainment device that allows Pandora users who stream the service on their AppleInc. iPhones to easily access Pandora in their cars. The $1,200 navigation system, announced today at the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas, will detect iPhones and iPod touches that have Pandora installed, and put the consumer's Pandora settings on the navigation screen. That will allow drivers to hear their favorite Pandora radio channels.

Neither side paid cash to work with the other, said Ted Cardenas, director of marketing for Pioneer, who says he saw it as an opportunity to reach many of Pandora's 42 million users. "This gives us the ability to talk to an entirely new group of consumers," he said in an interview.

At Pandora, executives hope the deal will help expand the way its fans think of the service. "Maybe a year ago people would have said Pandora is a computer thing," said co-founder Tim Westergren. Now, "they're beginning to realize that Internet radio is an anytime, anywhere thing."

Radio companies, long used to a relative monopoly on dashboards, have been nervously anticipating the era when they will lose their dominance in cars. They have been working hard on their own online radio services, which include streamed versions of their regular stations as well as Internet-only stations.

Sounds like a wonderful innovation, but, correct me if I'm wrong--isn't there supposed to be some way to interrupt regular radio programming for emergencies? How do you get breaking news of traffic and public safety information in a reliable way? Do you have to have subscriptions to local stations that would give you that? Do you have a way to shut down or interrupt streaming music? It would be rare that this would be an issue, but, in some areas of the country, the weather makes local radio indispensable. Some of these devices have been around since September, I see. Looks somewhat big and bulky, but I suspect that the device will shrink and change with innovation.

Third Generation (3G) networks are already overwhelmed, especially in New York City. If you mean to say that, by adding tens of thousands of users of Pandora to an existing network infrastructure, you'll be compensating for that by building up that infrastructure, all well and good. Where's the plan? Where's the money? And when will someone admit that the fees for Pandora would have to go up as network costs rise? What if the Internet slows or goes out altogether? Broadcast radio can be sent out from remote locations, powered by fueled generators, to devices run on batteries. Can the Internet radio do that? Or will the 3G networks collapse if the power is out for too long? I can tell you one thing--if the data networks don't start increasing their capacity, consumers are going to revolt and abandon these services BEFORE they can start making a lot of money.

What are the lobbyists doing to level this playing field? Major broadcasters ARE NOT going to stand by and do nothing. Laws and regulations are coming.

It sounds wonderful, but usually, things that go bust sound like the cat's pajamas. Satellite radio certainly sounded like that.

Posted via web from An American Lion is on Posterous

When I found myself weeping uncontrollably this morning, I knew it had to be because something had gone terribly wrong during a Bowl Game that I did not bother to watch:

University of Missouri administrators have apologized to the U.S. Naval Academy for what it says was a misunderstanding by its band during the Texas Bowl game last week.

The band has been criticized on blogs and online news forums for playing the Missouri fight song after the Naval Academy began playing its theme song after the game.

The two bands had agreed before the game that the losing team's band would play first, followed by the winner. Navy defeated Missouri 35-13 in last Thursday's game. Missouri spokeswoman Mary Jo Banken said Missouri's band didn't realize the Naval Academy had begun playing.

She says the school did not intend to to disrespect Navy tradition. The Naval Academy issued a statement saying it considered the issue a misunderstanding.

If I don't do any more blogging today, it's because I had to reach out and holla at my peeps, and let them know that I was okay.

Posted via web from TalkingSmackAboutSports

Apparently, people are just now figuring out that there is no substance to the Obama Administration:

Just before Christmas, on December 20, 2009, Dr. Drew Westen posted a lengthy article at Huffington Post entitled Leadership, Obama Style, and the Looming Losses in 2010: Pretty Speeches, Compromised Values, and the Quest for the Lowest Common Denominator. Dr. Westen’s piece caused quite a stir in both the blogosphere and more traditional media, and rightfully so in light of the comprehensive discussion he gives on the Obama phenomenon, what it has brought and where it is leading the country and Democratic party.

Curiously, I may have been the only one who didn’t see Drew’s article when it originally hit. This is a shame because on January 1st I did a post, Obama’s Royal Scam and The Iron Fist Of Rahm, that would have been greatly enhanced had I possessed the benefit of Dr. Westen’s piece when writing. Because of the parallel nature of our subject matters, I was asked to host Dr. Westen today for a chat on his hard hitting and important Huffington Post article. Today’s discussion will be of great interest to most everybody at Firedoglake irrespective of your relative view.

Dr. Westen’s whole piece is a must read in its entirety, but here is a sample:

As the president’s job performance numbers and ratings on his handling of virtually every domestic issue have fallen below 50 percent, the Democratic base has become demoralized, and Independents have gone from his source of strength to his Achilles Heel, it’s time to reflect on why. The conventional wisdom from the White House is those “pesky leftists” — those bloggers and Vermont Governors and Senators who keep wanting real health reform, real financial reform, immigration reform not preceded by a year or two of raids that leave children without parents, and all the other changes we were supposed to believe in.

Somehow the president has managed to turn a base of new and progressive voters he himself energized like no one else could in 2008 into the likely stay-at-home voters of 2010, souring an entire generation of young people to the political process. It isn’t hard for them to see that the winners seem to be the same no matter who the voters select (Wall Street, big oil, big Pharma, the insurance industry). In fact, the president’s leadership style, combined with the Democratic Congress’s penchant for making its sausage in public and producing new and usually more tasteless recipes every day, has had a very high toll far from the left: smack in the center of the political spectrum.

What’s costing the president and courting danger for Democrats in 2010 isn’t a question of left or right, because the president has accomplished the remarkable feat of both demoralizing the base and completely turning off voters in the center.

Drew gives an incredibly broad and fair discussion of President Obama’s record of leadership to date from the feckless to the fantastic.

I was sounding the alarm bells here, here, here, here and here. But, as usual, no one was reading my blog except for my mother, my new assistant Mr. Peej, and some fellows looking for a picture or two of Rachel Ray's Magnificent Ass.

Posted via web from An American Lion is on Posterous

Ady Gil, from deck of Shonan Maru No. 2

The confrontation between environmental activists and Japanese whaling vessels just took a turn in a new direction:

A conservation group’s boat had its bow sheared off and was taking on water Wednesday after it collided with a Japanese whaling ship in the frigid waters of Antarctica, the group said. The boat’s six crew members were safely rescued.

The clash was the most serious in the past several years, during which the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has sent vessels into far-southern waters to try to harass the Japanese fleet into ceasing its annual whale hunt.

Clashes using hand-thrown stink bombs, ropes meant to tangle propellers and high-tech sound equipment have been common in recent years, and collisions between ships have sometimes occurred.

The society said its vessel Ady Gil — a high-tech speedboat that resembles a stealth bomber — was hit by the Japanese ship the Shonan Maru near Commonwealth Bay and had about 10 feet (three meters) of its bow knocked off.

Losing three meters of your bow is one way to go about things. Back in Japan, there is elation. The fishing vessel, Shonan Maru No. 2, is now the most popular thing afloat.

Ady Gil

Over at the Japan Times, there are these details:

 

 

Paul Watson, head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, told Kyodo News the Shonan Maru No. 2, a vessel sent by Japan to ensure the security of its whaling fleet, deliberately rammed his group’s A$2 million (US$1.8 million) vessel Ady Gil and “sheared the bow right off.”

 

 

“It ripped 8 feet (2.5 meters) of the front of the vessel off,” Watson said. “At this point it does not look salvageable. It’s taking on water.”

According to his account, both vessels has been stationary in the water when the Shonan Maru No. 2 started up and then steered deliberately into the Ady Gil, which had been harassing the fleet, at around 3:50 p.m. Australian time.

One of the Ady Gil’s six crew members sustained several cracked ribs in the incident, he said, adding that five crew members were evacuated, but its captain remained onboard “trying to see what he can do to salvage the vessel … or at least some of the equipment.”

Watson, speaking from aboard the ship Steve Irwin, also said Sea Shepherd put out a mayday distress signal “but the Japanese fleet refused to acknowledge that and just kept going. It was a hit and run.”

The Japanese Fisheries Agency blamed the collision on Sea Shepherd, saying the Shonan Maru No. 2 crew had tried to ward off the approaching Ady Gil with water cannon but the antiwhaling vessel employed maneuvers such as suddenly reducing speed, which resulted in the collision.

Glenn Inwood, the spokesman for the Institute of Cetacean Research, said that according to his report the Ady Gil was idling in the water and then went “full steam ahead” to cut off Shonan Maru No.2. He said the Ady Gil skipper miscalculated and the “fault lies” with Sea Shepherd vessel for the collision.

According to Watson, the Shonan Maru No. 2 has been “particularly aggressive” this year after it earlier tried to damage the activists’ helicopter. “I think their order this year is to try and cause material damage to the ships.”

Bias? Hard to say. Either way you look at it, that was quite the bum scuffle on the high seas. Here is a previous story on the organization in question, and all I can say is, the United States needs to stay out of this conflict. No good can come out of getting between whale meat and the conservationists who oppose the hunt.

Posted via web from An American Lion is on Posterous

Always shoot for mediocre, don't try hard, and always expect to fail. Giving up before you try is what winners do. Hey, you know that, because these other guys failed, you're gonna fail too, right? Right?

Tim Tebow has been a great story, but I'm concerned about how this story ends. It's not the Florida fan in me, or the Tim Tebow fan in me, because neither fan exists. But the writer in me? The writer in me exists, and the writer in me is concerned. Writers love a good story, and we especially love a good ending. And Florida quarterback Tim Tebow's story should have ended Friday night in the Sugar Bowl. Not his story overall. I'm not asking for the young man to die. I'm asking for him to retire from football. Wouldn't that be perfect? Seriously -- I cannot imagine a better ending, a more fitting ending, for this once-in-a-lifetime football player than his immaculate Sugar Bowl performance, when he threw for 482 yards and ran for 51 and produced as many touchdowns (four) as incomplete passes. We should all be so lucky as to go out like that -- knowing our limitations, knowing we have reached the apex of our career, and leaving on our own terms. That would be like me winning a Pulitzer Prize and then smashing my laptop to pieces after accepting the award. (I'm never winning a Pulitzer; I know this. It's an analogy, people.) That would be like Bobby Bowden passing Bear Bryant with 324 career victories at the declining age of 72 and then stepping down (OK, another bad example). It would be like Jim Brown winning the NFL rushing title in 1965 and then, at age 29, retiring from football. It would be like Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax going 27-9 in 1966, the best season of his superstar career, and then retiring at age 30. It would be like Rocky Marciano knocking out three fighters in 12 months and then, in 1955, retiring at age 32.

Posted via web from TalkingSmackAboutSports