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Insignia NS-HD01: first-ever portable HD Radio on sale at Best Buy


Remember that first-ever portable HD Radio prototype we peeked back in May? Turns out Best Buy just let loose the real-deal, today announcing immediate availability of the Insignia NS-HD01. Needless to say, the big box retailer and supporters of HD Radio alike are hoping that this subscription-free player will finally put some much-needed wind behind the sails of the format, and while it's pretty simple in nature, the sub-$50 price tag could place it squarely in the "impulse buy" category. The relatively brief specs list includes a color LCD, rechargeable Li-ion battery, a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack, a bundled armband and ten user-selectable preset memory channels. You can catch the full release after the break, and the player itself in your nearest Best Buy.

Portable HD Radio prototype gets pictured, coming this summer for under $50


Details are rather scant on this little gem right now, but here's what we can tell you: you're looking at the world's first HD Radio portable device prototype, and it's slated to do just about exactly what you expect. In other words, it'll slip into your pocket, tune into HD Radio as well as standard analog FM broadcasts and connect with any set of cans that use a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack. Unfortunately, the manufacturer is being kept under wraps, and there's no Bluetooth headset support baked in. That said, you can expect it to land in an undisclosed "big box retailer" this summer for under $50.

Tesla Model S now official

After a brief period of unofficial officialness this morning, Tesla has rolled out the Model S to a sea of eager photographers. The company's also revealed specs for the EV: this seven-seater can go from 0 to 60 MPH in 5.6 seconds, boasts a top speed of 120 MPH, features a dashboard display and a 17-inch main touchscreen monitor. It's fully 3G capable, sports HD and satellite radio, uses LED and neon exterior lights, smart-key power, and push button gear selector. While that $49,900 base price will get you a battery that's good for 160 miles per charge, 230-mile and 300-mile range packs will be available. On a 220V outlet, the company says it'll charge in four hours with a 45 minute "QuickCharge" option, and you should be able to swap batteries if necessary in under 8 minutes. Excited? Find a way to control yourself, this baby isn't going into production in Q3 2011. Check out a brief glimpse of the interior after the break.

Cydle introduces T43 navigator with Bluetooth, HD Radio support


Lookie here -- we've got yet another new entrant into the portable navigation market, but thankfully, Cydle has decided to differentiate a bit with the inclusion of HD Radio support. The company's one and only model (for now, anyway) is the T43, which features a 4.3-inch touchscreen, the latest version of Cydle 3D Map and Cydle XE Map, HD Radio support, real-time traffic via the traditional RDS-TMC as well as the newer HD Radio-based method and Bluetooth for good measure. It'll reportedly hit Best Buy shelves in the not-too-distant future, though there's no price mentioned.

Dual Electronics' XNAV43HD PND: first with real-time traffic via HD Radio


You may have never heard of Dual Electronics, but the firm is getting talked up today courtesy of Clear Channel Radio. You see, said outfit has launched the world's first personal navigation device to support real-time traffic via HD Radio. The XNAV43HD can pull down up to 500 messages per minute in over 50 markets in which the new service is live, and all of the information will be continuously monitored and updated by Clear Channel's staff. Specs on the PND itself are as follows: 4.3-inch touchscreen, text-to-speech and a multimedia player. The $279.99 price tag ain't half bad, but our interest lies in how quickly this service will get rolled out to other navigators, factory-supplied and otherwise.

[Image courtesy of MP3Car]

iLuv rolls out iHD171 HD radio with iPhone / iPod dock, iTunes tagging


iLuv has been on quite the roll of late with these radio clocks and whatnot, though we're a touch more excited than usual about the iHD171. For starters, this one tunes into HD Radio stations (you know, given how FM is so 2006), and it also plays nice with dock-connecting iPods and iPhones. You'll find twin alarms for keeping couples happy, a front-panel display, iTunes tagging support, jAura speaker technology, an auxiliary line input (3.5-millimeter jack) and twin 4-watt drivers. If all that's enough for you to exchange $199.99 for, you can do just that next month. Full release is after the jump.

iLuv's iNT170 internet radio-alarm appears, no one's too excited


Not to be left out, iLuv's also brought out another internet radio / alarm combo and it looks exactly like you'd think it would. Only cooler. The iNT170's packing access to 15,000 radio stations and podcasts through its built-in WiFi, aka INTERNET (see photo). It's got two 2.5 watt jAura sound speakers, a dual alarm clock, plus a 3.5mm line-in if you need to plug in your PMP. The clock self-updates via INTERNET, so you'll never be able to use that Daylight Saving Time excuse for being late to work again (we recommend the "flooded basement" or "sick cat" in its stead), and you'll have the option to wake to INTERNET or regular radio in addition to the old standby buzzer. It's available now for $199.

Coby rolls out HDR-650, HDR-700 HD Radios


Your HD Radio options are hardly as limited as they once were, but if you're still shopping around for one, you may want to take a gander at Coby's latest offerings, which promise the usual better-than-FM sound for a decent enough price. On the lower end, $100 will get you the HDR-650 component radio, which includes some standard RCA connectors to let you hook it up to your existing home audio system, as well as a headphone jack if you want to use it on its own. The $150 HDR-700, on the other hand, is a fully standalone unit, and includes an integrated rechargeable battery to let you take it outdoors, an SD card slot, and a line-in jack to accommodate the portable audio device of your choice. Look for the pair of 'em to hit stores sometime in August.

Update: Coby has informed us that these radios are, in fact, the result of a co-branding effort between it and Revo, which accounts for the striking similarity between them and Revo's Pico and Mondo radios.

iLuv kicks out i168 and i169 HD Radio alarm clocks


Something's really wrong with the world if more than a few months pass by without a new iPod alarm clock from iLuv, so we suppose everyone's a-okay for a few more months now. Announced today, the firm has introduced its first pair of HD Radio clocks, and sure enough, one of 'em plays nice with Cupertino's darling. The i169 would be that player, which offers up a mostly black motif, dual stereo speakers, remote, iPod dock, AM / FM / HD Radio reception, an auxiliary input and dual alarm settings for good measure. As for the currently available i168, it provides most everything you read up there sans the iPod compatibility, but then again, it only demands $89.99. What about the i169, you ask? It'll set you back a cool $169.99 when it lands in "early May." Full release waiting after the break.

Sony rocks out the HD radio

Sony XDR-S10HDiP HD Radio docking stationSony's PR blitz continues with the announcement of two HD Radio products, a tuner and a radio-iPod dock combo. The XDR-F1HD Tuner and the XDR-S10HDiP HD Radio can both tune in the estimated 1,500 digital stations nationwide. The XDR-F1HD is an add-on tuner with LCD display and a wireless remote, set to launch in March for $100. The XDR-S10HDiP docking station sports an iPod interface and iTunes Tagging, the ability to tag songs while listening for later purchase using the iTunes Music Store. It will be available in the summer for $180.

Alpine's TUA-T550HD tunes HD Radio, supports iTunes tagging

The natural successor to the TUA-T500HD does more than just enable a slew of HD Radio-ready Alpine head units to tune into HD Radio, as it throws in that recently unveiled iTunes tagging feature for good measure. Hailed as "one of the first in-car applications combining HD Radio with iTunes tagging," this accessory will team up with Alpine's latest lineup of in-dash players to let users bookmark over-the-air tracks for purchase at a later time, effectively eliminating the "Now what was that song?" syndrome. Sadly, we've yet to see a definitive price or release date, but you can rest assured that the TUA-T550HD is on the way.

JVC unveils the KT-HDP1 "plug and play" portable HD radio


We've seen a lot of slick tabletop HD radios hit the market in the past few months, but for those of you just looking to add a little high-res broadcast goodness to an existing stereo, JVC's KT-HDP1 seems like a simpler solution. The $129 device rocks an AM / FM / HD tuner and a white LCD screen to display track info and other data. JVC's also releasing three home / car docking kits that should allow you to just pop the HDP1 in and out without a lot of fuss. These should be trickling into Best Buys relatively soon, according to JVC, and should signal the start of a wave of similar products that'll be out in the next 18 months.

Ford to make HD Radio available on almost all new vehicles


Just when you thought your radio carrier headaches had gone away -- bam -- Ford starts offering HD Radio on almost all of its new vehicles. That's right, according to a recent press release, the automaker -- which just showed off its new Sync system -- has plans to equip (should you so choose) a large percentage of its 2008 Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles with the new high definition "standard." HD Radio -- if you'll recall -- is free, and broadcasts on about 1,500 stations in the US, but offers higher quality audio than standard FM, in addition to features like track ID and extra "piggybacked" channels (called HD2). On top of the inclusion of the systems in new vehicles, Ford says that its 2005, 2006 and 2007 models can be retrofitted with the receivers, thus giving your old jalopy a sheen of newness heretofore unseen.

[Via Autoblog]

HD Radio rolls out iTunes tagging


Well you may have missed this particular feature in your rush to pick up Polk's I-Sonic Entertainment System 2 table radio, but like its upcoming iHD brother from JBL, the ES2 is one of the first HD Radio models to feature a new iTunes tagging option that lets users bookmark over-the-air tracks for later purchase. In a symbiotic program that should potentially benefit studios, consumers, and perhaps even the medium itself, Apple hooked up with HD Radio developer iBiquity to integrate a "Tag" button into future hardware releases, which when triggered loads metadata about the current song to memory for future transfer to a docked iPod. Once that iPod has been synced with iTunes, users will have the option of previewing and / or buying elements of the specific playlist that's been cobbled together. Le's just hope Universal and Apple make nice sooner rather than later, because the absence of a major label from iTunes certainly isn't gonna do anything to turn us into a nation of taggers.

Polk Audio I-Sonic ES2 features iTunes song tagging


Already, new peripherals are popping up to take advantage of the new features in Apple's updated iPod line-up, with Polk Audio's I-Sonic Entertainment System 2 packing a poor man's equivalent of the Starbucks song purchase feature over in-store WiFi. When songs are playing over the built-in HD Radio, users can press a tag button, which creates a custom playlist on docked iPods, allowing songs to be purchased later when at a computer. The ES2 also features XM Connect & Play capability, a CD/DVD drive for audio playback, an alarm clock mode, and 360-degree sound, whatever the hell that is. The ES2 hits next month for $499.
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