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Joystiq Presents: Take care of business
In this episode, Mike Suszek (@mikesuszek) talks with Weekend Editor Sam Prell (@SamPrell) to discuss happiness, horses and his writing career prior to joining Joystiq. Listen to the MP3 Listen to other Joystiq Presents episodes.
Joystiq Presents: We live and die by this
Mike Suszek (@mikesuszek) chats with Features Content Director Xav de Matos (@Xav) about his upbringing as well as his career in the video games press. Listen to the MP3 Listen to other Joystiq Presents episodes.
Joystiq Presents: You start with a fire
Mike Suszek (@mikesuszek) chats with Community Manager Anthony John Agnello (@ajohnagnello) about being handed the keys to the Joystiq community. He also refuses to eat his vegetables. Listen to the MP3 Listen to other Joystiq Presents episodes.
Joystiq Presents: This is my family
Mike Suszek (@mikesuszek) sits down with Senior Reporter Jess Conditt (@JessConditt) to discuss her background in journalism and how Joystiq became her family. Listen to the MP3 Listen to other Joystiq Presents episodes.
Joystiq Presents: One missed call
In the latest episode, Mike Suszek (@mikesuszek) talks with Weekend Editor Thomas Schulenberg (@T_Schulenberg) about the years leading to him joining Joystiq, including one crucial missed phone call. He also talks about going to E3 for the first time in his career. Listen to the MP3 Listen to other Joystiq Presents episodes.
Joystiq Presents: Too good to be real
Mike Suszek (@mikesuszek) talks with Reviews Content Director Richard Mitchell (@TheRichardM) about the years Richard spent watching Joystiq grow. He reminisces about his Xbox 360 Fanboy days as well as the time he accepted a job at Joystiq. Listen to the MP3 Listen to other Joystiq Presents episodes.
Joystiq Presents: Sinan buys a Virtual Boy
Mike Suszek (@mikesuszek) talks with Joystiq's Sinan Kubba (@SinanKubba) about the lengths Sinan went to buy a Virtual Boy during a trip to the United States as a teenager. He also discusses his time covering games and spending time with the staff at Joystiq. Listen to the MP3 Listen to other Joystiq Presents episodes.
Joystiq Presents: Dragon Age, Dark Souls and dominatrixes
Anthony John Agnello (@ajohnagnello) chats with BioWare Creative Director Mike Laidlaw about Dragon Age: Inquisition. They discuss the influence that From Software's Dark Souls series had on Laidlaw when crafting the developer's latest RPG. Listen to the MP3
BBC launches dedicated iPlayer Radio apps for iPad and Android tablets
Provided you're somewhere with a stable internet connection, it's now perfectly possible to replace your old-fashioned radio set with a tablet. Most stations have a dedicated app these days and it's easy enough to connect a pair of headphones or a cheap wireless speaker to enhance your listening. The BBC embraced this trend a couple of years back by siphoning iPlayer radio into a separate app, but now it's going one step further with dedicated apps for iPad, Kindle Fire and Android tablets. As you might expect, all three have been designed with larger screens in mind, which should make it easier to jump between stations, find archived shows and see when your favourite DJ is up next. The new tablet apps come with a "work-in-progress" label though, so the odd technical hiccup is likely. In the future, the BBC says it'll be adding features such as Favourites and Playlister too, the latter of which helps you transfer your new musical discoveries to services like Spotify.
Pandora's revamped radio apps make it easier to personalize your tunes
Take a look at Pandora's current app interface and you'll notice that personalization (outside of the signature thumb buttons) takes a back seat -- it's relatively hard to get just the right mix of artists in your radio stream. That shouldn't be a problem in the near future, as Pandora has just previewed an overhaul of its mobile apps that makes personalization a centerpiece feature. You can now tap a button to view a station's history and add influences, such as artists or songs; the app also lets you revisit your thumb rankings, and you can even "unthumb" tracks that you're tired of hearing.
Joystiq Presents: A Zelda Story
Do you remember the first day you played your favorite game? What about the moment you bought that game; what lengths did you go to pick it up? Joystiq's own Reviews Content Director Richard Mitchell (@TheRichardM) recalls the story of the the day he bought The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Nintendo 64, and discusses the patience of his mother with our Community Manager, Anthony John Agnello (@ajohnagnello). Listen to the MP3
Why the BBC needs you to think it's good value
The BBC holds a privileged position in the UK broadcasting market. As the beneficiary of your TV license fees, the Beeb picked up £3.7 billion last year from Brits, helping it fund its TV, radio, and web services. Some -- notably its competitors -- argue this is unfair, and perhaps because of this, the broadcaster is going on the offensive (or, perhaps, defensive) by reiterating exactly what it offers for that money.
TuneIn brings over 100,000 radio stations to your Chromecast
Today is a great day to be a Chromecast owner. Joining Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Sesame Street Go and others, TuneIn is now also making its mobile apps compatible with Google's budget-friendly streaming dongle. Now that TuneIn has added support for Chromecast, you can start casting more than 100,000 radio stations, including local and international, as well as a ton of different news, music and sports podcasts. Oddly enough, the TuneIn Radio Pro applications don't appear to have been updated, but nothing's keeping those users from going to the non-paid version to get their Chromecast fix. Update: Looks like TuneIn's Radio Pro apps have been updated as well.
Country Music Association finds streaming is better for sales than radio
While the debate over compensation from streaming services rages on, the Country Music Association says those music libraries boost sales better than radio plays. In a recent study, the CMA found that listeners over the age of 18 were prone to purchase tunes after hearing them for the first time on YouTube, Spotify, Pandora and others rather than being introduced via AM/RM radio. 25 percent of participants opened their wallets after streaming a new track, but only 8 percent of those tuning in on the radio did so. The CMA says the survey included other genres as well, so the results aren't specific to its own audience. Of course, when using a service like Rdio, you're already at a computer or have your phone handy, so leveraging either device for a purchase is quick and easy. Radio is still the place most folks hear new music for the first time though, according to the CMA's sample pool. If you're after further reading on the matter, Pandora conducted a study of its own, which to the surprise of no one, found its offering benefits album sales, too. [Photo credit: Mark Levine/ABC via Getty Images]
This 1950s Motorola radio works wirelessly with your iPhone
Bose, Beats, blah blah blah, it's all the same crap; Give me the classic, tin can tone of mid century radio hardware any day. If you don't need your music to carry through a half dozen walls and pierce the ears of your neighbors across the street, ancient speakers still hold up remarkably well, as is the case with this 1950s Motorola antique. Originally an AM-only tube radio, this magnificent beast now has a trick its original creators couldn't have dreamed of: iPhone connectivity. Underneath the original Bakelite, the guts have been given new life by Etsy merchant BoxTrader. But while a headphone jack and Bluetooth have been added, the rest of the hardware remains original, including the speaker. It no longer has its AM radio capabilities, but there are about a dozen iOS apps that can take care of that for you anyway. The price of pristine nostalgia is a bit steep -- at US$349, it's one of BoxTrader's more expensive restorations, and there are many others -- but you're not likely to see another like it as long as you live, which certainly can't be said for the speakers lining the shelves of the Apple Store.
BBC gives Radio 1 its own video channel on iPlayer
In a bid to serve the differing radio tastes of the nation, the BBC's line-up of numerical stations have provided live broadcasts and catch-up content for a number of years. Radio 1, which primarily serves around 40 percent of Brits between the age of 15 and 24, has experimented on YouTube and various social networks to engage more with its listeners, but the lure of iPlayer appears to have proved too strong. Today, the radio station has got a new dedicated presence on the Beeb's streaming service, offering access to an array of live and on-demand video from Radio 1's live events. It launches with plenty of content, including Live Lounges with Taylor Swift, Teen Awards coverage and a brand new chart show, putting more "Watch" in the station's Listen, Watch, Share tagline.
Security researcher uses radio frequencies to smuggle data out of isolated network
Think your completely isolated, internet-disconnected "air gap" computer network is secure from wireless infiltration? Think again -- security researchers at Ben-Gurion University in Israel have found a way to lift data from closed networks using little more than a standard computer monitor and FM radio waves. It's a pretty clever trick: researchers have created a keylogging app called AirHopper that can transmit radio frequencies by exploiting the PC's display. A companion app on an FM-equipped smartphone can decode those transmissions and record the host machine's keystrokes in real-time.
Pandora lets artists know just how well their music is doing
Many musicians put their tunes on Pandora in the hopes that they'll build an audience, but how are they supposed to know it's working? That's what the streaming service's new Artist Marketing Platform (AMP) aims to solve. The initiative gives performers data on not just how many plays and thumbs-up ratings their songs get, but the demographics of who's listening and where the music is taking off -- very handy for planning a national tour. It won't guarantee that your indie band catches a big break, but it could help you focus your musical talents where they matter the most. [Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images]
Broadcasters want phones to come with a 'hybrid' radio format
You may think that radio is dying in an era when on-demand music streaming is nearly ubiquitous, but some of the world's biggest broadcasters (unsurprisingly) disagree. The BBC, Clear Channel, HD Radio's Ibiquity and a handful of others are researching a "hybrid" radio format that would give smartphone users the advantages of reliable, low-intensity digital or FM radio with the interactivity and "enhancements" of internet streaming. In theory, this would keep your costs down and your battery life up without giving up the creature comforts of modern technology.
BBC iPlayer now gives you a month to catch up on programmes
Back in April, BBC Director General Tony Hall announced that as part of an iPlayer revamp, the default programme catch-up period would be extended from seven days to 30. It's taken just over six months, but the BBC has now agreed the necessary terms with rights-holders and widened its playback window for TV and radio programmes. The extension complements its recent redesign and cross-device resumable playback features, but not all content will adhere to the BBC's new availability rules: current affairs programmes like Match of the Day, Crimewatch and news reports will still be exempt, meaning you'll have to get catch up on those long shots and mugshots before that weekly playback period expires.
