NetworkJew » 6.1

More Ways to Enjoy Pandora

Network Jew — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 02:09:38 +0000

Pandora is one of the leading “Music Suggestion” web services. You can sign up for a free account on www.pandora.com. You choose your favorite artists or songs and Pandora automatically serves up streaming music that it feels matches your individual tastes. The backend magic is based on the Music Genome Project, “is an effort to “capture the essence of music at the fundamental level” using over 400 attributes to describe songs and a complex mathematical algorithm to organize them.” Try it out- it’s free.

There are several ways for you to enjoy the Pandora service while away from your computer’s web browser. Here are a few:

1) IPhone application- You can get more info here. Basically, its just like the website. All the major functions available on the web are right there in the application – creating playlists, approving songs, getting info, etc., It’s FREE, of course.

2) Windows Mobile Application – great for your Tilt, BlackJack II, or Fuze. This WinMo app let’s you listen to your stations, create new ones, view album art, etc., More info here

3) Boxee – Popular media center software Boxee now has a native application available for free download. Great cover art, station creation, song approval, and slick graphics.

4) Chumby – Raise your hand if you’ve got a Chumby. No, me neither. If you’re one of the two people who has one, you’re in luck, because Chumby officially supports Pandora. There’s more info on their website

5) Sprint Instinct – Digital Lounge now has Pandora available. Just log in to your Digital Lounge and search for Pandora. Get ready to pay $3 per month, however. ouch.

There are a few other devices out there that will play friendly with Pandora. If you’ve tried them, let us know…

How to Stream Sirius on XBOX Media Center and Windows Mobile

Network Jew — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:03:56 +0000

I spend a couple hours a day commuting in my car for work. If I’m not listening to NPR, I love listening to Sirius satellite radio while I’m driving . No commercials, pretty good song selection, decent sound quality. Works great in my car. Unfortunately, I can’t get good reception in my house due to the location of our windows and where the stereo system sits – so I can’t hook the Sirius receiver up to my home sound system without running wires all over the place. Thankfully I found a python script for streaming Sirius through your Xbox Media Center. Unfortunately it had fallen out of development and no longer worked.Â I recently updated this script and below you’ll find directions for installing it on your Xbox Media Center. There’s also a killer app for Windows Mobile devices that allows you to stream Sirius while you’re on the go. I use it on my BlackJack II when I’m jogging or sitting at the park with the kids. There are instructions for getting that going too. Remember, you must have a valid Sirius account for these to work. Test your account on the Sirius website and be sure you can stream successfully on your PC first. Also, not all Sirius stations are available for online streaming.

Installing XBMC Sirius Script

You’ll need an original Xbox running Xbox Media Center for this. I haven’t tested this on any other XBMC platforms.

Download the python script here:
In the Sirius folder, edit RunSirius.py. Look for this snippet of code and enter your Sirius username and password in quotes:

# SET ME! SET ME! SET ME!
USERNAME = “USERNAME”
PASSWORD = “PASSWORD”

Save the file.

If you’ve got Xbox Media Center running on your modded Xbox, I assume you already know how to initiate an FTP connection to your Xbox. Go ahead and connect and upload the entire Sirius directory to your SCRIPTS directory. On my Xbox this is on the Q: drive.
Back in the XBMC gui, navigate to Scripts, and run the RunSirius.py script. If you like you can rename this file later to default.py, and then when you click on the Sirius Folder it will run automatically.
If all goes well, you should be greeted by a list of categories. Work your way through the menu and click on the station you want to stream. You should see the media player kick in and give you a message about caching the content. Then your sweet digital music should begin to play.

A few notes:

You can pay a few Sirius a few bucks more a month and increase your bitrate to 128 mb/s, which sounds as good as the satellite receiver. Supposedly they are changing this pricing structure in the near future, so its possible this script may break.
If the caching is taking too long before your tunes start playing, go into your XBMC center settings and decrease the cache size for “Unknown type Cache – Internet”. You can drop this down to 256K or whatever figure works best for you.
Since it’s caching audio and the song title lookup is live, often it will display the next song’s title

Installing SiriusWM5 on Windows Mobile

Install TCPMP for for your device. Here’s a link to smartphone edition for Windows Mobile 6.1. This works on the BlackJackII. Download the file, transfer it over to your device via ActiveSync. In file explorer on your mobile device, click on the cab file to install it.
Download the wmv9 codecs for TCPMP here
Unzip the files and place both .DLLs and copy them to your /WINDOWS folder on your mobile device via ActiveSync.
Download and install via ActiveSync SiriusWm5 cab file here
Open SiriusWM5 on your Windows Mobile Device
Go to File > Settings.
Enter your Sirius Account information. Check USE TCPMP and, if its installed to your memory card, choose “TCPMP on MemCard”. Additionally, if you’ve anted up for higher quality stream, select “CD Quality Stream”. (CD Quality works great over Wifi or 3G, but will probably fail on Edge or lower). Save your settings.
Choose your station, and click Connect. You should be prompted to enter some CAPTCHA info, then TCPMP should start playing your stream.

note: Song Titles won’t display.

Windows Mobile 6.5 Hands-On Video

Network Jew — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:35:45 +0000

Microsoft unveiled Windows Mobile 6.5 at the MWC this weekend. It looks like they’ve take a good look at the iPhone and Android and put in some nice features. Most of the enhancements appear to be in Internet Explorer and various touch-related enhancements in the UI. Overall it looks polished and modern. The new Internet Explorer looks slick, and it appears from the video below that it supports Flash! The Lock Screen interface actually reminds me quite a bit of the updated Home Screen in Windows Mobile 6.1 Smartphone like on the BlackJack II. No word yet, apparently on what the 6.5 smartphone version of WinMo will look like.

Windows Mobile 6.5 Running on HTC from Jesus Diaz on Vimeo.

Here’s what the home screen looks like on the BlackJack II.