Las estaciones de radio por Internet son la nueva ola.

Technology Web2.0 Internet Radio Stations Are the New Wave By ERIC A. TAUB Published: December 30, 2009 Myine's Ira radio connects to a home stereo or powered speakers, and offers 11,000 Internet stations. Early fans of the iPhone bemoaned that, unlike many of its competitors, their favorite "do anything" device couldn't do one obvious thing: play local radio stations. They didn't get it. FM tuners are passé. Why include tuner technology to play a few dozen stations when you can harness thousands of radio stations over the Internet? Unlike standard broadcast radio, Internet radio stations can be heard virtually anywhere (copyright restrictions aside), as long as you have a device that can go on the Web; that can be a PC, a smartphone or a stand-alone receiver. An Internet radio station may have started out life as a traditional local broadcast outlet, and then management decided that it would be great to let people hear it everywhere. Or an Internet radio station may be nothing more than one person in a basement uploading music or talk to the Web, hoping that someone out there will listen. Literally thousands of genres of Internet radio exist, from oldies, classical and religious to ultraradical talk, from the right and left. The first trick is finding them, and the next is playing them. Fortunately, with a little information, both tasks are rather easy. Sanyo's R227 model includes the ability to receive Internet stations, and FM ones as well. TUNE IN To find an Internet station of a particular genre, start with the basics: a Web search. Type in "60s," "NPR" or "Catholic" and the words "Internet radio" and you'll come up with a list and links to those channels. Another useful source is streamingradioguide.com. The Web site lists more than 14,000 stations that can be searched by genre. While extensive, the list is not complete. Internet radio hardware and smartphone apps that offer radio transmissions don't typically accumulate station offerings themselves; rather, they use aggregators, companies that create a selection of channels. On the Web, you can access radio channels directly from those aggregators as well; they include Reciva.com, Radiotime.com, Vtuner.com, 1.fm and Freeradio.tv. In addition, Apple's iTunes software (Mac and PC) offers hundreds of Internet radio stations. To listen to them, click on "Radio" under "Library" in the left vertical column. Livio Radio allows listeners to create a radio station based on an artist or genre they like. TURN ON A wide variety of stand-alone players are now available that allow consumers to listen to Internet radio without using a PC. One compelling feature: many offer wireless connectivity — with a wireless router, you can place the player anywhere in the home within range of the signal, and use the player as you would with a normal radio. Livio Radio's wireless line includes its AARP, NPR and Pandora models. (Pandora's music service allows listeners to "create" a radio station based on an artist or genre they like. Then, Pandora automatically plays other music that the service believes fits the same category.) Each $200 unit features programming from its model name; however all are capable of playing any of the 16,000 Internet stations offered in the unit's menus, from '80s music to police scanner intercepts. The models can be connected to an external stereo system, or the unit's built-in speakers can be used. Logitech's Squeezebox line of Internet radio devices ($200 to $400) include, depending on model, a color screen, speakers and the ability to play both Internet radio and music stored on connected home PCs. Models range from a tabletop unit to a boombox to the Squeezebox Duet. They are designed to send the Internet feed and your PC's music collection to a home stereo system, and they come with their own remotes. For about $120, Myine's Ira Internet radio receiver connects to a home stereo or powered speakers, and offers 11,000 Internet stations. It incorporates a simple, two-color display and a remote. Sanyo's R227 model, $180 at Amazon.com, takes its styling cues from the KLH Model 8 radio of the 1950s, and includes not just the ability to receive Internet stations, but FM ones as well. The unit features eight presets for both Internet and broadcast stations, and also functions as a music-playing clock radio. Philips offers a number of wireless Internet radio models under its Streamium brand. The NP2900/37, about $300, includes a color screen, and is housed in a sleek, horizontal sound bar, with a stand reminiscent of an iMac's. With four speakers and 30 watts of power, this Streamium can also play music stored on a network-connected Mac or PC, and can display cover art. It also includes a month of Rhapsody, a subscription-based music service. Logitech's Squeezebox devices let you play Internet radio and music stored on connected PCs. DROP IN (TO AN APP STORE) Hundreds of radio apps are available at Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch app store, both free and fee-based. AOL Radio (free) does what its name implies: it simply offers 200 Internet stations across 25 genres, plus 150 CBS radio stations, and includes not just music, but comedy and sports as well. Crave real-life drama? Police Radio and Scanner 911 (both 99 cents), as well as Emergency Radio ($3) allow you to listen in to dozens of police, fire and emergency service broadcasts around the country. For public radio fans, at least three apps will give you easy access to "All Things Considered" and other shows. Public Radio App ($3) allows listeners to pause and rewind 300 public radio shows, and bookmark them to return to listen later. The app also displays the Web page associated with the show, and can be set to play as a clock radio. Other public radio apps are available at no charge, including Public Radio Player and PRI; the latter plays only shows from Public Radio International. In addition, many public radio stations have stand-alone apps for their program stream, including KPCC in Los Angeles, which is free, and New York's WNYC, which costs 99 cents (for podcasts). Android users can get streaming Internet stations using apps like Streamitall and Last.fm, which are also available to iPhone users (Pandora also has an Android app). BlackBerry users have FlyCast and Slacker Radio (which are also iPhone-friendly) among their options. So the next time you are browsing through your music library, wishing you had something new, do not lament the absence of AM or FM. Instead of a limited number of stations, a global selection is merely a click away.

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Tarjeta Eye-Fi Pro Secure Digital (SD) para subir fotos inalambricamente.

GADGETWISE BLOG. Eye-Fi Pro Secure Digital Card (SD) Adds Speed and More By RIK FAIRLIE December 30, 2009, 12:42 pm The last time I wrote about the Eye-Fi SD card, which enables you to wirelessly upload photos from camera to PC and online photo sites, I groused that the uploads were just too slow. Last month, a reader suggested that I try the new $150 Eye-Fi Pro card, which adds some useful tricks and faster uploads. So I did, and I'm no longer grumbling. First of all, the 4GB Eye-Fi Pro can now upload RAW photos to both Windows and Mac machines. That's great news for those who prefer to shoot in RAW. Second, it offers a feature that will automatically geotag images taken within range of certain Wi-Fi networks (more on that later). It's great for those who primarily take photos in urban areas. And finally, uploads are noticeably faster. I didn't perform a time comparison between the card I bought a couple of years ago and the new Eye-Fi Pro, but I know it's faster because I'm no longer annoyed. Eye-Fi says it achieved this speed bump via a firmware update. The RAW upload feature works flawlessly, although Eye-Fi doesn't support RAW upload to sites like Flickr, Shutterfly, Facebook and others. The reason, most likely, is that RAW photos are much larger files. For instance, RAW images shot with my camera (a Nikon D60) are 9 megabytes or larger, while the best-quality JPEGs are typically less than 4 megabytes. RAW photos consume much more bandwidth and storage space. The geotagging feature doesn't use GPS satellites. Rather, it relies on triangulation of Skyhook Wireless Wi-Fi networks. I took photos in New York City and the system accurately geotagged all images, which is great for sites like Flickr and apps like iPhoto that plot your photos on a map. But the Skyhook network probably won't work in most remote locations. I snapped some photos in a rural area just outside of Woodstock, N.Y., and the card was not able to geotag the images, presumably because there were not enough Wi-Fi networks (other than my own) in the area. The Eye-Fi Pro enables you to wirelessly upload photos and video to more than 25 online sites. I use Flickr and sometimes experienced glitches in uploads; it's impossible for me to know if the glitches were caused by the Eye-Fi card or Flickr, although the images faultlessly uploaded to my computer. As I write this, however, the Eye-Fi Pro is uploading to Flickr with no trouble. My second look at the Eye-Fi revealed a faster and more robust device, one that's definitely worth a look. It's pricey when compared with standard SDHC cards, but it pays off in convenience. Here is a comparison of the entire family of Eye-Fi cards. Abrir Noticia en página web del NYT. Copyright by the New York Times 2008

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Ahogándose en datos? Tres beneficios de la visualización.

4:11 PM Friday December 4, 2009 Swimming in Data? Three Benefits of Visualization. By John Sviokla John Sviokla is vice chairman of Diamond Management & Technology Consultants, Inc. He is a former professor at Harvard Business School in Marketing, MIS, and Decision Sciences.

"A good sketch is better than a long speech..." -- a quote often attributedto Napoleon Bonaparte The ability to visualize the implications of data is as old as humanity itself. Yet due to the vast quantities, sources, and sinks of data being pumped around our global economy at an ever increasing rate, the need for superior visualization is great and growing. To give dimension to the size of the challenge, the EMC reports that the "digital universe" added 487 exabytes — or 487 billion gigabytes — in 2008. They project that in 2012, we will add five times as much digital information as we did last year. I believe that we will naturally migrate toward superior visualizations to cope with this information ocean. Since the days of the cave paintings, graphic depiction has always been an integral part of how people think, communicate, and make sense of the world. In the modern world, new information systems are at the heart of all management processes and organizational activities. About ten years ago, I vividly remember visiting the Cabinet War Rooms in the basement of Whitehall, where Churchill had his war room during WW II. The desks were full of phones, and the walls covered with maps and information about troop levels and movements. These used color coded pieces of string to help Churchill's team easily understand what was happening:

Mapfront-Triplog by Geinsys.com

On the one hand, I was struck by how primitive their information environment was only sixty years ago. But on the other, I found it reassuring to see how similar their approach was to war fighting today. The mode, quality and speed of data capture has changed greatly from the 1940s, but the paradigm for visualization of the terrain, forces, and strategy are almost identical to those of WWII. So, the good news is that even in a world of information surplus, we can draw upon deep human habits on how to visualize information to make sense of a dynamic reality. What has changed since Churchill was chomping on his favorite cigars? The quality, timeliness, granularity, and volume of data has increased greatly. Also, with the ever improving assistance of Moore's Law, we have the power to recombine and analyze the vast stream of information at a price point that makes even very advanced visualization techniques within the reach of any business. In my work with clients, I've seen three primary benefits of superior graphic representation: Great visualizations are efficient — they let people look at vast quantities of data quickly. Visualizations can help an analyst or a group achieve more insight into the nature of a problem and discover new understanding. A great visualization can help create a shared view of a situation and align folks on needed actions. Below is an example of a data visualization used by one of our property casualty insurance clients that takes information from Google Earth and overlays flood plain data onto an arial photo of their client's commercial building:

One can clearly see that a big portion of the building complex framed in the top of the picture lies within the flood plain. This picture makes it much easier for the insurance sales person to show the company why they may be paying a higher premium. It also allows for clearer internal dialog between the salesperson and the underwriter, speeding communication and collaboration. In addition to arranging the information to create shared understanding, visualization gives us the ability to combine data in order to create new insight — quickly and clearly. Wired has a wonderful graphic showing the seven deadly sins by state across the USA. As I've written about before, my firm is working on a system we call the Demand Estimator, which makes it easy for management teams to overlay information — both internal and external data — onto a map. This enables analysis of key dimensions of performance. When I was a professor at Harvard Business School, my degree was in management information systems and we often looked at how managerial control systems focused the effort of the organization, and helped leaders keep the many folks inside an organization focused on the right things, day in and day out. One of the great challenges in any field salesforce is to make sure that they are always turning their attention to the customers and markets that have the most potential. Another issue is the evaluation of salespeople. A key question you want to answer is: is my salesperson strong, or are they simply in a very good market? For property casualty insurance companies this is often a difficult question to answer. The graphic below shows a big section of Iowa and a little of the surrounding states, depicting potential demand in the market by darker colors. We gathered this information from external sources and matched it down to localities by state. This "layer" depicts the market potential. The next layer adds the performance of the agencies — shown with different-colored markers:

With this graphic, we can see that there are "good agencies" in "bad markets" and vice versa. This is vital information for sales management to know when they are allocating resources to train and build up agencies. Where is all this going in the future? I believe that we will continue to get more and larger high resolution screens and projectors to display data. The average American household has increased its "screen-estate" significantly in the past few years with bigger, HD televisions and computer monitors. The same is becoming true of companies — and this will help to set the stage for more visualization. The quality of cheap mapping tools and the availability of vast quantities of free or inexpensive data is growing. The planet is becoming "smart" in the sense that we can track, monitor and see much more of both the built and the natural environment. The challenge is that if management teams do not consciously build in great visualizations, their organizations will waste an inordinate amount of time sifting through the river of bits, and not get the effective insights they need. Perhaps most perniciously, people will each be looking at their own part of the puzzle, never getting to the shared understanding that allows teams to take the right action in a tight time-frame. Ask yourself the following questions: Is there a simple map or maps of information that could make my life easier? Do we have the ability to take the myriad data and synthesize it into these new forms? How much time does the organization waste arguing about the facts instead of deepening understanding or crafting solutions?

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Creador de la web no apoya la lucha "convencional" contra piratería en Internet.

Diciembre 01, 2009 Creador de la web no apoya la lucha "convencional" contra piratería en Internet. EFE "alabó iniciativas como la del grupo británico Radiohead, que dio la posibilidad de descargar su último disco desde la Red a cambio del importe que eligiese cada usuario, y consideró que son muestra de que por otras vías se puede obtener incluso más beneficios que a través de las tradicionales."

Tim Berners-Lee dice que desconectar a los usuarios para proteger los derechos de autor sería como "cortar el agua", pues la red es de todos. El creador de la 'World Wide Web', más conocida como 'WWW', Tim Berners-Lee, se mostró en contra de las "medidas drásticas" para proteger los derechos de autor en internet y advirtió que desconectar a los usuarios por compartir contenidos con copyright podría ser un castigo "cruel e inusual". Berners-Lee explicó en el Parlamento Europeo (PE) los problemas que ve en la intención de varios gobiernos de cortar el acceso a internet a quienes efectúen descargas ilegales. En primer lugar, advirtió de que el control de los movimientos de los usuarios en la Red necesario para detectar si incumplen las leyes de propiedad intelectual puede suponer una violación de los "derechos fundamentales" de las personas. Para Berners-Lee, ese "espionaje" es un "problema" y "no debería hacerse". El creador de la web recordó que las experiencias previas demuestran que quienes se mueven en el filo del delito en internet sabrán encontrar nuevas fórmulas para compartir archivos con sistemas que oculten ese intercambio tras otras rutinas. "Pueden hacer que parezca, por ejemplo, una sesión de video. Entonces tendrás que espiar con mucho cuidado para saber si eso es una videoconferencia entre alguien en Europa y su compañero que está luchando en Oriente Medio o si es alguien transfiriendo un DVD", explicó. Para Berners-Lee, ese control puede entrar por tanto en contradicción con los derechos fundamentales de los usuarios. Además, recordó que "mucha gente ha hablado claramente" en contra de la posibilidad de desconectar a los usuarios para combatir la piratería y que reivindicarían que sería algo como "cortar el agua", partiendo de la base de que el acceso a internet es un derecho. En su opinión, desconectar a toda una familia porque alguien haya descargado contenido protegido sería algo que en Estados Unidos se consideraría un castigo "cruel e inusual" -dijo en referencia a la fórmula que aparece en la octava enmienda de la Constitución de ese país- y, por tanto, sería allí "inconstitucional". Frente a este tipo de medidas, Berners-Lee -que insistió en que los artistas deben ser recompensados por su trabajo- defendió la necesidad de facilitar que los usuarios "hagan lo correcto" y expresó en este sentido su satisfacción por la tendencia de las compañías a utilizar formatos sin restricciones para los archivos de música y video, que ofrecen ventajas a los consumidores. Además, alabó iniciativas como la del grupo británico Radiohead, que dio la posibilidad de descargar su último disco desde la Red a cambio del importe que eligiese cada usuario, y consideró que son muestra de que por otras vías se puede obtener incluso más beneficios que a través de las tradicionales.

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