cue

The 404 949: Where we drop the SOPA (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 Podcast episode:

Google Music takes on streaming services like Spotify, iTunes Match, and Amazon Cloud Drive with music encoding at 320Kbps, cross-integration with Google+, and an Artist Hub site for bands to promote their original content. Fans of Hootie and the Blowfish already denouncing the service for its lack of content from Warner Music Group. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus lands in the U.K., powered by Google's Ice Cream Sandwich software for Android phones. Cool upgrades in the OS include facial recognition, voice typing, and Android beam for contact exchange by NFC.… Read more

Video list: Top connected car technologies

Here is an essential set of CNET videos to introduce you to what's happening in the connected car space. It's taking place on many fronts, so this is just a snapshot and can't possibly be complete so stay on top of all the latest in connected cars at Cars.CNET.com.

Toyota Entune shows a smart way of prepackaging a suite of apps so car owners don't have to manage them.

Cadillac CUE will debut in 2012 with a lot of cues from the smartphone home screen and computer desktop.

The GM OnStar Mobile App is … Read more

Car Tech Live 237: 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 (podcast)

Chevy Spark EV on the way, Cadillac CUE debuts, airbags for The Three Stooges, connect your Android phone to your iPod connector, and we drive the 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 237 SHOW NOTES

• CNET drives the 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302

• Cadillac CUE looks like a winner in car tech interface design

• This *might* be a good way to connect your Android phone to an iPod dock

• Nissan envisions charging electric cars in 10 minutes

• Take a look at the new BMW 3 Series for 2012… Read more

Cadillac revamps the instrument panel with CUE

SAN DIEGO--Cadillac has introduced a new central instrument panel that features touch-screen technology popularized by smartphones and tablets. The fully capacitive faceplate has an 8-inch touch screen that utilizes multitouch gestures to interact with it. Cadillac says this sets it apart from other car in-dash units that have an overabundance of buttons and controls.

The instrument panel is called CUE and it stands for Cadillac User Experience. In addition to a touch screen that lets you tap, swipe, and pinch in and out, it also has a proximity sensor so that when your hand approaches the screen, certain shortcut icons will appear. You can also enable haptic feedback, so that the screen pulses when you select something. Aside from the touch screen, the overall interface features fewer buttons, large icons, and natural voice recognition. You can pair up to 10 Bluetooth devices to it, and it's also compatible with USB keys, SD cards, and, of course, the iPod or iPhone. The entire faceplate opens up to reveal a 1.8L storage area as well. … Read more

Flipboard founder: Web will soon 'look more like print'

SAN FRANCISCO--The Web will soon look a lot like a traditional print experience, the founder of leading iPad news aggregator Flipboard said Monday.

Speaking on stage at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference here, Mike McCue, whose Flipboard has attracted more than $60 million in funding, explained that in his view, tablets like the iPad are "creating a new kind of (content) consumption experience, (one which) people have been dreaming about."

McCue, who had previously created and sold Internet voice communications firm Tellme, said that iPads and other tablets offer users a "fundamental improvement to the (mobile) Web," … Read more

News Corp.'s Daily makes its debut (live blog)

Editor's note: This live event has concluded. For a brief rundown of what was announced, check out this summary post. You can also review the transcript of the live blog below or replay it in the Cover It Live module at the end of the transcript.

There hasn't been this much buzz about a News Corp. digital product since the heyday of MySpace, but we're sure that the people behind The Daily--a highly anticipated daily news publication designed for the iPad--are hoping for better long-term sustainability.

On Wednesday, after weeks of delays, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch … Read more

Apple's plan for Lala cloudier than ever

SAN FRANCISCO--A speedy launch of an iTunes cloud music service hasn't materialized the way many at the large record companies expected.

After Apple acquired Lala.com last December, the thinking among some music insiders was that Lala's streaming-music technology could easily be plugged into iTunes--once Apple obtained the proper music licenses. Lala.com, a music service launched in 2006 and shut down by Apple last May, possessed technology that scanned hard drives for existing music libraries and then enabled users to play back the same songs from Lala's servers via Web-connected devices.

But eight months after the … Read more

Meet Flipboard: Mike McCue's stealth 'social magazine'

Today, BoomTown gassed up the MINI and headed down to see one of the coolest new start-ups I have encountered of late.

That would be a new social magazine concept called Flipboard, which is attempting to make the social networking universe more accessible, consumable and, perhaps most importantly, visually arresting via a rich app on the Apple iPad.

Co-founded by longtime Silicon Valley entrepreneur Mike McCue and former Apple iPhone engineer Evan Doll in January, Flipboard decloaked itself tonight, announcing both a $10.5 million funding from top Silicon Valley power players and also the acquisition of Ellerdale, a relevancy … Read more

Finally, a great-sounding table radio

There was a time when table radios didn't get any respect.

That's no longer true now that some radios come jazzed up with iPod/iPhone docks, CD players, Internet radios, and all sorts of features. But they still sound like table radios--even the ones featured in full-page ads in magazines and newspapers that sell for $349 or more. The sound isn't bad, just inoffensive, and they make do with fake stereo. True, they may sport two speakers, but since the radios are just 15 or so inches wide, stereo imaging isn't part of the plan.

Enter the Cue Radio Model r1 Outlaw Audio Signature Edition; it's a table radio that aims higher, and mostly hits the target. It's the best-sounding table radio I've tried at home.

Styling is iPod-inspired and elegant, with a black high-gloss body and large backlit display. The Cue radio sports a built-in iPod/iPhone dock, dual alarms, remote, etc. Stereo? It's an unabashedly mono affair, with a single two-way, tweeter/woofer driver hunkered down on the right side of the cabinet, but you can add Cue's matching Model s1 speaker and get bona-fide stereo. That feature alone elevates it over most of the competition, and automatically ups the Cue radio's hi-fi quotient by a few notches.

Cue's 3/4-inch silk dome tweeter is mounted on a waveguide, strategically centered over a 3.5-inch woofer. The combined driver is a proprietary design, and it's a honey. The Cue Radio is "bi-amplified," meaning one 25-watt amplifier drives the tweeter, another 25-watt amp drives the woofer. The radio has two more 25-watt amps standing by for when you run stereo speakers. There's a 3.5 mm stereo Aux input jack on the rear panel for connecting CD players, MP3 players, computers etc. It's too bad a headphone jack didn't make the cut. The radio is 10.5 inches wide by 4.25 high by 6.5 deep and weighs six pounds.

I'm reviewing the Cue Radio Model r1 Outlaw Audio Signature Edition, which sports a couple of features missing from the standard Cue Radio Model r1, but both models retail for the same price, $399 for the radio, or $479 when bundled with the stereo speaker. In either case, the radio is assembled by hand and tested by Cue in the U.S..… Read more