I’ve been going through the items I’ve seen and bought this year and thought I’d share a few things that would make me particularly happy this Father’s Day. To that end, I’ve collected a mish-mash of items that might make dad smile a bit more readily than a tie and cologne set from Donald Trump’s fashion collection. Canon G10 I had to send this camera back but… → Read More
Here’s one of those quicke CrunchDeals we like to promote from time to time. This time, satellite radio fan, you can grab the Pioneer XMp3, along with the relevant Home and Vehicle kit, for $239. That’s $100 less than what XM usually wants! → Read More
Sirius XM have finally showed off its first interoperable radio, the MiRGE. It’ll be available this spring for $250, and you’ll be able to subscribe to a new $20 per month plan that gets you “Sirius plus XM Everything” (cool how it’s marketing it as “Sirius plus THAT OTHER COMPANY”). Yes, both services, completely, for $20 per month. → Read More
As the only satellite radio fan here at CrunchGear, I feel it’s my duty to review the year that was and point out some of the events that made the medium such a joy. This isn’t a typical “Top 10 Movies” snoozefest, but rather an illustration of what makes satellite radio inherently superior to regular, terrestrial radio (provided you don’t mind a nominal monthly fee). Please… → Read More
XM has this cute little radio+car kit bundle on sale today for $100 less than you’d usually pay. You get the XMp3 and the standard car kit (you need an aux input in your car, or you’ll have to buy the cassette adapter, too). for the low, low price of $249.99. Here’s hoping that Sirius XM show off new radios next month at CES. That’s one of the things I’ll be… → Read More
Here’s the Sirius lineup for you, to go with the XM lineup we wrote about earlier today. I’m not as familiar with Sirius as am I with XM (being an Opie and Anthony fan and all), but I do like how Sirius is all, “Don’t like X? Try Y instead!” Um, no. We like X, meaning we’re likely to hate Y. The comments over at Orbitcast are worth reading. Holy smokes are people upset… → Read More
For the past three years, Bob Dylan has hosted the “Theme Time Radio Hour,” an hour-long radio show on XM that showcases music from all sorts of genres and artists. It’s very artsy, and it’s starts again today. Beginning at 10am ET on XM channel 40, Deep Tracks, “Theme Time Radio Hour” starts anew. Each show focuses on a theme, then explores music related to that theme. Past… → Read More
The latest addition to Garmin’s vast range of GPS options is geared towards outdoors types. Think of the 600 series as a-go-anywhere, waterproof GPS unit that features both marine and automotive GPS functions by sensing the type of vehicle through the mount and then showing to the appropriate function. So when the 640 is in the car mount, it will function a lot like Garmin nüvi with road… → Read More
If we’re to believe the latest XM Signal Guide (a weekly newsletter it uses to promote all sorts of XM-related fun), XM listeners may well be able to hear Howard Stern as early as tomorrow. The recently merged company, actually known now as XM Sirius Radio, has The Howard Stern Shows listed on its Channel 100 Web site, as this pic shows. Now, whether or not that’s merely the work of… → Read More
Following the approval [PDF] of the XM-Sirius merger (read: buyout), we can now focus on some of the specifics of the deal, fallout, and all sorts of post-merger hysterics. The first order of business: what happens to Opie and Anthony, of which I’ve been a fan since their WNEW days? Their contract with XM expires on October 1, but, according to what they’ve said on the show, XM has yet… → Read More
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the XM-Sirius merger has been given the tentative OK by the FCC. Deborah Taylor Tate, the final FCC commissioner to cast a vote, is expected to vote in favor of the merger, thus clearing the way for the merger. There are, of course, a few restrictions to be placed on the newly combined company. • Price freeze. They have agreed not to raise prices for… → Read More
Today was a big day vis-à-vis the XM-Sirius merger, as Johnathan Adelstein, the FCC commissioner who wanted to place all those restrictions on the merger in exchange for his support, has officially withdrawn his proposal, voting against the merger in the process. That leaves us all tied up for votes for and against the merger with one single, solitary vote pending. Deborah Taylor Tate (right), a… → Read More
Oh for the love of God, now what? Surely by now you’ve heard about the long-delayed (to put it mildly) XM-Sirius merger, which is really more of a Sirius buyout of XM, but let’s not nuance ourselves to death. So yeah, now it looks like the merger won’t be allowed to take place unless the combined company agrees to set aside 25 percent of its bandwidth for minority and… → Read More
Believe it or not, the XM-Sirius merger could be finalized “any day now.” Cowen & Company, a high-profile investment bank, says the merger “is finally at hand and should occur by the end of this month.” Finally, right? In other possibly corroborating news, XM staffers have been asked to cancel any vacation plans for the week of July 21 (Opie said as much last week), when The Final Vote… → Read More
Ron and Fez, noon to 3pm This is pretty cool, and I hate damn near everything. It’s an application for jailbroken iPhones (and iPod touches) called uXM that lets you listen to XM Satellite Radio. Yes, XM is reportedly working on a proper application to launch with the App Store, but that’ll cost you money. This uXM is free, provided you already subscribe to XM. You can find it in the… → Read More
EA still wants to buy Take 2, it’s true, and Take 2 is still playing shy. That, even though EA’s offer of $25.74 per share is now more than what Take 2 is currently trading at, $24.47. But that’s only part of the story, this on-going blah-blah-fest. Apparently Electronic Arts has passed some sort of Federal Trade Commission test, paving the way for a possible merger. → Read More
We’ll all be dead before XM and Sirius merge, but the two companies would like the whole wide world (or whoever reads PR Newswire) to know how they think they’ll end up financially once they’re one company. (What an awfully constructed sentence.) The headline here is the combined company will have positive cash flow in 2009. They did re-state that, technically, Sirius will be… → Read More
It looks like Kevin Martin of the FCC is now supporting the XM-Sirius merger. I think my brain just exploded a little bit. Yes, 16 months after initially proposing the merger (and three months after the Justice Department gave the green light), the FCC’s chairman has given it a thumbs-up. Said the chairman: I am recommending that, with the voluntary commitments they’ve offered, on… → Read More
Flickr’d “But if the FCC will no longer approve mergers without Congressional blessing, why does it even need to exist?” So asks the Wall Street Journal, and so ask the good boys and girls—shareholders—who are tired of this charade. The Wall Street Journal wondered aloud yesterday just why it has taken 450 days since the merger was first proposed for it to given the… → Read More
Lonely planet XM and EMI have finally settled a lawsuit over the Pioneer Inno. The Inno, if you don’t remember, is a portable XM radio that can record content onto its hard drive. Record companies had a problem with this, of course, for the same reason they complain about everything: it facilitated piracy, it denied them revenue, etc. Why buy a song, preferably in CD format, when you can… → Read More
We’re all waiting on this guy The FCC “will hopefully be able to do something on it soon.” “It” is the proposed XM-Sirius merger, while “soon” means whatever you want it to mean. Yup, the FCC chair, Kevin Martin, said today that the deal has taken as long as it has because of all the different regulatory matters involved. Or, maybe, because the likes of… → Read More
AOL and XM are no longer friends, right, (the contract expired) so you can no longer listen to XM Satellite Radio via AOL Radio. For us in the promised land of North America, big deal. We can either pony up and get a dedicated satrad, or we can listen online with XM Radio Online. Others outside of the majesty of North America, however, are, shall we say, le screwed. And they’re complaining… → Read More
[photopress:xmsir0325.jpg,full,right] The Justice Department gave its blessing to the XM-Sirius merger yesterday. Now we wait for the FCC to weigh in, most likely siding with Justice in giving the merger the OK. Maybe they’ll throw up a few last minute hurdles—please demonstrate how this merger helps the consumer and not just your bottom line, for example—but most analysts… → Read More
The Justice Department has approved the $5 billion merger between Sirius and XM. No news on when the merger will officially happen, but you might want to start your petitions to keep your favorite channels intact right about now. CG’s XM/Sirius coverage → Read More
[photopress:arlenxm.jpg,full,center] A decision, one way or the other, on the proposed XM-Sirus merger should be reached by the end of the month. So says Sen. Arlen Spector, the ranking [Republican] member on the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Pat Leahy is the chairman of the committee, it should be noted.) He made an appearance on the Howard Stern Show earlier today and tried to explain why no… → Read More
[photopress:xmbyeled.jpg,full,right] The Led Zeppelin channel on XM will go silent in two days. Once Friday, March 7 rolls around, XM channel 59 will go on hiatus until later in the year. XM doesn’t say why the channel is going away, but it sorta stinks because summer is right around the corner, meaning that your local classic rock station will ignore everything but “Stairway”… → Read More
[photopress:melk.jpg,full,center] It’s been more than a year since the proposed XM-Sirius merger was announced and we’re no closer now to a combined company than we were then. But there’s hope… maybe! Actually, XM and Sirius just extended the deadline by two months for the deal to go through (or not). Now the satellite radio companies have given the Feds till May 1 for the… → Read More
[photopress:endorse022008.jpg,full,right] In about two hours I will be watching either Manchester United tear apart Olympique Lyon or Barcelona and its Fantastic Four give Celtic a lesson in… losing to Barcelona. In the meantime, I just have to make with my random endorsement, which has become less and less random as the weeks have gone by. I actually have to think on the subway to myself… → Read More
[photopress:wowcc.jpg,full,center] Wow ClearChannel has been working behind the scenes in a rather unsavory way to prevent the XM-Sirius merger from happening. I know ClearChannel is “evil” because it killed local radio years ago (I ask, who still listens to local radio, and why?), but its reliance on the government to protect its business is silly. Since when was it the… → Read More
[photopress:xmsiren.gif,full,right] Something’s afoot regarding the XM-Sirius merger tonight. Drudge has a sly little note on the left-hand column that reads: “Approved or Denied? Drama Builds Around Sirius-XM Merger… Developing…” The proposed merger was announced nearly one year ago on February 17, 2007 and has developed into one of the most annoying stories… → Read More
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
San Francisco, CA
Berlin, Germany
