In a survey of brand names dropped in the tweets and facials (is that the right term?) of today’s social-networking mavens, Google came out primero, with Apple at #2, and Microsoft at #3. (Blackballed fans would know that Apple is #2 because it’s the shit, but anyway…) The funny part is what didn’t make the top 10: HP is there, but Dell is not; BMW yes, but Mercedes, nope; I see a Samsung, but I do not see Sony. As unscientific as this study by Sysomos is, it must tell us something. [AppleInsider]

Wired wrote up MIT roboticist Sangbae Kim, father of the gecko-inspired Stickybot. His new plan? To make a robot that looks like a cheetah—and runs as fast as one. Yep, he’s saying his carbon-fiber quadruped will hit 112kph. Trouble is, this is all chalkboard chatter: It’ll take 18 months for Kim and his colleagues to whip up prototypes of this evil-looking dude, so we have to wait to find out if he was right or nuts. [Wired]

NPR today showed off a product that will hopefully soon come free with a donation to listener-supported radio. I say that not just as a fan of listener-supported radio, but as someone who would never specifically buy an NPR-branded radio. It aggregates all of NPR’s affiliates under one button, and offers on-demand streams of Terry Gross and other awesome NPR folks, but none of this is exclusive to this device. Charitable notions aside, this makes no more sense than an NBC-branded TV (that also lets me watch Fox). [CNet]

Having spent my whole life in the northern parts of these United States, I have always assumed that it’s up to the sunnier parts to get with the solar-power program. At least San Diego sees the logic of this, and is going all in with alternative power. UC San Diego and CleanTECH San Diego are building a smart grid, which puts power back into the system when claimed from solar panels and other alternative sources. The school will produce 3.4 megawatts of renewable energy by next year, while San Diego Gas & Electric pledged to get 33% of its power from renewable sources by 2020. Maybe when they get over 100%, they can share the excess sunlight with those of us in cloudyville. [Treehugger; Image credit slack12/Flickr/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]

The hardware capability for FM radio does exist in some models — the current iPod touch and iPhone 3GS have FM transmitters, and the 2nd-gen iPod touch also has a chip that’s capable of receiving FM signals, though it uses it for Nike+ stuff.

It’d make sense to add more software parity across the line, but who knows — no date is given for when we might actually see this FM radio app. [9to5Mac

But wait! Don’t write this off just yet! I know that radio is a heritage technology and that most of us have moved onto podcasts as a way of getting our fix of radio-like entertainment. But they’re giving away free stuff! To the general public! Surely that should inspire interest in this sort of dull new technology?

The launch event begins at 5:30 tomorrow morning in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Each location will have a listening area where you can see for yourself how much cash it will cost you to upgrade to digital radio what kind of benefits digital radio has for the average punter…

Here’s a list of event locations:

Sydney – Martin Place
Melbourne – Federation Square
Brisbane – Reddacliff Place
Adelaide – Victoria Square
Perth – Forrest Place

* Alan Jones is reportedly not going to be in Sydney, so you won’t be able to congratulate him on being Alan Jones. Also, there’s some doubt over whether Kyle and Jackie O will be in Sydney either, for some reason…

[Digital Radio Plus]

The shower radio provides an AM/FM tuner (the volume control is cleverly built into the “bottle’s” “cap”) and also has a little suction cup to stick onto the shower wall, which sounds convenient but would also totally blow its cover as a shampoo bottle. It costs $US37, though seems available only in Japan. [Muji via Wired]

If you’re an Xbox Live Gold subscriber, you’ll automatically have access to the service when it drops on the console later this year. It’ll allow you to use the service much like you can online right now. This means you can listen to stations based on the sound of certain artists, compile custom playlists, and create a custom station based on music you like.

There’s no word on when exactly this will arrive, nor is there word on whether or not you’ll be able to listen to stations in-game, but these screenshots should keep you sated for a little while at least. [Kotaku]

Artificial Owl has a whole heap of amazing photos taken both of and from the tower, and is well worth checking out to get a proper perspective of just how large and impressive this radio antenna actually is.

[Artificial Owl - Thanks Kaan! Originally passed on to me by "crisis and da shewz massive". - Kaan]

Then again, maybe I’m just old fashioned – kids today do the craziest things with their technology.

Full press release is below:

MEDIA RELEASE:

TiVo launches new podcast service with Nova & Vega radio

Inaugural event…radio on television brought to life with the new podcast service on TiVo

Sydney, Australia, 15th May, 2009 – Hybrid Television Services (ANZ) Pty Ltd, the exclusive licensee of TiVo® products in Australia and New Zealand, today announced that from Monday Hybrid TV will launch a new podcast service. The service goes live with breakfast and drive time podcasts from both Nova and Vega radio stations nationally, through a deal struck between Hybrid TV and dmg Radio Australia back in December 2008.

From Monday 18th May, all TiVo users in Australia will automatically receive the new service on their TiVo media device at no additional fee. This new service provides highlights of all seven Nova and Vega regional breakfast and drive time shows updated on a daily basis. Podcasts will stream “on demand”, which means they start playing immediately on the TiVo without any need to download the content. Broadband data usage for the service varies between 1 and 30MB, depending on the length of the podcast and the listening time. Customers who have an internet service with Hybrid TV’s unmetered partners. Internode or Primus (from 1 June), will be able to stream the podcasts without incurring any additional data charges with their ISP.

Robbee Minicola, CEO of Hybrid TV commented; “Radio is loved by Australians and until now the radio experience has been quite separate from the TV experience. This new podcast service is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of how we want to bring radio into the home…both on the TV and more importantly played through TV sound system. dmg took a chance with us to experiment and deliver this service, that’s what this new world is all about – partnerships that let the consumer win. This new service is just another surprise for our customers when they turn on their TiVo…automatic, free and no worries about subscription.”

Cath O’Connor, CEO of dmg Radio Australia added; “The TiVo media device provides a new platform for dmg Radio as a content owner. Launching Nova and Vega podcasts through the TiVo is another exciting example of the broadening opportunities that we see to have our content reach beyond broadcasting to other platforms. Initiatives such as this allow us to capitalise on the growing interest in radio podcasts, which can now be offered from the central screen.”

Apparently DMG CEO Cathy O’Connor reckons that the young dance music crowd are the right demographic to target, as they’re likely to head out and buy a new DAB+ radio. Personally, I think that getting people to upgrade their radio is going to be the toughest part of the whole digital radio transition, so if DMG’s research says dance music fans will spend the cash, then this would have to be a clever move on their part.

The stations will be officially switched on in the coming weeks, although you can listen to them now through their respective websites. They will also soon be accessible on your iPhone or iPod touch through apps that DMG has created, although they will be streaming the sound through the web rather than acting as a proper digital radio station.

[DMG, Novanation and Koffee websites]

Plus, the fact that the service is still free to the US, UK and Germany just leaves the impression that any other market isn’t really important to them.

So, farewell Last.FM. It’s been a blast, but you’re just not worth $5.80 a month. Sorry.

[Last.FM]