A new Star Wars TV series is coming to Disney Plus from Russian Doll creator Leslye Headland, it’s been reported. Variety says that Headland will write and direct the series, which is described as ‘female-centric’ and takes place in a different part of the Star Wars timeline than the other projects Disney has planned right now.
Russian Doll is one of our best Netflix shows, and assuming the report is true, anything that’s based further away from the Skywalker Saga time period suits us.
The Mandalorian doesn’t feature particularly close ties to the main movies (yet, anyway), but the upcoming Obi-Wan and Rogue One spin-off series on Disney Plus are basically extensions of stories we’ve already seen in the movies. After The Rise of Skywalker made the Star Wars universe feel way too small, we’re definitely keen to see what else creators can come up with.
The Groundhog Day-esque Russian Doll, starring Natasha Lyonne, was an immediate critical success on Netflix. It’s no surprise that Disney would look to a show like that to infuse the Star Wars universe with more interesting voices.
The Mandalorian season 2 is set to debut in October 2020. The other Star Wars projects in the works at Disney Plus, including this new one, don’t have release dates yet. Work has apparently begun on The Mandalorian season 3, too.
“The priority in the next few years is television,” is what Disney’s Bob Iger said in February about the future of Star Wars. While three new Star Wars movies are on the schedule for 2022 onwards, it’s clear that The Mandalorian has fueled Disney Plus’ near-instant climb to 50 million customers.
Given how long these series seem to take to make, more is better to us. The Mandalorian was a good example of how you can tell different kinds of stories in the Star Wars universe
When Better Call Saul started in February 2015, it wasn’t quite as hotly discussed as its predecessor. Now, after five exceptional seasons, we’re clamoring for Better Call Saul season 6. AMC confirmed the final season a month before the season 5 premiere, and it’s currently being written remotely as the coronavirus outbreak rages on.
Co-creator Peter Gould and the writing team have spent five years carefully developing each complex character, and now the stories of Jimmy, Kim, and the various conniving drug kingpins of New Mexico are ready to reach their climax. Speaking to Deadline, Gould says Better Call Saul season 6 is “going to be big, and it’s going to be resolved.”
Since he plays a role in Breaking Bad, set six years after the prequel starts, we already know Jimmy ‘Saul Goodman’ McGill is safe, but there are plenty of characters that could be in the writer’s crosshairs. The wait for the final season is already agonizing, so let’s break down what we know about the Better Call Saul season 6 release date, cast, and story. Be warned, season 5 spoilers follow.
The Better Call Saul season 6 release date will be in 2021
Variety confirms that Better Call Saul will conclude in 2021. Expect it to be in the latter half of next year, though: there will be three more episodes than the usual ten, and there tends to be a year gap between each season. Also, the start of production could be delayed by Covid-19.
Work on the finale’s story is already underway, however. In an interview with Variety in April, Gould said “We just started working the last few weeks […] There are some things going on in the writers’ room that I’m really excited about.”
Better Call Saul season 6 story: who will survive?
The season 5 finale set up two major storylines: Kim against Howard Hamlin, and Lalo Salamanca versus, well, everyone. In the final scene we left Lalo fuming with rage after Gus’ failed assassination attempt. With his house ablaze and mother dead, “Lalo has vengeance in his eyes and is heading north for revenge,” Tony Dalton told the LA Times. We know Lalo survives, though, since we recall Goodman’s terrified line to Walter White in Breaking Bad: “Did Lalo send you?”
One of the men with a target on his back is Nacho Varga, and Gould told The Wrap he’s “in deep, deep trouble.” Nacho disappears during the assassination, and the extended shot of Lalo fixating on the drinks he shared with Varga moments earlier confirms that he suspects his former colleague’s involvement. Nacho never appears in Breaking Bad, so don’t bet on him making it out alive.
Another central Better Call Saul character missing in Breaking Bad is Jimmy’s wife, Kim Wexler, and she doesn’t seem to be on a danger-free path either. After standing up to Lalo – so she has one foot in the grave already – it seems like the taciturn attorney is getting a taste for chaos: she wants to scam goody-two-shoes Howard out of his illustrious legal career, making the newlyweds millions. Gould is also concerned for Wexler: in an interview with The Wrap, he says “The title of the penultimate episode this season was Bad Choice Road. And, certainly, Kim Wexler seems to be on a bad choice road.”
In many ways, the roles of Kim and Jimmy have reversed. Following ‘Saul Goodman’s’ near-death experience in the desert, he’s reverted back to the unsure Jimmy McGill. Speaking to Deadline, Bob Odenkirk said “Jimmy is in a vulnerable place. He’s in a weak and uncertain and frightened place inside.”
We know that McGill makes it through Better Call Saul season 6, but will it be worth it? “He is an accessory to just awful, awful things, not just in the Walter White of it, but all the other things that he’s done,” Gould said to Deadline. “I feel that he has a karmic burden. Does this guy earn a happy ending?”
Better Call Saul cast: will more Breaking Bad characters return?
Better Call Saul wouldn’t exist without the man himself, so Odenkirk will return as Goodman. The Better Call Saul season 6 cast list isn’t confirmed, but we’ll certainly see more from Rhea Seehorn (Kim Wexler), Jonathan Banks (Mike Ehrmantraut), Patrick Fabian (Howard Hamlin), Micheal Mando (Nacho Varga), Giancarlo Esposito (Gus Fring), and Tony Dalton (Lalo Salamanca).
But while Gould has already confirmed that we won’t see Jesse (Aaron Paul) or Walter (Bryan Cranston), could we see any other Breaking Bad cameos? We were already treated to the return of Hank (Dean Norris) and his DEA buddy, Steven (Steven Michael Quezada) in season 5…
Will Better Call Saul season 6 outshine Breaking Bad?
It didn’t take long for Better Call Saul to justify its existence in its own right. Its undivided focus on character development makes it not only better than Breaking Bad in some ways, but one of the finest shows around. And chances are, it’s only going to get better.
Staying fit is great for both physical and mental health, and you might be finding it tough if you’re suddenly unable to get pumped at the gym, take your bike for a spin on the streets, or lace up your running shoes and hit the trails.
Keeping safe at home doesn’t have to be lonely or boring though, and there are lots of options to make working out indoors more fun, avoid boredom
Keep on track
It might seem like a strange time to buy a fitness tracker, but it can actually be a great motivation to stay fit and avoid breaking the rules on outdoor exercise where you live.
Some countries have imposed a limit on how long you can spend outdoors, while others have restricted citizens’ movement to within a certain distance of home. A fitness tracker will help in both cases. For example, if you’re only allowed out for an hour, set a timer for 25 minutes before heading out, and you can be sure you’ll have plenty of time to get back home again, even if you’re a little tired on the return leg.
If you have to stay within a certain distance of home, a fitness tracker with built-in GPS (like the new Fitbit Charge 4) will let you plan a route that will keep you safely within the lines, and avoid always running or walking the same way. You might be surprised how many different courses are possible.
Fitbit Charge 4
Even the most simple fitness tracker (even if it’s little more than a pedometer) will give you an incentive to keep moving throughout the day. Building up your step count and active minutes is surprisingly rewarding, and will push you to spend more time on your feet than you would otherwise.
A treadmill or exercise bike can give you a great cardio workout at home, but staring at a tiny screen as the numbers gradually tick up is no substitute for getting out on the open road. Whether your usual workouts involve roaming the city streets or exploring the countryside, experiencing the sights and sounds of the world around you is part of the joy of running, walking and cycling that makes the time fly by.
Thankfully, there are ways to stay fit that do a surprisingly good job of simulating the effect of getting outdoors from the comfort and safety of your garage, lounge or kitchen.
For runners, one of the best (and most affordable) options is the Zwift RunPod. This neat little device is a simple cadence sensor that attaches to your shoe, but it really comes to life when connected to the Zwift app, which gives you an avatar that matches your pace as you explore a variety of routes, interacting with other athletes from around the world as you go.
It works best with a tablet propped on your treadmill (there’s so much info, it can be tricky to take it all in on a smaller screen) but it’s far more absorbing than you might expect, and really brings treadmill running to life.
Virtual running with Zwift
Prefer cycling? There are plenty of virtual options available to you, too. Again, Zwift is one of the best around provided you have a suitable trainer (there’s an extensive guide to choosing the right one).
Don’t want to invest in any extra hardware? No worries – hundreds of YouTubers equipped with action cams have kindly published first-person footage of their runs and rides so you can enjoy the scenery while sweating at home. We particularly like Indoor Cycling Videos, which hosts beautifully recorded clips of various lengths with energizing music to keep you in the mood for riding.
Streamed workouts
The gym might be shut, but you can stay fit at home with workouts led by a professional personal trainer – for free.
Fitness and nutrition coach Joe Wicks (aka The Body Coach) has become legendary for his daily PE With Joe workouts. The sessions are aimed primarily at kids while schools are closed, but they’re a fun aerobic challenge for anyone. They’re easy to follow, often themed, and Joe’s enthusiasm is infectious.
If you fancy something more intense, Saucony ambassador James Thie is hosting two circuit training sessions a week on YouTube, specifically designed to help runners stay fit and improve their performance for later in the year. Check them out on the TeamThie YouTube channel.
There are also some excellent personal trainers sharing workout videos on Instagram. Starks Fitness is sharing bite-sized home workout videos every day, presented by the gym’s personal trainers.
Missing your regular spinning session? The best known home alternative is Peloton, which usually hosts live classes with professional instructors pushing you to your limits in real time. It’s recently had to suspend live sessions, but there’s an enormous catalog of pre-recorded classes available at the touch of a finger.
Peloton’s spinning classes require the company’s special bike, but there are lots of other options if you can’t make that kind of investment right now. The company’s excellent workout app covers a range of other exercises, including some that use no equipment at all.
Whether you’re looking for an intense weight workout or some mellow yoga, all the apps in this list are led by professional teachers who will guide you through each movement and help make sure you’re using proper (and safe) technique.
Some are video-based, while others rely on audio instructions so you can put down your phone or tablet and focus entirely on your body.
The Asana Rebel yoga app
A moment for mindfulness
Close your eyes for a moment and take a deep breath. Naturally it’s important to keep abreast of what’s happening right now, with the situation changing by the hour, but the 24-hour news cycle is relentless and can leave you feeling worn out.
Thankfully, there’s a great selection of apps and other tools available (both paid and free) to help you take some time to yourself and focus on your own wellbeing. One of our favorites is Calm – a meditation app that’s hugely popular, and for good reason.
Although there’s a premium tier available, most of its best features are available free, including introductions to meditation and guided breathing exercises.
If you feel like giving the premium features a try but don’t want to commit, there’s a seven-day free trial available to give you a feel for what’s on offer. The Daily Calm is particularly nice – a daily focused meditation to get your day off to a more pleasant start.
Using the Calm app
Many fitness trackers (such as Fitbits) also come with timed breathing exercises, and you can even set reminders to take a few moments for yourself throughout the day. It’s a great way to avoid letting stress build up and make sure you’re looking after yourself, even if you’ve never tried meditation or deep breathing before.
Retrospect 17, one of the most comprehensive backup programs you can find, is the latest incarnation of a venerable, capable, and reliable program that PCWorld has actually used to back up its content in the past. The Solo version I tested offers the same file backup and disaster recovery and vast media type support I became used to, but adds modern niceties such as online storage, storage pool support, and more. It served us well once, and will serve you well if you need its advanced feature set.
The flip side of that is that the program would be overkill for many users. Also, the interface, while efficient, involves a learning curve, especially because of the jargon-heavy terminology used.
This review is part of our ongoing roundup of the best Windows backup software. Go there for information on competing products and how we tested them.
Price, design, and features
Retrospect 17 is available for a single computer for $49 (Solo), and $119 for five computers (Desktop). Subscriptions are available starting from $4 a month. That’s the end-user/SOHO stuff. There are a host of enterprise solutions for servers, as well as a management console and VM (Virtual Machine) support for the IT staff. The enterprise is really Retrospect’s bread-and-butter market, but having used the program extensively myself, I can attest that it’s good stuff for the average user as well—once you know it.
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Though the language is odd, Retrospect is easy to use once you know it and supports multiple destinations.
I was a bit surprised, not having looked at Retrospect for over 10 years, that the interface had not changed much, if at all. In the backup world, however, steady connotes reliabilty, so that’s not a knock in the least. It’s very efficient.
There’s still the highly-efficient collapsible function tree to the left, wizard-like script (job) creation, and logical but not immediately intuitive workflow, with jargon-heavy nomenclature. For instance, while Sources is obvious enough, clicking on Destination gives you the option to select a “Backup Set.” That’s the same as a destination, but it can give you pause initially. Where most backup programs let you “filter” the files that will be backed up (whitelisting, blacklisting) files, Retrospect puts this under “Select.” Instead of Jobs, you have Scripts, etc.
As it’s likely not what you’re used to, I do recommend reading the well-written and comprehensive help guide before you get down to business. Note that with some types of backups, such as those made to tape, the catalog file may be stored on the machine from which the backup was made rather than with the data. That’s just one of the things the manual will tell you.
Retrospect is packed to the rafters with features. You can monitor backups, schedule and automate them, and run programs before and afterward. You can choose between progressive (basically a combination of incremental and differential) and full backups, select compression or encryption, create disaster recovery media, and much more. Destinations can include tape, optical, hard drives, storage groups, and just about anything else that’s ever been designed to store data. Take a look at the screenshot below, which shows just the categories of options that are available once you’ve defined the basics.
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Retrospect’s options dialog box contains virtually every option ever conceived for backup programs. The now out-of-fashion collapsible tree works very efficiently to show all the possibilities.
The shot above also points out that Retrospect supports Windows, macOS, and Linux, which covers a fair chunk of the computers on the planet. (The exception is Chromebooks, but Google designed those to store in the cloud for the most part.)
I can’t think of one feature I’ve seen in another backup program that isn’t implemented in some way in Retrospect. If you want complete control over your backups, it provides it. There’s even more esoteric stuff such as ProactivAI, which is a very fancy name (and another misuse of the term AI), that simply means the program will try to keep track of your sources and destinations and will prioritize backups according to need. This is obviously more useful when you’re backing up a larger number of PCs, but it illustrates where Retrospect’s strengths are.
Probably the most salient omission froms Solo is “restore to dissimilar hardware” for the disaster recovery media. This is not the issue it once was, as Windows now has standard drivers that will work with just about any hardware, but if you need it, it’s a $99 add-on. Note that to create recovery media, you must download the Microsoft Assessment and Deployment Kit. That’s a bit of a pain, as is being forced to get vendor connection tokens manually to use online storage. That’s about it for complaints.
There are lot of other add-ons such for enterprise, such as open file backup and the management console, but those won’t be of much interest to the average user.
History and performance
Retrospect, PCWorld, and I go a long way back. The backups of the magazine were performed using the program and 8mm tape for a very long time. Said backups were were extremely reliable. Extremely, as in we never had an issue that wasn’t tape-related. Being largely a Mac product, Apple’s Time Machine hurt sales significantly with the average user, and though Retrospect never disappeared, it faded from consumer-level awareness.
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Retrospect supports all types of media, including online services.
I tested Retrospect to local media (external hard drives and SSDs) and my main NAS box using a 250GB data set. I had zero issues backing and restoring, and speed was on a par with, or better than, the competition. With computers as fast as they are these days, performance is almost never an issue, even with heavy compression. Creating the recovery disk required the aforementioned download, but worked as advertised.
Best for enterprise, but…
Most everyday users will be fine with one of the free backup software options such as those available from your operating system or from Easeus or Aomei and others. On the other hand, anyone who desires ultra-fine control over their backups and support for every type of media in existence will appreciate Retrospect. For those, the $50 will be money well spent. There’s a 45-day free trial available if you’d like to kick the tires yourself.
Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details.
New online Learning Management Systems are opening up distance learning to more students than ever, but IT security remains a key concern.
New and exciting Internet of Things (IoT) applications are making our world more efficient and connected than ever. We are seeing new and innovative IoT applications appear across various industries. One sector where the IoT has the potential for influencing radical change is in schools. From reception to university, we are seeing the use of connected devices such as laptops, iPad’s, smart projectors and digital pens become increasingly common among educators and students alike.
Not only are these connected tools important for enhancing learning experience, they also give access to new and non-traditional methods of learning that include cross campus digital collaboration; as well as flexible, long distance learning for students who cannot access a classroom. Outside of teaching tools, the IoT can also be used to monitor and adjust environmental factors such as temperature and humidity to ensure the optimal comfort and productivity of both students and teachers.
Moving towards connected learning
While the IoT is already revolutionizing the way we teach in schools, there are a number of actions school IT departments have to take in order to seamlessly integrate IoT technologies into the classroom. Failure to prepare properly may result in more disruption than reward.
The challenge for many schools is that the majority of existing IT infrastructure was designed and built for a less connected age. Now, administrators need robust monitoring tools in place to ensure they can diagnose and solve network issues before a user notices any kind of problem.
An IoT device is only as strong as the network that supports it
It is important to keep in mind that the IoT is not as new as one may think. Not every connected device is the latest and greatest technology from industry-leading companies. Some devices may use outdated firmware or are connected via a small computer like Raspberry Pi. This variation in IoT devices can prove a challenge for IT administrators who require a comprehensive understanding of the connectivity requirements for each device in order to develop solutions that allow for IoT integration.
Further, as IoT networks in schools grow and become more complex, the risk of disruption or downtime is likely if admins lack the visibility to continually monitor for hardware and software issues. On a school campus where devices may be spread out across a large area for example, downtime may be further compounded by the extra time it takes to physically access and service remote infrastructure. This can put extra strain on already stretched school IT departments, which may have less resources than your average, IT department.
Avoid being a soft target
A further concern when it comes to the IoT is that schools are soft bellied targets for cybercriminals. A recent report showed that as many as one in five schools have been attacked. Today’s hackers are both fearless and creative, a dangerous combination for school IT departments where the safety and security of students is of the utmost importance. Anything with an IP address can be hacked, and the IoT widens the threat vector. For educators, it is vital that security is the first priority when incorporating the IoT into learning.
An IoT network is only as strong and secure as its weakest security endpoint. Each connected device is a potential gateway into the network, so it is integral that network monitors can manage every device (new and old) to detect rogue devices that may pose a risk. Security is a key concern of IT teams because of the importance of the data at stake and the technical complexity existing in the communication network and cloud infrastructure.
In 2019, GCSE coursework from year 11 students at the Sir John Colfox Academy, Dorset was lost to cyberattack. Admins must understand there are three main targets for hackers to access the functionalities and data of a connected device: devices and hardware, cloud infrastructure that includes conceptually IoT supervisors via servers and the network of communications.
Visibility is everything
With so many ways of integrating connected devices, the ways in which the IoT can be used to benefit schools are limited only by imagination and budget. When it comes to monitoring, this presents a challenge as every network will require bespoke sensors and custom reports. However, this can be an opportunity for admins to get creative and design innovative , tailor made solutions for every monitoring requirement on their school network.
To properly equip staff and students for current and future connected learning environments, we are already seeing schools employ sophisticated network monitoring solutions. These are being used to drive better outcomes for students, as well as prevent downtime.
As more schools look to scale up and equip staff and students with digital and connected learning tools, IT administrators must ensure the network is prepared and visible. Effective monitoring is everything in ensuring digital education.
Suffering cabin fever? Need an escape? Internet radio can fling open the doors.
Whisper a few call letters into a smart speaker, summon a smartphone app, or tap a few computer keys to be whisked far, far away from your locked-down existence, transported across the country or half-way round the world, with nary a ticket to buy or passport to show. You won’t even need to put on a mask.
Wanna hang on a hot Brazilian beach with a nouveau Girl from Ipanema? The internet radio station Paul in Rio can take you there. California Dreaming of a ride up Laurel Canyon with local legends singing in your ears? Dial into SomaFM’s Left Coast 70s. For those who had planned a London entertainment getaway before all hell broke loose, BBC 4 radio dramas can still shine a light on West End acting talents. And BBC Radio 6 is great for pulling out punchy rock club concerts from its archives. More into the Paris café scene? An atmospheric soundtrack of cool-school and Django-ing gypsy jazz is just a tap (and snifter of cognac) away on the city’s sublime TSF Jazz and FIPS autour du Jazz outlets.
Jonathan Takiff / IDG
Internet radio lets you hear musical styles from where they were born. PaulInRio.com streams from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Even the most esoteric of musical (and informational) tastes—from Bollywood to Schlager—are served by the dozens on internet radio: Digital audio services you call up on any web-connected speaker, computer, or smartphone. Better still, most of these stations are free of commercials, thanks to government and listener funding, college backing, or private endowment by the creator.
The Great American Songbook station, based in the Netherlands, is a perfect example. Station fan Peter Skiera, general manager of internet radio maker Como Audio, touts this station as “a labor of love by a retired broadcaster [Rene Dussen] with a basement full of records and a small recording studio. To these ears, the station’s content rivals that of pay-radio SiriusXM’s Strictly Sinatra channel, but as with all internet radio streams, both live and on-demand, the price of admission to The Great American Songbook is free.
How to tune in to internet radio
If you know a station’s call letters or name, it’s a snap to haul in a specific internet radio station on a computer or smart device—just type it in or speak to a smart speaker like an Amazon Echo, Google Home, or Apple HomePod.
For deep-sea fishing in the great unknown, though, it pays to go through a radio station aggregator: An online database of curated links to radio stations searchable by location, genre, popularity, and—sometimes—stream quality.
Michael Brown / IDG
TuneIn Radio is the 800-pound gorilla of internet radio aggregators. You can use its service on the web or with an Android or iOS app, but an ad-free experience costs $9.99 per month.
First among many, and first in my heart, is TuneIn Radio, the 800-pound gorilla of internet radio station aggregators. TuneIn Radio comes pre-installed or is loadable on more than 200 connected devices, including smart speakers from the likes of Sonos and Bose, smart TVs, streaming media players (e.g., Roku and Amazon Fire TV), smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles (Xbox and PlayStation), and personal computers.
With a global database of more than 100,000 stations in 197 countries and 22 languages, plus 5.7 million podcasts and on-demand show offerings, TuneIn comes closest to world radio completeness (and domination). Senior director of marketing Ana Guillen tells me it is now attracting 75 million listeners a month and has witnessed an especially strong 53-percent uptick in news content listenership as the COVID-19 pandemic has escalated.
The most notable gap in TuneIn’s channel library are the 853 commercial stations in 153 U.S. markets owned by iHeartMedia (formerly Clear Channel Communications). To access those, you need to tap into the iHeartRadio app and portal, likewise accessible for free on internet radios, smartphones, tablets, computers, and similar connected devices. Aiming to become a one-stop destination (and sell more advertising), iHeartRadio also serves up mass appeal playlists and personalized music stations (a la Pandora); has distribution deals with commercial radio chains in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand; and also links listeners to some non-aligned stations. But the service doesn’t have nearly the global reach or stylistic diversity of TuneIn or other hard-striving streaming radio promoters.
Jonathan Takiff / iDG
VTuner’s stripped-down but content rich app lets you dig for gold by genre, location, language, fastest speed, lowest speed and popularity.
Veteran internet radio aggregator VTuner does have a database that rivals TuneIn. About 30 staffers toil in the Philippines to keep its inventory of station formats, URLs, and streaming codecs up to date. Literally hundreds of world stations presenting in a particular category are accessible with a single tap on VTuner’s barebones, but functional website. I also appreciate that this app lets a user search through its inventory by the sonic quality of signal (more on that momentarily). The VTuner platform powers several lines of smart speakers and A/V receivers, though in recent years it has lost significant market share to Airable, a rival based in Germany.
Want to be led by the hand to “the most popular” local stations in a music, information or sports radio category? The on-screen guide for MediaU (also based in Germany) offers user-friendly graphics and a sophisticated batch of Euro-centric picks. What’s #1 on their Country station roundup? Prague-based Country Radio, featuring Czech-language singing cowboys. Hearing is believing.
Jonathan Takiff / IDG
The station rankings on MediaU.net show that country music isn’t just an American phenomenon.
I’ve also had good luck fishing in the waters of Radio.net. And I found some interesting, net-only stations on Internet-radio.com, although the entries on its “Featured” list suggest paid-for positioning. The top picks there are Classic Rock Florida HD, Smooth Jazz Florida, and Modern Jukebox Radio.
Radio.Garden is the most playful and eccentric aggregator of all. This highly engaging, super-fast search tool can be easily planted on a smartphone or tablet via an iOS or Android app. (But the site was characterized as “not secure” and needing third-party software intercession before I could load it on my iMac.) Open this thing up on a screen and you’re presented an animated map of the world. Tap a location dot and up pops selected picks from the immediate area and nation.
Jonathan Takiff / IDG
Radio.Garden lets you choose from internet radio stations based on their geographic location by clicking dots on a global satellite-photo map.
Now tap Search and the gardener provides immediate access to radio outlets by country, city or call letters, plus bouquets of “Our Favorite Stations,” playfully categorized as Independent Stations, Energetic Rhythms (electronic, dance), Time Travel (content from decades gone by), Weird Frequencies (like Theatre Organ Radio and Birdsong Radio), and Ends of the Earth (self-explanatory). As I write, I’m listening to a very trippy electronica outlet from Bristol, UK: Noods Radio. The eerie, otherworldly strains make me feel like I’m living in a very strange movie.
To my mind, true internet radio stations are independent, curated, and free; they’re not corporate, computerized, and costly. You might not hear a DJ’s voice or even see a meta-data screen tag identifying the artists and tracks on a station like KCRW-Eclectic24. (That’s where song-identifying services like Shazam come in handy.) And hours or even days of programming might be scheduled in advance on the studio’s servers.
Como Audio
Como Audio’s elegant Musica offers an excellent means of accessing the rich content available on internet radio.
But the quirkiness of the selections, the themes laid out in the segues indicate the presence of a human being, not an algorithm, making the aesthetic calls and structuring the playlist. And when necessary, the shows can be turned on a dime. A recent, hour-long afternoon “sweep” of rustic folk classics like Sam Stone and Illegal Smile playing on Eclectic24 was all the announcement I needed to know that John Prine had just died, and that someone at the station was mourning and paying tribute.
Internet radio sound quality
Internet radio used to get a deserved rap for sound quality “approaching AM quality.” No longer. The lossy digital compression schemes deployed in mid-1990s streaming audio players like RealAudio and Nullsoft were crude and extreme, with low bit rates chopping off each song’s head, tail, and feet to squeeze it through the modest data pipe available to private internet users at the time.
Even into the early 2000s, it was common to find “perceptual coded” MP3 streams running at rates as low as 16Kbps—buying into the psycho-acoustic theory that louder sounds obscure quieter ones, so why bother to shove all that “extra” data down the pipe? MP3 freaked the hell out of discerning musicians like Neil Young, who knew what was being lost in translation.
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If this is what you picture when you hear “internet radio,” it’s been much too long since you listened to an internet radio station.
The story is different today, judging from VTuner’s posted transmission rates (information users can also call up on Como Audio radio displays). Even technically and financially strapped stations in third-world countries are serving up MP3 content encoded at 48-, 56-, and 64Kbps, or else working with the more efficient AAC codec at bit rates of 32- or 48Kbps, typically with a sampling rate of 44.1kHz. In more sophisticated web-radio operations, bit rates from 128- to 192-, and even 320Kbps are becoming increasingly common, with the latter characterized as “high resolution.”
“The only downside to streaming at 320Kbps,” Skiera says, “is that you might run out of network capacity on the home network when you have five connected speakers all playing at the high-resolution rate.”
Como Audio speakers (and some rival brands) also support the rarely used MPEG-DASH, ASF and podcast-securitizing HTTPS formats. Skiera says Como has no intention of integrating lossless codecs like FLAC and MQA into its radios. The latter is expensive to license and integrate, and I would argue that you won’t notice the higher quality on a compact speaker. Skiera tells me he “has not heard of any streaming radio stations migrating to those formats.”
Jonathan Takiff / IDG
A Como Audio internet radio screen display shows streaming at its best (Linn Radio).
A brief history of internet radio
Internet radio started out in the early 1990s as a hobbyist’s plaything, first cousin to “ham” shortwave radio. Then the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 imposed a burdensome royalty payment structure on any web-station with more than a couple hundred listeners. That buried a bunch of those basement startups. Today, only the stronger survive.
While late to the party, almost every local broadcast station on earth (commercial and non) now has a simulcasting online stream. A great equalizer, internet radio turns a low-power community station loose on the world with almost the same weight as a 50,000-watt big-city blaster. (While it has broadcast with as little as 580 watts—and is now up to 13K directional—the Martha’s Vineyard adult alternative station WMVY has consistently placed among the Top 20 most listened-to internet stations, worldwide. Not too shabby.)
Internet radio simulcasts are also a lifeline to listeners in dense urban locations, where broadcast FM signals are fraught with multipath distortion. In my hood, the online versions of favorite locals like non-commercial alternative WXPN and jazz/classical WRTI sound as pristine as a CD, while the FM broadcasts sputter on my speakers like a worn vinyl record.
The ability to import distant signals has also proven a welcome development for displaced citizens—especially relocated sports fans who still want to follow their favorite teams with a distant web tune-in. Ditto with displaced foreigners who crave to hear their native tongue.
I happily connect with government-supported, ad-free stations in locations like Britain, Germany, and Denmark, because those outlets’ format choices are often far more liberated than you’d typically find on public stations in the U.S.. Yeah, Afro-pop, Reggae, Prog-rock, R&B, and Hip-Hop are in the public interest, too!
Pandora, Spotify et al are not internet radio
Some folks lump on-demand music services like Pandora and Spotify in their “best of internet radio” roundups. Yes, those services stream on the internet and are accessible on the same computers, phones, set-top boxes, and smart speakers. But to ex-radio broadcasters like Como Audio’s Skiera and myself (being a former programmer/presenter of FM free-form shows on WMMR and WYSP in Philadelphia), it’s anathema to slot a “music genome”-powered Pandora or an on-demand library like Spotify in the internet radio category. While those services do offer New Music Playlists and radio-format-like caches of music labeled “Alternative,” “Dance/Electronic,” “R&B,” “Soul/Funk,” and so on, services like those are can be more accurately described as online jukeboxes.
Satellite radio broadcaster SiriusXM’s channel lineup is likewise available in the U.S. (and expanded) on many streaming home devices, computers, and smartphones through an internet radio-styled portal. But even without the core car play, they aren’t giving it away. Depending on lineup size and bonus features, the 200-to-300 channel “at home” package will set you back $8 to $13 a month.
I hope I’ve piqued your interest in internet radio. In tomorrow’s installment, I’ll show you how to find the kinds of music you like most, and I’ll share more of my personal picks—the stations I keep going back to.
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The Xbox Series X hardware has been praised by an experienced former PlayStation developer, who believes Sony was “caught off guard” by the console’s impressive specs compared to the PS5.
That’s according to Chris Grannell, an industry veteran who spent almost 14 years at the now-defunct Studio Liverpool, which was responsible for the blisteringly-fast WipEout games. Grannell also spent time at Guerrilla Games, the developer behind the PS4 smash-hit Horizon: Zero Dawn.
Speaking on the RDX podcast, Grannell said: “PS5 is not a bad console, it’s an absolute beast of a piece of hardware. But it’s just a piece of hardware which is slower on numerous kinds of paths than what Microsoft has put together.”
We already know that Microsoft has Sony beat when it comes to direct, technical comparisons between the Xbox Series X and PS5 specs, and it seems that Grannell shares that opinion. “The machine that Microsoft has put together is an absolute beast compared to what Sony has put together,” said Grannell. This opinion is also shared among other developers that Grannell has spoken to, apparently.
Xbox Won?
Perhaps somewhat controversially, Grannell also believes that Sony has “rested on their laurels” after the success of PS4. “They’ve got this massive market share and lead, and they’ve done a kind of PS3 is what I’ve been hearing. It’s not that bad in terms of hardware and complications, and things like that, but just a little bit of they didn’t really kind of appreciate what Xbox were going to try and do in terms of this power narrative.”
Microsoft is clearly feeling bullish about the Xbox Series X specs, and has been positioning its next-gen console as the “most powerful” console ever made. Xbox boss Phil Spencer recently revealed that the company felt “even better” about Xbox Series X after Sony’s PS5 hardware reveal.
Of course, having the most powerful console on the market doesn’t guarantee success by any means. It’s ultimately the games and services that define a console generation and Sony has a history of creating compelling exclusives that Microsoft hasn’t been able to match in recent years.
Grannell appears to agree, and is confident that the PS5 will benefit from a strong first-party lineup. “It’s going to be the first-party studios that shine until the third-parties start to really get their head around things,” Grannell went on to add: “You’re going to see absolutely incredible work from Guerrilla Games, you’re going to see incredible work from Insomniac – the usual suspects.”
Ray-traced rivals
Grannell believes the most noticeable discrepancy between the Xbox Series X and PS5 when it comes to performance is how each console handles real-time ray-tracing.
“If you look at the throughput and ray-tracing capability [of Xbox Series X] then you start to… understand why developers would be saying it’s kind of staggering,” Grannell explained. “So you’ve got the maths, then you start looking at the real-time ray-tracing capability… that’s where Sony has been caught off guard.”
One PS5 feature that is receiving praise, however, is the PS5’s incredibly fast SSD, which has double the raw throughput of the Xbox Series X drive. This will allow developers to load assets much quicker, and potentially avoid load times entirely
Both consoles will support backwards compatibility, although Microsoft’s Xbox Series X is likely to support thousands of titles from the entire Xbox back catalog (and will do some cool things with HDR, too), while Sony seems to be focusing strictly on PS4 games.
While we still don’t have a release date for either the Xbox Series X or PS5 (and still don’t know what the PS5 even looks like – though we have speculated), the console wars are already beginning to hot up as we get closer to the next console generation.
Michael Brown / IDG
