Kinoma Notes

SomaFM is independent, commercial-free internet radio. We humbly offer that the best way to listen to SomaFM is on the world’s best radio — Kinoma Play.

If you love music, you’re bound to find a favorite steam or two at SomaFM.

As I write this, SomaFM has 20 unique channels of digital wonderfulness featuring underground electronica, chillout, ambient, downtempo, lounge, space music, indie rock, alt.country/americana and more.

Check out the full list in Kinoma Guide at Radio > SomaFM, or with your web browser at somafm.com.

aacPlus

A couple of their channels are available in the forward-looking aacPlus format, the “new MP3” that enables higher quality with smaller streams.

Kinoma is helping to pioneer aacPlus as the new standard for mobile streaming, and we’ll continue to work with SomaFM to bring even more of their channels to you in this exciting format.

Got favorite podcasts? Radio stations? Video streams?

Send a URL and short description to content@kinoma.com and we’ll add them to Kinoma Guide for everyone to enjoy!

Kinoma Guide’s SKY.fm category is a great collection of streaming radio stations. There’s lots of genres, and yet the refined selection makes it easy to find the kind of music you’re in the mood for.

We’ve just released a new Kinoma Guide update that adds all currently-available SKY.fm and DI.fm (Digitally Imported) stations in all available stream formats — including aacPlus.

aacPlus?

AAC is the standards-based successor to MP3. It offers far higher-quality than MP3 at similar bitrates.

Kinoma Play is the only mobile player that supports not just AAC, but also the even more-advanced aacPlus and aacPlus v2 (a.k.a. HE-AAC and HE-AAC v2) formats.

The SKY.fm streams are available in both MP3 and aacPlus formats. Even though the aacPlus streams are 75% smaller (!) than the 96 kbps MP3 streams, they still sound great. Such a low-bitrate stream makes for great reliability, even in very poor network conditions.

Wow, great! Where do I find it?

You can find SKY.fm in Kinoma Guide > Radio.

Got favorite podcasts? Radio stations? Video streams?

Send a URL and short description to content@kinoma.com and we’ll add them to Kinoma Guide for everyone to enjoy!

Good eeevening, boo-s and ghouls!

Your timing is perfect — we’re handing out treats a night early this year. You’ll find them in Kinoma Guide > Featured > Halloween Treats.

• Big R Radio Halloween Channel — A streaming radio station featuring songs like Ghostbusters, Elvis singing (You’re The) Devil in Disguise, Neil Sedaka’s Little Devil…you get the idea.
• Coverville Annual Halloween Shows — Spooky cover versions of songs from some of the podcast’s annual Halloween shows, including Dead Man’s Party, Ghostbusters, The Theme From “The Munsters”, Monster Mash, Thriller, and selections from The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Nightmare Before Christmas.
• Halloween Atmosphere — Play this streaming radio station for a spine-curdling soundtrack to your Halloween activities. (Dare you to listen to it in the dark!)
• Halloween Radio and Halloween Oldies — More streaming spook-tastic Halloween radio.
• Thriller — Not only do you get the great cover version above, but you also get the entire official Michael Jackson video opus. This scared the candy corn out of my sister and me when we were kids, and it’s still frighteningly fun.
• War of the Worlds — This is the entire 1938 radio dramatization that shocked the world and created nationwide panic among confused listeners, many who missed the warning that it was a dramatization since they tuned in after listening to Charlie McCarthy on another station. For those people, it felt like the beginning of the end.

Have a happy, safe Halloween!

Kinoma Play is one of the few products you can buy that’s not only an incredible value right from the start, but actually becomes an even better value with time.

Sure, the initial purchase might’ve been because Kinoma Play is the best way to YouTube on phones, or because of the incredible Kinoma Guide, because of it’s elegant Twitter app, or hundreds of other great features.

But the benefits don’t stop when you purchase. Frequent, useful updates mean that Kinoma Play’s YouTube support keeps getting better, Kinoma Guide keeps getting bigger, and apps like Twitter keep getting great new features — free!

Flights

Flights is a recent addition, and a great example of how we keep adding value.

Kinoma Play is primarily known as a great way to connect with content, but we also care deeply about connecting people. That’s the driver behind Kinoma Play’s rich sharing features, and its “social” apps like Twitter and Facebook.

One of the nicest ways of connecting with other people is in person. That often means air travel. Unfortunately, it’s a nightmare to get up-to-date flight information with your phone’s web browser.

Kinoma Play’s Flights app fixes that.

Search

Searching for a flight couldn’t be simpler.

Once you’ve found a flight, Kinoma Play displays its current status.

Share

Need to share the flight status with somebody who doesn’t have Kinoma Play?

Just choose Share to send the flight status via SMS or email.

Track

If you’ll need to check the same flight again, choose Track Flight.

Tracked flights are added to Flights’ main screen, making it easy to get the latest flight info with a touch.

“Untrack” flights by choosing the flight and then Untrack Flight.

Delays

Finally, Flights provides a convenient summary of nationwide delays.

Enjoy!

Next time you’re waiting for a flight, remember to check out Flights. We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you!

The New York Times is one of the great American newspapers, but they’re also no strangers to technology — NYTimes.com attracts millions of unique visitors, and is the most-visited newspaper site as I write this.

You may not know that NYTimes.com creates great podcasts, too. These podcasts are now available on Windows Mobile and Symbian/S60 phones with Kinoma Play.

• Backstory — Jane Bornemeier talks to Times reporters about the top stories of the day.
• Book Review – Sam Tanenhaus, editor of The New York Times Book Review, discusses this week’s issue.
• The Ethicist – Randy Cohen, Times Magazine columnist, answers readers’ questions on ethical issues each week.
• Front Page – James Barron, a reporter at The New York Times, summarizes the top headlines every weekday morning.
• Music Popcast – The New York Times pop music critics discuss the latest albums and music events of the week.
• NYT Tech Talk – A look at the latest technology news and Internet trends with J.D. Biersdorfer, Bettina Edelstein and Pedro Rafael Rosado.
• Only in New York – On the beat with Sam Roberts, metro reporter for The New York Times.
• Political Points - A weekly conversation on politics and the Obama presidency with reporters and editors from The New York Times hosted by Times correspondents Sam Roberts and David Kirkpatrick.
• Science Times – David Corcoran, a science editor, explores the topics addressed in this week’s Science Times.
• TimesTalks – Intimate discussions with people of note and New York Times journalists and editors.
• Today’s Business – Jeff Sommer talks to Times reporters about the day’s top business news.
• Weekend Business – Jeff Sommer, an editor for Sunday Business, talks to Times reporters and editors about the week’s business news.
• World View – Douglas Schorzman and Andrea Kannapell discuss the latest global news events with New York Times correspondents from all over the world.
• Your Money – Your Money columnist Ron Lieber and personal finance writer Tara Siegel Bernard talk about how to manage your money in these uncertain economic times.

You can find the NYTimes.com podcasts in Kinoma Guide > Providers > NYTimes.com.

Got favorite podcasts? Radio stations? Video streams?

Send a URL and short description to content@kinoma.com and we’ll add them to Kinoma Guide for everyone to enjoy!