Sirenza Microdevices has begun production of a new ultra low-profile SDARS antenna.

This new SDARS antenna will initially be packaged with satellite radio receivers "manufactured by an Asian radio supplier under an original equipment manufacturing (OEM) arrangement with a leading U.S. digital satellite radio provider."

Hmmm... which Asian radio supplier has an OEM arrangement with a leading U.S. digital satellite radio provider?

The one thing I hate about satellite radio antennas is how much they stick out like a sore thumb. Here you are with your brand new Terk XMicro2 or XM Roady Micro Antenna, and it looks like crap against your beautiful car. Enter Color Match Antenna.

These guys produce and sell satellite radio antennas that are color matched exactly to your car, and I gotta say this is a great idea.

Each order is custom-painted, using the premium Spies Hecker auto paint made by Dupont, in a professional body shop. Color Match Antenna ensures completely accurate color matches based upon the manufacturer, paint color code and the VIN number of your car. Just enter in your VIN into the Color Match Antenna website and you're good to go.

As soon as I saw these antennas I started thinking about how Tuners would love this. If anyone wants a custom antenna, its them. Check out the Mopar orange on to the right. Very sweet. But many people with luxury cars would want this too. If you look at the testimonials on their site, there's a bunch of before & after shots that really demonstrate the visual difference.

There's also a whole world of possibilities to have fun with these little guys.

This is a pic of a prototype American Flag on the antenna. The amount of detail that's possible is very cool.

Even cooler is that the company began actively marketing their products only three weeks ago they've already had dozens of customers who've gladly giving testimonials of the quality of the paint. If you want to see some photos of the painting process, check out their gallery.

Definitely some neat stuff and I'm glad to do everything I can to let people know about this service. So much in fact that I had some antennas sent to me so I can test the durability of the paintjob. They really are much more gorgeous in person! There's a beautiful lime green antenna that I'll be posting very soon.

Go check out colormatchantenna.com and see for yourself.

Ed Christian will cancel syndicated shows that also air on XM/Sirius, but as The Future of Radio points out, this will probably be a catalyst to spur the development of more satellite-only programming and give people even more of a reason to migrate to satellite.

It's amazing to think that Terrestrial is now trying the 'exclusive content' route - this coming from the industry who has a playlist of about 200 songs.

Kelly McNeill over at osRadio has a similar idea as mine for delivering Podcasts over Satellite Radio. And while I agree with the general thought, my nly problem is there's a massive barrier to entry for Apple to overcome. Sending birds up into orbit and setting up the infrastructure for delivering satellite radio isn't a walk in the park and I don't see Apple going that route anytime soon.

Oh well, it's a neat idea tho.

Time Trax Technologies has submitted an Amicus Curiae brief ("friend of court" brief) to the US Supreme Court along with several emerging technology companies and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in support of Grokster. A "friend of the court" brief is simply a legal brief filed to support or oppose a party in litigation. The brief argues that tightening copyright infringement requirements on technology like Grokster will greatly deter growth and competition in the United States.

The Amicus brief submitted to the court was signed by ten companies potentially affected by the ruling and asks the Court to refrain from assigning liability for product use to its manufacturer based on an immeasurable definition of "primary use." A victory for Grokster would open the gates for continued development in this field.

The Supreme Court is hearing the case, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer v. Grokster, tomorrow (Tuesday, March 29, 2005). So far, two Federal Courts have agreed with Grokster. Grokster has successfully argued that because it operates on a decentralized network, it cannot be held to the same standards as Napster. MGM must convince at least 5 justices of the US Supreme Court that two prior Federal Court decisions were wrong for not finding Grokster libel for copyright infringement.

I knew that Clear Channel was entering the Internet Radio arena, but what I didn't pick up was that that they plan on Podcasting as part of their new Web strategy.

Clear Channel will make five-minute, ad-supported segments available for download from station sites (and they have over 1,200 to choose from). Z100 Phonetap and morning drive-time shows are among the offerings the company plans to make available as downloads.

Read more:
I Love Radio | The Future of Radio

Now, I could care less if CC is successful with this attempt (ad supported 5 minute nuggets are pretty much useless to me) but this is a huge achievement for the Podcasting front. It makes the format legit. I'd like to see the Satellite Radio providers come on board with this progressive medium. During our awesome discussion about whether Internet Radio will be bigger than Satellite Radio, I really started to wonder if XM or SIRIUS would entertain the thought of delivering Podcasts through a dedicated station. A lofty thought, I know. But think about it.

XM and SIRIUS have an audience that is looking for specialized content. Want Tech Talk? Sure no problem! Want to listen to Dawn and Drew or the Daily Source Code? Just subscribe through the XM/SIRIUS Podcast interface. Why not use the Birds to stream a "my Podcasts" channel to your XM2go or ReGo unit? All the infrastructure is there already, all the satcasters need to do is create an interface for each listener to subscribe through.

I dunno. Maybe I'm smoking something, but to me it's the ultimate in custom radio.

A reader pointed me to a great blog, The Future of Radio, that has an interesting post about the possibility of Internet Radio being bigger than Satellite Radio eventually - at least according to a report from Bridge Ratings.

Scary stuff for Satellite if you think about it. Looking at the Digital Audio Market Projections, it shows Internet Radio skyrocketing to unbelievable penetration. Is it way off?

You tell me.

So all in all NYIAS was pretty cool. I was disappointed with the XM Sponsored Urban Tuner Tent though - it wasn't open when I was at the Press Preview. So I didn't get to see the some of the more extreme audio shit that I was hoping on seeing. From what I heard, the Urban Tuner Tent would be finished on Friday, so I'll see if I can make my way back to the show soon to get some shot of that. I never did catch Joe Clayton again, but there's always another time. Another thing that stinks was that Ziggy from MyRadioStore.com was at the show and I didn't get the chance to meet up with him.

XM's booth completely revolved around interactivity. From a users perspective, you can hang out in the XM booth as long as you want. It encouraged you to. With the car-like booths where you can "test drive" XM, and the interactive listening stations that direct sound only in your direction, you just wanted to play all day. I really did love the maps of the Javits Center that XM gave out, pointing out exactly how many cars at the show featured XM Satellite Radio in at least one of their vehicles.

SIRIUS' booth really looked beautiful, though I wish it was more interactive. You could sit in the Volvo, Bimmer, and the 300M - which was great and all, but that's it. All the devices on the wall were nice to show what's available, but I really wish it had a more hands-on approach. But in place of interactivity, they opted to bring in the guest appearances - which is very cool. When I was there, Meg Griffin was hosting a show.

Here's a schedule of all the other Guest Stars appearing at SIRIUS' NYIAS booth:

Alright! I'm here blogging LIVE at the Press Preview of the New York International Autoshow, and I gotta say this is some pretty cool shit. Not just being here and having the ability to post directly from the floor, which I feel is part of the essence and beauty of blogging. But the fact that NYIAS has actually recognized Blogs as being a legitimate form of the Media. A few years back, I'd just be considered a lunatic with a website, but it seems that we've finally reached a point where bloggers are taken seriously. That's very cool, and my hats off to the show organizers for finally recognizing this growing medium.

So enough of that. Here I am armed with my Dell 700m and Canon EOS Digital Rebel SLR, so high-resolution pics galore will come downstream very shortly. I was also planning on having this be my debut Orbitcast Podcast, but as luck has it - I've lost my voice. Which would make for awful radio. So I guess I'll just have to wait for another cool event (like maybe next week? wink wink, jab jab) to take a swing at Podcasting. Stay tuned for more on that.

Anyway, I'm going to hit up the XM Satellite Radio sponsored Urban Tuner Tent first. Then make my way up to the Crystal Palace to check out both Sirius Satellite Radio's booth and XM Radio's booth. Then I'll go through all the separate auto manufacturers' booths and see what sort of representation Satellite Radio has from each. In between all these stops, I'll be uploading the photos I take and any info and cool stuff I encounter.

So that's that. Enough typing - on with the show!

Orbitcast will be going to this year's New York Internation Auto Show this week to play with all the toys, take lots of pics, and blog directly from the show floor. Even more gooder, I'll have Press Access, and will be able to relay all the fun stuff to everyone before the show even opens up (as much as I'm legally allowed to, of course).

This year's NYIAS media registration is sponsored by none other than Sirius Satellite Radio. XM Radio is sponsoring the Urban Tuner & Specialty Vehicle Salon which should be kickass to see. And both XM and SIRIUS will be up in the Crystal Palace.

Press Preview at NYIAS begins on Wednesday, so keep checking here for updates and good stuff.