As previously announced, we are posting free full length videos of all AMBIcon 2013 events on YouTube in the next two weeks. There are 8 concerts and 2 conference sessions, ten total. Here are the first 3:
MUSICIANS’ PANEL DISCUSSION :
http://youtu.be/T5LC5Y6boTU
JEFF PEARCE Concert :
http://youtu.be/jbgZ9n1PToo
ROBERT RICH Concert :
http://youtu.be/c5FZH2Yen-8
Coming soon: TIM STORY and MICHAEL STEARNS!
We're very happy to announce that thanks to the generosity and technical chops of volunteer SCOTT ROUSE, there will be a FREE live stream of the main sessions of the AMBIcon conference on Livestream.com !
LIVE STREAM LINK: http://livestream.com/ambicon2013
See our web pages for details of the individual artists and concerts:
FULL CONFERENCE : http://ambicon.hos.com
CONCERTS : http://ambientmasters.bpt.me
Please spread the word on your networks and join us virtually on Saturday and Sunday!
SCHEDULE
[ All times Pacific Daylight Time : PDT = UTC-7 ]
SATURDAY MAY 4TH
10:00am-12:15pm Opening Session and Artist Panel Discussion
2:00pm-3:15pm Concert: JEFF PEARCE
3:45pm-5:00pm Concert: ROBERT RICH
8:00pm-9:15pm Concert: TIM STORY
9:45pm-11:00pm Concert: MICHAEL STEARNS
SUNDAY MAY 5TH
10:00am-12:00pm MARK PRENDERGAST presentation on Ambient music
2:00pm-3:15pm Concert: STEPHAN MICUS
3:45pm-5:00pm Concert: STEVE ROACH
8:00pm-9:15pm Concert : HANS CHRISTIAN
9:45pm-11:00pm Concert : STELLMARA
11:00pm-11:15pm Closing session
Well, no problem. Fact is, if you have the HOS iPhone app, you can stream from the app to your Apple TV box using Apple's "AirPlay" wireless technology. And it's been that way for almost two years.
HOW COME I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THAT you ask??
Because Apple in its wisdom hides the icon that lets you know that AirPlay is ready to use. It's part of their "keep it simple" design policy, but this is one case where it really doesn't help.
The icon is only visible when you are [1] connected to a Wi-Fi network [2] your Apple TV (or other AirPlay device) is on the same WiFi network and [3] you are actually streaming something.
If all three of these conditions are met, you will see the AirPlay icon 
appear on the right hand side of the player control overlay that slides up from the bottom of your screen when you tap NOW PLAYING in the top status bar, or when you tap anywhere on a program playlist page. Here's what it looks like in action:
If you tap the AirPlay icon, you'll see a menu showing the name of your iPhone or iPad, plus your Apple TV, plus any other AirPlay devices like Airport Express or Airport Extreme hotspots on your WiFi network.
Choose Apple TV, and the AirPlay icon will turn blue to show you it's working. You can now stream HOS from your mobile device to your TV when the Apple TV input is selected. Sweet!
Any questions? Please email help@hos.com.
Ho ho ho, taxonomy/classification and UI/UX fans! Here’s a little end-of-the-year feature upgrade you asked for.
We’ve added active links to the relevant HOS sub-genre classifications to the [PGM DETAILS] pages on the new GENRE(s) line. Now in addition to seeing which category the program belongs to, you can access other shows in those categories with just two clicks. Sweet!
Thanksgiving is past and we are now into that very special time of year called The Holiday Season. We make it easy for our Standard and Full Service subscribers to access the seasonal gems in the Hearts of Space Archive with this special channel. It’s filled with heartwarming seasonal music, folk and classical melodies and choral masterworks.
To hear it on our web site, Just click CHANNELS in the main menu bar or select HOLIDAY from the Channels drop-down menu. On the Hearts of Space iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch app, tap the CHANNELS icon on the main screen or the Channels tab on the bottom navigation bar.
IPHONE VERSION 2
Several weeks ago we launched Version 2 of
the HoS service and added some powerful new
features. The main innovation was expanding
from the single full-time "Radio Channel" to eight full-time channels.
We also rebuilt our main menu bar for easier
operation, added additional features to the
MY PLAYLISTS section, and rewrote parts of
our custom Flash web player for smoother
and more reliable operation. A full rundown
of all the new stuff is in What's New in V2?
Until March 1st those features were only available
on the web site. Now we've added those new
features and more to our iPHONE app, and the
update is available free in the App Store if you've
already bought the app for 99¢. If you haven't
tried the iPhone app yet, now's the perfect time
to cough up the big bucks and give it whirl 😉
Our new iPhone app gives you on-the-go access to all 8 full-time channels — the eclectic All Archive Mix channel, plus seven genre-focused channels: Electronic Space, Ambient/Downtempo, Contemporary Instrumental, Orchestral/Chamber/Choral, Classic HoS Mix, World Fusion Mix, and Celtic Space.
In addition, personal playlists you create on the web site can now be played in the iPhone app.
Not only that, we've added on-demand access to programs within channels and playlists, so you can select any individual program in any of the full-time channel playlists or your personal playlists and go from there.
To answer the obvious followup question: no, you still cannot create personal playlists in the iPhone app. We had to defer that feature to Version 3. Nor can you navigate directly to any program in the archive like you can on the web site — that's also coming in Version 3. But anything you add to one of your MY PLAYLISTS is now available in the app.
So if you are determined and take the time to put all 973 programs into playlists (they're limited to 100 items each and you can make up to 100 playlists), then you can have mobile access to the entire archive now. Sweet!
Caveat user: if you make large playlists (more than 25 items) they will be very slow to load, and you will have to be very, very patient. We are testing a new back end architecture for the service that will speed things up, but for now you've been advised.
To answer the next followup question, we will be releasing a parallel update to our ANDROID app as soon as possible. We love our Android users as much as they love Hearts of Space, but for some reason there are a lot fewer of you, so our iPhone users get priority.
UPDATE, JUNE 9, 2012: Since the paragraph above was written last March, it has unfortunately become more difficult to justify the expense of releasing native Android applications. Some of the reasons are technical — Android devices are far less standardized than Apple's iOS devices, and a program that runs fine on one phone or tablet may not work in part or at all on others.
Furthermore, it is now clear that despite the large numbers of Android phones out there, only 1/5 as many people actually use the HOS Android app compared to Apple devices. Since the cost of developing it is the same as an Apple app, investing in the Android platform for a company our size no longer makes financial sense.
To solve the problem of offering mobile service to Android users (as well as other platforms like Windows Phone and RIM/Blackberry), we are now discussing developing a mobile version of our web site that will allow subscribers to run the service in the web browser of their mobile phone. There are compatibility problems using this approach as well, so we can't promise 100% support for every combination of phone/tablet and operating system like we can on Apple mobile devices. Nor can we give you a solid date for release beyond saying 'as soon as possible.'
:: SH
Our thanks to stalwart programmer PAUL YAGO for some serious midnight oil burning and even a last minute fix while on vacation! The man is driven to get it right and we love that.
MORE FLASH GOODNESS
Our second announcement is that we've launched an update to our custom Flash web player. First, the little green triangle "play" icons next to programs were too subtle for some users. They have grown up and now tell you unambiguously what they do:
You can also see which program is playing in any playlist and pause the active stream:
Clicking the CHANNELS or MY PLAYLISTS tab itself will refresh the list of channels or playlists. Clicking the PLAY icon next to a channel or personal playlist will start it playing it from the top; to see the contents of any channel or playlist, click the name.
Within any full-time channel or personal playlist we've taken a feature from the iPhone app and now allow you on-demand access to each of the programs. So in addition to being able to switch channels, if you don't care for the show that's playing in a channel you can play any other, and the playlist will continue from there.
Last but not least, we rewrote some of the hidden plumbing in the Flash player for faster operation, and also fixed several obscure bugs that no one but our ace Flash programmer ALEX BURROWS understands for sure. Nevertheless, they are gone.
Enjoy the new software, and let us know about anything you don't understand or would like to see improved in the comments or by emailing help@hos.com.
On December 7th we opened the next version of the Hearts of Space online service for testing by subscribers and casual users.
We've been working on this upgrade for more than six months, and there are many improvements and new features that we're really excited to bring you. The headline changes are
The full list of changes is long enough that we had to create a special illustrated page to show them to you:
If you are a "AAA" or "Radio Channel + This Week's Show" subscriber, you can use all the new features immediately! We're looking for your feedback, so please let us know in the comments or on our official HOS Facebook page.
If you are a "This Week Anytime" or "This Week Sunday" subscriber, you now have many new reasons to upgrade;-)
If you are not currently a subscriber, please look at our new offering and let us know if we've convinced you to try it! We know everyone has to justify every expenditure these days, and we're constantly trying to pack more value into the service for the same or lower cost.
One more thing: we're working on incorporating as many of the new features as possible into a free update to our iPhone and Android apps. It should be ready in a few more weeks.
:: SH
UPDATE: Our Android beta testers really proved themselves this week as we discovered incompatibities with certain models of Android phones like the HTC Eris. And we found one tester with a "jailbroken" phone where the app just didn't work at all. That's where we draw the line, folks: we really can't support "rooted" or jailbroken phones. Look for the finished app early next week.
Now, y'all been very patient about this, and we appreciate that.
Turns out that even when you have a finished iPhone app to model the design, building an Android app is different enough that you wind up doing 90% of the work over again. So naturally, it takes longer than you'd like, but we wanted to get it right. Thanks to our ace programmers PAUL YAGO and JOHN ZORKO, who burned the traditional midnight oil to make it happen.
The app has been in the hands of our beta testers for a week, and we've been discovering and fixing the "device-related" bugs, where it works on one model of phone, but not another. As of today we're pretty much past this, and just waiting for the last few reports to come in to confirm that everything is working as intended. We even managed to make a few improvements here and there.
If all goes well, we'll make the app available in the Android Marketplace next week. We'll announce it here in our blog, on our home page, and via email if you contacted us about the app in the past. GO ANDROID!
We've made our "SACRED SONGS OF MARY" show free to all on Christmas Eve and all Christmas day until midnight Eastern. Just sign in as usual, click the green play triangle and lovely sacred choral music will fill your space.
Next week's show will update at midnight Eastern Saturday and be free as usual all day Sunday.
Merry Christmas, spacefans! :: Stephen Hill and all at HOS.com.
