Hey everyone, we just completed work on a new version of the website.  It’s still a work in progress in some parts, so we’ll be tweaking many things as we go along.  If you spot any typos, please let us know and we’ll correct them asap.  Here’s a list of the major changes:

• New layout
• Redesigned project pages (now standalone pages)
• Site search (via Google Custom search)
• Redesigned support section
• Redesigned contact form
• Less version numbers to worry about
• Better page usability and larger font sizes
• New developer section (still very much under construction)

Overall, we hope this new design helps out some people and that everyone enjoys a new cleaner layout. 

You read it right. We now have the XM Online Radio available for Google Sidebar. This means you can run it on Windows XP! It’s not quite as nice as its Vista cousin, but this gadget still maintains favorites, stream settings, all your favorite buttons, and is pretty stable and easy to use. You will need to download and install Google Desktop if you aren’t already running it.

Download XM Online Radio 1.0 (Google Gadget)

Enjoy!

P.S.:  Do let us know if there are any issues and we’ll do our best to resolve them.  Thanks.

Hey everyone, we made a couple quick updates to the XM gadget recently to address a couple issues that cropped up.  Here are the details:

1.) Channel Rebuilding in the channel flyout (when the original build channels doesn’t fire) should be working better now.

2.) Flyouts have a self focus timeout now that should help people who have to click the flyout twise to get it working.

3.) Favorites issues should be resolved at this point.  If you have a bad favorite, it will be removed when the favorites are built in the channel flyout.

Also, just got an update to the channel list done this morning:

• Channel 120 (THE PAPAL VISIT) added to XM Exclusives group.
• Channel 63 (XM THRILLER) has been removed.

At long last, we are ready to release the newest version of the XM gadget. Yes, the beta gadget is right below this one, but we’ll go over all the changes in a bit more detail on this post.

So for starters, we re-wrote this gadget practically from the ground up. Hopefully this will help out on any stability issues some of you have experienced and allow for a faster and more efficient music listening experience. Let’s hit up the rest of the changes:

Changes:

1. New Start Button: Finally, a proper way to get this gadget started.

2. Redesigned Channel Flyout: Lots of new stuff here. The flyout is 25px longer, the expand and collapse buttons have been redesigned and there is a new channel search (#3). Also, the channel lists are a little bit tighter, which should make it feel more integrated. Song preview’s also work better as they will update every 15 seconds or so if the auto-preview option is on.

3. Channel Search: In the channels flyout, you’ll notice a new bar. Type in this bar a channel number, name, or search for anything currently playing and it will display the search results for you. Pretty handy so far if you don’t want to skim down a long list. No TuneSelect features yet, but this is the closest we’ve come to that.

4. Login Save Is Gone: Oh, well, it didn’t really work anyways. Besides, we replaced it…

5. XM Logo Now Clickable: Clicking the top logo pops out a links flyout with some handy links and options like re-building the channel list (without re-adding to the sidebar), and logging out of the gadget (erases the password and refreshes the gadget).

6. Images Optimized: Not a real big one, but it’s nice cause it gives us the ability to add stuff like…

7. Player Themes: There are now 6 player themes (player only, flyouts are the same, sorry). We have the default (XM Dark), Pink, Khaki, Blue, Green, and Red.

8. Settings Panel Updates: Reset has been broken into parts and assimilated into the panel better. there is a new tab under reset called “Delete” with instructions for the persistent settings fix should it be needed.

9. Channel Flipping More Stable: More timers, but it should be even better now.

10. Music Search Integration: Is a bit better, especially with YouTube videos.

11. Larger DPI Tested: Gadget should work much better with the 120 DPI. Anything larger than that is unaccounted for though.

12. Lots of “Under The Hood” Changes: For the more javascript minded: The loops are tighter, reduced unneccesary try catch statements, reduced global variables and made it more user friendly, re-organized names of just about everything but functions.

Download:

Download @ BuildAGadget.com

Download @ Widgipedia.com

Download @ Live.com Gallery

Enjoy!

We’re trying something out for the next release of the gadget.  That’s right, a public beta.  If you’re a regular reader or just randomly here, you get a sneak peak at the next version of the gadget.

We are looking for feedback on features, bugs, comments, anything at all really.  We’re especially interested in migration to the new gadget as it can cause some issues in older installs.  Also, you may want to back your favorites up before installing (just in case).

Download XM Online Radio 1.7 BETA Gadget (Beta has ended)

One last note:  Since the gadget file name is different, you’ll see a second icon in your gadget panel.  Just click “Show Details” on the bottom left and look for the 1.7 version.

We’ll run down a very quick list of changes to this version:

• Code completely re-written for stability and speed
• InfoSave checkbox removed
• XM logo clickable, creates links flyout
• Logout link now exists In links flyout
• Channel flyout redesigned, tighter look and feel
• Live channel search added to channel flyout
• Images optimized
• Player themes! (5 including the default)
• Settings panel modified a bit
• Persistent settings fix instructions inside settings now
• channel flipping more stable now

That’s the short list, but quite a few changes were made under the hood, so those are mostly the additions.

Have fun and let us know if anything goes wrong! 

Note: Just made a quick update to the beta gadget.  Links are renamed, Stream changing should be smoother, flyout close on search auto-un-mutes the gadget. (04/03/2008)

Note 2:  Made a couple bug fixes.  Also added a link to the links flyout called “Update Channel List”, hopefully this will help out people looking for channel updates without re-adding the gadget. (04/04/2008)

Note 3: More changes: Channels flyout reconfigured with the collapse and expand buttons re-expanded and on top of the channel search, the channel search bar has had some cosmetic changes made to it and the overall flyout is 25px longer. Also tweaked the start buttons. (04/05/2008)

Note 4: Almost there: Channel search re-colored and a search button added for re-searching after section change and for more confortable feel for some users. Red theme added to the player themes. (04/06/2008)

Thanks,
BuildAGadget Staff