Update (March 25th, 2011): We’ve got an update, Pulsar 2.2.2 – get the info on it here.

 
Update (March 19th, 2011): Over the past week, SiriusXM has been updating their servers, and again breaking third party access. At this time, Pulsar is not functioning. We’re still analyzing things to determine if we can get Pulsar functioning. Stay tuned.

At the beginning of February, SiriusXM merged the Sirius.com and XMRadio.com sites for the US, into their new SiriusXM.com site. This massive change broke Pulsar, our desktop satellite radio player, for all US users. Unfortunately, because SiriusXM provides no official support for third-party clients, nor any information about the changes they’ve made, we had to react after the fact.

Within two days, we were able to restore streaming for some of our users, and released Pulsar 2.1.3.

However, many listeners were left out, and stuck with SiriusXM’s web-based player.

After many more long days of work, we’re now happy to announce Pulsar 2.2, with full support for the new SiriusXM. This update will restore streaming for all users with online satellite radio access. If you’ve got a satellite radio account and online access, via SiriusXM in the US or via XM or Sirius in Canada, get Pulsar 2.2 now.

You can learn more about Pulsar and download the free trial now. If you’ve already got Pulsar, you can also select Check for Update from the Pulsar menu. Of course, this is a free update, so don’t delay.

Update (February 15th, 2011): Pulsar 2.2 is now available, with full SiriusXM support! See this post for full details.

Last Friday, Sirius and XM merged their two US sites into one, at SiriusXM.com If you’re a Pulsar user, you probably know that this change broke Pulsar¹. We’ve been working feverishly to restore streaming in Pulsar, and Sunday evening, we released Pulsar 2.1.3.

This update is a temporary fix, while we work to make Pulsar fully compatible with the new SiriusXM site, but it does restore streaming for many users.

However, it’s not perfect. It appears that users who originally signed up with XM Online are not able to log in. We’re still working on this. For full details, please see Knowledge Base article.

If Pulsar 2.1.3 doesn’t work for you, be sure to check that your username and password are entered correctly. If they are, and it’s still not working, just stay tuned – we’re still working on restoring streaming for all users. In the meantime, you can always access your streams at SiriusXM.com.

Footnotes:

1. You likely don’t know it, but Sirius and XM provide no way for third-party developers like Rogue Amoeba to access their audio streams. Because there’s no official way to get this audio, we need to do all sorts of wizardry to get audio, track titles, and artwork.

Most of the time, users can be blissfully unaware of what’s going on behind the scenes. When there’s a massive update however, as in the case of the recent move to SiriusXM.com, problems are more likely to arise. Sirius and XM give us no notice of these changes, so we’re stuck reacting to it. Rest assured, however, that we want to fix this more than anyone! ↩

Our own Mike Ash writes the popular NSBlog, a fantastic resource for programmers. The site’s most popular feature is Mike’s Friday Q&A series, where he provides deep information on Mac programming. Mike has now worked to collect almost two years worth of those posts into one comprehensive, cross-referenced tome.

The amusingly-named “The Complete Friday Q&A: Volume I” is now available via iBooks and Amazon (where it’s currently 20% off). Learn more about it right here!

If you’re an author, Mike’s also got a great post on how the book came into being.

Since 2004, Rogue Amoeba has exhibited at Macworld San Francisco every second year (in 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010). While 2011 was an off year for us exhibiting, I attended the conference and expo myself. It was a great show, with even more exhibitors and attendees than last year. After two years without Apple, it seems clear that though it’s different, the show will go on.

While out there, I participated in a live edition of the Macworld Pundit Showdown, defending my crown from the 2010 show¹. You can read more and watch the whole thing right over on Macworld’s page for it. If nothing else, you can witness the moment when an audience of around two hundred people crushed my answer to question 6 (it’s about 20 minutes in).

I also had a chance to chat with Mike Rose, over at The Unofficial Apple Weblog booth. We discussed Audio Hijack Pro, Airfoil, and the challenges of the Mac App Store.

As I said, it was a great show, and it’s likely Rogue Amoeba will again be exhibiting at Macworld in 2012. Start making plans to be there – the show starts January 26th, 2012.

Footnotes:

1. The recording of the 2010 show failed, which means all evidence of it has been wiped away. ↩