First of all, an apology to anyone who had problems running Spark Radio under OS4. We detected the problem quickly, but our version update took longer than usual to be approved by Apple. I’m sure that they are swamped because of the large volume of apps being updated for the new OS.

The good news is that Spark can now stream audio in the background while you check email, send text messages, etc. (OS4 only) It was our most requested feature, and thanks to the new OS, it’s now possible.

Please note that the visualizers are not currently working for users with OS4 on the new iPhone 4. We will have a fix submitted quickly to Apple for their approval. Thanks for your patience.

Spark Radio just reached #19 on Apple’s list of bestselling music apps on iTunes. Even better, we’re ranked #8 for iPad.

Thanks to everyone for enjoying Spark Radio.

Spark Radio received a flurry of positive reviews this week:

Macworld gave us a great review and rated Spark 4.5 out of 5 mice!

MacLife named us one of 99 awesome iPhone apps you must download.

And Digitizd calls us one of 24 killer apps for the iPad.

Thanks for all the kudos. We appreciate it.

Graeme Thickins, writing in MinnPost, gives Spark Radio the thumbs-up!

David Pierce of VentureBeat just gave Spark Radio a nice review which you can read here.

Spark Radio launched two days ago and we’ve already reached #32 on the list of bestselling music apps on iTunes. We want to thank everybody who jumped on the bandwagon. We appreciate the support.

Spark Radio will go live on iTunes this week and we’re very excited. There will be a great launch promotion, so stay tuned.

HandCast Media is happy to announce that we’ve partnered with RadioTime to provide directory services for our upcoming iPhone application, Spark Radio.

RadioTime maintains the world’s leading database of streaming radio stations and provides Spark Radio with a powerful program guide to help you find your favorite stations, programs and personalities.  RadioTime is the directory engine behind many familiar consumer products including NuVo, Boxee, Visio, Sonos, Logitech Squeezebox, Cisco Home Audio, Yahoo, and Windows Media Center.

Pixi now has a fanpage on Facebook.  Become a fan here.

We’ve set up a flickr group pool for anyone interested in sharing images of their Pixi designs. To view the images visit www.flickr.com/groups/pixi.  To share your own Pixi designs, just do a screen capture, upload to your own flickr account, and join the Pixi group to post your own images.  Or you can e-mail us your images and we’ll post them for you.

Please note that in an upcoming release of Pixi, you’ll be able to share actual Pixi animations with other Pixi users, using the social sharing mechanism that we’re developing. Enjoy!