New box offers a branded experience

But if you are mad for Morning Edition, the new “NPR Radio’’ from Livio Radio (www.livioradio.com/npr_radio) will guarantee that your houseguests know where your heart and treasure lay.

The NPR Radio looks much like any other Internet radio: Its single speaker and knob, and its little buttons and puny display, all help to make it an unremarkable box.

But the radio, which bears the NPR logo on its faceplate and remote control, has a dedicated “NPR’’ button, which will take you directly to any of the hundreds of NPR stations and on-demand programs available online.

The NPR Radio, which connects to your home network via Wi-Fi, also accesses thousands of other non-NPR stations on the Internet.

The NPR Radio doubles as a Tivo-like digital recorder, while you are away. You can program the device to record up to two hours of your favorite shows over a two-week period. It also has a built-in alarm clock.

As Internet radio becomes more reliable, and the radios themselves cheaper, we will see more of these branded devices. Livio, for example, already sells a Pandora-branded Internet radio.

The NPR Radio will be available next week for about $200. (Livio says some of the proceeds from the sale of each radio will go to NPR.) But you can preorder the radio now at the Livio website.

Nanny-ware

A text blocker for reckless drivers

There may never be a digital cure for the lack of common sense exhibited by this cloddish subpopulation. But for drivers, a new Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile app from Concord-based Illume Software might prove a lifesaver.

The app, called iZup, uses GPS to calculate your speed - and whether you are driving. If you are moving faster than your feet can carry you, iZup automatically locks out calls and text messages. That means incoming calls go to voice mail, and text messages are held in a queue, until you come to a stop.

IZup also prevents you from placing calls and sending messages while you are in motion.

A demo version of iZup will be available next week. The full version will be out in December, according to Illume.

Investors obviously see a market for mobile nanny-ware. Illume announced that it has raised $1 million since February. (The company had already received $2.4 million, since it was founded in 2008.)

But I can also see hardcore texters disabling iZup soon after installing the app. It’s like using nanny-ware to curb your addiction to Internet porn or Facebook. Where willpower is lacking, the addict can wriggle out of virtually any trap - especially if it’s one he set for himself.