I’ve been thinking about a new series for awhile. The idea is I get to share my favorite applications, gadgets, and services that I use on a regular basis. Each one I am either already paying for or I would have paid for in a minute if they had not already sent me a free copy (and some I even pay for anyway just because I want to support the company since I like it so much). This is your peak into my life and the things I use on a day-to-day basis. These are the things that were so good they got me to spend time out of my busy schedule to share with you. Listen carefully to these, as these are truly the technologies I really, really enjoy and I think you will too. The first of these, which I’ve been trying to write about for awhile now, is an iTunes competitor called Spotify.
As I write this, I’m sitting here, listening to Dave Morin, a Facebook friend’s playlist of 90s music and none of it is hosted on either of our computers. I’m listening to Sugar Ray’s “Every Morning”, and the cool thing is I haven’t even downloaded the song yet! Spotify is a 100% cloud-based subscription service based in the UK where you pay a monthly fee, and get to stream as much high quality as you like to your computer.
Spotify’s database is amazing! While there are some rarer songs that are harder to find, Spotify has been able to satisfy just about every search query I’ve given it, providing me with music all over the world in just a few clicks. New releases come out on the service almost as quick as they come out on iTunes, and some like Mika’s new album even get exclusive release on the service earlier than they release in stores (Mika’s had an overlay for the pre-release time asking you to purchase the album).
Every song on the service can be added to a playlist, which, as I’ll show in a minute, all your friends can then subscribe to and also listen. You can easily access any of your playlists, and it also keeps track of your searches so you can go back and access those as well.
Each song can be added to a playlist, or you can view your friends’ playlists
Social Integration
Spotify has the most amazing social integration of any music service I’ve used so far. I think of it as “Twitter lists, for music”. If you link your Facebook account it will immediately show you the playlists of all your friends, and you can “subscribe” to the playlists you like and have them appear in your sidebar for listening later.
In addition to subscription to friends’ lists, sharing is quite simple as well. Just right-click on any song, click “Send to”, and you’re given the option to immediately share that song to Twitter, Facebook, or even friends on the Spotify service. Your friends can then listen to the song on Spotify and add it to their lists as well. I’ve found myself listening more to my friends’ music than my own playlists, discovering all kinds of new music, and music that I have not heard in ages via this means. Remember listening to music with your high school buddies? Now you can do so again through Spotify’s social integration.
Clicking on the “What’s New” tab not only gives me a customized view based on my listening habits of new music tailored for me, but I also get a feed of my friends’ listening activities. I can see, in real-time what all my friends are listening to and check out what they are interested in right then and there.
Clicking “What’s New” gives me a feed of what all my friends are listening to
Downloads
With a near $20/month subscription, any user of Spotify can also download any of the music streamed on the service. This way if you don’t have an internet connection later you can still listen to the music with no problem. You can even take it further though – in any friend’s list, if you swipe a box next to “Available Offline”, all of that friend’s list will download to your computer for listening later. This makes it easy to bring the entire musical experience with you no matter where you go.
Mobile App
I actually loved the service so much that I proxied the service so I could pay them the monthly fee (I had a free blogger copy) just so I could try out the iPhone app. The iPhone app provides most of the same functionality as the desktop application, and also gives you full ability to download music for listening when you don’t have a connection in the car. I’ve found the music quality on the iPhone is not quite as clear as the iPhone’s native iPod player, but it is still good, and worth using. The service is also available on Android and Symbian devices.
Spotify’s iPhone version
US Release?
Spotify currently is only available outside the United States, and to select bloggers in a limited US trial. I originally got access to the service for free, but I liked it so much I am now paying the monthly fee just to support the service. Rumors abound about a US release, but it is still unclear on when this will happen.
So, if you’re in the UK or any of the areas Spotify is available, be sure to check it out and give it a try. For those of us in the US, we’ll be stuck waiting until the US music industry gets its gear in order, contracts are signed, and we too will have the opportunity to try out the goodness that is Spotify. Spotify is the most amazing music service I’ve ever used, and I quickly find it replacing my usage of iTunes and even social streaming services like Last.fm and Pandora Radio. Spotify has revolutionized the way I listen to music. If you can, I highly recommend you check it out.
Zuck gave money to the Diaspora project. http://r2.ly/3uzm
You might expect that Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg would dismiss the four NYU college students who want to take on Facebook’s dominance of social networking by building a distributed, open alternative that includes a way for people to run their own servers.
But instead, Zuckerberg said he donated to the Diaspora project, adding to the $190,000 it has raised, in part because he appreciates their drive to change the world. (Note: This reporter followed up with Facebook’s press office Thursday to ask how much Zuckerberg donated to Diaspora, but the press office said they’d rather not answer.)
In an interview with Wired.com on Wednesday after announcing simpler privacy controls for Facebook, Zuckerberg also talked about where he sees the site going, his drive to make the world more open, why the face in Facebook is so important and why he wouldn’t start a social network if he were launching a site today.
Wired.com: What do you think of the push for an open, federated social network and the four NYU students who raised $200,000 for the Diaspora project without having a single line of code?
Zuckerberg: I donated. I think it is a cool idea.
Actually it reminds me of this cool thing we built early on called Wirehog. Early on, it was clear that users wanted more photos on the site. There were a set of users who would change their one profile picture every day. And we looked at that data and took that as people want to share more photos.
But photos are expensive and we didn’t have an infrastructure. We were just trying to grow the site and add more colleges to the site. So we built this personal web server that people could install on their computer where they could put all their files on it — which at the time were mostly photos but it supported videos and music — and share it with your friends. So in a way it was the prototypical platform app, but it was also a decentralized way to share information.
So I think it is a cool idea just based on that.
I think it is cool people are trying to do it. I see a little of myself in them. It’s just their approach that the world could be better and saying, “We should try to do it.”
(Editor’s note: Wirehog was killed off by Facebook after Facebook’s then-president Sean Parker — who co-founded Napster — argued that Wirehog would face the same ugly legal death that the infamous peer-to-peer music sharing site did. On Wednesday at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference, Parker called it “illegal” and said he “put a bullet in it.”)
In an interesting way, a lot of the privacy stuff is much easier to do in a centralized environment. Some of the simple stuff like friend-to-friend, peer-to-peer stuff is simple, but once you start getting into friends-of-friends, you start running into problems like we did with Wirehog. If someone can come up with a new approach, then [that's] awesome.
Zagg Your Way to Extra Power for USB Devices is a post from Chris Pirillo
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The people at Zagg asked me if I wanted to take a look at the ZAGGsparq.Their claim is that it is the world’s most powerful battery backup and charger. They aren’t kidding, folks. This thing packs 2000mA hours inside of it! The 6,000 mAh Lithium Polymer Battery has enough juice in it to fully charge an iPhone four times.
The ZAGGsparq plugs into a regular old wall outlet and allows you to charge two devices by way of USB while plugged in. The cool thing, though, is that it will hold charge inside when you unplug it from the wall. You can throw it into your pocket or bag and then use it to charge any personal electronic device that requires a USB plug for connectivity. It’s small and lightweight, so it’s easy to take with you when you’re traveling or attending a conference. If you fully charge your ZAGGspark before you head out for the day, you don’t have to worry about finding an outlet to recharge your gadgets while you’re busy and on the run. Just pull out the ZAGGspark and get the go-go juice you need.
The ZAGGsparq does have UK adapters in case you’re traveling abroad. There is also a lit-up indicator on the side that will tell you exactly how much juice you have left. This thing will definitely be a part of my accessory kit from now on. I’ve done reviews on what I use when I’m moving around, and this is going to be a perfect addition to the mix.
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iPad Stylus is a post from Chris Pirillo
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The application running on my iPad in this video is Penultimate. It encourages you to take notes or make sketches because your handwriting and drawing looks pretty cool in bold gel ink. Three different paper styles are available and there are several standard features you’ll need… including an eraser and full undo capability.
One very cool thing about this application is that you can keep separate notebooks for each topic you’re working on. You can have an unlimited number of notebooks, each with an infinite number of pages. Furthermore, you can easily share your projects either by single page or entire notebook.
Unfortunately, there is one serious drawback (at least in this iteration). There is no “touch-free zone.” You don’t write on real paper with your wrist dangling in the air, do you? You won’t want to do that with your iPad, either. Due to the multi-touch feature of the device, you’ll have a hard time writing for long periods of time. I’m hoping that this will be addressed in a future version. The developers are promising that they are planning to add user-requested features.
What other apps are you using on your iPad that help you get things done? Drop me a line and let me know so I can take a look at them, as well.
if you build a cool thing, people will create add-ons ~ Apps Turn Your IPhone Into an #IPad Camera Add-on ~http://bit.ly/94ThUE
[Direct Link]Google is replacing SearchWiki with stars in Google search. The stars sync with Google Bookmarks, so you can get access to them wherever you go. Once you star something, it shows up above the search results:
Pretty cool. But I discovered an extra little tip. If you go to Google Bookmarks, you can find a bookmarklet that will let you bookmark random pages as you surf. Then you can edit the bookmarks — for example, I added the words “Chrome market share” to three different metrics companies that I check each month:
The cool thing is that if your search matches the text that you added, that bookmark will show up in your search results:
This can be really handy. For example, at the start of every month I do the search [chrome market share] to bring up this blog post I did so that I can find the links to the three metrics services. But now I have those services bookmarked and I can access them right from the search results. Good stuff.
By the way, did you notice that unusual Google logo in the image above? There’s a great Chrome extension that lets you pick a custom Google logo. Right now I’m using the Google logo for the Tapati Rapa Nui festival in Chile. (Full-disclosure: a member of my team, Tiffany Lane, wrote the Chrome extension to change the Google doodle.)
Google stars for bookmarking
- Adam SherkThe 5 Most Interesting Things About Google's ReMail Acquisition http://bit.ly/9lv65D
Email startup ReMail announced this afternoon that it's been acquired by Google and there's a pretty interesting story behind this cool technology that could inspire future developments in Gmail.
The news was announced by ReMail CEO Gabor Cselle on his blog today (we learned about it first via CenterNetworks). Gabor was a former Gmail intern and was YCombinator funded. There are even more interesting elements to this story than that, though.
Sponsor
The 5 Most Interesting Things About Google's ReMail Acquisition
- Louis GrayThe 5 Most Interesting Things About Google's ReMail Acquisition
- Niklas Sjostrom
My Favorite Things: Spotify, the Social Music Streaming Service
- Niklas SjostromMy Favorite Things: Spotify, the Social Music Streaming Service
- Rob Diana