Category: Software
Try Spotify – the best digital music service in the world – from anywhere in the world
Spotify, the steaming service that’s by FAR my favourite piece of software of 2008, is currently invite-only and limited to UK, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Spain and France. However, there’s a sneaky way of getting in anyway, that TechCrunch spotted in a Digg comment.
It’s pretty simple. Visit a proxy site, like DaveProxy, and from there, go to this URL. Sign up with a UK postcode (how about the BBC’s postcode: W12 7RJ), and you’re all set. The best on-demand digital music service out there is yours. Try it out, and share a playlist in the comments below. I’ll start you off with my Best of 2008.
Oh, and if you have problems with accessing the site after 14 days, then FileShareFreak’s got you sorted out. More proxy fun.
Spotify Signup (via TechCrunch)
Related posts: Spotify – stream all the music you could ever want | Last.fm music service comes to Vodafone
Internet Explorer browser usage dives below 70%, Firefox hits 20%
It’s no secret that internet browser Firefox has been one of the shining lights of the open source movement, taking market share from Microsoft in a way that Linux hasn’t ever quite been able to. Well, in November last year, usage of Internet Explorer dipped below 70% for the first time in a decade, and Firefox’s market share rose above 20%.
At its peak in 2003, Internet Explorer was running on nearly 94.5% of the world’s internet-using computers. Since then, however, usage has steadily declined, due to endless bugs and security vulnerabilities leading to poor public perception of the software.
Merry Christmas extremely bored men – Windows 7 beta hits the torrent sites
If you haven’t already had ENOUGH of BLOODY WINDOWS after having Vista forced down your throat and onto your hard drive, you may now start worrying about driver incompatibilities anew – Windows 7 has been leaked.
The Beta 1 build of the next MS OS, which has been reviewed very favourably by a man here and is scheduled for a much wider beta test early next year – has popped up on Bittorrent for downloading. A good 20,000 or so users are currently nicking Windows 7 off Mininova, with a similar number taking it just because it’s there and is a nice thing to have from The Bay.
Those links are for information purposes only, by the way…
Apple giving away music and downloads during the iTunes 12 Days of Christmas
Apple’s 12 Days of Christmas campaign is eating away at 2008’s profitability figures by giving away one free iTunes download a day between December 26 and January 6th.
The songs and TV shows, some of which may be by people you’ve even heard of and are interested in, will pop up on the site each day, along with some interesting facts about the material in question, which may come in handy if you’re planning on attending a Christmas pub quiz.
You don’t get a choice. Today’s is ‘Video EP’ by Jason Mraz.
The idea is no doubt meant to promote edgy new artists you otherwise wouldn’t bother listening to on the radio for free…
Textecution – an extremely clever mobile app that stops you texting while you're driving
So, go on then, guess how a mobile phone app can tell if you’re driving or not? Speed of texting? Pauses while texting? More errors than usual? Drastic directional adjustments detected by the iPhone’s accelerometer as you hastily steer away from the bus stop, off the pavement and back onto the road?
Nope – Texecution uses GPS to locate the position of your phone, and therefore you, deactivating the phone’s SMS features when you seem to be moving at more than 10mph.
There is, of course, an override function for when you’re a passenger, on buses and trains, or running really fast…
PSYSTAR SAGA: Company claims Apple never copyrighted OS X
Quick recap for the slow: Psystar is a company that makes “Hackintoshes”, PCs that can (and do) run OS X. For the entirety of its life, the company has been plagued with legal problems from Apple, and it filed a number of lawsuits in response, including one that alleges antitrust issues and an illegal monopoly on the sales of Mac hardware.
Last month, a judge threw out all these claims, and Psystar was given 20 days to come up with something better. Today, they’ve tried to do just that, filing the rather strange claim that Apple failed to register the copyrights on OS X properly.
Nokia expands Ovi beta – adds 12 languages, tweaks sign-ups and promises web mail portal
It’s pretty obvious to anyone who’s ever tried to set up a POP3 email account on a mobile phone that there’s a GAPING HOLE in the market for a simple, decent mobile email service that (a) works and (b) your dad can set up on his own without having to spend five hours on the phone to Nokia, Carphone Warehouse and, inevitably, you.
It’s a gap Nokia hopes its Mail on Ovi mobile service will ably fill. The Ovi mail beta has been expanded to include 12 languages, with the simple Series 40 app allowing mobile users from those 12 bits of the world to set up new Ovi email accounts directly on their handsets…
G2 (and G3!) rumours surface, debate over release date
It’s no secret that, badass as the T-Mobile G1 is, it’s not a perfect device. The keyboard’s a little clunky, the GPS is a bit iffy from time to time, and there’s a fair bit of functionality missing out of the gate. That said, it’s the closest competitor we’ve had to the iPhone’s dominance, so many people are praying for a decent second iteration of the device.
I have little doubt that the rumours that surfaced over the weekend owe more to that yearning than any factual reality. First off, a site called CellPhone Signal posted a specs list for a “G2” that seems plausible, but tacked on a deeply unrealistic release date of January 26th.
New York goes photorealistic in Google Earth
Now isn’t that pretty? It’s how New York looks in Google Earth. Every building on Manhattan Island has now been meticulously mapped out and covered with photographic textures. It joins LA, San Francisco, and Berlin. When’s London due, eh?
Want to fly around the Big Apple yourself? Simply download Google Earth, fly to New York City, and turn on the 3D buildings layer. Then give it a minute to download the data, and Bob’s your uncle. You’ll need to buy him a Christmas present. Click over the jump for a ‘before’ picture of how the city looked in January last year.
Cram OS X on your netbook – compatibility chart
Okay, hold up. You know that netbook of yours? With the tiny screen, and CD drive? What you wanna do with that, right, is put a banging donk on it. And once you’ve finished, you might think about installing OS X.
Rob Beschizza over at BoingBoing Gadgets has put together an awesome compatibility chart of which bits work with which netbooks on OS X.
Of course, it goes without saying that you’re going to need a dodgy copy of OS X, and you’ll need to be pretty comfortable with using the command line, too. The best little machines for the job? The Dell Mini 9 and the MSI Wind.
Related posts: Apple exec unintentially leaks new OS X ‘Snow Leopard’ release date | Psystar clones Apple again with OS X ready OpenServe 1100 and 2400
