Facebook To Launch Music Service With Spotify

Facebook has partnered with Spotify on a music-streaming service that could be launched in as little as two weeks, sources close to the deal have told Forbes.

The integrated service is currently going through testing, but when launched, Facebook users will see a Spotify icon appear on the left side of their newsfeed, along with the usual icons for photos and events.

Clicking on the Spotify icon will install the service on their desktop in the background, and also allow users to play from Spotify’s library of millions of songs through Facebook. The service will include a function that lets Facebook users listen to music simultaneously with their friends over the social network, one of the sources said.

The partnership is another indication of how Facebook is moving towards becoming a hub for media like movies and music. Last March for instance, Warner Bros. announced it would make movies available to stream and rent through Facebook using Facebook credits.

It has yet to be decided if the new service will be called “Facebook Music” or “Spotify on Facebook,” but it will only be available for Facebook users in countries where Spotify has a presence, excluding the all-important United States.

While news reports have suggested some success to Spotify’s recent negotiations with music labels about bringing its streaming service to the U.S., those talks are still ongoing. Once completed, however, Facebook’s Spotify will be launched Stateside too.

A Spotify spokesperson claimed to have no knowledge of the new music deal with Facebook: “We have a Facebook integration. We’re continuously working with them to make that as good as it can be. But that’s the extent of our relationship.” Spotify’s co-founder Daniel Ek did not wish to comment.

Spotify already has Facebook Connect integrated into its own desktop interface, allowing users to see what their friends on Facebook are listening to, and opt to have music choices show up on their news feeds. The new service on the Facebook platform will have similar social features.

No money is changing hands with this partnership, but the benefits to both are obvious: Facebook gets the music service it has wanted for years, having reached out to the likes of Last.FM and others way back in 2008. And while Spotify won’t get a cut of Facebook’s ad revenue, it will reach millions more users, offering them the option of its premium service which costs £10 per month in the U.K. and 10 euros in parts of continental Europe like France, Spain and the Netherlands. Spotify has a free service, but it only allows 10 hours worth of listening time per month.

The partnership with Spotify signifies how Facebook is flexing its muscles in the media space, offering services that keep people within the social network, rather than scouring other parts of the web for content. With movies and now music being integrated into the social network, TV shows are bound to find their way in too, as people become more inclined to consume their content in a social way. (Why listen to a great new song by yourself when you can hear it with your friends too?)

Facebook initiated this social aspect of entertainment with social gaming, to the benefit of some games developers. Zynga, which makes the wildly popular social gaming app FarmVille, is now a $10 billion company on the road to an IPO, in large part because of its successful integration with Facebook. Spotify will be looking capitalize on Facebook in a similar way.

The company’s challenge till now has been raising money through advertising and premium subscriptions, to offset the costs of royalty streaming payments to the big four music labels: Sony BMG, Universal Music, Warner Music and EMI. Hopping onto the platform of Facebook should significantly boost its chance of picking up more paid-for subscribers. As the service gets licensed in more countries like the U.S., Facebook will help it compete with other existing music services like Shazam and Last.FM with a unique social element.

Facebook and Spotify share a number of investors: billionaire Li Ka Shing has a stake in Facebook and Spotify. Yuri Milner’s DST Global, which owns roughly 10% of Facebook, is also in negotiations to buy a stake in Spotify. Facebook’s founding president and Napster founder Sean Parker, sits on the board of Spotify.

Facebook’s ability to stream music will also fulfil a long-held dream of Mark Zuckerberg, who was working on a music streaming service around the same time he was first developing Facebook in the dorm rooms of Harvard. Zuckerberg, who has publicly professed his admiration for Spotify, launched a peer-to-peer file-sharing service called Wire Hog in 2004, which was designed to sit on top of Facebook like a software application. Sean Parker allegedly killed the service, which was thought to be ahead of its time.

forbes.com

The Future of Vespa?

The monocoque body of designer Niklas Wagner’s Vespa concept combines the classic curves of the “twist & go” scooter with modern minimalism, creating a futuristic look and feel that also gives a nod to its origins.

The instrument cluster has also been revamped in a recessed LED display but reflects the simplicity of the classic chrome and transparent plastic style on the original dash.

Designer: Niklas Wagner

Happiness !

Happiness doesn't depend on any external conditions,
it is governed by our mental attitude.

Dale Carnegie

Coming to a Store near you, maybe !

Sense of Freshness....

A while ago a new supermarket opened in Topeka, KS. It has an automatic water mister to keep the produce fresh. Just before it goes on, you hear the sound of distant thunder and the smell of fresh rain. When you pass the milk cases, you hear cows mooing and you experience the scent of fresh mowed hay. In the meat department there is the aroma of charcoal grilled steaks with onions. When you approach the egg case, you hear hens cluck and cackle, and the air is filled with the pleasing aroma of bacon and eggs frying. The bread department features the tantalizing smell of fresh baked bread and cookies.

Sly Lamp

This pendant luminaire, designed by Ding 3000 for online design retailer SKITSCH, is the latest member of the mega-successful family of 2D LED lamps.
Like the original table and floor lamps, the shape mocks traditional lamp forms.
The structure is deceivingly bare and even looks unfunctional, but recessed into its framework are inconspicuous strips of bright LED lights.
A clever design that’s sure to make a great conversation piece.

Designer: Ding 3000

Anger !

Anger is a killing thing.
It kills the man who angers.
For each rage leaves him less than he had been before.
It takes something from him.
From : Louis L'Amour

Sport Bike Expands Mobility

The WISB handbike is a result of the combined advantages of adaptive bikes and recumbent bikes that expands the limits of users with restricted or no leg-function.

One part agile wheelchair and one part sport bike, the WISB gives users the option to toggle between “high mode” for indoor use and comfortable city driving, or “low mode” for cross-country trips and long distance riding.

Controllable power settings and improved aerodynamics make this handbike perfect for both indoor or outdoor use.

Designer: Bär Claudia

How to remain young

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay them. 2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down. (Keep this in mind if you are one of those grouches ;) 3. Keep learning: Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain get idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's! 4. Enjoy the simple things. 5. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is &َ Always Remember God 6. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and Lots of time with HIM /HER . 7. The tears happen: Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. LIVE while you are alive.. 8. Surround yourself with what you love: Whether it's family, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge. 9. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help. 10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

Sea levels set to rise by up to a metre: report

SYDNEY (AFP) – Sea levels are set to rise by up to a metre within a century due to global warming, a new Australian report said Monday as it warned this could make "once-a-century" coastal flooding much more common.

The government's first Climate Commission report said the evidence that the Earth's surface was warming rapidly was beyond doubt.

Drawn from the most up-to-date climate science from around the world, the report said greenhouse gas emissions created by human industry was the likely culprit behind rising temperatures, warming oceans, and rising sea levels.

Its author Will Steffen said while the report had been reviewed by climate scientists from Australian science body the CSIRO, the Bureau of Meteorology and academics, some judgments, including on sea levels, were his own.

"I expect the magnitude of global average sea-level rise in 2100 compared to 1990 to be in the range of 0.5 to 1.0 metre," Steffen said in his preface to "The Critical Decade".

He said while this assessment was higher than that of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change in 2007, which was under 0.8m, it was not inconsistent with the UN body which had said higher values were possible.

"We're five years down the track now, we know more about how those big ice sheets are behaving," Steffen told reporters.

"In part we have some very good information about the Greenland icesheet. We know it's losing mass and we know it's losing mass at an increasing rate.

"So that's telling us that we need to extend that upper range a bit towards a metre. Now there are commentators who say it should be even higher than that."

The report said a sea-level rise of 0.5m would lead to surprisingly large impacts, with the risk of extreme events such as inundations in coastal areas around Australia's largest cities of Sydney and Melbourne hugely increased.

Steffen said in some instances, a one-in-a-hundred year event could happen every year.

"The critical point is we have to get emissions turned from the upward trajectory to the downward trajectory by the end of this decade at the very latest," he said.

"We have to make investment decisions this decade to put us on that long-term trajectory that minimises the cost to our economy."

The report found that Australia, prone to bushfires, drought and cyclones, had also likely felt the impact of rising temperatures in recent years.

In the last five decades the number of record hot days in Australia had more than doubled, increasing the risk of heatwaves and bush fire weather, it said.

Chair of the Climate Commission Tim Flannery said the evidence was becoming more convincing year by year that humans were changing the climate.

"In Australia we are seeing the impacts more clearly, we've seen the sea level rise that was predicted, we've seen the decline in rainfall continue particularly in the southwest of Western Australia, we've seen impacts on the Great Barrier Reef and so forth," he told reporters.

"This is the decade we have to act."

Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who is struggling in the polls as she seeks to introduce a carbon tax to place a price on industry's production of greenhouse gas emissions, seized on the report.

"We don't have time for false claims in this debate. The science is in, climate change is real," she said.

by Madeleine Coorey

Printed Animals T-Shirts

Welcome to Our 21st Century!

Our communication	-	Wireless
Our phones	-	Cordless
Our cooking	-	Fireless
Our food	-	Fatless
Our Sweets	-	Sugarless
Our labor	-	Effortless
Our relations	-	Fruitless
Our attitude	-	Careless
Our feelings	-	Heartless
Our politics	-	Shameless
Our education	-	Worthless
Our Mistakes	-	Countless
Our arguments	-	Baseless
Our youth	-	Jobless
Our Ladies	-	Topless
Our Boss	-	Brainless
Our Jobs	-	Thankless
Our Needs	-	Endless
Our situation	-	Hopeless
Our Salaries	-	Less and less

YouTube - Little Robins.mov

YouTube - Little Robins.mov

YouTube - HD Timelapse movie in spring cherry blossom season

YouTube - HD Timelapse movie in spring cherry blossom season

Unusual usb sticks !

Curious, Funny Photos / Pictures

Sharks Swimming in Australia's Flooded Streets

Flood victims in Australia have a new danger to contend with -- sharks swimming down their streets, according to a report in The Queensland Times.

Bull sharks have been observed swimming past a McDonald's restaurant, past a butcher's shop, and around other places in Goodna, a suburb of the city of Ipswich, Australia.

"It’s definitely a first for Goodna, to have a shark in the main street," Paul Tully, Ipswich councilor for the Goodna region, said in the Queensland Times report.

Sharks Can Be Identified By Their Bite Marks

Bull sharks are known for their unpredictable and often aggressive behavior, so their presence in populated areas is a concern.

They are the third most likely shark to attack humans, according to NOAA Fisheries.

Several fatal unprovoked attacks in the United States alone have occurred over the years.

The sharks are part of the aftermath of significant flooding that occurred in many areas of Queensland during late December 2010 and early January 2011.

According to the Queensland Government web page, three quarters of the state was declared a disaster zone.

Previously we told you how the floods unleashed crocodiles, snakes, poisonous spiders and other potentially dangerous species into the region.

It makes sense that bull sharks would also find their way into the Goodna city streets, since they were previously spotted in sections of the Bremer River.

Fishermen there are said to regularly catch them from the Goodna boat ramp.

Sharks Can Become Invisible

"Bull sharks have been in Goodna for a long time in the Bremer," confirmed Tully. "They are regularly in the Brisbane River and often swim up.

I know a number of fishermen who have caught bull sharks."

To get to Goodna's main street, he said the sharks must have swam well over a mile from the river.

They then crossed Evan Marginson Park and the local highway there.

This would have been unthinkable during drier days, but the flood waters have made this bizarre travel route possible.

This week, Goodna was contending with over 26 feet of water in normally populated areas.

As if the water, sharks, crocodiles and other threats weren't enough, a flammable gas leak caused further chaos there recently, leading to even more evacuations.

The gas leak was due to ruptured underground storage tanks at gas stations near the St. Ives shopping center.

The sharks certainly weren't deterred by the leak.

They were seen swimming down Williams Street, which goes right by the shopping center.

Analysis by Jennifer Viegas

Tech: Flying Car Takes Off : Video : Discovery News

Tech: Flying Car Takes Off : Video : Discovery News

Dirt, Voices Recharge Mobile Phones !

Recently my dog chewed my mobile phone charger.

The Sony Ericsson phone I own has an unconventional, uncommon connection that is now difficult to find in any store (thanks, Sony).

Yes, I was able to order a new one online (actually, I ordered two), but even with a rush shipment of one to three days (the fastest offered), I knew that my phone would die prematurely.

I'm still waiting for it, so don't try to call. It'll go right to voice.

How timely it was that I saw these two pieces of research announced that describe innovative ways to charge a mobile phone.

TOP 5: Places to Harvest Energy from Action

First, there's dirt. Aviva Presser Aiden of Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has developed a phone charger that gets it power from microbes in soil.

It turns out that soil microbes produce free electrons during the normal course of munching on and digesting soil.

Her simple and inexpensive device has a conductive surface and a cathode that captures the electrons and shuttles them to battery.

The device could be perfect for people living in areas not connected to an electrical grid, such as Sub Saharan Africa.

Aiden recently won a $100,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to take the idea to its next level.

NEWS: Cell Phones Powered by Conversations

But why resort to dirt, when you could just blab and blab and blab and automatically charge your phone?

A team in South Korea is working on way to harvest energy from the tiniest movements and vibrations generated by people breathing, walking or talking.

The researchers propose using the zinc oxide fibers that expand and contract when they vibrate. The expanding and contracting generates a charge, which is captured and stored in a battery.

Analysis by Tracy Staedter