Spotify working on mobile app and more

Online music service Spotify is hoping to launch a mobile version and expand to the US by the end of the year.

The streaming service, which lets fans listen to more than three million tracks legally and for free, has gained more than a million users in the UK.

Speaking about the plan to go mobile, Spotify founder Daniel Ek said: "We want to be everywhere. We won't only do one device."

But fans would have to pay to put Spotify in their pockets, he revealed.

Speaking at The Great Escape music conference in Brighton, Mr Ek said the mobile offering would only be available to subscribers.

"Portability is an important aspect, [as is] interoperability with other devices," he said.

"That's definitely something we think is a premium product that people are willing to pay for - being able to bring the music with you or being able to have it working on your stereo."

The company is working on an iPhone application, but also wants to make the service available on other handsets, he said.

"I definitely hope that it will be before the end of this year that we'll do something which allows people to bring the music with them."

The company is also expected to announce a deal with fellow streaming site Last.fm to provide song recommendations, making it easier for fans to find acts they like. If you haven't checked out last.fm you really should. It's fantastic for recommending music you might like, gigs you should go to and much more. Us guys here at crab have been huge fans of both Spotify and last.fm since their launch and thoroughly recomment you take a look at them.

Thanks to the BBC for the above arrival, to read on some more please follow this link

Music or is it?

Old Masters, new tricks

Hockney is using the iPhone to create mini art.

Come on Nokia et al, put your thinking caps on and try to develop something that has the appeal, flexibility, charm and robustness of the iPhone.

In the Crab studio we come across a new and inventive way of using the iPhone on a daily basis. From musical instruments to decesion making apps.

I use it to keep track of the websites we look after, to communicate via text, email, voice and VIOP, to entertain myself and my 3 year old.

This is truly the tri-corder of our times. I am looking forward to the release of the latest OS.

Twitterific, is fantastic

All of my mates are fed up with me banging on about Twitterific for the iPhone, but I don't care.

It used to have a fixed spot on my iPhone Springboard, it had a great look and was wonderfully easy... too easy. Once I got into Twitter a little more I needed an app to handle a few more of my Twitter needs. Tweetie fore filled these needs - but cost me - and Twitterific got bunked off. Now Twitterific is back! It's still got it's sexy black look but now has a host of new features. My two favourites being the Tweet sound it makes when it updates, and the conversation thread feature.

Check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Geotags for iPhone is a good start

Geotags is a free map-based application for the iPhone. Its purpose is to keep a geographic diary of sorts, letting you mark maps with tagged information you'll want to explore again.

You can geotag your car so you can find it again, or a favorite hunting location, or a cave. I tested the app by recording some favorite spots in a nearby state park that were good photographic locations.

It's a bit like Places in iPhoto, but it is portable. You can add photos to geotags, or an audio clip (2 minutes max recording time for each clip) that describes it, and of course some written notes.

Once you have built up a database of tags, it can all be exported to Google Earth for sharing with friends, or just to use yourself.

Thanks to TUAW for the above!

iphone app store

We told you so. We predicted it, we knew it was coming, we told everyone but did they listen... Hell yeah!

Over 500 applications on launch day and more coming. This will be the platform for the next 5 years. We are seeing the same development and tech going into the iphone as we did with the ipod. Can Jobs do no wrong?

Yes he can.

What was he thinking about when Jobsy and Ives developed the Mac Book Air. Please give us a real 12" Mac Book Pro something that has grunt. But most importantly has shrunk in the important dimensions. The 15" MacBook Pro I use is only an inch thick I do not need a thinner laptop, I need one that is less wide and deep!