What is Spotify?

“Spotify is a new way to listen to music

Music is everywhere. Any track you like, any time you like. Just search for it in Spotify, then play it. Any artist, any album, any genre – all available instantly. With Spotify, there are no limits to the amount of music you can listen to. Just help yourself to whatever you want, whenever you want it.”

Thats what they say anyway, and there right! Spotify is probably the best free music streaming tool out there. You can pick any song that they have in their extensive library, their search tool allows you to pick an artist, song and album.

“Think of Spotify as your new music collection. Your library. Only this time your collection is vast: 8 million tracks and counting. You can create as many playlists as you like from this collection – just drag and drop the tracks you want. And because the music plays live, there’s no need to wait for downloads and no big dent in your hard drive. You can listen at any time, no matter where you are. Through your computer or your mobile phone.”

Features

Playlists

Drag and drop your favourite tracks into playlists to save them until the next time you listen. The playlists are saved to your account, and accessible from wherever you use Spotify.

Share

You share music by copying the link of a playlist or a track and send it to your friends. They open that link and – voilá – Spotify starts playing your music on their computer. Another great sharing feature is the playlist which you and your friends can manage together. Simply right-click any of your playlists, select ‘Collaborative playlist‘ and then share it. Whoever receives the collaborative playlist is now able to add or remove tracks or even rename the playlist all together. Music made simple.

Mobile music

Or even better, with Premium you can also use Spotify with your iPhone or Android where music is streamed – or saved as an offline playlists – on your mobile phone.

Offline mode

Taking your computer outside where there’s no internet? Don’t worry. With Spotify Premium, you can select which playlists are to be ‘available offline‘, and you can keep listening.

Spotify is Available Offline

Top lists

The most popular music on Spotify is regularly gathered and displayed. You can filter by individual country or just display your own personal top list. All tracks have a popularity meter that measures its total amount of recent plays.

Music purchases

If you want even more freedom, we give you the option to buy individual tracks or albums by simply clicking the Buy button. From streaming to MP3 files in seconds.

Simple search

To dive into our huge music catalogue, simply type the name of an artist, album or track and hit enter. We’ll give you the results instantly, and our automated suggester will help you remember the spelling, all to make it easy to find the music you love. If you want to be more exact in your search query, check out the advanced syntax.

Artist radio

Top artists have a dedicated radio stream (that you control using the ‘next’ button). The stream plays songs that are similar to the songs of that artist.

Use from anywhere

Your account can be used from any computer; just login with your existing username. With Premium, this works even if you’re abroad.

Biographies

The top artists include biographies from the All Music Guide and we’ve got cover arts and images for thousands of available albums.

Similar artists

Each of the top artists contain a list of other artists that are similar, giving you the ability to surf around between artists and discover new music.

So How Do i Get Spotify?

Well… there are three ways, free, day pass or premium.

Spotify Account Types

Free

“Financed by advertising, the free version of Spotify is the place where most people start. Simple to download and install, in no time at all you’ll enjoy having all the music in the world at your fingertips, instant access to whatever song you want with no restrictions, and the ability to create and share playlists with friends.”

Unfortunatly Spotify free currently is an invitation only platform where members with a premium account get so many invites for free accounts, up until recently there was a loop hole around this invitation only system but this has since been rectified and invites are a must.

Day Pass

“No recurring fees. No advertising. Just you and your favourite music. You might be planning a romantic dinner for two, or partying with friends into the early hours of the morning. A day pass is ideal for the casual Spotify user who decides that all they want right now is music.

Day pass does not give access to premium features such as mobile and higher bit rate.”

I did trial the day pass, personally it wasnt worth the 99p i paid for it at the time, all it meant was that i had no adverts dueing my listening times, the adverts play for about 1:30 and come on very 5-8 songs, now personally that isnt an issue for me, they are quite often entertaining or informative so from my point of view just dont ;P

Premium

“Spotify in its purest form. As a Spotify Premium member you’ll enjoy unlimited access to a world of great music without advertising. Plus the ability to take your music with you anywhere on your mobile phone.

With Premium you can also make your precious playlists available offline, and stream at a higher bit rate of 320kbps – so you can listen to all your favorites in hi-fidelity. You’ll also hear new albums before they’re released, get entry into exclusive ticket lotteries and VIP competitions and take advantage of unrestricted travel access. To listen to your music whenever and wherever you want, just go Premium.”

Now ontop of the free spotify platform you receive the following

Mobile music – Use Spotify on your mobile phone (iPhone, Android and Symbian devices).

If i had an iphone this would be perfect for me, unfortunatly i dont so i havent had the opportunity to test this app, maybe ill find someone who has

Offline mode – Make your playlists available for those times you don’t have an internet connection.

When i purchased a months subscription this is why i did it, its perfect, i listen to music on it at home, make a playlist, switch offline mode on then jump on a train for 2 hours and i have my music right there!

Higher sound quality – Stream music in a higher bitrate, up to 320kbps.

For those music buffs who notice the bad sound quality then Premium would be for you, instead of streaming at 128kbps Premium gives you 320kbps. Personally, not a clue what the difference is and as long as it sounds good im happy.

Travel access – Go anywhere in the world and listen to your favourite music.

Now some of the music on Spotift can only be played in certain countries with the Free and Day Pass Platforms, Premium gives you the ability to listen to the complete Spotify library with no restrictions.

Spotify Interface

Spotify Interface

Overall Opinion

Spotify is a great tool, if you can get it. With it being invitation only is is very restrictive and unless your willing to pay for premium your going to have to wait until it becomes open access. The music on there can be outdated at times, it can take upto 3 or 4 weeks before the latest UK chart songs are put on there but then again si that really an issue? Spotify has opened me upto a new world of music with its suggestions and it is almost comparable to Itunes Genius which does a similar job.

I really cant wait until i get enough money to pay for a years worth of Premium, maybe one day ill buy a monthly subscription or ask for one as a gift, at £9.99 a month is it really worth it? would it be used Would i rather have the music on my PC?

You can download Spotify From spotify.com and can either get on the waiting list for a free account or pay for premium.

A short but sweet taster for you:

The first time I ever really thought about the ‘7 deadly sins’ was watching Seven (Se7en) starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. It was one of those films that started my love affair with the thriller and horror genres of the film industry. But today I am not writing about the film industry, but a new development for Xbox Live called Party of Sin.

It has to be said, PoS looks incredibly quirky. Not only was my immediate feeling one of intrigue but I immediately sensed a detailed and somewhat retro feel behind this new development. And this probably has something to do with the team working on it.

To read the full preview and leave your feedback head over to XboxLiveAddicts.

[Show as slideshow]

The PrintBrush™ A4 is the next step of evolution to Print Dreams recently launched PrintBush 4X6 and will be by far the smallest printer device in the world that can print full size formats (A4 or letter size)

As its predecessor, it will be able to print directly onto any type of surface. It will also be completely silent allowing you to print during ongoing meetings, etc. As the PrintBrush is Bluetooth compatible this gadget is perfect for working on the go. Need to print out a contract to sign, PrintBrush it!

On top of all that, no wires, no cables, no mess!!

PrintBrush Random Movement Example

Watch here a movie of a fully functional prototype.

Preliminary product specifications

Resolution: 600dpi monochrome
Print technology: inkjet and RMPT™ Full
Max. speed: 400mm/sec
Volume: Approx. 200cc
Weight: Approx. 250gm
Interfaces: USB 2.0, Bluetooth, IRda
Power supply: rechargable Li-Ion battery

As of now the PrintBrush™ isn’t a concept, its a real product that is due to enter the market in Quarter 3 of 2010.

Read more about the PrintBrush™

It has been just over 2 weeks since I launched the @Freelancer_MP twitter campaign in conjunction The Starport.

The @Freelancer_MP campaign is supplementary to the FLCN (details on my ‘Freelancer FLCN page) and the overall objective is to help raise awareness that Freelancer as a Multiplayer game still lives on even after support was withdrawn by Microsoft. I invited Community Site Admins and Server Admins to submit to me their front page RSS feeds. These have then ‘tweeted’ out to the world to follow via an automated Feed-Tweet tool. What better way to build recognition for all the communities at once?

After 16 days, the results are as follows;

Freelancer_MP has 91 followers.

The Starport – Live – Feed recieved 24 clicks across two tweets.
Procyon Server – Live – Feed recieved 53 clicks across four tweets.
Digital Brilliance – Live – Feed recieved 37 clicks across three tweets.
Freelancer Community – Live – Feed recieved 146 clicks across 5 tweets
FFS Freelancer – Live – Feed recieved 85 clicks across 4 tweets.

Total = 345 Unique visitors across 5 sites.

These results will be published on The Starport every 2-3 days. And the campaign is still open to as many Servers and Sites that wish to join.

My own personal venture into online gaming started with Freelancer. Still considered one of the best Sim Games to grace our PC’s, even with the likes of Eve and Jumpgate Evolution out there, it was a game I was drawn to immediately. Once I had completed the single player story line, I ventured, for the first time, out and into the online part of Freelancer. At the time there was what was called the GLS (Global List Server) which listed a whole host of MS owned and privately owned Multi Player (MP) servers. I was like a kid in a candy shop… which server to play first? Each server had its own set of rules and guidelines as well as player base and emerging custom built Mods. Now there was a new term for me; short for modification(s), it basically meant that some extremely talented individuals of all ages (down to the age of 14) where taking the game apart and adding in new features, graphics, ships and missions and even attempts a building dynamic economies.

Galacticum Mod on the Banana world Server

Shattered Worlds Freelancer Server

However many consider the glory days now over. But I believe them to be wrong. Microsoft removed all support for Freelancer nearly 2 years ago. This included closing down the GLS and pulling support from what was at the time the biggest fan site; Lancers Reactor. Lancers Reactor also played host to the Starlancer fans and provided coverage for a small amount of other Space Sim Games. The biggest lose that the Freelancer Community felt was when Lancers Reactor went through a period of instability no less than 6 months after MS pulled support. Ownership changed hands time and time again, and eventually this lead a complete Database of custom built Mods, Modding Tools, Ship Packs and general player FAQ’s being lost from our sites. The community was lost floating through space.

It was at this time a group of individuals got together on a site named ‘Universal Modding’ and started to discuss what could be done for the community. There was one individual that helped bring this group together, and that was ‘Grim Reaper’. It was here; on Universal Modding that the idea and team behind The Starport was born.

The Starport

The Starport, now just turning 18 months old is considered to be the central hub of all Freelancer Modding and server related information on the internet. Since the launch it has grown to include the largest collection of Mods and tools, a Freelancer Modding Wiki and a brand new site development, nicknamed ‘TSP:2.0’. Below is an interview held with FriendlyFire, the head Administrator of The Starport.

Roo Avery:  In 20 words, tell me about the Starport.
FriendlyFire: It is one of the last strongholds of Freelancer fandom and knowledge, regrouping server admins, modders and players alike.

RA: How did The Starport come about?
FF: It was a long and rather convoluted story of which certain elements are best left unspoken, but the basis of it was that the largest fansite at the time was going through serious problems and resolution was extremely slow. As a response to this, I, Jean-Philippe Guertin (FriendlyFire) and the other founding members of The Starport, who included current staff member Gary Roberson (CheeseOnToast), as well as former administrator Kris Wingfield-Bennett (Roo Avery) and a few other good friends and Freelancer fans, decided to create an alternative fansite. We wanted something more modern, organized and fast moving, a place where feedback would actually be listened to and used to improve upon the site. In two short weeks, the site was put up in its first iteration. It grew slowly at first, but picked up pace to the point we’re at now.

RA: How long have you been involved in Freelancer?
FF: Too long to count! Nah, seriously, I’ve been playing the game ever since a few months after its release back in 2003. I can say I’ve been an active modder for about five years by now.

RA: The Starport recently opened up the first community Modding Wiki for Freelancer. Can you tell me a little about it?
FF: The Wiki is an ever-growing, never finished project which aims to be the ultimate knowledge repository for both modders and players. It’s already covering many important topics such as technical issues with the game (which have increased steeply since the release of Vista) as well as multiple modding subjects. We’re hoping to also cover things such as the storyline and the overall universe of the original game, as many mods as we can possibly find information about and of course, every single thing about modding, from adding a simple sound to rebuilding the whole game for a total conversion.

RA: With more current games like Eve, Jumpgate and even World of Warcraft and games like the newly released success, Aion; why do you think Freelancer is still attracting such a large and loyal fan base?
FF: Because there’s nothing quite like it. World of Warcraft and Aion are both fantasy-themed MMOs, which for the most part have limited appeal to the space simulation/opera crowd centered on Freelancer. EvE’s main strength is in its economy and player-ran structure, but its combat and overall “twitch” gameplay is very weak compared to Freelancer’s. On top of this, the MMO paradigm completely removes an essential part of Freelancer’s success: modding. Freelancer is based on a large number of relatively small servers which are separate from one another and which are administrated by fans of the game. As such, they are completely free to modify the game from the ground up to create a unique and engrossing experience that is completely different from the one the next server offers. It’s this diversity and ability to cater to a variety of audiences which sets Freelancer apart.

RA: There are a lot of big personalities in the Freelancer community. Who should we look out for?
FF: The Freelancer community has a lot of great names, but if I had to select a few people, I’d suggest first the one person without who The Starport probably wouldn’t exist today, Worfeh. I also consider w0dk4, administrator at Hamburg City and server modification genius, Igiss, head modder of Discovery, Cannon, another server mod genius at Discovery, as well as Soupman and DwnUndr, the founders of Freelancer Community, another fansite, SWAT-OPR8R, administrator of the fansite SWAT Portal, and bakedpotato and Turion, administrators of ReactorForge, the final large fansite.

RA: You can’t be the only behind The Starport. Tell us a little a bit about the rest of the Staff team.
FF: The Starport’s staff has changed a lot since its inception. Of the greater contributors, Worfeh comes first. He’s been our server administrator/geek since about halfway through the site’s life. He gave us the means to create and manage this site and we wouldn’t be where we are right now without him. He also was of great help during the reconstruction which gave the current site, taking care of the migration of the data and of the overall security, stability and database management of the site. You, Kris, also have significantly contributed to this site during your time as an administrator. On top of being one of the founders, you’ve been a great moderator and community manager, organizing multiple events and taking care of all the relationships and advertising for the better part of the site’s life. All of the staff, which included w0dk4, Lancer Solurus, Sushi, Hazard, CheeseOnToast, Zap, Torch, Crazy, foxUnit, Sion and others (you know who you are), have made significant contributions, too, but I can’t possibly list everyone or we’d still be here tomorrow morning. All in all, however, the point is that this site is the effort of many, not the creation of one. We wouldn’t be here without all the help we’ve had.

RA: Is there anything new coming up in the future for you and The Starport?
FF: Now that the new site is done and mostly stable, we’ll be looking into fixing bugs and small quirks that will appear over time, as well as continue polishing the whole package. One of our main goals is to further improve upon the Wiki, adding more and more information into it over time. We’re also looking forward to introducing the Mod Spotlight feature sometime in the future, which should help promoting the lesser known mods and hopefully attract more people thanks to a more diverse offering.

RA:  And finally, is Freelancer here to stay?
FF: Oh, yes! We’re not going anywhere, that’s for sure. If you haven’t tried the game, you should; it’s seriously better than drugs and just as addictive… And there’s no patch to give you a fix!

Freeworlds Tide of War Server

Even though The Starport is considered by many the central hub of Freelancer we should not forget the other community sites that strife to help keep the game alive. There is SWAT Portal and FreelancerCommunity as well as ReactorForge and Digital Brilliance. All of these sites can be found on the FLCN…

The Freelancer Community Network (FLCN) is a mutual link exchange hosted by The Starport and created by community member; w0dk4. The idea behind the FLCN is to set up a giant Freelancer community network where you can reach any Freelancer site from any other Freelancer site. And the idea is one that has been extremely successful. The network now links together over 30 sites. These include Community sites such as The Starport and SWAT Portal, Multiple Player server pages/forums and guild/clan sites. Even with so many sites and communities linked, there are still a good number not taking part. Another key example to show Freelancer is not yet dead.

Procyon Vanilla Server

Of course, there wouldn’t be a need for the FLCN or community sites if there wasn’t still a large player base and plenty of MP (multi player) servers to play on. These are run by everyday people, like you and me that simply want to share their passion for this game with the rest of the world. Being privately run, these Server Admins, Mod makers and Staff teams not only dedicate their own time to the cause, but also a great deal of money to host these servers and sites and additional costs associated to this also. To them, I take my hat of and pay my respects. Without you guys, the gaming community in general would have lost one of its little gems, although not well known to masses, well respected by the minority.

Discovery Freelancer RP 24/7

And that about wraps up my feature, I want to take time to thank FriendlyFire, Worfeh and The Starport community for helping me with this write up. I want to thank the Server Admins and Owners out there, and the other key figures of the community that keep the game alive.

Thank you for reading… and tell your friends!

Kris

WTS World Server

88 Flak

BSG Galatica Server

Topfreelancers Server

Monkey Universe Server

For further reading and information on Freelancer;
Official Freelancer Wiki
The Starport
Official Microsoft Freelancer Page

Shattered Horizon is a multiplayer first-person shooter with unique freedom of movement and realistic zero gravity combat.

Website
Genre: Multiplayer first-person shooter
Tactical shooter (gameplay involves teams capturing control points)
Science fiction shooter (set in near-Earth space 40 years from now)

Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows 7 – DirectX 10 graphics card required

Developer: Futuremark® Games StudioGame Engine and Technology:
In-house DirectX10 engine using PhysX and optimized for multi-core PCs.
(Shattered Horizon carries the NVIDIA “The Way It’s Meant To Be Played” seal)
Rating: The game has not yet been rated by ESRB, PEGI or other rating bodies.

Release date: Ready for release holiday 2009 (dependent on this summer’s technical beta – See PC News forum for more information).

Game Description:
Shattered Horizon is a multiplayer first-person shooter where players fight in zero gravity surrounded by the broken remains of orbital infrastructure and billions of tons of rocky debris thrown into orbit by a huge explosion on the Moon.
With simple and intuitive controls players have complete freedom of movement, making full use of the distinctive environment to control the battle. Shattered Horizon rewards players with gameplay and tactics impossible in games constrained by gravity.
Stunning lighting effects and zero gravity physics give the look and feel of real space, bringing to life an extraordinary and epic vision of the future.

Back Story:
Man is back on the Moon and the companies that took him there are reaping huge profits. Their greed soon leads to the largest mining accident in history, when an explosion throws billions of tons of rocky debris into near-Earth space. Fragments of the Moon settle around the Earth and become known as the Arc.
With Earth surrounded by debris there’s little chance of rescue or return. Survivors on the Moon are forced into conflict with those trapped on the battered International Space Station. Control of the Arc means the difference between survival and death in the cold of space.

Game Modes:
Battle:
In Battle two teams compete to capture control points and dominate the map. Teams must defend their own control points while attacking the enemy’s.
Assault:
Assault is a turn-based control point capture game. Teams take turns attacking and defending. Control points cannot be recaptured by the defending team once lost. The attacking team must capture all control points in order to win the round.
Skirmish:
Skirmish is a team deathmatch game mode. At the end of the round, the final score determines the winning team.

Plus much more. The above list is ready for the Closed Beta!

Design principles:
The real space setting of Shattered Horizon offers gameplay, tactics and freedom of movement that cannot be found in any other shooter.
Simple and intuitive controls let you take full advantage of the distinctive zero gravity environment.
A sci-fi game you can believe in. Shattered Horizon uses real-world technology and physics as the basis for a fun and accessible game.
Astonishing visuals combined with functional art design immerse you in the cold reality of combat in space.