Month: September 2009

Gawker, the popular news aggregator network, has launched an aggregator for its internal sites. Users can specify what topics from each network they wish to see, and then they are given a unique url with that content aggregated.

There are two places news will be consumed in the future, editorially aggregated sites like Gawker, or The Huffington Post and machine aggregated platforms like Techmeme and Google News. Gawker Hybrid appears to be a splendid blend of the benefits of both worlds.

You can sign in via Facebook Connect, or your Gawker profile – and then you’re instantly presented with an easy to customize view:

Customizing my Gawker Experience

This is a very cool idea. Don’t let others do the aggregating for you and give readers just what they want — do it yourself.

LONDON (Reuters) – Spotify, the much-hyped European digital music service, has secured a deal to launch a mobile offering on Apple’s iPhone, iPod Touch and phones using the Android platform, it said on Monday.

Sweden’s Spotify said a mobile application was now available for its premium subscribers in the UK, Sweden, Spain, France and Norway on the three devices, and in Finland for owners of the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The application will allow premium users to access millions of tracks from the service, previously only available via a computer, wherever they go.

Spotify has won plaudits from the music industry, which has been hammered by piracy, for offering a better and smoother alternative to illegal sites. It has more than 6 million users in Europe and over 5 million tracks available.

Users of the service can either listen to music for free and in exchange for watching adverts, or pay a premium fee of 9.99 pounds ($16.37) a month to avoid the ads.

“This is a hugely significant day in Spotify’s short history,” said Gustav Söderström, director of portable solutions at Spotify. “Since our launch last October, we’ve worked hard to provide our users with a high quality service that gives them access to whatever music they want, whenever they want it.”

(Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Rupert Winchester)

More From Reuters:

• Ex-Google China chief to fund Chinese tech start-ups
• Vietnam frees blogger ahead of Australia visit
• Vietnam bloggers arrested over China shirt protest
• Amazon offers to replace deleted copies of 1984

More from wired.com:

• Apple Approves Spotify iPhone App; US Rollout Still On Hold
  
• Spotify Approved: Does Apple Care More About Apps Than Music
  
• U.S. Exclusive: Hands-On with the Spotify iPhone App
• Ka-shing! Spotify Investors Include Chinese Billionaire
  
• Spotify $50 Million Closer to U.S. Launch
• Note To Music Industry: Portability Is Key to Spotify Profits
  
• Spotify Becomes Platform, Makes U.S. Music Fans Even More Jealous
  

Why not in North America?