That's right, Mozilla is attempting to break a Guinness World Record for the most downloads in 24 hours with its upcoming Firefox 3 release.
"Download Day" is nothing new for the Firefox crew, and it's really a great way to spread the word to the world about software. Sure, people can download things whenever they want, but there's something cool about all doing it at once...it's like Hands Across America. Except it has little to do with hands, and it's global. You get the idea.
So how can you participate?
Good answer, glad you asked!
Go pledge to download the final release of Firefox 3 by signing up here. Don't worry, none of the Sopranos will come out and break your kneecaps if you don't really download it, they just want to get an idea of who is game.
The date of release hasn't been well...released yet, so be sure to bookmark that page and pay attention to this space for more details.
Quick Firefox stats:
Since 2004, the Firefox community has grown to more than 175 million users.
Firefox is available in more than 45 languages and used in more than 230 countries.
A job posting on Gamasutra suggests Amazon will soon start a PC game download store to compliment Unbox, its video-on-demand service, and the site's MP3 download store. The job posting asks programmer/engineers to apply to become a part of the Software and Video Games Digital Technology Team at Amazon, which is "responsible for digital distribution of software and video game products from the Amazon website, including the newly launched Amazon Software Download store."
The job posting itself is unsurprising as Amazon recently launched the software branch of its download services, but the job post includes the bit about the distribution of "video game products," which is currently not happening at the Amazon Software Download Store. The only software presently available from the very new service is unfortunately tax software.
But fear not! We're sure a few competent souls will apply, molding the new service into a very happy reality for those of us that hate visiting and supporting major retail stores like Best Buy and Circuit City.
The UK's Omnifone will be the "first" company to offer unlimited, free music to all mobile handsets branded with the "MusicStation" name. LG will be the first to release a MusicStation Max phone, which will become available in the first half of 2008 to European and Asian-Pacific regions.
The new phone, announced at the World Mobile Congress, will likely include a touchscreen plus a pull-out keyboard (to hopefully compliment a decent amount of flash memory). What's unlimited music worth if you can't actually download it?
Omnifone's music selection includes about 1.6 million songs from the four major labels and other countless smaller record companies. Also, if you happen to snag one of these but happen to drop it in a pool, don't worry! Omnifone keeps a list of all the music you downloaded if you happen to damage your handset.
Through our posts about Pandora and Google Hacks, our insightful readers have pointed us towards Skreemr, an mp3 search engine that actually doesn't use Google for its results. Skreemr says that they check their mp3 links to make sure they work, and they utilize "AudioRank" which helps rank results to ensure the highest quality, full-length songs are at the top of the list.
The Skreemr search page has a keyword search button and a similar artists search which is very useful for finding new music. A standard search results page provides detailed info for the mp3's returned: direct-download link, file size and duration, artist lyrics, and links to Wikipedia, Amazon, Gruvr, and Flickr for artist-related information.
Skreemr also provides an embedded Flash player so you can immediately play your search results without downloading the files. You can also build a playlist with different search results, but that functionality seemed sluggish.
After about three years of preparing and attempting to get into the digital music business, Target is finally offering digital music (320kbps MP3) for download. Currently the only album available is the latest John Legend album "Live From Philadelphia" with SonyBMG as the label. The album is a Target exclusive, so you'll need to shop there if you're lookin' to score the latest of Legend, but it's also available in-store in CD format . The 19-track set will run you $10 online, which is a steal for so much music.
Though it may seem like the digital-download market is starting to get crowded with new services popping up all the time, there's still a lot of room for major iTunes competitors to surface. It's also nice to have options when it comes to shopping. The digital-download market is no exception, so we gladly welcome Target to the new frontier.
Things are changing over at Microsoft Download Center, as the new beta introduces Microsoft's take on Flash, Silverlight. That means if you want to check out the beta for yourself, you'll have to download the Silverlight plug-in in order to actually see the site - which from a usability perspective is never much fun.
Then again, people didn't really mind downloading Flash. Nitpicks aside, the website, if you can still call it that ("rich interactive application" anyone?), does look a lot prettier from a cosmetic standpoint than its current counterpart. It is also a lot tidier - the width of the experience has been reduced as well as the feeling of claustrophobia you would get from the regular version has been alleviated. All the text and boxes have proper breathing room now, and are quite easy on the eyes.
It does make one wonder if all of this couldn't have been done with a little bit of CSS instead? Sure you might have to exchange some of the very smooth eyecandy with something slightly more utilitarian - but it could be done. But, of course, Microsoft needs to show off its baby. It's probably safe to assume that once the final version releases that Microsoft will use it as a staging platform to really push Silverlight and try to take a bite out of Flash market share.
Tunestor is a Firefox and IE extension that allows music downloaders to add mp3 files from the web to iTunes in just two clicks. Normally, this takes a few more steps. You have to start the download of the song through a browser, and then you have to choose where to save the file. Finally, you have to wait for the file to finish downloading, which is when you add it to iTunes.
Yes, it's quite a bit of work for just a few songs off Seeqpod.com, which is why Tunestor reduces the process down to "right click" then "Download Directly to iTunes." If you're going to use this tool to download copyrighted files, keep in mind that it's illegal if you don't own the song. With that said, if you'd like to test Tunestor, you can download it from the official Tunestor site.
Tunestor is Windows only, and its biggest flaw is that it downloads files automatically to the My Music directory. If you don't like that, too bad. You can't change it.
Considering that it hasn't even been three months since Amazon's digital music store opened shop, that's pretty damn good. With Pepsi joining Amazon to give away free MP3s, word of Amazon's new DRM-free store will only spread. Silicon Valley Insider suggests Amazon must be reaching a mainstream audience if Fergie is a top seller at both Amazon and iTunes.
While many find switching download services a hassle, we would strongly recommend taking Amazon's MP3 Download store for a test drive. The Amazon software can be configured to automatically add any music you buy to iTunes, and, best of all, the music comes DRM-free in a relatively high quality MP3 format, allowing Amazon's customers to do whatever they want with their music. Besides, DRM sucks and shouldn't be supported. Isn't that reason enough?
DivShare, which we have covered before, is not just another online storage site. It lets users upload and download unlimited files, and also well as offers a Facebook application and a power uploading tool. They have now released a no download web document viewer.
Even though we love downloads at Download Squad, keeping things online sure does have its remotely accessible benefits, and that's just what DivShare is doing with their flash based web document viewer. The new tool allows for viewing all types of documents from videos, photos and audio material anywhere. These documents can either be kept private, or embedded in websites, blogs or social networks.
Also released into the DivShare stables is a new iPhone app that allows for searching, downloading and emailing DivShare files straight from Apple's device. There will also be a few other specialty items getting released this week, including a Facebook collaboration tool, developer API and private label video players. If you haven't checked out what DivShare can offer your unlimited file storage needs, now could be the time.
Yahoo! launched Widget badges today. In keeping with the Yahoo Widgets desktop and Konfabulator theme, the newly developed widgets bring what was previously only offered on the desktop to the web for easy downloading and installing.
With Yahoo! Widget Badges users can now embed download badges into their website, social network or blog through a custom HTML code. These new widgets can then be installed, updated and opened directly on the website they are embedded in, so there is no leaving the website for any installation purposes. The in-page installer makes it easier for people to grab information and applications without the hassle of downloading and then installing directly on the desktop. Yahoo! sees this move as one that will break the barrier that widgets have faced as desktop software, and grow their audience while making it a more advantageous development platform.
GirlSense is one of the first companies to get Widget badges up and running. Take a look at how the badge can be blended into the website so as to not seem distracting or out of place. Users must have the Yahoo! Widgets application running on their computers for the badges to work.
UPDATE: Yahoo! has let us know that users do not need to install Yahoo! Widgets in order to take advantage of the Widget badges.
In an effort to get back in to the number three spot, Amazon has announced that they will begin selling MP3's next month.
Apple stole the number three spot away from Amazon, but Amazon has plans to get it back. The online store will soon be offering songs in MP3 format, giving consumers that extra choice with hopes that will boost their bottom line. The alternative to iTunes is said be launching sometime in September.
Wal-Mart is currently the largest seller of music, with Best Buy tucked in the second spot and Apple in third.
Mozilla is jumping on the 'back to school' bandwagon to ensure that students get the most out of their online experience with a new "Firefox Campus Edition" download.
Announced last week, the Campus Edition of Firefox comes bundled with a few extras including:
FoxyTunes - allows you to control almost all media players, find videos, CD covers, videos, band bios all within Firefox.
StumbleUpon - browse the web and find websites, videos, images all based on your interests.
Zotero - collects, manages and cites research sources from within Firefox.
All these tools help students with productivity and mostly allow them to engage more with their favorite web browser. Check out the Firefox Campus Edition download here, and get set to get those computers ready. And hey, if you are already in school, download away and get on with the rest of your semester with Mozilla's help.
BitTorrent is coming to mobile phones, so get ready to download on the go. uTorrent mUI is a new web user interface that can remotely control torrent downloads.
Slyck has a first look at the application which they installed and ran on a Palm TX Handheld. The uTorrent mUI has a basic feature set that can control and monitor your µTorrent application including pausing, stopping, starting and killing an idle download.
uTorrent mUI is an open source application that is still in its infancy, and can be downloaded at utorrentmui.com.
While the recording industry may be in the doghouse, that hasn't stopped Japanese pop princess Utada Hikaru from claiming a new record for the most digital downloads in the world with her latest single 'Flavor of Life'. Hikaru has managed over 7 million downloads across all formats since February, which isn't bad going especially seeing as that it's unlikely that many people outside of Japan would be able to point her out in a police lineup, let alone buy her single.
While the figures may be impressive, the metrics for this record are a little hazy, included are all digital products including mobile downloads, ringtones, Internet downloads, video clip downloads and ringback tones, giving the smiley pop star a bit of an edge in the race for the download record. Hikaru also was also helped along towards the record by releasing two separate mixes of the track.
The record is also contentious because there aren't really any industry standard metrics for measuring the success of downloads and reporting in other countries has varied greatly. Record label EMI points out that Akon's 'Smack That' managed 2.1 million downloads and that the top selling download track in the US has been Daniel Powter's 'Bad Day'.
Of course this news could just be a well timed effort to show that EMI's digital strategy and recent move to abandon DRM is paying off - at a point when the Major label is shopping for a new owner.
Or it could just mean that the Japanese really really really love that song.
Cellfish is a simple online tool that lets PC users store information in a special online locker, then retrieve them later on mobile devices.
When logged into this social network site, you get your own page, like any other social network, and can hook up with friends, so let's just forget about that aspect of the site and get onto the usable part, the Cellfish locker. Users can upload information into their locker and later retrieve them on mobile devices. This includes a giant list of stock photos, music and videos from the Cellfish site.
Getting to your Cellfish locker from your mobile is simple. Visit Cellfish.com from your mobile browser, enter your account information and you will see all items that are stored in your online storage locker. You can choose to download them, send them to friends, save as wallpapers, or store them on your phone.
Users can also send photos and videos from mobile devices using your special Cellfish emaill address. These photos will be stored on your Cellfish user page and can then be placed in other social networks or blogs using a supplied html embed code.
...World Record that is.
The UK's 
While the recording industry may be in the doghouse, that hasn't stopped Japanese pop princess 
