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Filed under: Internet, Blogging, Web services, web 2.0

SXSWi Day Three


Oh day three, where the point values are doubled and the hangover is permanent. If you decided to skip SXSWi this year, joining the hip kids who claimed it was "too commercial" and "too over-hyped", shame on you. The only thing too commercial were the panels and, frankly, no one goes to those anyway.

So far today we've caught up with the guys from Bloxes, which although not a tech product is remarkably cool in its simplicity. They're also the same guys behind the uber-cool Songza, which embodies the exact same dead-simple "Why didn't I think of that?" logic. Interlocking cardboard forms may not be terribly sexy from a software perspective but, who can argue with the ability to build 3d forms out of recycled content. Bloxes are the things you use to build cheap structures in the ultra-hip loft office space where you create the future of the web.

During the day we also had a great interview with Mindbites, which we'll have encoded and uploaded for your vicarious viewing pleasure, soon. Christina talked with Chris Saad, the founder of Dataportability.org, who is also working on a new version of his other great idea, Particls. I caught up with Saul Colt from Freshbooks, the web app that finally brought the sexyback to invoicing all your freelance clients.

We'd also like to take a minute to address a pressing social issue, Public Relations consultants. These hardworking mavens of the tech universe are largely underpaid, over worked, and almost never get glamorous perks like party invites, expensive bottles of wine and the adoration of beautiful women. You've probably asked yourself, as you lay awake at night, unable to sleep for worry over their living conditions and the status of their multi-million dollar contracts, "What can I do to help?" Fear not, there is a solution. For only hundreds of dollars a day, you can fill the tanks of their luxury cars with precious gasoline, and make the difference between the regular coffee Seattle's Best and a latte at Starbuck's.

The numbers
:
  • Tweets about the Zuckerberg disaster: immeasurable given available tools
  • Sandwiches consumed in Bloghaus: 134
  • Times the guy in the press room breaks your concentration to ask, "Can I get you anything?": 17
  • Shirts we've acquired to give to our readers: 2
  • Approximate number of man-minutes Mark Zuckerberg and Sarah Lacy wasted with a useless interview: 112,500
  • Newly coined words overheard : 1 ("Radool", Gary Vaynerchuk)
  • Parties we skipped to bring you this content: 3 (well, 2.. we couldn't resist making an appearance at Gawker)
  • Times we've left messages for Mullenweg about an interview: 3
  • Times Mullenweg has left return messages with no schedule detail: 1

(Matt, we love you and we're only concerned that you're ok. Please, we're worried sick. We've called all the hospitals, homeless shelters and even the morgue. Where are you?)

Filed under: Audio, Internet, Features, web 2.0

Songza gets a memory, adds some new bling

On our second episode of the Squadcast (we've improved our production quality since then, we swear) we interviewed Songza founders Aza Raskin and Scott Robbin. Even in its early stages, we were super impressed with Songza, a site that makes it easy to find a play various music tracks, share them with friends and purchase favorites, but with a truly superb user-interface.

Now Songza offers users even more options. According the the Songza team, the ability to save playlists has been the most requested feature. That feature has been added. Once you register for a free Songza account, you can save your playlist. The user profile page is simple and intuitive, and we have a feeling it's the sign of more networking/sharing features to come.

The Songza interface has been updated too. The same overall style that we know and love remains, but there is now more emphasis on a users playlist (which is always present on the right-hand side of the page). Additionally, a "Most Played" tab has been added to the search area. The Songza interface is what really sets the site away from other music search engines. It is easy to use, clean to look at and fast loading. Now, it's even better.

Read more →

Filed under: Audio, Video, Features, Web services, web 2.0

The Squadcast - Episode #2


In this episode, Christina and I catch up with Songza founders Aza Raskin and Scott Robbin to talk about interfaces, the development of songza, and turpentine. Also on the agenda, Major League Baseball gives in and does the right thing, offering free downloads to replace DRM protected tracks they recently orphaned.

Have something to tell The Squadcast? Send us mail: squadcast (at symbol) downloadsquad.com.

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With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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