Webware

Browser and jukebox freeware mashup Songbird brings onstage four new features to help manage songs, communicate better with iTunes, customize volume, and expose more information from Last.fm.

Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, Songbird 1.2's biggest new feature is the ability to automatically organize files across multiple folders according to each track's metadata. This can be especially useful both if your music is scattered across disparate folders, as well as forcing naming conventions on inconsistent files.

Songbird 1.2 debuts an equalizer and more Last.fm support, including fan photos and YouTube videos at the bottom of the program window.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

There's also the ability to introduce iTunes library tracks and playlists into Songbird, and export tracks from Songbird to iTunes. This is an imperfect but effective solution to getting new files synced to your iPhone or iPod Touch. Songbird has supported scrobbling into Last.fm for a while, but users can now access more artist, track, and tag information than before, including photos and music videos. This requires installing the Last.fm add-on, which will load by default but you can opt out of when you install the program.

Audiophiles will appreciate the 10-band equalizer that's now included with Songbird. CTRL+E will launch it, or going to Controls on the menu bar, but to activate it you must check off the On box and close the window before it will affect your sound output.

The full list of changes and known bugs can be read here.

Editors' note: Last.fm is owned by CNET's parent company, CBS.

The jukebox in the sky is a reality. When I started this blog two years ago, it was all but impossible to open a Web browser, type a song name, and have that song start playing immediately. Now, it's commonplace.

Meuzer found Roy Harper's "The Game," while Grooveshark didn't.

I still like the simple approach of Grooveshark--the other night, my brother and I set up a running DJ battle on it to reminisce and introduce each other to new tunes--but Meuzer is an interesting alternative. Search on a song or artist name, and Meuzer pulls results from YouTube--very similar to the Muziic app I looked at earlier this year--as well as Imeem and other third-party sources. Click any of the results, and you get a four-arrow widget that lets you play, share, rate, or add the song to a playlist. Hit "play," and the song begins playing in an embedded window depending on the original source (a YouTube result begins playing a small YouTube video, for instance). Other features require you to log in, and currently the only way to do that is with a Facebook ID.

Meuzer seems to have a broader selection of music than Grooveshark: a search on Roy Harper's "The Game"--a song I couldn't find on Grooveshark for the DJ battle with my brother--got several results from YouTube. But I don't like the forced log-in, particularly for the essential playlist feature, and the search results aren't organized nearly as well. For instance, searching for the dub artist Scientist returned multiple results for "The Scientist" by Coldplay (eww) but no Scientist. On Grooveshark, I simply selected the Artists tab and the top 10 results were all Scientist tunes. Still, Meuzer could be a useful fallback for songs I can't find on other services.

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We all like to share songs with friends, and we all have songs that share meaning with loved ones. Perhaps that's why there are so many music social networks out there. These sites combine both, and make music exploration and enjoyment something that you're not doing on your own.

From the well-known to the obscure, I've been exploring a variety of music social networks that you'll definitely want to check out:

Buzznet is a great way to connect with other music lovers. You can write status updates and view an activity feed that shows what your friends are listening to. You can also tell all your friends what your "song of the moment" is and post it to a profile that can be completely redesigned and themed using built-in tools.

Buzznet has some songs from major artists, but I would have liked to see more tracks. That said, the site makes up for it with music videos from YouTube. That adds a bit more value, as long as the recording quality is good..

Buzznet has a loaded profile page.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Flotones isn't the best looking site in this roundup, but it does a nice job of connecting indie artists with fans. You can choose to sign up as either a fan or an artist. If you're an artist, you can upload music, post to a blog, give out your contact information to schedule gigs, and more. As a fan, you can find artists, follow their updates, and review their music. You can also send them private messages. Not all musicians put their music on the site, but quite a few do.

Flotones has a variety of artists on its pages.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

FatWallet.com, a company that provides online coupons and exclusive offers from retailers, announced the launch of a new site design Wednesday. Along with a new navigation tool, the site has added Coupon Search, which allows users to find valid coupons from retailers worldwide. According to the company, the redesign will also give users more chances to "share" and "subscribe" to the site via e-mail, social bookmarking, and RSS feeds. The site's new design is live now.

Spark Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in Internet and new-media companies, including Twitter and Boxee, announced Wednesday that it has launched a new initiative that will fund early-stage companies in and around Boston and New York City. Dubbed Start@Spark, the investment fund will dole out $250,000 and will not be restricted to tech companies. Entrepreneurs who become part of the program will have access to Spark Capital's various services, including legal counsel.

Social music service Last.fm announced Wednesday that it will make "a public, documented streaming API available to everyone who has an API account" with the company. Slated for release at the end of the week, only subscribers will be able to stream with the help of the company's API (application programming interface) and clients will not be able to stream content to mobile phones, due to the firm's licensing agreements. (Disclosure: Last.fm and CNET News are both owned by CBS.)

Yahoo's travel site, FareChase, will cease operation by the end of Wednesday, the company announced on the site's home page. Starting Thursday, anyone looking to use Yahoo to find deals on flights, hotels, and cars will be able to use Yahoo Travel instead. The company didn't say why FareChase will be shuttered, but the site is still available for those who want to try it out one last time.

Travel search site Kayak.com announced Tuesday that it has launched what it calls the "most comprehensive hotel information site on the Web": TravelPost.com. The site provides reviews, content, and rates on more than 140,000 hotels from 200 travel sites. Its content includes descriptions, photos, maps, and reviews from travelers and professionals, as well as integration with Kayak.com's rate search.

Beyond that, TravelPost features Google Maps integration to allow users to search for geographic details about possible vacation spots and its filtering and sorting tools let users narrow their preferences by star rating, property type, brand, and location.

Perhaps most compelling, users will also be able to filter their results based on the reviewer, so they can find similar people to get the most relevant review. Reviewers can be searched for by age, gender, budget, purpose of stay, and which sites they reviewed a hotel on. The site is live now.

Zemanta, a tool that allows users to add relevant content to blog posts and e-mails, announced Tuesday that it has added Last.fm content to its platform. According to the company, bloggers who use the Zemanta tool will be able to add contextual links relevant to Last.fm's tracks, videos, and artist pages. Bloggers using the Zemanta application will start writing about a song, album, or artist, and the tool will instantly pull in the relevant information from Last.fm. (Last.fm is a part of CBS Interactive, which also publishes CNET News.) The new feature is available now.

Online advertising firm Linkstorm announced recently that it has raised $2.8 million from a variety of angel investors. According to the company, it plans to use the funding to expand its sales and improve its platform.

Online casual game provider Three Melons has raised $600,000 in funding from Santander Bank, the company announced Tuesday. According to the firm, it will use the capital to pay for its expenses and invest in growth. No further details of the funding round were disclosed.

Fring's Last.fm add-on will play out first on Symbian S60 phones.

(Credit: Fring)

Although Fring has long let you chat with friends over Skype, IM, Facebook, and Twitter, the recent introduction of a Last.fm add-on is the start-up's first foray into streaming content.

Starting this week, Symbian Series 60 users with the latest version of Fring (for Symbian 9.1 | 9.2) can sign on to their Last.fm accounts from the Fring add-on's screen.

From there, you can play custom- and public-streaming stations, with the familiar controls to stop, skip, save, and ban a song. There's album art on the mini player interface, and basic details about the song title, album name, and artist name.

There's a social aspect, too. Pressing the "friends" button takes you a screen that shows you what your friends on Last.fm are listening to, and lets you chat with them using you other IM and social networking add-ons, without leaving the Last.fm module.

Although support for Twitter was not available for the initial release, Fring promises on its Web site that the implementation is coming soon.

Sorry, Windows Mobile and iPhone users. Fring almost always test-runs on Symbian first before the fun stuff (first file transferring, now music streaming) trickles down to other platforms. But it could be worse--Fring doesn't develop for BlackBerrys at all.

Editors' note: Last.fm is owned by CNET's parent company, CBS.

"Wikipedia: The Missing Manual" by John Broughton has been made available for free on Wikipedia, O'Reilly Books, its publisher, announced Tuesday. The book is being delivered in Wiki format, which means users can edit the text as they see fit. Peter Meyers, the "Missing Manuals" managing editor, said O'Reilly may use those edits in a second edition, if it's made available. If you want to read the book (or improve it), it's available now on Wikipedia's help page.

AllFacebook, a blog that covers the world of Facebook, launched a tool Tuesday that will allow users to search and sort Facebook pages by category or statistics, like fans or daily growth rate. According to data compiled by the tool, Facebook's top page, ranked by the number of fans, is Barack Obama's. Second is Coca-Cola's page and third is Homer Simpson's Facebook page. The tool will be updated daily.

Comment management service, Disqus, now allows its users to pull Friendfeed comments about their blog posts and post them on their blog. Disqus' new tool will take comments from the respective blog's RSS feed in FriendFeed and post them automatically in the corresponding blog post. The new feature is available now for all Disqus users.

Fring, a company that provides mobile VoIP IM services, announced Tuesday that it's bringing a Last.fm mobile app to its client. The app will feature Last.fm's music recommendation engine, as well as its social features. According to the company, Fring users will be able to access their Last.fm library, tag songs, and check on a friend's music tastes. The Last.fm app is free and available now to Fring users.

Last.fm announced Friday that it has launched a mobile version of its social radio platform for Google Android-based phones. The Last.fm app, which is already available for the iPhone and iPod Touch, allows users to listen to the company's streaming radio stations and plays in the background while users perform other functions on the device. Last.fm's Android app is free and available now in the Android Market.

URL shortening service, Bit.ly, announced Thursday that it has updated its Twitter plug-in for Firefox. The update now provides users with the context of a Twitter conversation when they hover their mouse over the "in reply to" link in Twitter. The update is available now for Firefox users.

Tripwolf, a travel guide site that combines professional material and user submissions, announced that it has closed a $2.5 million funding round led by the MairDumont Group. According to the company's executives, they plan to use the funding to launch an iPhone app and expand their operation abroad.

Vudu, a company that provides streaming movies through its set-top box, has launched an iPhone app that will allow its users to browse and search the company's catalog of titles, as well as purchase and rent those movies for viewing on their Vudu box at home. The app is free and available now in the iTunes App Store.

Dogpile has raised $250,000 in just two months for pets in need, the metasearch engine announced Friday. Its goal is to raise $1 million by the end of 2009. Dogpile raises the money each time a user conducts a search. The more searches conducted on the site, the more Dogpile can contribute to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), as well as other animal-related charities. The Dogpile "Search and Rescue" program will continue through the end of 2009.

Disclosure: Last.fm is a part of CBS Interactive, which also publishes CNET News.

Yahoo announced on Thursday that it has added Wikipedia deep links and images to its search results. The company, which is using its SearchMonkey platform to add more third-party content to its results, claims that all Wikipedia results in its search will now include links to the first four sections of the article, as well as an image. The feature can be turned off through Yahoo's preferences pane.

MediaGlow, AOL's publishing unit, announced the launch of a new sports site Thursday. Dubbed FanHouse, the site sports a new design and "an expanded lineup" of national sports columnists covering major sporting events. According to the Time Warner division, the new FanHouse will expand its coverage of Nascar and other auto racing, as well as include coverage of mixed martial arts. The new site is live.

David's Bridal, the nation's largest bridal retailer, has launched a "Dress Your Wedding" campaign on its site. The contest enables brides-to-be to choose bridal gowns, bridal party dresses, accessories, and tuxedos. Once complete, brides can then share their plans for making their wedding days unique.

David's Bridal plans to judge the wedding plans, giving the winner a $5,000 gift certificate for David's Bridal, a consultation with a company style expert, and a blog on the retailer's Web site to talk about the experience. The contest ends February 24 at 11:30 a.m. PST.

eBay sellers and buyers gave a record $36 million to U.S. nonprofit organizations in 2008 through eBay Giving Works, the auction site announced Thursday. More than 15,000 organizations received funds from more than 1.5 million users. According to eBay, more than $68 is raised through its program each minute, and eight nonprofit organizations have raised more than $1 million through Giving Works.

Sharpcast, makers of the SugarSync online data backup and storage service, announced on Thursday that the company has secured $10 million in a Series AA round of financing led by Sigma Partners. SugarSync, which can be downloaded onto multiple devices and PCs, enables users to upload files online to the Sharpcast portal. Users can also "push" data to any other device that has the software installed.