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iCyte Creates Sharable Bookmarks from Highlighted Text
Mar 1st, 2010 by Koen

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: iCyte

Quick Pitch: iCyte saves webpages with highlights, tags and notes. Search and retrieve your webpages (cytes). Never lose a webpage again.

Genius Idea: When you browse the web, you visit more websites than you can keep track of, and sometimes your web browser’s bookmarks can become unwieldy when you’re trying to save very specific information for later review.

iCyte tries to solve this problem by allowing you to highlight text on any website displayed by the Firefox or Internet Explorer web browsers, then bookmark the highlighted text in the cloud so you can either share it with someone else or review it yourself at a later time.

Setup is quick: You just install the browser plugin and create an account. After that, highlight the text you want and click the iCyte button in your browser to save the link with the highlight included. The saved bookmark is called a cyte. You can name your cyte, apply tags for easy searching later, and choose whether or not the cyte is public or private. There’s also a button to bring up a sidebar panel that lists all your iCyte bookmarks. Watch the YouTube video here for a quick demonstration.

iCyte is particularly useful for sharing stuff on social media sites like Twitter or Facebook. Sometimes the content of a link changes after you’ve shared it on social networks or there’s so much content that your contacts don’t know where to locate the stuff you found interesting, but iCyte addresses both of those issues.

Cytes are preserved as they appear when you first make them, and the text-highlighting feature means you can draw your audience’s eye to whatever it was that you found interesting. Take a look at the Climate Change featured public cyte for an example of what that looks like.

iCyte is free and is supported in Firefox 3, Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8. iCyte.com (and thus any shared cyte) works on other browsers, though; you just need one of the previously mentioned ones to install the plugin to create a cyte.


Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark


BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platform for their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the “new CloudApp()” contest – use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines).”


Reviews: Facebook, Firefox, Internet Explorer, PHP, Twitter, YouTube

Tags: bizspark, Firefox, icyte, internet explorer, social bookmarking, software, spark-of-genius, startups


Google Buzz Gets an Unofficial App Directory
Mar 1st, 2010 by Koen

BuzzAware is a new GoogleBuzz-focused app directory that is focused on keeping all Buzz related add-ons, apps and plugins in one place.

Google Buzz launched a few weeks ago, and even without a completed API, somef developers are still building their own tools and apps to take advantage of buzz and make it easy to integrate with existing websites.

We covered some of the options for integrating Google Buzz with your WordPress blog and how to create a separate Buzz desktop app, and now we’re seeing programs like BuzzAware cropping up.

BuzzAware was created by the same team that created Twitdom, a highly successful Twitter application directory with more than 1,500 apps. The new program isn’t quite as extensive as the Twitter version — so far the selection is limited to 18 applications divided into four categories: browser, desktop, mobile and web.

The web category, which includes both blog plugins and tools like a Twitter contact importer, has the most entries right now — which is to be expected.

Still, the Adobe Air-based Google Buzz desktop app and some of the browser plugins might be new additions to Buzz-seeking users.

The success of the BuzzAware project will largely depend on how quickly the Buzz API is expanded and opened up to developers. However, BuzzAware is off to a good start.

What is your favorite Buzz-related plugin or utility? Let us know!


Reviews: Google Buzz, Twitdom, Twitter, adobe AIR

Tags: buzzaware, google buzz, software, web apps


Streamy Awards to Honor Web Video’s Best: Here Are the Nominees
Mar 1st, 2010 by Koen

The nominees for the second annual Streamy Awards were revealed in a live webcast today. The Streamys are awarded to web TV series by the International Academy of Web Television — they’re similar to the Oscars, Emmys or Grammys.

Nominees were selected from 190,000 public submissions spanning 2,000 shows and 130 countries. There are 15 categories with five nominees in each. We’ve listed them all below, but there are a few items that are particularly notable.

Both Crackle’s The Bannen Way and Felicia Day’s The Guild lead the nominees with seven nominations each; The Bannen Way is nominated for best drama, and The Guild is nominated for best comedy. Easy to Assemble is just behind with six nominations, and Next New Networks’s YouTube viral hit Auto-Tune the News is up for four awards.

The main Streamy ceremony will take place on April 11 in Hollywood, California; the Craft Awards will be given out on the April 7. We’ll be in attendance, so don’t change that dial — or don’t switch to another web stream.

In the meantime, we’ll be covering the world of web television more closely than we have in the past. Each month we work with video analytics company Visible Measures to put out a chart listing the top 10 most popular web series, and we’ve written up a beginner’s guide to made-for-Internet TV with some samples of the best shows. We also have a list of companies that are reinventing TV online. More to come!

And the nominees are…


Overall Series


Best Comedy Web Series

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis
Easy to Assemble
The Guild
The Legend of Neil
Wainy Days

Best Drama Web Series

Angel of Death
Compulsions
OzGirl
The Bannen Way
Valemont

Best Hosted Web Series

A Comicbook Orange
Diggnation
Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show
Know Your Meme
The Totally Rad Show

Best Reality or Documentary Web Series

Interview Project
Mommy XXX
RADAR
Streak to Win
The Secret Life of Scientists

Best News or Politics Web Series

Auto-Tune the News
Rocketboom
The Tomorrow Show with Mo Rocca
The Young Turks
VBS News

Best Foreign Web Series

Flying Kebab
Girl Number 9
Noob
OzGirl
Riese

Best New Web Series

$5 Cover: Memphis
Girl Number 9
Odd Jobs
Old Friends
The Bannen Way

Best Companion Web Series

Assassin’s Creed: Lineage
Dexter: Early Cuts
Harper’s Globe
The Office: Subtle Sexuality
Weeds: University of Andy

Best Animated Web Series

Eli’s Dirty jokes
Happy Tree Friends
Homestar Runner
How It Should Have Ended
Zero Punctuation

Best Branded Entertainment Web Series

Back on Topps (Topps)
Brainstorm (Altoids)
Easy to Assemble (IKEA)
Parts Art (Lexus)
The Temp Life (Spherion)

Best Experimental Web Series

Auto-Tune the News
Green Porno
HBO Cube
INST MSGS
Level 26


Directing


Best Directing for a Comedy Web Series

Blue Movies (Scott Brown)
Dorm Life: Semester 2 (Chris Smith, Mark Stewart Iverson)
James Gunn’s PG Porn (James Gunn)
The Guild (Sean Becker)
The Legend of Neil (Sandeep Parikh)

Best Directing for a Drama Web Series

Anyone But Me (Susan Miller, Tina Cesa Ward)
Compulsions (Bernie Su)
Girl Number 9 (Andrew Black, Lawrence Frank, Brent Friedman, Joshua Stern, Jacqueline Zambrano)
The Bannen Way (Jesse Warren, Mark Gantt)
Young American Bodies (Joe Swanberg)


Writing


Best Writing for a Comedy Web Series

Back on Topps (Jason Sklar, Randy Sklar, Eric Friedman, Matt Price)
Dorm Life (Chris Smith, Jordan Riggs, Jessie Gaskell, Jack De Sena, Jim Brandon, Brian Singleton, Mark Stewart Iverson)
The Legend of Neil (Tony Janning, Sandeep Parikh)
The Guild (Felicia Day)
Wainy Days (David Wain)

Best Writing for a Drama Web Series

Anyone But Me (Susan Miller, Tina Cesa Ward)
Compulsions (Bernie Su)
Girl Number 9 (James Moran)
The Bannen Way (Jesse Warren, Mark Gantt)
Valemont (Christian Taylor)


Acting


Best Male Actor in a Comedy Series

Zach Galifianakis (Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis)
Tony Hale (CTRL)
Amir Blumenfeld (Jake and Amir)
Sandeep Parikh (The Guild)
David Wain (Wainy Days)

Best Female Actor in a Comedy Series

Ileana Douglas (Easy to Assemble)
Justine Bateman (Easy to Assemble)
Joanna Cassidy (Sex Ed)
Felicia Day (The Guild)
Lisa Kudrow (Web Therapy)

Best Male Actor in a Drama Series

Craig Frank (Compulsions)
Robert Englund (Fear Clinic)
Joe Absolom (Girl Number 9)
Mark Gantt (The Bannen Way)
Eric Balfour (Valemont)

Best Female Actor in a Drama Series

Zoe Bell (Angel of Death)
Rachel Hip-Flores (Anyone But Me)
Tatyani Ali (Buppies)
Sophie Tilson (OzGirl)
Crystal Chappell (Venice)

Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series

Black on Topps (Randy Sklar, Jason Sklar, Jason Nash, Janet Varney, Stephanie Courtney, Brian Huskey, Phil LaMarr)
Dorm Life (Nora Kirkpatrick, Hannah Pearl Utt, Anne Lane, Jessie Gaskell, Brian Singleton, Jack De Sena, Jim Brandon, Jordan Riggs, Pancho Morris)
Easy to Assemble (Illeanna Douglas, Justine Bateman, Eric Lange, Michael Irpino, Cheri Oteri, Daryl Sabara, Michael Panes, Rob Mailhouse, Sean Durrie, Tom Arnold, Ed Begley Jr., Tim Meadows, Ricki Lake, Greg Proops, Kevin Pollak)
GOLD (Robert J. Brewer, James Paul Xavier, Nathan Mobley, Rick Robinson, David Nett, Gary Karp, Shannon Ivey, Alan Loayza, Shannon Nelson, Jeremy Guskin, Angela Schnaible)
The Guild (Vincent Caso, Felicia Day, Jeff Lewis, Amy Okuda, Sandeep Parikh, Robin Thorsen)

Best Guest Star in a Web Series

Chris Hardwick (Back on Topps)
Nathan Fillion (PG Porn)
“Weird Al” Yankovic (Know Your Meme)
Wil Wheaton (The Guild)
Courtney Cox (Web Therapy)

Best Web Series Host

Alex Albrecht (Diggnation)
Zadi Diaz (Epic Fu)
Kevin Pollak (Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show)
Kristyn Burtt (The Web.Files)
Michael Buckley (What the Buck?)

Best Vlogger

Brigitte Dale (Brigitte Dale)
iJustine (iJustine)
Philip DeFranco (sxePhil)
Shane Dawson (ShaneDawsonTV)
Shira Lazar (Shira Lazar)


Craft Awards


Best Editing in a Web Series

$5 Cover: Memphis (Nathan Black, Morgan Jon Fox, Josh Swain)
Angel of Death (Jochen Kunstler, Jacob Vaughan)
Auto-Tune the News (Evan Gregory, Andrew Gregory, Michael Gregory)
I Kissed a Vampire (David Bekoff)
The Bannen Way (Zach Arnold)

Best Cinematography in a Web Series

Angel of Death (Carl Herse)
Circle of Eight (Michael Lohmann)
LUMINA (XiaoSu Han, Andreas Thalhammer)
Mountain Man (Robert Lam)
Riese (Christopher Charles Kempinski)

Best Art Direction in a Web Series

$99 Music Videos (Kit Pennebaker)
Green Porno (Rick Gilbert)
Mountain Man (Matt Enlow)
Riese (Chad Krowchuk)
Tiki Bar TV (Kim Bailey)
The Coat (Thierry Chaze)

Best Sound Design in a Web Series

Fear Clinic (Kunal Rajan)
Mountain Man (Michael Miller)
Riese (Bill Mellow, Kevin Belen)
Rockville, CA (Seth Talley)
The Vetala (Randy Kiss)

Best Visual Effects in a Web Series

Backyard FX (Erik Beck)
Fear Clinic (Jason M Bergman, Nicholas Onstad, Bethany Pederson, David Dang)
Mordy Koots (Reece Sanders, Clayton Jacobson)
Safety Geeks: SVI (Thor Melsted, Mike Smith)
The Crew (Jeff Bell, Zack Finfrock, Brett Register)

Best Animation in a Web Series

College Humor: Hardly Working (Dan Meth)
Happy Tree Friends (David Winn, Alan Lau, Jason Sadler, Brad Rau, Roque Bollestros, Paul Allan, Nica Lorber, Michael Lipman)
How It Should Have Ended (Daniel Baxter, Tommy Watson, Tina Alexander)
Inventions (Chris Weller, David Lamps)
theGoob (Magnus Jansson)

Best Original Music in a Web Series

Auto-Tune the News (Evan Gregory, Andrew Gregory, Michael Gregory)
Horrible Turn (Chance McClain, Kevin Ryan, Frank Bullington, Jeremy Botter)
Key of Awesome (Mark Douglas)
Sparhusen (Rob Mailhouse, Todd Spahr, Illeana Douglas)
The Coat (Thierry Chaze)

Best Live Production in a Web Series

Coin-Op TV Live
Fantasy Football Live!
Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show
The RadNerd Show
TWiT.tv

Best Interactive Experience in a Web Series

Circle of Eight
I <3 Vampires
Married on MySpace
Valemont
Wreck and Salvage: Suppendapo

Best Product Integration in a Web Series

Circle of Eight (Mountain Dew)
Easy to Assemble (IKEA)
The Bannen Way (Jaguar)
Valemont (Verizon Wireless)
Woke Up Dead (Kodak)

Best Mobile Experience in a Web Series

AT&T Life Without Mobile
Mr. Wrong
Playboy: Interns
Seth on Survival
Valemont


Reviews: MySpace, ShaneDawsonTV, Streamy, YouTube, news

Tags: auto-tune the news, crackle, easy to assemble, felicia day, streamy awards, streamys, the bannen way, The Guild, web series, youtube


’90s Teen Drama “Felicity” Foresees the Coming of the iPad [VIDEO]
Mar 1st, 2010 by Koen

Sometimes, when television shows go into reruns, we resort to watching truly horrible ’90s teen shows to fill the void. And sometimes, when doing so we discover gems, such as this clip from Felicity, in which some random guest star (a.k.a. Amy Smart — thanks, commenters!) predicts the advent of the iPad.

Guys, this is more epic than the MadTV iPad sketch. Way back on season two of Felicity — a.k.a. that show starring that annoying frizzy-haired girl who followed a dude to college — a freshman girl was in a quandary: What computer to buy?

“It’s impossible to know what computer to get,” she lamented. “There’s PCs, there’s iMacs, there’s Think Books, there’s iPads… I really don’t know where to start.”

Oh really? There’s iPads? Maybe in the future, random guest star Amy Smart. My mind = Blown.

Bonus: Buzzfeed also noticed this clip right around the same time I did. I guess more than one tech writer spent her weekend Megavideoing Felicity. I don’t know if that’s sad or amazing. I’m going to go with amazing…

Tags: Hardware, humor, ipad, television


Phishing Returns to Twitter Via Direct Message [WARNING]
Mar 1st, 2010 by Koen

Another wave of Twitter phishing has erupted this afternoon, with a spat of direct messages that read “somebody wrote something about you in this blog here” with a link to an ominous short URL.

That short URL asks users to log in to Twitter, but one look at your browser’s address bar indicates that it is not Twitter you’re logging into, but a third-party site that looks like Twitter. Once you provide said site with your login details, it DMs your followers, hence creating the viral loop that is the anatomy of a Twitter phishing scam.

Twitter posted some tips for avoiding these scams on Friday, but apparently the message didn’t get through to everyone, because lots of users (including several high-ranking execs who have consequently sent me such DMs) are still getting duped. Lately, Twitter’s phishing scams seem to share a common theme, with a message from someone you conceivably know (at least a little bit, since you follow them) sending you a DM that implies something about you has been posted somewhere on the web.

While that’s certainly a tempting piece of bait, there’s no conceivable reason you should ever have to give a third-party website your Twitter credentials — let alone a site you’ve never heard of — especially now that most reputable Twitter apps use OAuth. Meanwhile, if you think you’ve fallen victim, we remind you once again to change your password.

As Twitter noted in its blog entry on the topic, the last wave of these scams often involves the phishers using compromised accounts to send out spam messages, meaning if you don’t move quick, your account will continue to be a source of embarrassment.


Reviews: Twitter

Tags: phishing, twitter


HOW TO: Create a Successful Company Blog
Mar 1st, 2010 by Koen

blog imageMark Suster is a Partner at GRP Partners, a Venture Capital firm in Los Angeles. He blogs at Both Sides of the Table and can be found on Twitter at @msuster.

I’m often asked by entrepreneurs and business owners whether it is worth blogging, and if so, what they should blog about. On the first question, the answer is obvious to me — you must blog as an entrepreneur.

In this post I’ll cover why you need to blog, how to determine what to blog about, and finding your blog’s voice.


Why You Must Blog

I believe that blogging in your business is vital to creating a public personae and making your company more accessible. In an era where companies like Zappos have differentiated themselves based on service, it is important to be public and accessible.

My industry of venture capital, for example, has been shrouded in secrecy for 30 years, making the process of raising funds opaque for most entrepreneurs. When I started my first company in 1999, there were almost no public sources of venture capital fund raising information. Years later I discovered the blog of VC Brad Feld, then later VentureHacks, and Fred Wilson’s technology & VC blog, each of which clarified and demystified the venture capital process.

So when I started blogging, I mainly viewed it as “earned media,” or a chance to let entrepreneurs get to know me by sharing my thoughts online with complete transparency; a concept that is repeatable for any business.

In less than a year I’ve attracted a large monthly following of readers who come to my blog to discuss how to build startups, how to raise money, and to get my thoughts on technology markets. By publicly sharing my thoughts, I’ve been able to engage in online discussions with people all over the world, and though it was an unintended consequence, my deal flow has gone up dramatically. In other words, blogging can be a valuable networking tool and help the bottom line.


What Should You Blog About?

Start by defining the audience with whom you want to have a relationship. Presumably they are your customers, partners, suppliers and your broader industry as a whole. You should think about what kind of information they would find valuable. You should also try to talk about something that is differentiated from what other blogs in your field cover, even if your approach is just slightly different or new.

Make sure the topic is something that you’ll have a passion for writing about on a regular basis. If you’re not going to keep up with your blog, you shouldn’t start one in the first place. It’s a commitment, believe me. If you pick a topic that relates to your customers, but you’re not that passionate about it, then you may have a bigger problem on your hands!


The Right and Wrong Way to Blog

Let me give some examples of the right and wrong approach to blogging.

Right: I always liked the Mint.com blog. Even in the early days when they were relatively unknown, they blogged about personal finance. They talked about how to manage credit and balance your bank account — obvious topics for a startup focused on managing personal money. They were able to take a leadership role in talking about managing your money in a way that supported their brand and created a community around their product.

Wrong: A friend of mine has a company in the personal finance space also. His blog was all about how to run a startup and raise venture capital. He was outrageous, brash and crass in his style, and I told him so. I said, “Your goal isn’t to be the cool kid in the venture capital circles. Your job is to build a great company and you’ll be a hero in entrepreneurial circles as a result of your success. Speak to your customers — that is what a blog is for.”


Finding Your Blog’s Voice

blog wordle image

So you know you need to blog, and you’re convinced you ought to write about something you’re passionate about and that speaks to your customers. How can you create something that people will want to come and read every day?

1. Be authentic

The thing that kills most blogs, in my view, is when you can tell that the writer is just going through the motions. You need to find a “voice” that is authentically yours. People will get used to your style and your style will become your signature.

2. Be transparent

The “old school” way of getting media attention was to submit press releases. These were artificially crafted documents that were filled with glowing reviews of your company. In short, they felt fake. The best way to establish your voice is to be transparent.

Be willing to talk like a human being. Be willing to show feelings and a point of view. Let your inner self come out rather than your “inner bullet point.” Don’t use too much lingo. Don’t feel like your prose has to sound like it was crafted by a university professor. Just speak!

3. Get inside your readers’ minds

I give this advice often and in many scenarios, including public speaking. When people speak to many audiences, they sometimes get into a canned routine. They give the same presentation no matter which crowd they’re addressing. The key is that each time you present, you need to think about who is in the audience and what they want to hear. The same is true for blogging.

On my blog, my audience is made of startup entrepreneurs and probably other VCs. When I write I try to be mindful of who these people are, the knowledge I assume they have, and what I believe they want to know.

4. Solicit feedback

I ask people what they want to read about. I regularly ask for feedback on what I’m writing. When people give me good suggestions, I try to cover those topics.

When community members write awesome comments, I’ll sometimes write a post about what they said to highlight them and their contributions. In my opinion, the best way to build an audience over time is to engage with them and to highlight those that really contribute positively to you.

5. Don’t be offensive or take big public risks

I sometimes read blogs that get extreme. I read a blog once that jokingly suggested “offering your angels cocaine if that would get them to invest.” It was intended to be funny. It wasn’t. And comments like this run the risk of offending people. This was a blog about personal finance, and I found the comment totally irresponsible and at odds with the brand image the blogger was trying to project.

I read a blog yesterday where the author was trying to make fun of a negative comment he got on his product. The blogger highlighted him and called him “retarded,” which I, and I’m sure many others, find offensive. There’s no upside to this type of comment, but there’s a big downside. My esteem for him went down.

Further, unless your company revolves around taking stands on controversial issues, it’s best to leave your political commentary at home. Statements like these stand to upset or anger half of your potential customers no matter what side you take.

6. Have fun

This may be obvious, but if writing a blog becomes a chore for you it will show. Try to make your writing fun and it will be easier to stick to. It will also reflect in your voice.

Happy blogging!


More blogging resources from Mashable:

- 14 Fantastic Free WordPress Themes
- HOW TO: Build a More Beautiful Blog
- How the Resort Industry is Using Social Media
- Why Brands are Becoming Media
- 4 Elements of a Successful Business Web Presence
- How Social Media Helps One Small Business Connect with Fans

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, johnnyscriv

[Image Credit: Kristina B]


Reviews: iStockphoto

Tags: blog, blogging, business, entrepreneurship, how to, small business, social media


Twitter Opens Up the Firehose to Startups
Mar 1st, 2010 by Koen

Twitter has just announced that it has opened up its full data feed of all public tweets — a.k.a. the “Firehose” — to seven new startups, and is looking to partner with more to give them access to the data.

Currently, only a few partners have access to one of Twitter’s most valuable assets: its stream of tweets. They include search giants Google, Microsoft and Yahoo. It’s believed that these deals have already made Twitter profitable.

But now Twitter is looking to foster innovation from some of its third party developers, starting with several real-time search and discovery startups.

Starting today, seven new partners will have access to Twitter’s full firehose: Twazzup, Collecta, CrowdEye, Scoopler, Kosmix, Chainn Search and Ellerdale. This means that these companies will have the full feed of tweets to augment their search results. Collecta searches, for example, could now display all recent posts mentioning Mashable, rather than be rate limited as most Twitter apps currently are.

Look for a lot more startups to have access to the Firehose as well: >Twitter says that it is looking for new partners involving its data. One thing we wonder about, though: Did these startups have to pay for access, as Google did when it struck its deal? And if not, does that devalue from the data that Google now uses in its real-time search engine?


Reviews: Google, Mashable, Twazzup, Twitter, Yahoo!

Tags: collecta, crowdeye, Ellerdate, Kosmix, Scoopler, twazzup, twitter


Free Music Monday: Get 10 Free Downloads Right Here!
Mar 1st, 2010 by Koen

Greetings and salutations, music fans! Please join us for Free Music Monday this week, wherein we offer you 10 free downloadable MP3s or full albums for your eclectic listening pleasure. If you haven’t hung out with us before, we’re giving away free and legal tracks in honor of the #musicmonday tradition on Twitter.

We also happily accept your submissions for Free Music Monday, and you’ll find information about how to submit your tracks (or music from artists you represent) at the end of this post. Without further ado, let’s roll some tracks!

1. [GRUNGE] Tyler M: “Supermanic” — Snag a free download of this power pop-infused grunge track, along with five other free songs on an album ranging from quiet to angry, via Bandcamp. You can also stream the album The Way It Goes below.


<a href="http://tylerm.bandcamp.com/album/the-way-it-goes">Ugly Heart by Tyler M</a>

2. [INDIE] Quasi: “Laissez les Bon Temps Rouler” — Ex-husband and wife team Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss (also known as the drummer for Sleater-Kinney) offer a free download courtesy of Spinner from the recently released American Gong album.

3. [WORLD, CHILLOUT] Double6Project: “My home in the Sky” — Wide-ranging world influences from Asia to the Middle East and beyond accompany this ambient and chillout-flavored electronica duo. Snag this track and more from Double6Project’s ReverbNation page.



Quantcast

4. [FOLK] The Dada Weatherman: “Painted Dream” — Lush strings and dreamy, lilting orchestration accompany this pop-infused folk from France’s The Dada Weatherman, currently the top listened-to track on Jamendo. Download it here.

5. [ELECTRONICA] JustPlainPaul: “Falling From the Sky” — Indianapolis-based JustPlainPaul offers this uptempo track to Mashable readers (right-click to download it). You can also snag the rest of the Miles album from his website.

6. [ALTERNATIVE] Jihae: “My Love-Remix” — South Korean native Jihae grew up in Nigeria, Sweden, and the UK before settling in NYC, where she makes husky crooning alternative experimental pop and electronic tunes. With vocals that “cross Chrissie Hynde with Aimee Mann,” Jihae’s next album Fire Burning Rain will be out July 2010: right-click for a free download of the first remix from the forthcoming record. Check out more from Jihae on her MySpace page, and download a copy of the original “My Love”from her website.

7. [POP PUNK] Eleven Fifty Seven: “Three Minutes to Midnight” — We’re certainly not the only ones celebrating #musicmonday: 80/20 Records honors the tradition by offering a free song of the week on its site as well. This week’s free offering is from power pop trio Eleven Fifty Seven, and you can snag it at the previous link.

8. [ART ROCK] Peter Gabriel: “Flume” — Snag a free preview track from Peter Gabriel’s forthcoming Scratch My Back album courtesy of MySpace (you’ll have to be willing to provide your e-mail address). The full album releases tomorrow, March 2.

9. [INSTRUMENTAL] David Toub: “this piece intentionally left blank” — New music composer David Toub offers the original version of this track written primarily for keyboard but also arranged and performed with a variety of instrumentation. Several other versions including the debut live performance are also available at the previous link, and you can check out more from David on his website, including audio files and original scores.

10. [POP] Fate Lions: “Astronaut” — Describing their music as “smarty pants fist pumping roller rink bubble gum downer pop for the masses,” Fate Lions is offering their debut album on Bandcamp for a “name your price” cost, which you can use to audition some tracks, download the whole shebang for free or help support the artist if you like what you hear. Download from the previous link and/or stream Good Enough for You from the player below.


<a href="http://fatelions.bandcamp.com/album/good-enough-for-you">Seen It All by Fate Lions</a>

Thanks huge to everyone for tuning in to Free Music Monday! If you find something you like in this feature, please do share it with your music-loving friends. You can always check out the latest edition of this feature, plus all the past editions, on the Free Music Monday tag page, so be sure to tune in each week. We’ve also included the list of past Free Music Mondays at the end of this post in case you want to check out the back catalog.

Big thanks to everyone who has submitted tracks. If you sent us something and we haven’t included it yet, stay tuned for a future Free Music Monday. You can submit a track by sending email to barb AT mashable DOT com. Since Free Music Monday is now downloads only, be sure to send us an MP3 or two we can use (no more than 25MB file size total please), or send us a link to listen to tracks you’re willing to provide as a free download. Thanks everyone!


Free Music Monday Back Catalog


- Alternative Rock Edition
- Covers, Remixes, and Mashups Edition
- Electronica Edition
- Free Downloads for Your Collection (Feb. 8, 2010)
- Free Downloads for Your Ears (Feb. 1, 2010)
- Fresh and Free Downloads (Jan. 25, 2010)
- Hip-hop Edition
- Labor Day Edition
- Live Edition
- Rock and Pop Edition
- Singer-Songwriter Edition
- This Week’s Free Downloads (Feb. 15, 2010)
- Video Edition
- Your Submissions Edition
- Your Submissions, All Downloads Edition

Tags: downloads, free music monday, mp3s, music, music monday


The Hottest Witches of All-TIME
Mar 1st, 2010 by Koen
Plants Vs. Zombies: These Are Which Plants Are and Are Not Lame
Mar 1st, 2010 by Koen
»  Substance: WordPress   »  Style: Ahren Ahimsa