Spotify is a new music service, in beta, that gives you access to a HUGE music database. In a sentence, you to play/stream any song in the world as if they were on your computer. Imagine searching on iTunes and hearing a preview of a few songs. Spotify is essentially the same, but faster, and full length songs.

You ask, “How is that possible.” Well, Spotify has cut deals with EMI, Warner Music, Sony BMG and three other major labels, which all responded positively to the new concept. Spotify also uses a new kind of P2P technology that allows you to double click a song and have in playing as if it was right on your computer.

There are only a few downsides to Spotify. You cannot download the songs and therefor cannot put the songs on your iPhone or iPod. This is obvious because if you were allowed to do this, lets just say musicians wouldn’t be making nearly as much money as they do now.

Spotify is also in beta. US residents cannot signup for the service due to some legal problems. So, if you’re not in UK, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Spain or France, send me a shout out and ill be sure to give you an invitation.

This is an easy install and works very well with the NetFilx movie play. While Silverlight seems like is weird solution to this problem, obviously it works, so who cares!

As a NetFlix subscriber, this changes everything. I no longer have to have every movie sent to me. Now, I can just press play and watch my movies in good quality, right on my computer. I am psyched. Here are some screenshots of the new player:

GabeJacobsProductions.com

Gabe Jacobs Productions is the name of my company that produces iPhone applications. I figured it was necessary for it to have its own site instead of having it be fused with my blog. These sites will function as separate entities, one as a blog and the other as a place to display my portfolio of iPhone applications.

Check it out.

One of my favorite online services, DropBox, is now totally public and still free. There is no need for beta codes or invitations any more, all you have to do is sign up and download that client. It is now available for Windows, Mac and Linux users, so almost everyone can use DropBox.

DropBox is among the best free online service. DropBox is like having a 2GB iDisk with so much more. I have wrote about how much I love this service before, so I do not want to dabble.

Back to the point. If you find DropBox as useful as I do, you may consider upgrading from the 2GB to 50GB. If your into video editing or anything like that, this could be a great bargain for you. It is only $9.99/month or $99.99/year.

So, I am really happy now that it is open to everyone and if you do not have an DropBoc yet…GET IT!

I am glad Apple recognizes their mistakes and supports their users appropriately. I think the 60 day extension is a pretty solid amount compared to the amount of down time they have been experiencing in the last month or so. Thanks for the free 60 days apple

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It’s good to trick friends into making them think something is real. Think about the possibilities…

Friend who loves sports (ESPN.com)

Your Dad (CNN.com)

Someone like me (Apple.com)

A few days ago I wrote my 5 Tips For Increasing Blog Traffic. One of the tips was to use forums and comment on other people’s blogs. Well today, I have a good example of why this can help. I commented on a famous bog by Darren Rowse called ProBlogger. He writes a lot about Wordpress, blogging and the various ways to make money and increase blog traffic.

Recently he posted a post called “Best WordPress Template Designs” in which he wanted people to comment about what they think is the best Wordpress theme. I obviously commented about the theme I use, FreshNews by Adii. Since I thought my blog was a good example of it, I posted my link. I have had 100 uniques since then. This shows how important commenting on other people’s blogs can be. Even Darren thinks this is one of the most important things to drive traffic to your blog. Watch this clip he made:

Learn from the greatest…

Here are the topics that I think need to be added in order for things to be a lot simpler and easier.

1) I love writing about Wordpress, Digg, etc. Digg needs a “Internet” topic for blog posts and news about things on the Internet. This would be a solution for so many of my blog posts that are forced into a bad topic like “Industry news,” which is becoming a common topic for links that do not fit into any of the topics.

2) I would also love a topic called “Tech Opinion.” This would be a great place for blog posts and rants. I would submit a lot here since I am always expressing my opinion in my posts. I would also spend a lot of time here since I love reading people’s blogs and tech opinions.

Really, those two topics would help a lot. There is no reason any link should not have a place in Digg. I doubt Digg will even take this into consideration, but maybe if a lot of people agree with me, someone will realize that there need to be a change. For example, I really do not think this post belongs in Tech Industry News, but that is exactly where I am forced to put it. Anyways, even if my suggestions aren’t the best idea, I think everyone can agree some sort of change is needed. Thanks for reading

1) Title your content well. I get almost all of my traffic from Google, so it is really important that people can find your content on search engines easily. In order to increase the likelihood of you site coming up on Google, you need to title your posts correctly. Try to think about what a searcher will search for on Google and put those keywords in your title. You also do not want to make posts that only make sense based on the current time. It has to be understandable no matter how long ago the post was written. Also, the most important thing is that the title is relevant. Your title has to be exactly what your post is about. This post’s title is, “5 Tips For Increasing Blog Traffic” because I am giving 5 tips for increasing blog traffic. I wouldn’t title it, “My experience with blog traffic” because no one would search that and it is not good at summarizing the content of the post. A person is much more likely to search “tips for increasing blog traffic” than “experience with blog traffic.” This is why titling you blog posts are so important. You need it to be relevant, catchy, straight to the point and time irrelevant.

2) Use forums and twitter and other social networks. When using these services always put a link to your blog for other people to click on. A good way to do this is to put the link in your signature on all of the forums you use. This way if any reader happens to glance and see a post of yours, they may just end up clicking on it. The more people that see your blog, the more you have a chance for loyal readers. You never know when someone may see your blog and like it. That is why you need to make it available for as many people possible. Whenever you meet someone new online, whether it be facebook, twitter or on a forum, give them the link to your blog. They are almost forced to check it out. Also a good tip is to go to forums that specialize on what you write about. The viewers will be much more likely to subscribe to your RSS feed if they like the topic you write about. For example, I love macs, so I go to the MacHeist Forums a lot and post my link whenever it is relevant. One thing though, do not spam. No one likes spammers…

3) Write well, spell check, and don’t be lazy! If you seem smart to your readers, they are much more likely to stay around. This is because smart people are attractive (no, not in that kind of way). People like smart people because they feel they can learn from them. If they read your posts finding spelling mistakes every 3 minutes, they are probably going to either leave or put up a nasty comment on your blog. You don’t want that kind of vibe hanging around your blog, so don’t be lazy and proofread. I have to say, I am lazy all the time and I do not proofread. This is a really bad habit of mine and it is something I am working on. If you see any spelling mistakes, please point them out to me. If you cannot help your laziness, you can always admit it to your readers, that way they will have more sympathy for you (hehe).

4) Digg almost everything you have. Even if it is not very relevant, Digg it. Every click you can get is worth it and you never know when something of yours will blow up on Digg. There is no harm and it can only help spread your blog more.

5) Analyze your blog statistics. I have an account at Clicky in which I use all the time to look at how my readers are coming to my site. You can see what they search to get there, what links they click to get there and exactly what they are most interested in. If they love one of your posts especially, write more about that topic. If they keep searching the same sort of keywords, write more posts with those keywords. Simply follow your traffic and soon the traffic will follow you.

Really it all comes down to how good and interesting your content is and how much your write. I go by this, don’t write unless you are interested in what you’re writing about. If you are interested in a lot of things, blogging should come easy to you. I love writing so I don’t mind writing a post almost everyday. The more content, the more readers have to read.

If you get frustrated with the amount of traffic you have, don’t worry. If you genuinely feel you have good things to say, you will get traffic eventually. These things take time. I would give it a month or so with good consistent writing until you can get worried. Until then, just keep on blogging!

Is tech slower or faster in the summer? When I say, “slower or faster,” I am talking about how many new things happen in the tech world. When tech is slow, not many things are happening and well, it can get a bit boring. When tech is fast, developers are coming out with new apps, such as Apple releasing and announcing new things, and the tech world is exciting. The question is, does tech “speed” change or is consistent at different times? In this post, I will focus on summer.

Students take the summer off from school and usually go away for the summer on some sort of trip. Most of the time, they don’t happen to bring their computers. This slows down tech in many ways. Also, a lot of people online are students. These are the people hanging around forums, using youtube, digg, etc. There may be a big slow down in these sort of sites because of all the students who go away. Also, many developers are students, so there may be a slowdown in the production of apps. Then again, there are a lot of students who take the summer off and not go away. These students have a ton of free time without homework and school stress. They roam around the web finding things to do and taking up new projects. I think this may even it out a bit.

Freelancers are like students who do not go to school (that didn’t make much sense, haha). They make a living doing work online at their own pace. They have no boss giving them timelines, due dates, etc. I think summer is like a day at the job for freelancers. It is no different from spring, fall or winter. They have just as much time and just as much will to work. Hey, maybe the heat gets to them and makes them want to sleep longer. Who knows….

Summer for company workers is another day at the Job. But in terms of tech, I have to argue that Summer makes a difference. Apple is one of the biggest tech companies in the world and they are always releasing things in the summer. For example, July 11th is going to be HUGE. We’re talking MobileMe, iPhone 3g and iPhone 2.0! Last year was iPhone 1.0. I don’t remember the years before, but the point is, summer is big for Apple lovers.

My conclusion is that tech is FASTER in the summer for a few reasons:

1) Apple releases products and that causes a ton of hype. Whether or not students are out on vacation, Apple’s announcements are still much more powerful than anything students can do. If you think about it, Apple is sort of is in control of how fast tech is. If Apple has been boring, a lot of people get bored themselves. Even I have trouble writing sometimes when there is no Apple news.

2) Summer is mostly the same for everyone. Freelancers and other companies are not changed by summer. It doesn’t matter how good you feel being on vacation (assuming you are a student) it is the same for everyone else in this tech world. These companies keep working and the freelancers keep working as well.

3) Students have more time to waste. Students like me are going to come up with as many ways to kill time as possible. The best way to kill time is to do something fun, like writing. Even really smart students will start projects and end up with cool new apps. Even though the lack of students away from the computer slows some tech down, the time spent by the students online in the summer makes up for it.

What do you think? Does summer feel slow or fast so far? Is tech slower or faster in the summer? Comment and start up a discussion!