The Hype Machine which is a very influencial music blog aggregator has announced while speaking at the In The City music conference in Manchester, UK, that they are already working on an iPhone application.
The site’s founder Anthony Volodkin discussed his plans for an iPhone app that would provide a “radio-like” experience with royalties for the music paid for by charging for the initial download of the app. There’s no word on when this would be released as of yet.
I know that The Pirate Bay and other such torrent sites has been getting a bit of a lashing of late, but sites like The Hype Machine which lets users listen to files add to the internet, seems to get away with copyright issues. The majority of the files that Hype Machine links to are copyright infringing, but no one really seems to care that much.
The Hype Machine is still in independent site, but the sites owners are always open to acquisition offers. The site currently makes the majority of their revenues from advertising and their audience seems to be growing at a very nice pace, so an iPhone application will only accelerate the growth.
The iPhone currently isn’t very big in Japan, but that hasn’t stopped Nissan from developing an iPhone application for Yokohama City residents.
The app is called E1 Grand Prix and here is how it works: The app connects to your car’s On-Board Diagnostics (OBD), and extracts information in real-time to determine how efficiently you’re driving (you know, from a saving fuel perspective). Step on the gas and then break too much, and you’ll get a low score; accelerate just enough to coast to the corner before the light turns red, and you’ll get high marks. The app connects to your OBD via in-car mobile Wi-Fi, and then spits back your results on your iPhone screen and via e-mail. The results are also uploaded to an online site, where you essentially compete with other folks to be the most ‘eco-efficient’ driver — hence the ‘Grand Prix’ name).
Nissan is still yet to announce if they will be launching the application in locations all over the world, but im sure it is only a matter of time.
Today the news is that Spotify has partnered with with Tom Group a major Chinese media conglomerate to launch the company’s popular digital music streaming service in China. The tie-up will create a localized version of the software to introduce to provide music over computers and mobile phones, Tom said in a statement to Reuters. Spotify’s current services are only available over computers.
“Tom will work toward unveiling a localized version of Spotify in Greater China in the near future,” the statement said.
There are quickly becoming more and more companies entering the Application development space. Some examples are Tapulous and GClue. Today Gclue have announced a new iphone application that is the next musical instrument to hit the app store, the iHarp. The iHarp is of course a harp for the iphone and ipod touch. This new application has a clean UI and various functions such as an octave and half range or half tones controls.
iHarp allows users to record and play your music. There are also built-in songs so that if you dont know how to play a harp, you can learn.
Main functions:
12 tones from Fa(F) to Do(C) and half tones
Sparkle effect (Playing each string will generate a sparkle)
Switch tones (2 ways)
Record and play (unlimited file size)
Skin selection (select your favorite theme)
Background selection (select pictures from your Photo gallery)
