• Twitter Launches #music Discovery Service

    // Gradly // blog, Download, Music, Social Networks, Twitter No Responses

    Twitter #music

    Twitter #music

    Actually, Twitter isn’t launching a music service, but a discovery engine. Actual music will initially be served from iTunes, Spotify or Rdio. Previews will by default come from iTunes while subscribers to Spotify and Rdio can log in to hear streams of full songs.

    Today, we’re releasing Twitter #music, a new service that will change the way people find music, based on Twitter. It uses Twitter activity, including Tweets and engagement, to detect and surface the most popular tracks and emerging artists. It also brings artists’ music-related Twitter activity front and center: go to their profiles to see which music artists they follow and listen to songs by those artists. And, of course, you can tweet songs right from the app.

    The songs on Twitter #music currently come from three sources: iTunes, Spotify or Rdio. By default, you will hear previews from iTunes when exploring music in the app. Subscribers to Rdio and Spotify can log in to their accounts to enjoy full tracks that are available in those respective catalogs. We will continue to explore and add other music service providers.

    Twitter #music

    Twitter #music

    So, if you’re interested in the songs that have been tweeted by the artists and people you follow on Twitter, you can navigate to #NowPlaying to view and listen to those songs.

    The official App for this service can be downloaded from here

  • Digg Rebooted, Launches Redesign and iOS App

    // Gradly // Acquisition, blog, Design, iPhone, News No Responses

    Digg Rebooted, Launches Redesign and iOS App

    Digg Rebooted, Launches Redesign and iOS App

    After being acquired by Betaworks, Digg redesign has gone live, a result of a very rapid 6-week redesign process. The new design is simpler and cleaner, it emphasizes top stories, popular stories, and upcoming stories. The new Digg score system will take advantage from social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to rank stories. The front page of Digg will also features editorial stories instead of relying completely on the Digg engine.

    In the blog post, Betaworks says that it intends to continue to add new features:

    While today’s launch is a milestone for us, we’re more excited about what’s coming next. In the subsequent weeks and months we will:

    • introduce network-based personalization features (like we do in News.me) to make Digg a more relevant and social experience
    • experiment with new commenting features
    • continue to iterate Digg for mobile web
    • move the website forward with features like the Reading List, different views into the top stories on Digg, and more data to help users better understand why a particular story is trending
    • launch an API so that members of the development community can build all the products that we haven’t even thought of yet

    In addition to the website, Digg also has launched a new iOS app, which offers a similar news reading.

  • Twitter Gets an Overhaul with New Faster, Simpler, Cleaner Interface [Updated]

    // Gradly // blog, Design, News, Social Networks, Twitter No Responses

    Twitter New UI

    Do you find Twitter so darn complicated to use? Well, Its time to change your mind, because the guys behind the service has just done a redesign of its web portal and mobile apps. You can update iPhone app right away.

    Today we introduce a new version of Twitter. We’ve simplified the design to make it easier than ever to follow what you care about, connect with others and discover something new. You’ll see this new design both on Twitter.com and mobile phones, so that you’ll have a familiar experience any time, anywhere. We’ve also updated TweetDeck to be consistent with this new version.

    Four new tabs bring you instantly closer to everything you care about, “Home“, “Connect“, “Discover” and “Me“.

    We’ll be rolling out the redesigned Twitter over the next few weeks. You can see it immediately on the just-updated versions of mobile.twitter.com, Twitter for iPhone, and Twitter for Android. You can get early access on your computer by downloading and logging into Twitter for iPhone or Twitter for Android. We’re working on updates for other apps, such as Twitter for iPad, and will share news as they become available.

    How To Get The New Twitter Web Interface Right Now

    Simply, install the Twitter for iPhone or Android app, sign-in and ta da! You will automatically get the new Twitter web-interface.

    Visit fly.twitter.com to learn more about the changes.

  • Twitter to Roll Out Ads and Promoted Tweets in User Timelines

    // Gradly // blog, News, Social Networks, Twitter No Responses

    Its final, Twitter would soon begin to roll out ads, Promoted Tweets, in user timelines. The truth is that they’ve been talking about this possibility for a while. And they’ve even tested it with third party partners like Hootsuite. According to MG Siegler. Twitter will start placing them on Twitter.com.

    The sponsored Tweets will only appear in your timeline if you already follow the account that has paid for the spot. If that’s the case, a single Promoted Tweet will appear at (or near) the top of your main timeline when you log in to twitter.com for the first time in any given day. As you get new Tweets, these Promoted Tweets will be pushed down just like regular Tweets. But if you refresh the page, the ad will appear at the top of the timeline again, is our understanding.

    These ads will also be clearly marked as “Promoted” with an orange arrow icon below the tweet, the same way Promoted Tweets and Trends are currently shown on the sidebar or in search. And it will say the full company name of the company that is doing the promotion. These Tweets can also be dismissed from your timeline with one click. More from twitter blog:

    That’s why starting today, we’re introducing a way to ensure that the most important Tweets from the organizations you follow reach you directly, by placing them at or near the top of your timeline. These Promoted Tweets will scroll through the timeline like any other Tweet, and like regular Tweets, they will appear in your timeline just once. Promoted Tweets can also be easily dismissed from your timeline with a single click.