Many US Internet users have never heard of a company called Spotify, but tomorrow morning that is going to change.  Spotify launching in the US is significant as it will trigger a change in the way we consume our music.  Some of us here in the US have had access to Spotify via a variety of tricks and knowing the right people.

I have used Spotify for the last 6 months and the thing I love the most about it is the simple integration of Facebook so I can discover music my friends are listening to.  This is something Apple has never gotten right with iTunes.  In iTunes I get to see what the most popular music is across the US, but I have no idea what my friends are listening to.

Spotify fixes this problem by letting you create playlists that you share with friends, and the entire Spotify network.  Being able to mix your local music with streamed music creates an endless library of tunes.  Rumors of giving Spotify a free 20 hours per month of music is generous despite the ads.  I have paid for my Spotify account from day one so I can get music on my iPhone/iPad too.

Welcome to America Spotify, our ears thank you!

When Netflix announced their change in plans tonight it was not greeted warmly by the web.  There have been a lot of speculation about why Netflix did this:

• Increased costs for mailing
• Netflix is trying to kill off DVDs

My guess is that Netflix has pressure on multiple fronts.  First, the costs of mailing DVDs has to be increasing.  The USPS has been saying for a while that stopping Saturday is on the table unless they raise rates.  Netflix also has been saying the future is streaming, that DVD shipments may go down this quarter for the first time ever.

My issue with Netflix, and let it be known I have a streaming account, is that the content available on Netflix is weak.  Recently I have thought Amazon has offered better content.

Everyone will be watching subscriber numbers closely I am sure over the next two quarters and the stock will be put under the microscope but for me I will be watching to see if Netflix can offer more content.

In the six months since arriving at Clearspring, I have been very impressed with the team I get to work with every day.  At AOL the team always used to say we had to act like a startup, but I never realized how far from reality that was.  It goes beyond our 2 week release cycle, rather it is the camaraderie of the team working passionately and with a sense of urgency.  We are all in this together, and in the 6 months have cranked out tons of code, worked late nights AND early mornings, and most importantly delivered the goods that our publishers and users are wanting.

Here are a few of my favorite things we have delivered the first half of the year:

– Real-time analytics: For publishers looking to see how their content is resonating across the social web.  Many publishers have our real time dashboard running on screens in their editorial rooms helping them make content decisions.

– Tools and SDKs for Mobile:  We just announced this week our solutions for iOS, Android and mobile web browsers.  We spent a bunch of time testing with partners the SDK and making sure that our mobile browser solutions are friendly to the form factor and touch inputs.  We are currently looking for partners to help test our Android SDK, and you can sign up for access here.

– Measuring All Sharing: Earlier this spring we released a way for publishers to measure sharing that happens from people who click Facebook Like and Twitter Tweet buttons.  We also help publishers measure how many people are copying and pasting the URL of the web page and sending it to their friends in emails, IMs, tweetdeck, etc.  We know that copying/pasting URLs is 10X larger than all other sharing combined.  Publishers now can see how much of their direct/organic traffic was really a result of people sharing their content to their friends and family.

It has been a great 1st half of the year, and I know the 2nd half is going to be even better.  If you are still wondering what AddThis is all about we re-did all our videos in the past month too…check them out:

For those of us who sit in traffic for hours on end in the DC, summertime brings a new rinkel to the mundane commute.  So many cars pass through DC at all times of the day, my nine mile drive to Clearspring each day provides me with ample time to play the license plate game.

For those of you uninitiated in the license plate game it is a game in which you try to identify as many different state’s license plates on the road.  On a good day in DC, in a 9 mile commute I may get up to 12 different states (my personal record is 15), but the average is 8.  Morning is always the best time for seeing different plates, and it tends to keep me engaged on my drive in.

You may be asking who cares, it’s DC no one who actually lives here is from here?  True, but, when sitting in my car listening to the traffic report tell me that another car overturned on the American Legion Bridge, the game is entertaining.  Heck there are even iPhone games for the passengers to play.

When I first started using Google+ two nights ago it was a little bit of a ghost town.  With the exception of my friends who work at Google and a few members of the Silicon Valley elite, I could not find anyone else to friend.  Last night Google turned on invites which turned the ghost town into a little bit more engaging community.  The challenge is to find people you are already friends with on other social networks and add them to your Google+ circle.  Thank goodness for Yahoo (I can’t believe I just said that).

Over a year ago, Yahoo enabled importing contacts from Facebook into Yahoo Mail, and with Google+ you can import your Yahoo contacts and find your friends on Google+.  The steps to enable this are to log into Yahoo Mail, assuming you have an account.  

* Import Your facebook friends via Yahoo:

http://www.ymailblog.com/blog/2010/03/facebook-friends-meet-yahoo-contacts/

* Then connect your Yahoo account to Google+ here:

http://plus.google.com/circles/find

To get your Instagram photos imported:

http://instaport.me

I could not believe how Google+ invites were flying around last night it was insane.  Google has turned them off for now.

Link: Coach: U.S. World Cup win over North Korea caused by lightning – Game On!: Covering the Latest Sports News

I love the North Korean propaganda engine.  If true, then this is was an amazing recovery by the players and perhaps we are not putting enough emphasis on Eastern medicines.  Though I am not sure it beats the invisible phone that the North Korean football coach used in the 2010 World Cup to talk to Kim Jong-il.

Nice cameo from our fearless leader Hooman Radfar here at Clearspring

Link: Tim Armstrong Just Killed the AOL Brand

In a swift move that should have happened his first day on the job, Tim Armstrong just killed the AOL Brand in lieu of Huffington Post.  If content is the future of AOL and all the other stuff is just window dressing, then it sounds like only Huffington Post and Patch will be the brands left.