1. Bandcamp: RWW reviewed Bandcamp earlier and dubbed this service the "MySpace Music Killer". The company offers bands the chance to upload liner notes, album arts and links to their materials through an online DIY store. In this case, interactivity is not bundled with the album downloads, but rather found in a link on the site.

2. Songbird: Songbird is the open-source Mozilla-based music player that offers users a chance to listen to albums while also viewing information about artists through various in-browser plugins. Songbird offers the basic functionality of an "interactive album" with lyrics and album art; however, fans can also add extensions to trade mix tapes, publish their playback histories to Last.FM and publish their listening history to Twitter.

3. Songkick: Songkick is a concert recommendation engine with a music history component. The site allows users to upload concert-related photos, liner notes, poster art, videos and even ticket stubs. The community is a live music wiki updated by those die hard fans who've not only attended the concerts, but also documented the experience. For Bob Dylan alone, the community has uploaded information on 2788 past concerts in 767 cities.

Apart from their interactivity and great social components, one thing that BandCamp, Songbird and Songkick have in common is the fact that they are not Apple. While each of the services are wonderful in their own right, Apple's potential commitment to interactive albums can set an industry-wide precedent on how albums are released. By providing listeners with liner notes, videos and background information, fans may find themselves connecting with their music on a whole new level.

Band history, politics and cultural context can affect whether or not we part with our money. I'm going to take a wild guess that Hasidic Jewish reggae artist Matisyahu's highest download numbers don't come from Muslim music fans. And do you think Radiohead's name-your-own-price In Rainbows album would have made as much money if the group wasn't known for its activism?

The interactive album tells us where artists have come from and how they're using their voices outside of the music. A number of services provide the delivery framework for the information, but only Apple provides direct access to mainstream audiences. Regardless of whether or not the independent labels follow suit, these new band dossiers give us the social narrative we need to make informed choices as consumers.

There was lots of activity in the digital lifestyle space in 2008, with new devices, services, and platforms being launched and some of our favorites from last year getting significant updates. One notable trend throughout the year was the way these products and services began to converge; not in the sense that they were becoming all-in-one devices, although some of that was happening, but rather by hardware, services, and content playing together nicely, often through open standards and platforms, with the Internet acting as a conduit. On that note, here are our picks of the 10 best digital lifestyle products of 2008.

• Top 10 Semantic Web Products of 2008
• Top 10 International Products of 2008
• Top 10 Consumer Web Apps of 2008
• Top 10 RSS and Syndication Products of 2008
• Top 10 Mobile Web Products of 2008
• Top 10 Enterprise Web Products of 2008
• Top 10 Real World Web Apps of 2008

1. The App Store

The real upgrade to the iPhone this year wasn't the iPhone 3G but the accompanying App Store. Launched just five months ago, the store now offers over 10,000 third-party apps, and Apple has seen over 300 million downloads. Part of that success can be attributed to the way in which the iPhone as a platform has galvanized developers; a second major factor is the simplicity of the App Store itself. As a result, lots of our other favorite digital lifestyle-related products and services wound up on the iPhone and iPod Touch, such as Pandora and Last.fm (digital music), Joost (Internet TV), Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter (social web), as well as location-based services, games, remotes (VLC Player and Sonos), and much, much more.

See also: The real surprise of the App Store isn't number of downloads or revenue

2. Netflix

When Netflix starting talking up plans to deliver its online streaming service, Watch Instantly, to "Internet-connected high-definition DVD players, Internet-connected game consoles, and dedicated Internet set-top boxes," we were a little skeptical, especially of the time frame. However, the company really delivered in 2008: Netflix streaming is now available on TiVo, the XBox 360, Internet-connected DVD players from LG and Samsung, along with the Roku Netflix Player set-top box.

3. Android

Our initial review of the first Google phone, T-Mobile's G1, was mixed, but the Android OS had us pretty excited. "Without a doubt, the Android operating system is spectacular," last100's Daniel Langendorf wrote at the time. "It's fast, with little or no lag time. It's responsive, fun to use, and full of promise." A few months on and we're still impressed. In particular, Android's mobile web browser is the best post-iPhone one yet. And likewise, the Android Market does a great job of copying the iPhone's App Store. Of course, the best thing about Android is that it's open source; as a result, we'll see it powering numerous new smartphones next year, along with other hardware, such as set-top boxes, MIDs, and GPS devices.

4. Nokia E71

In our extensive review, we described Nokia's E71 as our favorite smartphone yet. So, admittedly, this one is a very personal choice. The E71 is roughly the same size as the iPhone but has a completely different form-factor, omitting touch for a more traditional user interface and with enough room to pack in a compact but very usable QWERTY keyboard. Other pluses are the device's overall responsiveness, bundled applications, and a number of welcome improvements to the S60 line's user interface, along with decent web browsing and media playback, superb call quality, and extremely good battery life.

5. Hulu

Although online video site Hulu was available in private beta in 2007, it didn't launch publicly until March of this year. Our initial verdict was mixed, but since then the Fox and NBC joint venture has become the third biggest video destination in the U.S., according to Nielsen. Perhaps a testament to that success, a number of device makers have released set-top boxes marketed on their ability to put Hulu content on the TV, such as ZeeVee's recently announced PC-to-TV solution, the ZvBox, and the Neuros LINK. Now, if only Hulu would release an iPhone app or, like Netflix, form official partnerships with consumer electronics companies.

6. BBC iPlayer

Hulu could certainly learn a thing or two from the iPlayer, the BBC's TV catch-up service (UK only). Since its controversial Windows launch, when the public broadcaster was accused of getting too close to Microsoft, the iPlayer has added streaming for the Mac and Linux, a version for the iPhone and iPod Touch, numerous other portable media players, and support for the latest phones running Windows Mobile. There's also an iPlayer application for select Nokia phones and a browser-based version optimized for the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii.

7. PlayStation 3

Sony's PlayStation 3 wasn't launched in 2008, but it certainly came of age this year. The company has always pitched the PS3 as a device that goes far beyond gaming. Instead, like Microsoft's XBox 360, it's designed to be a trojan horse in the living room, delivering a range of non-gaming content and services through the television. On that front, Sony made significant progress in 2008 by winning the next-generation format war with Blu-ray, adding DVR functionality in the UK with PlayTV, launching a video download store in the U.S., adding support for DivX video, and, finally, rolling out its own virtual world called Home.

8. Songbird

After being in development for two years, the open-source desktop music player Songbird reached its 1.0 release this month. What sets Songbird apart from the likes of iTunes is the array of available plug-ins that extend the app's functionality. For example, mashTape, one of six default add-ons, let's you delve into artist info, discography, links, and news and scroll through Flickr photos and YouTube videos. Other add-on services that ship with the player out of the box are Last.fm, Concerts, and SHOUTcast radio. With these installed, you can sync your tracks to Last.fm's online service, check out upcoming concerts in the area, and stream music over the Internet using the player. As of publication, there are over 70 plug-ins available for Songbird.

See also: ReadWriteWeb's full Songbird review.

9. Wii Fit

Nintendo has long contended that "everyone's a gamer," and now the console giant wants everyone to get fit. Announced last year but released in 2008, the Wii Fit aims to improve the health of family members through the kind of active play first seen in Wii Sports. The "game" comes with a balance board that assists with aerobic, toning, and balancing activities. A neat feature is that household members can review each other's progress on a new Wii channel.

10. The Netbook

This isn't an individual product but a whole new product category that has really taken off in 2008. Initially targeted to the education market and those wanting a third machine, netbooks are resonating with a much broader market -- and not just because of their lower price point compared to more traditional, higher spec'ed sub-notebooks. Despite years of industry propaganda, consumers are wising up to the fact that they don't have to step on the processor upgrade treadmill. Instead, in an age when more and more of our applications and data reside in the cloud (on remote servers, rather than local computers), a machine with Internet connectivity and powerful enough to run a modern web browser (a netbook, in other words) is often all we need.

When we looked at Songbird in the past, many readers were quick to point out the player's sluggish experience, tendency to crash, and bugs. Whatever negative experiences you had before that drove you away from the software, now is the time to get it another shot.

This time around, the player felt fast, lightweight, and stable. It imported our iTunes library without a hitch, even the DRM-protected purchases and the accompanying metadata.

As we played tracks, an add-on called mashTape, one of the six default add-ons, let us delve into artist info, discography, links, news, and scroll through flickr photos and YouTube videos. Others that ship with the player out of the box include Last.fm, Concerts, and SHOUTcast radio.  With these installed, you can sync your tracks to Last.fm's online service, check out upcoming concerts in the area, and stream music over the internet using the player.

In addition, there are over 70 add-ons available for download from the Songbird site, including the recommended add-ons like LyricMaster, which puts the lyrics to your favorite tunes in the Songbird sidebar and MediaFlow which introduces a visually appealing cover flow view of your music.

Songbird is based on Mozilla's Gecko engine, the same engine that powers Firefox. And like Firefox, Songbird also allows for tabbed browsing and themes, as well as the above-mentioned add-ons. The customization and extendibility Songbird provides are really what make the software so compelling.

What's Missing

Of course, in pointing out Songbird's strengths, we would be remiss if we left out its weaknesses, too. Major features found in iTunes are still missing from the 1.0 release. Songbird can't automatically download album art, watch folders, offer feed management, or rip CDs. The roadmap promises these features are coming as is broader video support. However, considering it took the company two years to get to this point, some people may have trouble believing the promised February and April 2009 dates the roadmap lists.

For iPhone and iPod Touch users, iTunes will still be necessary as only iTunes allows for syncing those devices and the installation of apps. Even iPod users have reason to worry that Songbird will break at some point given Apple's tendency to shut down attempts to reverse-engineer their software.  

Why Apple Should Be Scared

Focusing solely on the missing features that make Songbird feel incomplete is near-sighted to say the least. Fast-forward to next year and you'll have a lot less to complain about. Remember, too, that the web browser you know and love as Firefox 3 didn't start off complete with an awesome bar, integrated add-on installer system, and full-page zoom, either.

What Songbird delivers is something Apple can't: a more open version of iTunes that runs on PC, Mac, and Linux machines. Apple's locked-down and closed iTunes player lets Songbird comfortably find its niche as the open, alternative music player, much as Firefox became the alternative web browser.  If the company ever reaches the point where it can match every one of iTunes features and provide the customization aspect, the decision to switch will become a no-brainer. Why have less when you can have more?

Today's Songbird is no iTunes killer...at least not at the moment. We're just not there yet - maybe we'll never be - but we're definitely enjoying watching the company give it a try.

This year, we've seen Songbird add features and several new extensions to their product. In January, we told you about Songbird's 6-week campaign to build the 40 most-requested Firefox extensions for Songbird. Today, the majority of those extensions have been completed and are available for download from this page. You'll recognize some of your favorite extensions on that list like del.icio.us (SimpleDelicious), Chatzilla, DownloadThemAll, Faviconize Tab, FasterFox, Shareaholic, and StumbleUpon.

In March, Songbird released version 0.5 which included MTP Device Support for Windows users, a new Device API, and a feature called "Media Views," which let developers create alternate ways to display your music library via extensions. (example: Artist Detail List).

What's New in Songbird 0.7

This most recent release, Songbird 0.7, offers a brand-new UI with a more refined look-and-feel, a new setup assistant, smart playlists (like iTunes has), a concert calendar that lets you find upcoming shows in your area based on the artists in your library, and Last.fm support, which lets you scrobble the tracks you play and love them or ban them.

Additionally, they've added GStreamer support for all platforms, making GStreamer their new media core. By default it handles all FLAC playback on Windows/Mac and you can enable GStreamer to handle more codecs. They've also speed up media scanning and reduced memory usage on Windows/Linux.

So Far, So Good

When we last mentioned Songbird here on RWW, we were surprised by some of the comments. "Too little, too late," said one commenter. We hope those who have written Songbird off because of their slow development cycle will now take another look.

The new setup assistant, for example, makes getting Songbird up-and-running quickly. It offers to import your iTunes library for you and pre-checks recommended add-ons for you to try:

Songbird's new UI is also a major improvement - that's mainly because now it looks more like iTunes than ever before. However, in many ways it's better than iTunes - there's tabbed browsing across the top, favorite bookmarks like The Hype Machine on the left, and the Last.fm support adds a social element to your desktop player experience.

The Songbird team plans to have Songbird 1.0 ready by December of this year, and we're looking forward to all to checking out all the incremental improvements along the way. If you want to give Songbird a shot, you can download it from here.

UPDATE: To clarify, Songbird 0.7 is a RELEASE CANDIDATE, not the final version of 0.7.

In Paul's post, he notes that "Agreeing tends to motivate people less than disagreeing. And when you agree there's less to say. You could expand on something the author said, but he has probably already explored the most interesting implications."

It's true. When you're agreeing with an author of a blog post, it just seems kind of silly to take the time to write out a comment that simply states: "I agree." So instead, the agreement or the liking of the post stays off-record. This means that even on a more universally well thought of post, the comments will often be the domain of the discordant few. This doesn't give a fair representation of the thoughts and reactions of the readers and, therefore, doesn't provide any true insight into the way the issue is perceived. It could be that 90% of the readers think the author is correct in their opinion, but only the 10%  who feel differently have made their voices heard.

Additionally, as those of you who are also bloggers know, it can be disheartening for authors to read through blog comments to only find comments consisting of "well, actually...," "this is old news," and the equivalent of "that's so lame!" filling up the commentary section. Perhaps the post was lame, but then again, it could be that those who enjoyed it haven't taken time to respond.

Commentary and opinions don't have to be pigeon-holed as being in agreement or disagreement, though. Yes, some opinions could be in favor of or against the post, but others could be undecided, confused, or neutral. Unfortunately, it seems that readers with those sorts opinions just move on, not bothering to post anything anywhere until they happen across a blog that sufficiently riles them up over an issue.

Where the Positive Reactions Are

Maybe it's just human nature to only be inspired to opine when you're vehemently against something.

So for generating positive reactions, a service like FriendFeed (sorry in advance to those of you who are sick of the hype) fills a void. In FriendFeed, a simple click allows you to "like" a blog post. You don't have to comment. You aren't whisked away off-site like you are when clicking a Digg button. It's just one click in your stream of content. You see a smiley face. The blog author sees a smiley face. It's nice.

In fact, in this respect, FriendFeed is the new Digg. Yes, I said it.

Whereas at one time, digging a post meant "this is interesting, I enjoyed it," these days, digging is a serious business. Writing for Digg, the logistics of getting to the front page, befriending the elite diggers, the potential for buries...it has all made Digg an interesting and important ecosystem to generate traffic and interest for a web site, but soon, it will no longer the best way to see the true popularity of post. Instead, highly dugg stories are more like a combination of various forces, metrics, timing, and luck. 

Instead, it's the smiley faces of FriendFeed that will be the metric of the future for judging popularity of a blog post. Especially since the FriendFeed API has introduced a way for a Wordpress/FriendFeed plugin to exist. All we need now is a universal plugin that's tweaked so as to let you "like" the post on FriendFeed while still on the blog's web site itself. Then we'll really be in business.

Example of the FriendFeed plugin in action

For what it's worth, the plugin also addresses earlier concerns that the conversation has left the blogosphere. And with blog commenting system, Disqus, being able to integrate back into FriendFeed, it all comes full circle. But that's another post.

More Difficult - Continuing the Conversation via Blog Comments

While FriendFeed makes it easy for people to mark their enjoyment of a blog post, having people comment on the blog with something useful, constructive, or positive is far more difficult.

Referring back the Geek News post, the author writes, "There are loosely 3 groups in increasing order of prevalence: those that want to add something to the conversation (constructors), those that have a strong contrary opinion (objectors) and those that just want attention (detractors)."

It's easy to get detractors. Just throw up an inflammatory post, make some wild claim, or post something that's knowingly inaccurate. Comments ensue.

Objectors aren't so bad, either. They sit on the other side of the fence and offer a differing viewpoint. Sometimes, an objector can also be a constructor and add to the post. I think of this example, where our "Comment of the Day" winner, Jerome, was so convinced about Google Docs' brilliance that he took the time to give numerous examples of what the service can do, which led to a discovery of a feature that many of us were unaware of: GoogleLookUp. So objectors can definitely add to the blog.

Other times, the objectors fall somewhere else on the "Paul Graham Scale of Disagreement," desperate to share their opinion, but going about it in a less convincing way (see DH3 and below). While sometimes the name-calling (DH0) can be humorous (yes, I'm guilty of have voted up the occasional hilarious Digg comment), more often than not it's a detractor to the conversation.

So how can you entice the elusive constructor to add their thoughts to a blog post? To get this sort of blog commenter, you have to first attract a quality readership to your site. This is more difficult. Articles have to well-researched, well-written, intelligent, and insightful. For a blog to provide regular posts of high quality is difficult, but it can be done. And once you have quality readers - those who thoughtfully read the article, think about what they want to say, and then compose their thoughts in a way that creates a valuable addition to the original post - you have a conversation of merit and something worth reading.

And shouldn't that be the true goal of blogging? Intelligent conversation? As a blogger, the focus should be on starting that conversation; for readers, it should be adding to it. Blogger and reader don't always have to agree with each other, but being able to at least constructively debate the issue brings something to the table that straightforward reporting does not.

In this age of information overload, constructive conversations will win out in the long run. You'll find the best conversations through your network of friends - shared in Google Reader, posted on FriendFeed, or maybe even the old-fashioned way (email!). As you narrow your focus to this unique and personal slice of the web, you'll remember why you love blog reading in the first place - not to get Google Reader to stop saying "1000+" - but to join a conversation, add value to a discussion, find like-minded people, debate an issue, learn something new, and maybe even better understand yourself and the world. 

For those of you who don't know, the Chumby Touchscreen Internet gadget is a popular...and darned cute...gadget that can be customized with various channels that feature widgets, videos, feeds, games, and more.

To use your Chumby, you plug it in and configure it to work with your Wi-Fi network. Once that's done, you log on to Chumby.com and customize yours with the widgets of your choosing.

These widgets can be anything - web clips, RSS feeds, games, videos, Tweets, news, weather, a clock, photos, or a million other things. Some of the widgets come from deals made with content providers, like the widgets available from CBS, MTV Networks, MySpace, The Weather Channel Interactive, AOL's SHOUTcast and Scripps Networks.

The Chumby also has speakers, so you can hook up the Chumby to your iPod via the USB connector in the back and play your iTunes playlists with it.

Made for Hackers

However, what's really great about the Chumby is that the device is designed for customization. Want to hack, mod, extend, or improve Chumby? Have at it!

The Chumby lets you upgrade your Chumby in four different ways: developers customize the software, build Flash widgets, or even hack the hardware. Arts-and-crafts types can also mess around with the Chumby in their own way, decorating it or putting in a case of their own design.

Software: The Chumby is a Linux-based, open-source platform which means developers can do nearly anything with it. A quick glance on the Chumby forum shows posts about Python & Ruby for Chumby, Java for Chumby, Perl for Chumby, MTASC for Chumby, and much more.

Widgets: For Flash animators, the Chumby can be a showcase for your talents. Artists can upload widgets to the Chumby site and share them with the community so others can add them to their own Chumbys. These widgets are the bread-and-butter of Chumby, bringing most of the cool stuff like news feeds, videos, games, viewers, utilities, and other fun and/or useful tools to the device.

Hardware: The Chumby is made for tinkerers. You can open up the Chumby, take it apart, upgrade it, add to it, and mod it. They even tell you how and provide extensive documentation.

Crafts: You don't have to be a computer nerd to enjoy modding your Chumby, though. Even artistic types can enjoy making Chumby their own. The Chumby is designed so that the core electronics can be easily removed from its casing, letting you create your own look for Chumby without having to write code. See?

Modded Chumby on Chumby's flickr Group

You can even embed a Chumby gadget on your own web site to show people what your Chumby looks like:

Virtual Chumby

Now, don't you want one?

Author's Note: I have a Chumby and I love it.

Xoopit is aimed at the widespread practice of sharing media like photos, vidoes and PDFs by email. If anyone but the big webmail vendors is going to launch an "inbox 2.0" type product, though, there's going to have to be a better API that lets me access content without giving up my password.

Xoopit doesn't offer a Flash player to listen to music or view PDFs in your inbox, you still have to download those locally and consume them with other applications. (See PDFmenot.com, by the way.) The service may be appealing to more mainstream users who communicate almost entirely through email. Will those users give up the usernames and password to their email accounts, though?

If you'd like to try it out yourself, you can access a beta account through this link. We've written about email password horror stories here before and RWW does take any responsibility for anything that happens if you give a third party yours.

We Need Webmail Content APIs

Gmail released a Gmail Contacts API this month. That's a great way to see who among your friends uses a new application you're using. It does not allow access to the content of your emails, however. All the webmail vendors, most prominently Yahoo!, are working on creating an "Inbox 2.0" experience for users - moving beyond simple one-off messaging and offering an Attention Data driven, media savvy communication hub.

Should users demand more portability, though, for the actual content of our email? Secure portability of content into the hands of 3rd parties seems like a vital step in enabling a whole ecosystem of innovation. Otherwise instead of best practices in user authentication, we get stuck with virtual home decorators unable to anything for us unless we give them a copy of our house keys. At least the people in an analogy like that would be licensed and bonded. Let some brand new web app startup into my email account, with my username and password? No thanks.

Google's pranks each year are probably the most anticipated on the web. Last year, they hit users with two: Sewage-based home WiFi, and printed Gmail. Other classics from the Google prank archive include: the Google Mentalplex, Google Gulp, Google's jobs on the moon, Google PigeonRank, and Google Romance.

Being the tricksters they are, Google also sometimes makes some extaordinary real announcements on April 1, like in 2004 when it used a rather tongue-in-cheek press release to announce Gmail. Google also inspires others to create Google-centric pranks, such as Google Maps Rooms from Google Blogoscoped in 2006.

2. Ebay

Auction site eBay is another great place to trawl for April Fools jokes. Some intrepid auctioneer usually tries to pull a prank each year, perhaps most famously that distinction fell to prop-maker Dan Baines. In 2006 he caused quite a stir when he put up for sale what was purported to be the body of a dead "fairy" on the site. It took him days to respond to all the email he got as a result. ""I've had all sorts of comments including people who say they've seen exactly the same things and one person who told me to return the remains to the grave site as soon as possible or face the consequences," he told the BBC.

Sometimes people play off of other pranks on eBay as well. In 2005, one could find invites to Google's fictitious "Gulp" program being auctioned off on the site.

3. ThinkGeek

Geek-friendly shopping site ThinkGeek sometimes gets in on the Apirl Fools Day act by putting up all sorts of fanciful objects for sale. Last year, for example, they offered the Wii Helmet and inhalable caffeine sticks.

4. Wikipedia

While the validity of Wikipedia for serious research is in doubt already, don't be surprised if everyone's favorite crowd-sourced encyclopedia site gets just a tad be more unreliable tomorrow. In 2005, for example, the site announced that it had been taken over by Encyclopedia Britannica. The article, now labeled a hoax, claimed that the new encyclopedia would cost £99.97/page to edit.

5. NASA

The American space organization has been pulling a prank on its "Astronomy Picture of the Day site on April 1 for many years. Some of the best include last year's space Quidditch match, 2003's Ollie the Owl constellation, and 1998's lunar field goal. Our favorite, though, is 2005's hilarious Water on Mars -- pictured below.

6. Facebook

Though a newcomer to the fraternity of April Fools prankers, Valley-darling Facebook got in on the act last year with some interesting stuff delivered to users via the News Feed. They announced their new "LivePoke!" feature, in which users could pay to have their friends literally poked by a real person. They sent out humorous relationship updates, such as, "Harry and Voldemort have set their relationship status to 'Mortal Enemies.'" And existential status updates like, "You are on Facebook, reading your News Feed." They even announced, much to the chagrin of sports fans everywhere, that Ohio State and Florida -- who were set to meet in the 2007 NCAA championship basketball game -- had mututally agreed upon a tie.

7. Blizzard

Blizzard entertainment, makers of the ultra-popular "World of Warcraft" games, likes to have a little fun with its fans on April Fools Day. In 2006, for example, they announced the creation of BurgerCraft, a chain of theme restaurants based on their games. "At BurgerCraft, players will have a chance to truly taste the flavor of Blizzard's games and savor traditional dishes from all the company’s popular game universes," the company wrote in a bogus press release that included the names of some of the dishes that would be served at the restaurants, such as, Red Dragon Wings, Zealot Fries, and the Frost Shock Smoothie.

Last year, Blizzard got in on the act again by announcing the World of Warcraft tinfoil hat which was of course the "logical result of [a] profound insight, combining tinfoil's powerful mental shielding properties with the excellent counter-hexing effect of troll tears and the outstanding mind-focus powers of one of Azeroth's most precious gems."

8. HowStuffWorks

Beginning in 2006 HowStuffWorks has begun to put up a fake article on the first of April each year. So far, they've been must-reads. In 2006 it was animated tattoos, and last year they brought us cell phoe implants.

9. Craigslist

Though not a guaranteed place to seek out an official prank every year, the one that Craigslist pulled in 2002 was just too good not to mention. Known for its simple, and ad-free design, Craigslist has grown to be the largest classifieds sites in the US serving 27 million unique users monthly. In 2002, those users got quite a shock when founder Craig Newmark announced to its visitors that the site would start running banner ads.

"Craigslist represents virgin territory for banner ad placement," the site said on a page that even included a form for purchasing ads. However, even without the guarantee of an official prank, like eBay, expect Craigslist to be flooded with prank adverts tomorrow.

10. Newspapers

Newspaper, especially those in Britain, love to publish fake stories on April 1. Ever since the 1977 seven-page supplement published in the Guardian detailing life on the fictional island of San Serriffe, newspapers and magazines have been bonkers for April Fools Day hoaxes.

Just last year there was CNet's April 1 homepage, which sported some fanciful stories including the Dalai Lama being exiled to Second Life and a preview of a new Wii knitting game. There was the grow-your-own Viagra craze in the Independent, Tony Blair heading to the stage via the Observer, and the Register's fake story on Google and Apple joining forces to make a phone.

Conclusion

Of course, the web isn't the web isn't the only place you might be fooled. Companies have a long history of spending real money to put out fake news on April 1st. In 1998, for example, Burger King took out a a full page advertisement in USA Today announcing the "left handed Whopper" -- a new version of their famous burger specifically made for lefties. In 1996, Taco Bell announced that it had purchased the famed US historical landmark, "The Liberty Bell," and was renaming it -- you guessed it -- "The Taco Liberty Bell." So keep your eyes peeled, and remember to take everything you read tomorrow with a large helping of salt.

Even we're not immune. Late last year we reported that CoRank and Menéame had merged before realizing a tad too late that it was actually a prank for the Feast of the Holy Innocents, which is sort of a Latin American and Spanish equivalent of April Fools Day.

Be sure to check out April Fool's Day on the Web which has been attempting to catalog every web-based April Fool's Day gag since 2004. ]]>Discuss]]> http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_10_places_to_get_fooled_on_april_1.php http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_10_places_to_get_fooled_on_april_1.php Trends Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:34:35 -0800 Josh Catone Songbird, the little music player/web browser mashup that everyone has high hopes for, has just released a new version: 0.5RC1. This is their first official release towards their goal of having 0.5 Final out later this month. This latest version offers some new features and improvements over version 0.4, including MTP Device Support for Windows users, a new Device API, and a new feature called "Media Views."

What's New

Windows users will appreciate the addition of MTP support in Songbird 0.5RC1. Most cell phones and portable media players integrate the MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) Spec, a Microsoft-devised set of extensions for transferring music files to and from portable devices. Songbird's latest release offers MTP Device Support via a new extension which lets you transfer, delete, and update files as well as create and manage playlists. You can also manage multiple media devices at once. Windows users who want to install this update will need to be running XP SP2 or higher with Windows Media Player 11 installed.

A second new feature for 0.5RC1 is a new Device API. With this, developers can add device support to Songbird. The new MTP support was built on this new API and the iPod Device Support extension is being ported over to it. Both developers and users are encouraged to leave feedback about device compatibility on the Songbird wiki.

Songbird ships with only two default views: a simple traditional playlist and a second playlist which has three filter panes across the top for choosing a subset of your music. However, now, a new feature called "Media Views" allows developers to create alternate graphical presentations for libraries and playlists. Essentially, this allows for the creation of new extensions that provided custom ways to display your music library. You can see one in action now - the new "Artist Detail List" extension was created using the Media Views feature.

Other new features and improvements include an improved shuffle algorithm, Mac keyboard shortcuts, improved RSS playlist support and parsing, an added "source" column to downloads playlist, and a new plugin notification for Linux users. (For the full list of the 200+ bugs that fixed, go here).

One of the complaints people have about Songbird (besides the slow development), is that it's still too buggy. So help them about by filing your issues, bugs, or crashes in Bugzilla so they can make the 0.5 Final version work even better.

You can download the latest release of Songbird here.