Because Spotify is currently only available in certain European countries, you need to make your computer appear as it is in one of these countries (called virtual private networking (VPN) or using a proxy). After the account has been registered you can turn your computer appear as back to normal.  So this is what I will guide you through; we will make your computer appear as in the UK, get you registered, download your version of Spotify, and get you listening to music!

The steps take take about 10 minutes and are as follows:

1. Click this link
2. A page with a form field appears (if you only see an ad click skip ad in the top right corner).
3. Enter https://www.spotify.com/en/get-started/ in the field and click Go
4. Spotify’s user registration page will appear
   
5. Enter your account details. The following fields are required:
   • Username
   • Password
   • Confirm password
   • Email
   • Country: Select United Kingdom (It should be the only choice. If you see another country in the list then you don’t need to follow this guide)
   • Postal code: Any UK postal code will work. Use BT48 0PW if you don’t know any UK postcodes.
   • Gender
   • Date of birth
   • Letters. Enter the letters in the image above.
   • Check “I agree with the Spotify end user agreement”
6. Click Create account and proceed
7. If you have done everything right you should see a page saying that your account has been created. A new page with the download link will then appear. Don’t download from that page!
8. Download Spotify using this link
9. Install Spotify
10. Log in with the username and password you created above.
    

Thats it!

You should now be able to access and use one of the largest music databases in the world. Instant music for free

Enjoy!

Microsoft recently posted some details on its Outlook MSDN blog about the upcoming Outlook 2010, part of the new Office 2010 software package. In the blog it says:

Outlook 2010 represents the latest in our work to creating a powerful and intuitive e-mail client, providing you with a rich set of e-mail management tools to manage your personal and professional life while staying in touch with the people that matter most. New innovations in user interface, search, and people photos are just some of the bold, exciting experiences that await Outlook 2010 users. In this next wave, Outlook will make accessing your e-mail and connecting with people wherever you are – on whatever device you choose – seamless and easier than ever before.

This sounds great, although it doesn’t say much in details. But when looking more closely at the features of the new Outlook it turns out that they are re-introducing Word as the rendering engine to display HTML emails. This, for those who remember, is what Outlook 97 used to do and with all the problems that came with it.

For anyone who is involved in designing and sending out email newsletters, this is a big setback.  Word has no support for CSS like float and position and background images and much more.

What does this mean? Well, you can see the difference in how an email with CSS is shown in Outlook 2000 and then how the same email will look in Outlook 2010 below:

So if you want to make your voice heard and stop this madness, head over to a site called Outlook’s broken – lets fix it and follow the instruction. Or simply tweet a message to your following and include http://fixoutlook.org somewhere in your tweet.

As I suspected this would not last for very long. Kiwibank would surely wake up and realise that someone had not been doing their job. And I was right; today I received the following email from Facebook:

Hi,

The username you selected was removed for violating Facebook’s policies. A Facebook username should have a clear connection to one’s identity. In addition, impersonating anyone or anything is prohibited. If you see other people with usernames that do not accurately represent their real names, it is only because they have not yet been removed for misuse.

To select a new username, please visit the following link:

www.facebook.com/username

Thanks for your understanding,

Allison
User Operations
Facebook

So there you have it: This is what happens when you try to register a brand name as a vanity URL with Facebook.

I have made all kinds of templates over the years. But one that has worked best for me is this one (excel file).

It is an excel document that includes a template showing the build up and architecture of a website, and a template for estimating the cost of building the site. The example used is for Joomla but any website build can be used.

The visualisation shows the various layers from database and programming language to CMS, components, modules, plugins and the number of templates that needs to be built for each. It also includes another layer for external apps that needs to be integrated.

Let me know if it comes in handy.

A vanity URL is a personal Internet address that is shortened and personalised so that other people can easier find you on a website.

For Facebook your profile page address has up till this weekend looked like this :

www.facebook.com/index.php?lh=82e25be80fc1540e354324f08fc35574&

instead of now

www.facebook.com/espeng

If you haven’t registered your vanity URL yet you can do it now at www.facebook.com/username

Other social networks like MySpace has had this for years and Facebook has gotten a lot of criticism for not having it. So when they finally decided to open up for it the anticipation was huge around who would get their ideal username. Especially because the name is given on a first come-first serve basis, you can only choose your username once, and you can not change it. So for a lot of companies, artists and groups this was their only chance to get their ideal username or brand name.

Facebook had a counter counting down the days and hours until the launch.

And when they finally launched on Saturday -what a fight it was! I was ready on the dot and I had hoped for the username espen but 20 seconds into it that was already taken. Some other Espen from Norway snapped it away from me. So I ended up with espeng instead, not quite so glamorous.

facebook.com/kiwibank
More interesting is it that I have another test account with Facebook. Its something I have used for building Facebook applications and a vanity URL doesn’t have much point on that account. But I might as well register something so today, Sunday, nearly 24 hours later, I decided to try registering a brand name. Its a good way to investigate how Facebook look at company brands and how the process it for the brand owner to get it back. So I started with the top 100 global brands at Milward Brown. Not surprisingly I found that every one was taken.

My thoughts then went on to NZ brands; airnz, theherald, trademe… taken, taken, taken. But then, after trying a few bank brands I found that kiwibank was available!
Kiwibank, who I must say is my favourite bank – they are innovative, good service, low loan rates, and very active on the web. But somehow someone at Kiwibank must not have been doing their job properly because there it was: “kiwibank is available, do you want to register it now?”. I clicked Yes.

So now it remains to see how long it takes before Kiwibank notices and tries to reclaim it.
Most likely this will be an easy process. Facebook has promised to react quickly to breaches of TradeMarks agreements and there is already a submission form available for re-claiming registered brands. If not, there is nothing I can do about it now because according to Facebook I can’t transfer it, change it or remove it…

The scope of the project is the project management, design implementation and development of the Australian website for the product Rescue Remedy (RR). The purpose of the website is to market the product and provide information to potential customers and to provide support and information to its current customers.

The website will be installed with a Content Management System (CMS) suitable for the size of the website the employees that will manage the site.

The site is expected to launch in July/August.

The whole installation of Wordpress, finding and buying a $25 template (Yourfolio from ThemeForest), setting up and configuring, and adding the most basic content took me about 7 hours. Not bad.

The strategy process will be managed by me in close relationship with Bobux.

The online strategy will consist of:

• Customer profiling
• Competition analysis
• Goals and KPI’s
• Revenue forecasting
• Milestones and timeline
• Risk analysis
• Development roadmap
• Technology guide
• Budget and resource requirement

The end result is a strategy document that will set the framework for the website and marketing activities.

• Anchorfree HotSpotshield is free but has a lot of banners and only gives access to US sites.
• HideMyAss! costs about $10 a month but gives you access to sites across the globe.