Playdar offers us a chance to search for music by artist and song as well as access the files we already own. With Playdar, users allow the tool to scan their desktops, networked machines and music subscription profiles before streaming a Web-based alternative.

Playdar runs as a web service using standard web protocols for communicating with applications.  When Playdar receives a request to resolve a track it runs through a list of prioritized content resolvers looking for the track. First it checks your local machine, then your local network.

You can write plugins for Playdar to enable it to search additional sources. It’s fast. If a matching song is within reach, it can start playing in less than a second. This is called Content Resolution. Playdar is a “Content Resolver”- it will take metadata (artist, album, track names) and resolve them to a location of a matching music file. This might be on your disk, or over the network – regardless, sources are always presented as URLs that point to your local machine.

Read the rest of this entry »

Playfire is the global community for gamers.In the site you can get a killer profile, track news and discussion for your favorite games, and follow your friends’ progress in games. Playfire was founded in 2007 by Kieran O’Neill, Seb Hayes & Ben Phillips, has a kickass team, and is backed by a number of world-class investors. According to Playfire’s official site the service is in beta and tallies 245,000 users and 40,000 games.

As all free online game communities on the web go, Playfire is also about networking with the likeminded. Only in this case, the banter is about games. The site has just entered public beta. You can sign up and start interacting without having to undergo any kind of exclusive registration process. Simply furnish a couple of basic details when prompted, and you are all set. You can select Themes, showcase your game collection on a visual bookshelf, do a bit of microblogging, add videos and also connect through Meebo with your online friends.
Dashboard for your activities, called Your Activity Feed page allows put all all your activities in the site. The highest points are reserved for bringing others into the Playfire fold by sending out invites. Submitting games, rating them and volunteering answers to game related queries also make you a popular member of your clan. With new features added daily, Playfire is fast becoming a must-use site for all gamers.

CosmoLearning centralizes educational and cultural resources in a variety of formats, allowing anyone in the world to educate themselves and succeed in their lives.  In the single word “CosmoLearning”, the word “Cosmo” is used in its original Greek meaning: Universal. CosmoLearning is, in fact, a free universal portal for education.

CosmoLearning offers free courses, video lectures and documentaries on various of academic subjects, such as Anthropology, Archaeology, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Economics, Engineering, English, Entrepreneurship, History, Law, Mathematics, Medicine, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, and Religion.

CosmoLearning has been designed according to traditional curriculum standards, but with an added intent to bring them all together on the web.  Anyone, who has a passion for learning anywhere and anytime. Everything is available on the site for free. You can also create an account and keep yourself updated on the latest additions and features added to the site. All the content on CosmoLearning is arranged for easy navigation on subject specific panels. You can go to your favorite subjects or jump into the Top 10 Lists or the latest that has come in (via the News feed or the Recently Added lists). This is the age of convergence and education is all the better because of it. Supporting the courses are Video Lectures, Image Files and Documentaries. Each gets a large chunk of server space. Succeed yourselves in your lives by accessing unlimited knowledge at Cosmo learning.