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Digster, a playlist service from Universal Music Group, is betting that even in the age of search algorithms and recommendation engines, humans are still the best music-discovery tools.

Rolled out in the United States in August, Digster started out by providing playlists exclusively to users of Spotify, the European music service that also launched U.S. operations this summer. Digster's initial goal was to help cull the millions of tracks available there.

Digster now wants to do the same for users of Rdio, a Spotify competitor. Mitch Rotter, a vice president of marketing and product development at Universal Music, … Read more

Using post-consumer materials and finding more energy-efficient ways to produce vehicles are just part of Ford Motor Co.'s strategy to reduce the company's global carbon footprint.

Ford is looking at the energy use and carbon emissions of 128 global suppliers. These suppliers account for nearly 60 percent of the company's $65 billion in annual purchases.

In 2010, the automaker surveyed 35 top suppliers that make seats, steering systems, tires, and metal components. What Ford discovered was how much the companies varied in their readiness to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the 2010 survey results, … Read more

Android apps will now be able to run on Apple's iPad and a host of other non-Android devices, courtesy of new software from the crew at Myriad Group.

Announced yesterday, Myriad's Alien Dalvik 2.0 will support Android apps on tablets, e-books, TVs, and even cars.

Initially unveiled for the MeeGo OS earlier this year, the software allows most Android Package--also known as APK--files to run on a myriad of devices with little or no tweaking, according to the company. Users can simply trigger the APK file to install and then launch the app on their chosen device.… Read more

Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman plans to make a decision on the future of her company's PC division sooner rather than later.

She served that notice yesterday at Fortune magazine's Most Powerful Women Summit in Laguna Niguel, Calif. According to Reuters, which was in attendance at the event, Whitman told the audience that she planned to make a call on the fate of the PC division, known internally as the Personal Systems Group, "much faster" than former HP Leo Apotheker planned to, adding that she'd like to make her decision "by the end of October.&… Read more

With one foot out the door at Warner Music Group, Michael Nash doesn't try to sugarcoat the music industry's history of the past 10 years.

Nash has been the digital chief of Warner Music Group for four years but has been with the company for over 10. He started when Napster was just hitting the music scene--hitting it like a sledge hammer--and this month Nash announced he's calling it quits.

Nash said he came to Warner Music from the start-up community and joined because he knew the Internet would transform music. He wanted a role in changing the industry as it existed back then; the labels were built around the CD, the bundling of songs, and forcing fans to buy discs when they only wanted one or two tracks.

"That strategy was based on tricking people into buying an album that may not have been very good," Nash said in an interview with CNET last week. Consumer backlash to that was very much part of the digital revolution, Nash said.

He acknowledged that when it came to digital, the sector made mistakes as it tried to navigate "a perfect storm" of change. It's taken its toll on the labels' digital strategists, a fact that is reflected in the high turnover during the past four years. EMI for example went through four digital chiefs, including Douglas Merrill, a former Google exec, and Cory Ondrejka, co-founder of Linden Lab. … Read more

Hewlett-Packard is facing pressure to keep its PC business inside the company according to an Asia-based report.

Growing concern about the fate of HP's PC unit is pushing "channel operators" to switch their orders from HP to brands such as Dell, Acer, and Lenovo, according to a report in Digitimes, citing sources.

The report names Acer as a major beneficiary of the shift.

HP's Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) partners, including Quanta Computer, Inventec, Wistron, and Foxconn Electronics, will "regain...confidence" in HP if it decides not to spin off its PC business, the report … Read more

When dealing with several hundred items, it's a good idea to have a solid system of organization. This is true if you're a collector of things like cards, work in a system with a lot of tools or clients, or even if you're at home working with different fonts on your computer. Unfortunately in the case of the last example, Windows 7 users get the short end of the stick on native options for font organization. However, using the free tool NexusFont can alleviate this problem.

To begin, download and install NexusFont.

Groups are … Read more

Android is still the No. 1 choice of current and future smartphone owners, but Windows Phone 7 has been kicking up more interest among prospective phone buyers, says a report released yesterday by NPD Group.

Among all smartphone operating systems, Android generated interest among 63 percent of consumers, more than any other mobile OS, according to NPD's Connected Intelligence (PDF), a service that analyzes connected devices, access, and content. As just a single example, one-third of BlackBerry smartphone owners are eyeing an Android phone as their next purchase.

And though Google's OS has accounted for almost half of … Read more

Lighting manufacturer Lighting Science Group today unveiled a new LED light for ceilings.

The 15-watt Glimpse LED light is intended to replace 65-watt BR30 lights, and can be retrofit into most preexisting 5- to 6-inch recessed lighting cans or a J-Box. The light is dimmable down to 5 percent lighting capacity, according to the company.

The Energy Star-qualifying bulb is also "fully recyclable" and free of toxic chemicals, according to Lighting Science Group. Like almost all LEDs, it is also free of mercury.

The Glimpse LED is currently available via HomeDepot.com for $37. For a full list … Read more