last.fm

After confirming that member passwords were comprised, eHarmony said today it is continuing to investigate the incident, but it appears no other information was taken.

"While our investigation is ongoing, we have not found any indication that other information was accessed, nor have we received any reports of unauthorized log-ins to member accounts," eHarmony spokeswoman Becky Teraoka wrote in a blog post. "We have also been working with law enforcement authorities in our investigation and have been in touch with one of the other companies affected as well."

The blog post doesn't give specific numbers … Read more

Three companies have warned users in the last 24 hours that their customers' passwords appear to be floating around on the Internet, including on a Russian forum where hackers boasted about cracking them. I suspect more companies will follow suit.

Curious about what this all means to you? Read on.

What exactly happened? Earlier this week a file containing what looked like 6.5 million passwords and another with 1.5 million passwords was discovered on a Russian hacker forum on InsidePro.com, which offers password-cracking tools. Someone using the handle "dwdm" had posted the original list and … Read more

It's time to pony up for prepaid iPhones, avoid password scams and drop that mayor obsession:

The iPhone is coming to Virgin Mobile at the end of June. But you'll have to drop a hefty $650 to get the iPhone 4S, since there's no two-year contract. Plans start at $30 a month. It's cheaper in the long run to go prepaid with this plan instead of spending $200 upfront and paying for a more expensive monthly bill for two years (but you'll be limited with talk minutes). Virgin is on the Sprint network.

If Android … Read more

Last.fm today urged its users to change their passwords because of a compromise that may be related to a huge password leak involving LinkedIn and eHarmony.

"We are currently investigating the leak of some Last.fm user passwords. This follows recent password leaks on other sites, as well as information posted online," a Last.fm blog post said. "As a precautionary measure, we're asking all our users to change their passwords immediately."

The blog post did not say how many users were affected or how the passwords were leaked. A Last.fm executive did … Read more

Long before Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard to found Facebook, Last.fm allowed music fans to keep an online record of the music they had been listening to in all sorts of music players, including iTunes, Winamp, and more. Last.fm's feature for this is called "scrobbling," based on the fact that it had acquired a company called AudioScrobbler in order to add it.

Now, Facebook does pretty much the same thing (except for with iTunes). All you have to do to send your playback history to your Facebook Timeline is use your Facebook identity to … Read more

Last.fm is one of the largest and most popular music sites online. Google Chrome is one of the fastest and most flexible browsers available. Seems like a natural match, doesn't it? It is, thanks to Last.fm's free music player extension for Chrome. Last.fm's "scrobbling" feature tracks your listening habits and recommends music you might like. It tracks what you listen to on Internet radio as well as on your portable player via a plug-in and compiles the information into your profile. Last.fm's free Google Chrome extension simply lets you play … Read more

Last.fm is introducing a charge for the streaming functions in its mobile app. We had a chat with Matthew Hawn of Last.fm to find out what the change means.

The various versions of the mobile app stream a personalized music feed of your favorite music and related recommendations. Up until now, this has been free, but it will soon be chargeable. The ad-free subscription costs $3 a month.

The radio service will become a paid feature on February 15. The Web and desktop versions of the radio will still be free. It will also be free on Xbox … Read more

If you feel restricted with Last.fm's "scrobbling" capabilities, Firefox add-on Harmony will help you get more music onto your charts. Harmony lets you share tracks played through Pandora and other FoxyTunes-compatible players on your Last.fm profile. Foxy-tunes is another Firefox add-on; it's a music player that controls iTunes, Windows Media Player, and 21 other music jukeboxes from your browser status bar.

After downloading Harmony, a small "audioscrobbling" icon (a curvy "AS," which will be familiar if you use Last.fm) appears in the bottom-right-hand corner of your Web browser … Read more

Read your favorite blog while listing to uninterrupted music. Fire.fm plays personalized Last.fm radio stations from your Web browser toolbar. The Mozilla Firefox extension taps into your Last.fm profile and plays everything from your favorite artists to music that is recommended for you.

After downloading Fire.fm, a thin music player appears on the right hand side at the top of your browser. The add-on will prompt you to log into your Last.fm account when you click "create a station," and if you do not already have one, click "create a Last.fm … Read more