I've checked out Spotify and still don't get it. What does Spotify offer me that a million other streaming services don't already provide, for free? If I'm looking for random background streaming music that I can use for music discovery or just don't want to think about making a playlist I can use Pandora or Shoutcast or any other Internet radio stream. If I want to listen to a song and have it available on any device then I want to "own" it so I can buy that from Amazon or iTunes or rip the CD.

Spotify just doesn't make sense. For the free version I have crappier ads than the other streaming services. I can't use it on a mobile device. And I have to *work* to think of songs I want to hear and build playlists. And theres a number of things that just aren't there unless it's a Top 40 song or album. Why do I want to use Spotify?

I used to use Thunderbird with Lightning....waaayyyyy back. Honestly I think the non-Microsoft collaborative calendaring and email solution is going to be won by web technologies like Google Apps, not by something like Thunderbird. But way back I remember using something called Chandler (http://chandlerproject.org/) which I thought had a much better task and calendaring solution than Lightning. I wondered why no one had tried merging Thunderbird and Chandler into a single Outlook competitor.

Additionally, where does Starz go otherwise? I understand them wanting more money, sure, who doesn't? But completely walking away? What am I missing, because the way I see it with Netflix they would get X amount of additional revenue, and without Netflix they get 0 amount of additional revenue.

This. I could probably convince a number of friends and family to check it out but they don't want to sign up for a gmail.com specific account when they already have Google Apps accounts. If they added profiles to Google Apps accounts (or whatever is holding this back) and API features so I can cross-post (a la the Twitter app on Facebook) then I'd be set. The mobile app for G+ is light years better than Facebook's, and I especially like the "nearby" stream and the instant upload features. But as it is now, G+ is mainly yet another social network I jump skim through in the morning to see if there's anything interesting but rarely participate because no one I know personally is on there.

I'd be OK if Google somehow ended up acquiring Flickr...

Sort of a tangent, but there was an article awhile back about how Google was going to move a large number of their own users to using their Chromebook OS 100%. It made me wonder - if it's similar to using the Chrome browser what kind of development would they be doing and how? I've actually gotten used to the developer tools in Chrome...is there a solid Chrome-based or web-based IDE that's out there or being worked on?

This. I "host" email on Google Apps accounts for friends and family. Granted it's the free version but all the same, they aren't able to create Google profiles attached to the hosted accounts. They can make account profiles separate from the Google Apps domain accounts, but then they'll have to manage multiple accounts and it's a mess. Multiple people have said when I've sent invites that they don't want to mess with creating a new one, especially if *eventually* Google will allow them to use it with their existing Apps account. As soon as they turn that on I'll get a number of additional friends and family on there, but until then I'm stuck.

More or less, yes. I want Windows 7 Media Center without having to use a Windows 7 desktop install. Or MythTV without the PITA setup and configuration. Or a Tivo without the monthly fee. Or a Boxee or XBMC install with a DVR that I can run on Linux but also be able to watch Netflix and other online streaming channels.

A GoogleTV appliance should be able to do these things.

It would be nice if they'd take bits of sageTV and package it into a GoogleTV software package that I could install myself. I would love to put together a quiet SFF PC for the living room with my own specs, OTA tuners, and be able to use Android DVR and Media Center apps to have everything all in once nice web-enabled box.

This. I have an original Droid, which beat the graphics specs of the 3GS. Then the 4 comes out with their retina display crap, and we're still seeing Android phones with the same screen specs of the first Droid X! Are manufacturers just that blind or are there limitations on the Android software that don't support higher resolutions? Seems like one of the selling points of Ice Cream Sandwich was the HD resolution...maybe that's the fix? Just seems like 2 years after the Droid debut we should have much better hardware. Motorola, HTC, Samsung...you want to have a compelling selling point over the iPhone? Give me an HD screen, great battery life, and fast and quality camera hardware. Not a 6.5" screen on a phone with 2 year old resolution and a 50 megapixel piece of crap camera that's slow.

So if I got a GTV at $99 now, it will be able to be upgraded to Honeycomb when it comes out? It was a nonstarter at 250 for something with unknown value, but I’d consider it at 99. Can I play media that is on my network via the GoogleTV, too?

You know what I want out of GoogleTV?

I want the media center capabilities of a Boxee or XBMC. I want the android market and internet prowess and ability to browse with a full-on browser a la the current GoogleTV.

And I want it in a box with a Cablecard where I can hook up an external or NAS drive and use it for a DVR. Or at least an OTA tuner. Android DVR app anyone?

*That* I would pay $250 for. A living room Youtube player? No.

I signed up for an invite and it came the other night. I immediately signed up to check it out, went to add the mobile app and found that it required a Premium membership. Immediately uninstalled. I didn't really get the premise in the first place but thought I'd give it a chance to see what all the buzz is about. But I'm not going to use it on a desktop - I can't stream at work which is where I spend most of my computer time anyway. There, or at home I'm likely to use my phone. It seems like if I want a specific song and have to pay for it, I'll buy it on Amazon. If I want to listen to random music I'll use Pandora or Slacker Radio or any number of thousands or Shoutcast streams, or streams of terrestrial radio via TuneinRadio. All for free.

What am I supposed to do with Spotify? And why would I ever pay for it as well?

It must have changed since I last looked, but way back the only way you could contact them was *only* a phone number. I remember trying to find some contact info to send some suggestions and they had some blurb about not wanting impersonal email and instead wanted you to phone them. .

Why is it that whenever these types of articles come up it's next to impossible to find the actual list of offending apps, if at all. So which are the 11 apps that send SMS out without permission?