If you want an account, you either need an invite or have to start paying for the service (see Account Options below to see what you get in each plan).

There is a lot of buzz about this service and if you are one of those people who has to try it now, you can get a free account right now with this pretty simple loophole.

Account Options:

• Free users can sign up to access Spotify’s library, but streaming will be time-limited and ad-supported.
• Unlimited Streaming ($4.99/month) – gives you unlimited listening with no time limits, ad-free streaming, and the ability to share songs and playlists with friends.
• Premium ($9.99/month) – adds to the unlimited streaming features with mobile apps and offline listening, and the best sound quality the service has to offer.

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We need and use all these channels to communicate research, discovery, and scientific milestones. No single message can reach all audiences. Some people are drawn in by big and powerful stories, others are touched by the personal and relatable.

That’s why museums play such an important role in communicating science to the public. In one space, different exhibits can hit everyone, at some point, right between the eyes.

When I was a kid, I loved the birth- and death-rate counter at the Boston Museum of Science. It flashes red every time someone on earth dies and blue every time someone is born—empirically, of course. It’s a tiny display, hidden near the exits. But when I was little, I always insisted on visiting it. My sister, on the other hand, liked the T-Rex exhibit and dragged the family to the big, intimidating skeleton. To each her own.

The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, which I visited recently when I found myself with a free afternoon in D.C., runs the gamut from big and powerful to the small and personal. They have on display a reconstructed 45-foot, 28,000-pound V2 missile and a pre-Apollo 15 Lunar Roving Vehicle test unit. My sister would have loved those.

Me, I was struck by the smaller, more personal exhibits. I imagined what it would be like to be onboard an aircraft carrier during World War II and learned a bit about legendary German fighter pilot the Red Baron. I was also riveted by a list of requirements to be a stewardess in the 1950s. (Of the eight requirements, I meet only two. Totally moot and pointless, but I couldn’t help feeling a little discouraged.)

As I wandered around the museum—free of charge, by the way—I saw kids and adults ooh and ahh over the missile-type exhibits and go in for closer looks at the Red Baron. Many audiences, one channel.

Have you ever visited the Smithsonian? Do you think museums are a good way to communicate science to the public?

There are public science festivals all over the country, but the longest-running annual event is in my neighborhood: Bay Area Wonderfest. Founder Tucker Hiatt was inspired by the great science popularizer Carl Sagan, and Sagan is featured prominently in the literature and throughout the website, including my favorite quote of his: “I hold that the popularization of science is successful if, at first, it does no more than spark a sense of wonder.”

This year was my first visit to Wonderfest, and I’m so glad I went! I attended lectures on astronomy and human behavior, topics about which I am thoroughly ignorant, and even got to browse science-related art and projects.

By far my favorite part of the afternoon, though, was Bay area physics teacher Zeke Kossover, who put on the kind of demonstration that makes you wonder why you didn’t major in physics. After taking onlookers for rides on his homemade hovercraft, he blew smokerings across the room with a huge fan, a garbage can, and covering plastic. His 2-inch PVC-pipe blowgun was kind of cool, but it was overshadowed by the 6-inch version that blew a ping pong ball straight through a Coke can. Zeke ended with every physics nerd’s favorite science demonstration: he laid on a bed of nails while someone smashed a cinderblock on his chest. Don’t worry, he wasn’t hurt! Physics!

Have you even been to a science festival? What did you like best about it?

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Once you install Dropbox on a computer, all you have to do is drop the files you would like to sync & share  into the Dropbox folder and they are automatically updated and uploaded on all of your shared computers .

Here are some ways DropBox makes me more productive:

• Seamlessly synchronize my files – If I’m editing a file on one computer, as soon as I save it, Dropbox will sync this same file to all of the other computers instantly and automatically…this gives me the freedom to work on any computer and always have the files I need.
• Collaborate on group projects – Our virtual team can have access to key files regardless of which computer we are on.  We also no longer have to send documents via email attachments to each other and the built in version control will keep a history of all of the modifications to the file so we can see how thes document evolves and undo changes if we make a mistake.
  

  By default, we keep the last 30 days of undo history for all your files. We also have an unlimited undo option called “Pack-rat”.

• Instant Access to all the files from anywhere – Using the Dropbox website interface to get access to my files from any computer or mobile device.
• Automatically backup your files – Every time me or my team put a file in to the Dropbox folder it is automatically backed up to DropBox secure servers and we can be restore at any time.

Watch a demo of DropBox and I look forward to hearing your experiences with it!  Are you already using DropBox?  Let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

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Today I came across a site that made me incredibly happy. It’s called Songs to Wear Pants To.

Andrew, a writer and composer, creates full songs based on ideas users submit on his site. He rummages through the requests and picks ideas he wants to turn into songs. Of course, for a fee, you can make sure your idea gets lyrics and a melody. He then sells his original works for 99 cents each. You can buy entire CDs for $10. The albums are appropriately named GREEN PANTS, BLUE PANTS, and PINK PANTS.

Here are just a few examples of user requests:

• Can you write a really Bass guitar filler song about being a fish that is learning everything about the world around him from his tank?
• i think you should make a song about see-through grumpy unicorns.
• Write a song about why Finland is super-cool, with a little guitar solo!
• Compose a jingle to a product, real or imaginary, that should NEVER have been invented, but somehow has gotten popular. It would probably be like 10 seconds or so.
• How ’bout a rap song in which none of the lyrics contain the letter “e” ? (You can check the lyrics).

So dream up something cool and make your request as specific or open-ended as you like. And as Andrew says, “Get your own song!”

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Adobe Illustrator Tutorials & Resources

Find an assortment of free top-notch tutorials, brushes, patterns, tips and .EPS files that you can use to learn more about Adobe Illustrator.

Free Web Apps for Designers

When it comes to design, there’s a plethora of free web-based tools to help you accomplish tasks such as color palette selection, creating unique fonts, editing images, and testing typography.  Check out a great assortment of design tools by smashingapps.com and sixrevisions.com

30 Must-Have Logo Books

Here you can find some of the bestselling and upcoming logo books in the market — created and/or inspired by people who know more than a thing or two about logo design.

Free Vector Packs

Here you can find a collection of free vector packs submitted by talented graphic designers to make your life easier and help your create higher-quality work.

Be more daring with colors

Colors set the tone and message of a website and designers often spend hours, even days, researching and coming up with a harmonious and usable color scheme. In this collection, you’ll find 30 web designs with vivid and colorful themes that evoke feelings of vivacity and dynamism.  I hope they can inspire you to be more daring with your color schemes!

Top 10 fonts of 2008

Myfonts.com has put together a list of top 10 fonts of 2008 based on sales font numbers.

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1. Cards Created and Mailed Online

It takes just a few minutes to upload a picture, slap on a message and enter mailing addresses for loved ones to hear how 2008 went for you.  Some options include:

• Card Store – Not only can you mail a card, but you can also mail a gift card!
• Ashtonishing Cards
• Picaboo
• Zazzle

2. Free eGreetings

Penny pinching?  Here are some eGreeting sites that provide free greetings to send:

• 123greetings.com
• ecardica.com
• Blue Mountain
• eGreetings

3. Throw Them a Sheep or Super Poke with a Fruitcake…

…or send an “O Christmas Tree” request, virtual Chicken McNuggets from McDonalds or one of other many eThings on Facebook.  Gotta love it!

There is really no excuse with the Internet today to at least say “happy holiday” via email, a text message or some other form of eLove.

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Recently the group I’m in at work faced this challenge because we needed to come up with a name for a new offering. When we were asked to submit ideas, I remember looking at the blank screen wondering how best to begin my brainstorming.

Then my manager sent a link to a Naming Worksheet that guides you through the brainstorming process for naming. The worksheet, by WOW Branding, categorizes various types of brand names for you to consider. It defines each naming approach and provides examples of well-known brands who use that approach.

Here are just a few of the 9 naming approaches covered in the worksheet:

Conjoined

Names that are a combination or connection of two or more ideas

Examples: FedEx, Microsoft, Bisquick

Random Words, Appropriation

Completely random words that will be appropriate for the new concept over time.

Examples: Old Navy, Section 3

Acronym, Abbreviation

Names that stated as a group of letters that are intended to become the common name.

Examples: BMW, IBM, BBC, UPS

The Naming Worksheet also includes blank lines for you to fill in your own ideas. Send it out to your teammates. Have them fill it out. This worksheet helped my work group generate about 300 names after just two days.

After you pare down the list to the best of the best, be sure to score each name using WOW Branding’s Naming Criteria Worksheet and see which name ends up with the most points. And of course go back and brush up on the Rules for Naming Your Startup to be sure you have a winner.

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Thank You Notes 101
Thank you notes are just as important in business as they are in your personal life. But when is it appropriate to send a thank you note? Should it be handwritten? What should you say? All these questions and more are answered in this informative post from thesimpledollar.com.

Crash Course on Photoshop
Got 5 minutes? Then you have enough time to learn 101 Photoshop tips. dekePod has produced an amazing 5 minute Photoshop tutorial video that highlights some very useful skills, from shortcuts to advice on what tools to avoid.

Firefox … Enough Said
If you haven’t downloaded Firefox 3, or heaven-forbid, never even tried Firefox, what are you waiting for? This browser is a web worker’s dream … completely customizable with tons of killer add-ons. Mashable has created a list of 30 of the best extensions that will really make your life easier. And for yet another reason to convert, check out this Small Business Trends article that lists 3 SEO tools, 2 of which are Firefox add-ons.

Who doesn’t love free software?
There are tons of programs on the market that can fulfill the same needs as their pricey counterparts. But does the old adage “you get what you pay for” hold true in this case? Not according to this USA Today article that lists 10 free alternatives to some very well known programs, including Outlook, Photoshop, Dreamweaver & Quickbooks.

Website Design Help
For those of you working with website design, you may find these 4 free tools very helpful. Each of them allows you to experiment with the blog or website’s look and feel until you find one that fits the bill.

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How to Kill CSS Bugs
Have you ever been frustrated because your CSS layouts are rendering differently between browsers? Or are you still trying to figure out how to achieve a certain look with CSS? This Noupe article covers more than 20 fixes for issues relating to fixing IE bug, positioning block elements, creating columns & tables, working with floats and more.

A Free Alternative to Visio
If you’re looking for a robust flow chart and diagram tool, you’ve most likely already looked at Microsoft Visio. But if you’re not ready to shell out the bucks for the program, a great alternative is the free, open source application, Dia.

SEO: What Not to Do
Life is a never-ending joust for the folks working in Search Engine Marketing. Just when you think you’ve figured the search engines out, they change their algorithms. This article from SEOmoz shares some tips on targeting multiple terms and phrases on a single page and also highlights the “tricks” to avoid.

The Best $100 You Ever Spent
If you are running a website for a small to mid-size company you should jump on this tool (if you haven’t already). Google has re-launched its Custom Search Business Edition service as Google Site Search. Starting at $100 per year (or free if you don’t mind Google ads on your site), this site search application will index your entire website and help users to find what they are looking for. New features allow you to input synonyms, boost the page ranking of newer content and determine which search terms are not returning results.

Free Project Management Tool for Startups
Running a startup is never easy but thankfully there are companies out there that want to give you a break. Fog Creek Software is one such company. It provides its FogBugz on Demand project management tool free of charge for 2 users to students and startups. And not only is it an excellent project management application, it also has tremendous bug tracking abilities. If you don’t qualify for the free version, it can be purchased for $199 or less or as a hosted solution for $25/month.

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