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Given all the license restrictions roaming the music industry, few Web site owners are willing to integrate tracks into their pages. But Spotify just made it much easier to do so.

The streaming company today launched the Spotify Play Button, a service that enables Web site owners or bloggers to integrate a song, album, or playlist into their site. Spotify said it will allow Web site owners to embed the player for free and will take care of paying the artists on its own.

"You want to give your fans access to any song, album or playlist of your … Read more

ButtonBeats Virtual Piano Black is a cool Flash app that simulates a piano keyboard on your desktop. You can play it with your mouse or with optional keyboard controls. By tapping out notes in a numbered sequence, even total beginners can play simple tunes like "Happy Birthday" and "Jingle Bells" to more complex melodies such as those by Mozart, Bach, and the Beatles.

Virtual Piano's interface does indeed look like a real piano keyboard, albeit a reduced one, with attractive highlights on the black keys, which are functional. That was a good sign since we'… Read more

People who just can't work in Windows 8 without the classic start button may want to check out a free app called Start8.

Designed by the folks at Stardock, Start8 tries to merge the convenience of the start button with the functionality of the new Metro environment. As such, it moves beyond the standard start menu with some unique features of its own.

You can download Start8 from its dedicated Web page and install it in the current beta, aka Consumer Preview, edition of Windows 8. Installation is quick and simple. After the app is installed, you'll see … Read more

Google has added a new setting to your Gmail account, which allows you to revert back to text buttons, instead of the icon-style buttons found in Gmail after the redesign.

To revert from icon buttons back to the familiar text buttons, log in to your Gmail account and navigate to Mail settings (gear icon in top-right corner > Mail settings).

Under the General tab, there will be a new option titled Button labels. Change the setting to Text, then save your changes at the bottom of the page.

Easy-enough change, right? Gmail users should have the setting available for them … Read more

The Windows 8 desktop starts off as a clean slate with no clear access to the applications and features you need. Here are some tips on how to create the familiar desktop you know and sometimes love.

Accessing your desktop from the Metro Start screen is just a simple matter of clicking the tile for desktop. You'll then see the familiar interface with just the Recycle Bin on the desktop itself and icons for Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer on the taskbar.

Setting up the desktop OK, let's say you want to first populate the desktop with shortcuts … Read more

Back before the iPhone 4S was officially unveiled, there was a lot of buzz over whether Apple would give its iPhone a revamped look. The look, in fact, stayed identical. I argued that the iPhone didn't really need a redesign, and to my surprise, 59 percent of you said the opposite: that the 1.5-year-old iPhone needed a makeover.

Now that the next iPad stands on the cusp of being unveiled, I ask again: does the iPad need a redesign? And, how badly?… Read more

Shutting off Windows used to be a simple matter of clicking the Start button and choosing the "Shut down" option. But the Windows 8 beta has no Start button. So how do you shut it down?

Microsoft has concocted a series of maneuvers and keyboard shortcuts to shut down the new OS. Though slower and clumsier than going through the Start button, the new steps at least let you fully turn Windows 8 off.

The most basic way to shut down Windows 8 is through the Charms bar.

In the Metro interface, hover your mouse over the Zoom … Read more

Was last week's smoldering imagery of the front glass panel allegedly belonging to Apple's iPad 3 not enough for you? Good news, there's more.

Gadget repair service Repair Labs today (via MacRumors) posts images of a pair of digitizers, the front panel that includes the glass and the touch sensitive layer it says belongs to the iPad 3. The images represent what look like a part that's further along than the one from last week, which appeared unfinished.

Besides the black and white color options, the big takeaway here is that the front of the device … Read more

Eagle-eyed readers have been pointing out a curious omission on the imagery of the iPad-theme invitation Apple released this morning: there's no home button in sight.

The simplest explanation here is that it's a photo of (what is presumably) an iPad 2 on its side, something that's not that much of a stretch, given that the iPad has been designed to work the same way, no matter which end is down.

Yet it's also curious, given rumors of Apple ditching the home button on the iPad, an option that came to light when the company introduced … Read more