/PRNewswire/ — Qloud, (http://www.qloud.com), the revolutionary ad-supported music service that delivers users online music from an endless library, today announced that it launched its My Music Application on MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/music_app), the world’s most popular social network. Qloud’s My Music application enables MySpace users to import and play entire songs and videos from their complete iTunes library on their MySpace profile for free. It also allows users to see and play the iTunes libraries of their friends, view and exchange playlists with their friends, browse and play the most popular songs among their friends and social groups, and add songs to their own online libraries. Empowered by MySpace’s newly announced Developer Platform (http://developer.myspace.com), Qloud was able to easily build, test, and ultimately deploy My Music.
One of the most popular music applications, the My Music application allows users to enjoy a personal library within MySpace while showcasing their favorite songs and artists on their profile. Using the iTunes plugin, users can import their entire iTunes library into MySpace and set their display as either a custom list of favorites, their recently played songs or most played songs from iTunes. My Music also automatically creates a personal starter library for users as soon as they install the application based on the artists they have listed on their profile. In addition, the application connects users to their friends’ music and allows them to view each friend’s library, as well as view charts of the top tracks played by all their friends.
For those who don’t use iTunes, the My Music application has its own library of over 6 million songs that users can search, listen, and then add to their own library, playlists and favorite lists — all from inside the application.
MySpace first introduced their Developer Platform site on

earthtimes.org

Whether its blogging, reality shows, Facebook or botox injections — we’re all convinced that we’re not only interesting but darned attractive too. Sarfraz Manzoor looks at the worrying rise of the new narcissists
Britney Spears has done more self-destructive things in her life, but as performances go, the consensus is that her comeback appearance at last year’s MTV Video Music Awards was the most damaging four minutes to her career to date.
She had barely reached the wings before the critics were deconstructing her poorly rehearsed routine, and questioning the merits of her lip-synching and an outfit — a diamanté bra and pants two-piece — that gave the impression that her body went south with baby Jayden James and never quite returned.
Then, far away in America’s Deep South, Britney-obsessive Chris Crocker — an American Internet personality — lay on a bed in his grandparents’ house, distraught. “Leave Britney alone!” he howled into the ether, tears streaming down his mascara-smudged face. “Her song is called Gimme More for a reason! Because all you bastards want is more. Leave Britney alone!”
We were able to hear this lone voice in the wilderness because, despite his mental anguish, the 19-year-old had been composed enough to set up a camcorder to film himself — then vain enough to upload it onto YouTube.
Like Spears’s own life, the clip was horribly, gruesomely and shamefully compulsive viewing; one minute Crocker is pouring his heart out on a bed in Tennessee, the next he’s signed to a talent agency and on national television announcing that he is in talks to develop his own reality show.
“It’s crazy,” he said about his newfound celebrity. “I’m like, what, two weeks into this and I’m already seriously looking into hiring a bodyguard.”

thetimes.co.za

Barbara Byrne’s South Florida clients are tired. They’re tired of power struggles, whining, tantrums, biting, being ignored, being late out the door in the morning and — this is a big one — not getting enough sleep.
From her Kendall office, Byrne counsels moms and dads on how to be, well, moms and dads. She’s a parent coach. Parents seek her help when because I said so doesn’t work; when the household is in a constant state of chaos. Her biggest fans share homes with toddlers and teens.
‘Once `free will’ emerges, the parents are on the phone,” Byrne says.
Kids still don’t come with instructions, but moms today have another option: a private advisor.
Like personalized Dr. Spocks, parent coaches are available for one-hour office visits, lunch-time phone calls, even comforting e-mail exchanges. They offer practical tips on how to get through thumb sucking, sibling rivalry and other day-to-day trials. And they make parents feel better about themselves.
”We went there frustrated and came out comforted and feeling very empowered,” says Andrea Lopez, a Miami mom who sought Byrne’s help for handling her 4-year-old’s violent temper tantrums. ‘You come to a point where you start to question yourself. You think, `I’m a professional, I should be able to handle this.’ As a parent, it’s embarrassing. But the reality is sometimes you need an outsider.”
As the latest self-help approach for overextended moms and dads, parent coaching is catching on because it’s relatively inexpensive — one-on-one sessions range from $50 to $100, while teleseminars can be taken from home at night for as low as $25. And it can be quick, even over the phone.
Critics warn that in the zeal to be perfect parents, we’re losing sight that parenting is an experience, not a profession. A pro for every parenting task — home baby proofers, lactation consultants, sleep trainers, lice removal technicians, kiddie taxi drivers, birthday planners — makes it easy to ”outsource” parenthood. With TV hits like Nanny 911 and Supernanny, some worry that moms are being conditioned to stifle their mother’s intuition and go for the quick fix.

miamiherald.com

Though it’s centrally located right on Red River St. in the stretch between Emo’s and Stubb’s, Bull McCabe’s isn’t listed as an official venue in the SXSW 2008 Pocket Guide. It’s not quite a dive bar, but the place definitely has a local feel. There’s no natural space for a band to perform there, so Slim Cessna’s Auto Club were forced to block the bathrooms during their set of rumbling, overdriven blues tunes.
If Mad Max were a cowboy, this would be his favorite band. Between the banjo feedback and the vocal tag team of Cessna and second singer/guitarist Munly Munly, the Auto Club brought an apocalyptic snarl to the bar that had the two singers dancing like there was a revival going on. At the ends of songs, the audience would hesitate a second before cheering. Cessna and crew had done such a good job of establishing a wild, unpredictable mood that people weren’t sure if the band was done.
David Bazan [Maggie Mae’s Rooftop; 8 p.m.]
Speaking of revivals, the Christian dude formerly known as Pedro the Lion kicked off the Barsuk showcase. David Bazan has gotten a lot of flak for his faith, but as someone who got into punk through MxPx and checked liner notes for shout-outs to god until high school, I liked it. In fact, Pedro the Lion was one of the bands that ushered me into the indie music world. But somewhere along the line– and I suspect because of all that flak– Bazan got ornery. And frankly, his irreverent approach to Christianity got dumber. He went from writing songs about the merits of girls who don’t shave their legs to a constant stream of adultery and corporate business tales with "casual" references to cum, like he was the Perez Hilton of indie songwriters.

pitchforkmedia.com

Michael Patrick MacDonald
Talking with Joe Keohane
Michael Patrick MacDonald doesn’t just talk it, he’s lived it. He grew up in South Boston and watched members of his family fall under the weight of poverty and violence, an experience he recorded in his first book, All Souls.
His follow-up, Easter Rising, also revolves around MacDonald’s life in Boston, but in this book he remembers his discovery of punk rock and the punk scene. Eventually, music became a saving grace, and the book culminates in MacDonald’s trip to Ireland. After years of rejecting where he came from, the trip helped him accept and embrace his roots.
Bostonist enjoyed a long chat with MacDonald, who talks about the memoir process and his current work with Roca, a local group that is committed to finding new ways to help young people who have become caught up in a cycle of violence. As Bostonist has said before of MacDonald’s work, if you want to learn more about Boston, his books are the place to start.
How is the book tour going?
It’s been going great because the conversation’s been about some pretty pressing stuff around poverty, post-traumatic stress, and all that kind of stuff. I made a comment about that in the Globe the other day . I mentioned how I’m trying to change the conversation because one of the pitfalls of memoir is that even if you’re writing about big social justice issues, as I try to do, because it’s memoir people get caught up in your personal stuff, so sometimes the conversation will be like, “How’s your mother? Whatever happened to your dog Sarge?” [laughs] And so I’ve been trying to shape the conversation at the end of my reading to be about young people in poverty and so forth, and talk about solutions to those things. I’ve been really successful in that. I did two nights in New York, one in Boston, and now I’m in Portland, Oregon, and tonight I’m speaking at Powell’s Bookstore, which is such a great bookstore.

bostonist.com

A funny thing happened in the wake of the Eliot Spitzer scandal that erupted over the course of this past week—aside from the fact that a state famous for its aggressive inhabitants is now being led by an unassuming and legally blind politician. Instead, through an odd series of connections, music by the alleged prostitute that is most directly tied to his downfall has suddenly become a hot seller. The situation nicely illustrates the situation that the major labels are facing as music production and distribution becomes democratized.
It appears that someone involved in the Spitzer investigation tipped The New York Times about it several days before it broke, as the paper was ready with extensive background coverage as soon as the stories hit the media. This seems to have included a lot of information from the Emperor's Club web site, which allowed it to identify the woman who went to Spitzer's hotel room through her MySpace profile. It turns out that Ashley Alexandra Dupré, the woman in question, is an aspiring singer.
The profile page included sample music and has recently added a link to Dupré's music at the online retailer Amie Street. As detailed by Jacqui Cheng, Amie Street has a business model that includes a built-in measure of popularity, in that songs become more expensive as the number of downloads increase. By that measure, Dupré's music is as popular as they get on the Street, as it has topped out at the 98¢ per track max. It also works out very well for her as, after a $10 fee, she takes home 70 percent of the sales revenue.
Aside from being amusing in its own right, this experience says a lot about the new realities of the music business. Given software of ever-increasing sophistication, the barriers to having a marketable MP3 have never been lower. As Amie Street demonstrates, the ease of online distribution has also eliminated the lag between production and sales. That means that music is no longer just the background for social events, but can respond rapidly and directly to them.

arstechnica.com

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pjstar.com

This undated image obtained from a MySpace webpage shows a woman identified as Ashley Alexandra Dupre. The New York Times reported Wednesday March 12, 2008 that the name of the woman identified as "Kristen" in court papers alleging that Gov. Eliot Spitzer paid more than $4,000 for prostitutes’ services is Dupre. The Times also reported that the woman, born as Ashley Youmans, legally changed her name to Ashley Rae Maika DiPietro and is now known as Ashley Alexandra Dupre. (AP Photo)
NEW YORK - As Gov. Eliot Spitzer prepares to leave office, the disgraced politician faces a tangled battle with prosecutors that will send lawyers into murky legal territory.
A law enforcement official said Spitzer’s high-powered defense team was believed to be negotiating a plea deal with prosecutors over his connection to a high-end prostitution ring, but attorneys were not commenting Thursday about the discussions.
The legal battle occurred as Lt. Gov. David Paterson prepared to take over the state following Spitzer’s spectacular fall from power. Paterson said he spoke to Spitzer on Thursday and “told him how sorry I was this happened.”
“I promised the governor yesterday that I would commit myself to the people of this great state, that we would have stability and continue in these challenges that lie ahead,” Paterson said. “Now we have to get New York back on track.”

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NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s incoming governor says his transition is proceeding well and that state government is stable following Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s scandal-plagued resignation. Details are coming out about the call girl at the center of the prostitution scandal that prompted Spitzer to announce his resignation.
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ELIOT SPITZER headshot, as New York Governor, on texture with lettering, finished graphic
Lt. Gov. David Paterson announces he will succeed New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer who resigned after being linked to a high-priced prostitution ring during a press conference at the State Capitol in Albany, N.Y., Thursday, March 13, 2008. Paterson will become the first black governor of New York
A: This 2007 image obtained Wednesday, March, 12, 2008 from a MySpace web page shows a woman identified as Ashley Alexandra Dupre.

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