Spotify News Round-up: Response To Criticism Over Facebook Tie-in, Disable Auto Share, And 250,000 Daily Sign ups

While European markets have been enjoying the service for a couple years now, your typical music label greed has drawn things out much longer than needed. But alas, we’re finally rockin’ out with Spotify, and once again, they’re at the top of tech news around not only the U.S. but the world — though not for a good reason. It seems people are up in arms about the new mandatory Facebook account requirement to sign up for a new Spotify account. If you’re only worry is sharing everything you listen to, there’s a fix.

Also, Spotify is apparently signing up over 250,000 new users per day since activating the aforementioned Facebook account requirement.

More Spotify news after the break…

Crack A Smile, Not The Bank: The Evo Design 4G.

Not interested in a phone that could take out NORAD, solve world peace, and perhaps reverse the declining population of Beluga Sturgeon?. You’re in luck! HTC has a more mid-range device that will be right up your alley — once they announce it.

The Evo Design 4G doesn’t go all out in the specs department, but will still hold its own thanks to a single-core 1.2 GHz processor, 768 MB of RAM, 4″ qHD (540 x 960) display, 5mp camera with 720p video recording and Android 2.3.3 with Sense UI. The carrier is pretty much confirmed to be Sprint.

For now, any release and and/or pricing information will have to remain a secret. (We honestly don’t know.) But if we had to wager a guess, we’d say $149 on a 2-year contract. Of course we certainly wouldn’t mind if HTC was feeling generous and decided to toss us this little bone at $99 with the necessary contracts. You?

When Will iPhone 5 Be Announced? Apple Events And Press Invite Time Table Laid Out For Easy Consumption.

If you’re an Apple fanboy, the rumored October 4th iPhone 5 announced is no doubt the most important event on your calendar. Even if you’re an Apple hater, you’re still probably going to want to mark the iPhone 5 announcement date as you’ll want to refrain from visiting 73% of the internet on that very day. Jokes aside, wouldn’t it be great if someone took a healthy list containing the dates of past Apple events, the date in which press invites for said events went out, and compared them to see what we can expect for the iPhone 5? Yes. Someone did.

Tech site Obama Pacman put together the handy little chart above using data from this post from Macrumors forum user, “Saving107″. The verdict: if the event is as rumored (on Apple’s campus) this October 4th, we should see medie invites go out later this week.

Waiting for something you know is coming but don’t know when it’s really coming is terrible for the nerves.

What Facebook Integration In iOS 5 Could Look Like (If Apple And Facebook Kiss And Make Up)

Facebook and Apple aren’t the greatest of friends. The most recent example of the two companies’ ongoing feuding can be seen in the failed Facebook integration with Apple’s Ping social music service. If you recall, Facebook support was yanked at the last second — literally the night before Ping launched. Since then we’ve seen glorious tales of iOS’s more social nature with the “other” social network, Twitter. While Twitter is part of our hourly routine, there are many people who haven’t the slightest clue what it actually is — Get those people a new rock with a window! — and would much rather prefer Facebook integration.

So what if Apple is working on Facebook integration in iOS 5? The above images (compliments of Macrumors) are allegedly showcase just that. Though we’ll be painfully blunt and tell you to stop holding your break now. You’ll be dead from such stutnts long before Apple actually releases the aforementioned integration. But if they did surprise us on the rumored October 4th iPhone 5 event date with some extra social flare tossed in to iOS 5 at the last minute, it would likely look something like you see above, minus the spelling mistakes of course.

For the sake of social junkies everywhere we hope the two sides can come together. Besides, they both have a very potent shared enemy — Google+. Competition folks.

In other Facebook/Apple related news: Mashable has been tipped about a potential release date for that elusive Facebook iPad app — the iPhone 5 event supposedly being held on October 4th. If this is a sign of a new friendship perhaps that iOS 5/Facebook integration might just happen afterall.

It’s Ok. It’s A Good Thing Apple Was Denied “Multi-touch” Trademark.

Tonight the tech world erupted in an almost unbearable noise about Apple’s failed attempt to trademark “multi-touch” after a 4-year battle. The 2nd denial was handed down earlier today by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. But despite what you may be reading and seeing online tonight, Apple’s loss is actually a good thing for mankind as a whole. If Apple would have won either the original case or the appeal to trademark — let’s admit it — a totally generic term, it would have simply reiterated one of the many problems with U.S. copyright/trademark/IP law. What problem you ask? Completely and totally unnecessary legal red tape for the “little guys” in the tech world, and ridiculous “safety nets” for corporate giants.

Even better example: let us look no further than the current Apple vs. Samsung mess currently wreaking havoc on courts around the world. The insanity has got to stop somewhere. Apple and Samsung may have valid claims of IP infringement. But let’s cut the crap. There’s no need to outright ban a competitor from the market just because you don’t want them to compete. Keep people liking (and buying) your product by constantly staying at the top of your game and innovating — not eliminating them with bogus lawsuits.

While Apple having/not having the ability to demand a royalty/license for anyone who dare use the word(s) “multi-touch” may seem small, all things considered it’s a victory for us. Not just tech journalists, phone enthusiasts, or social media junkies, but everyone. The last thing this world needs is another artificially protected company/product.

With all that said, it’s important to stress Apple’s inability to secure the “multi-touch” trademark in no way hurts or nullifies any of the various multi-touch patents held by the Cupertino company. Not to worry. Apple still has plenty of ammo with which to sue other companies with.

T-Mobile Announces Galaxy S II And Amaze 4G.

T-Mobile has been teasing us today with several tweets alluding to some exciting mobile news. The most exciting news turned out to be two (previously leaked) devices: The Samsung Galaxy S II and the HTC Amaze 4G. Hop past the break for the full rundown…

Facebook iPad App Engineer Leaves For Google Mobile Team.

Facebook’s iPad app has apparently been feature complete for weeks. But for some reason or another Facebook hasn’t actually launched it. F8 came and went without a mobile announcement in sight. SAI is reporting constant, unnamed delays. So we wait. Because of this, now ex-engineer Jeff Verkoeyen (the guy who developed the Facebook iPad app) has left — for Google’s mobile team.

The announcement came by way of his blog.

While we wish Jeff the best in his new ventures, we hope even more that Facebook pushes out the official iPad app sooner rather than later. (Or have we already passed that point?)