Spotify has teamed up with Klout, the online social influence measuring website, to offer U.S. invites to its unlimited streaming music service that launched Thursday morning. Simply sign up for a Klout account to get started and, if you have enough influence across various social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, you could qualify for immediate free access to Spotify. Spotify’s free ad-supported service is currently available by invite only in the U.S., though the paid services are open to all. Klout is also offering one month of Spotify Premium service if you get five of your friends to sign up. We’re loving Spotify so far and if you want to skip the wait without paying, Klout is definitely your best bet.

Read

The list of things that enterprise calendaring systems (e.g. Microsoft Exchange) can do that Google Calendar can not do is getting shorter and shorter. Today, the Big G announced a new feature it is folding into its online Calendar implementation: optional meeting attendees. As Google explains:

Guests’ roles in meetings tend to vary as well. Some people have to be there to lead the meeting or help make decisions, whereas others are gathering information they may be able to digest just as well via the notes. Without knowing which attendees are crucial and which are optional, it can be difficult to know which meetings you really need to attend.

With a couple clicks, you can openly communicate the importance of a meeting for each attendee. Click on the “Make some attendees optional link” above the guest list and then toggle the role of each attendee by clicking the icon next to his or her name.

The optional attendees feature should be rolling out to Google Calendar users shortly. Hit the read link to check out the official article.

Read

In an effort to help assist deployed servicemen and women in the United States Military, Google is allowing anyone with a .mil email address to sign up for a Google Voice invite and get pretty much instantaneous access. Google’s reasoning behind this (a pretty good one, though you couldn’t buy PR this good) is that when deployed, it’s incredibly difficult to stay in touch with family and loves ones. Timezone differences, different schedules, and everything else make it hard to communicate and Google’s looking to help change that. Here’s a quote from the Google post:

“For servicemen and women who are constantly on the move, having a single number and an easy way to retrieve messages from loved ones can be invaluable. To help our service members communicate with their loved ones and show our support to those serving our country, Google is launching a new program. Starting today, any active U.S. service member with a .mil email address can sign up for a Google Voice account at www.google.com/militaryinvite and start using the free service within a day.”

As impatient people craving access to Google Voice continue to wait for the arrival of that joyous invitation email, Google Voice head Craig Walker gives us a brief insight into just how long of a wait some users may be looking at. A short while ago, Walker tweeted that the team is currently working on invitations that have been pending since the days of GrandCentral before it moves on to more recent invitations requested since Google acquired the service. The clarify that time frame, Google snatched up GrandCentral way back in July of 2007 — meaning that if you’ve requested an invite recently, you’ve probably got a hell of a wait ahead of you considering the GrandCentral invite system was killed two years ago.

Following a tasty spot with NBC’s Janet Shamlian on NBC’s Today Show this morning, it looks as though Google Voice has taken a big step toward wider availability today. According to GV’s Twitter account, invites are starting to go out en masse. Now, don’t start going crazy if you’ve registered for an invite and don’t see anything hit your inbox today — as Google Voice head Craig Walker notes, the waiting list is a bit lengthy to say the least:

About GV invites…there’s a pretty long list as you can imagine…will take a little bit to get through them all:)

In due time, in due time. Again, Google Voice was spawned from Google’s acquisition of GrandCentral — the all-in-one voice calling/voicemail management solution. The service provides, among other things, a single number that can be given out to contacts. When dialed, GV will ring any and all numbers you wish simultaneously — your cell, home, office, etc — and will transcribe and manage your voicemails as well. The service is free and it also affords users free nationwide calling (and cheap international calling). In a nutshell, it’s big time. Hit the jump to see the GV spot from this morning’s Today Show and hit your inbox with the hope that an invite is ready and waiting.

Thanks, Justin!