Google is developing a home-entertainment system to stream music wirelessly throughout a users’ houses, The Wall Street Journal reports. The device will be Google-branded, marking a first for the search giant which historically develops software it then licenses to outside vendors. The system will most likely be Android-powered and will allow users to download music and stream it to Google-made speakers or other Web-connected devices in a home or office. The system may also be able to stream other digital media beyond just music. Apple, one of Google’s main rivals, has long developed both the hardware and software for its products. With its pending acquisition of Motorola Mobility, Google is looking to make waves in the hardware sector as well, and this new home entertainment solution could be one of the first own-brand devices to launch following the approval of Google’s Motorola buy, which is expected to come next week. The Android-powered entertainment system will reportedly be available later this year.

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Former renegade peer-to-peer file sharing service Kazaa is back from the dead. After numerous legal battles and settlements that reportedly reached into the hundreds of millions, Kazaa will attempt one last time to use what little heat surrounding its name is left in an effort to sell music. The firm now offers a like-named iPhone and iPad app that works just like Spotify, Rhapsody, Zune and the plethora of other music subscription services on the market today: pay $10 per month, stream as much music as you want, and store files locally if you choose. The apps touts a catalog of “millions and millions of songs,” and offers a free 7-day trial before the monthly fee is required. While seeing the Kazaa brand revived is amusing, we’re not sure what compelling argument Kazaa makes to draw users away from competitors, and we’ll likely stick with Spotify as a result.

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Spotify, the trendy music on demand service that has garnered tremendous media attention in Europe, has finally launched in the U.S. as rumored last week. Spotify announced earlier this month that it would become available in the U.S. “soon,” though open negotiations with Warner Music Group were reportedly preventing the company from setting a firm launch date. Apparently Warner finally came around. The Spotify service lets users stream unlimited music on demand, and also build and share playlists. For the time being, the free ad-supported version of Spotify that allows streaming to Windows and OS X PCs only is available as an invite-only service in the U.S. Those who don’t want to wait, however, can pay: a premium $9.99 per month subscription will let users stream ad-free music to mobile devices, share playlists and cache music for offline playback. A $4.99 intermediate plan will remove ads from the stream, but it doesn’t support streaming to the company’s mobile apps, which are already available for iOS devices in the App Store and for Android devices in the Android Market. A nifty little intro video can be seen below along with Spotify’s full press release.

Hello America. Spotify here.

Spotify, the largest and fastest growing music service of its kind, is available from today in the US. We’re massively excited to be here.

Spotify is a new way to manage your music, discover new tracks and share songs and playlists with your friends. Now you can enjoy music whenever and wherever you like.

More than 10 million Europeans can’t be wrong, surely?

OK, so they are wrong when it comes to spelling ‘favourite’ and ‘doughnut’. But they know a great music service when they see it.

Spotify was launched in Sweden in 2008 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon, out of a desire to develop a better, more convenient and legal alternative to music piracy. Spotify is now the second single largest source of digital music revenue for labels in Europe (IFPI, April 2011), making sure that artists get a fair deal.

Spotify has more than 10 million registered users and more than 1.6 million paying subscribers across 7 countries in Europe; the US marks the 8^th territory. With a ratio of well over 15% paying subscribers to active free users, Spotify is the largest and fastest growing service of its kind.

One lean, green, music machine

• Spotify gives you on-demand access (with no buffering) to a library of more than 15 million songs. What’s more, you can import the MP3s you already own with just one click, to create a mighty music player. And with Spotify, there’s no need to skip tracks you don’t like. Why? Because you choose the music in the first place.

• It’s super simple to create and manage all your playlists with Spotify – our users have made and shared over 250 million of them so far. You can also discover the most popular playlists on sites like www.sharemyplaylists.com and www.bbcify.com, or use clever sites like www.spotiseek.com to create playlists of new music based on your favorite artists.

• Music is made for sharing. Simply drag and drop music to your Spotify friends, or share with them via Facebook, Twitter, email and SMS. See your friends’ top tracks, artists and playlists via their Spotify profiles, subscribe to their playlists and drop tracks into their Spotify inbox. How very sociable.

• Take your music with you by installing Spotify on your cellphone or iPod Touch. Wirelessly sync your MP3 playlists to listen offline and subscribe to Spotify Premium to combine your own music with access to our catalogue of over 15 million tracks. It’s the perfect music player.

The Land of the Free, the Unlimited and the Premium

During our invite-only beta phase, Spotify offers three great services, from absolutely free to paid subscriptions. All of Spotify’s services include the features listed above.

• Spotify Free – the unsurpassed free music service. With an invite, enjoy on-demand, buffer-free access to over 15 million songs on your computer, great social features, manage your own music files through Spotify, and sync with your cellphone or iPod. Features occasional advertising.

• Spotify Unlimited – all the special features of our free service but with uninterrupted, ad-free access to Spotify on your computer. All for only $4.99 a month.

• Spotify Premium – the all-singing, all-dancing, top-of-the-range Spotify experience. Premium gives you access to all the music, all the time. Listen online or offline, on your computer, your cellphone and a whole heap of other devices. Enjoy enhanced sound quality and access to exclusive content, competitions and special offers. Premium costs just $9.99 a month (that’s the equivalent of a few fancy coffees).

Daniel Ek, Founder and CEO of Spotify, said: “We believe that music is the most social thing there is and that’s why we’ve built the best social features into Spotify for easy sharing and the ultimate in music discovery. Even if you aren’t a total music freak, chances are you have a friend who is and whose taste you admire. I’m looking forward to connecting with some of you in Spotify and discovering some cool new tracks.”

Spotify’s US launch is in partnership with some of the biggest and most pioneering brands in the world, who want to help us spread the word of Spotify in the USA. Our exclusive launch partners are Coca-Cola and Sprite, Chevrolet, Motorola, Reebok, Sonos and The Daily. These brands will all be launching innovative campaigns in partnership with Spotify in the coming weeks and months.

Ken Parks, Chief Content Officer and Managing Director of Spotify North America, said: “Spotify was founded as a better, simpler alternative to piracy. So making sure that the people who create the music prosper is hugely important to us. We have full catalogues from all the major labels and a raft of independent labels including those represented by Merlin, which means all of their artists are being fairly compensated for their creativity every time people enjoy music through Spotify.”

Custom music steaming company Spotify on Wednesday announced that it will soon launch its popular service in the U.S. The company has been rumored to be in negotiations with major U.S. music labels for more than a year now, and it looks like those negotiations finally panned out. ”The award-winning music service that’s taken Europe by storm will soon be landing on US shores,” the company said in a statement on its website. “Millions of tracks ready to play instantly, on your computer and your phone.” In markets where the service is currently available, Spotify allows users to stream music on demand for free to PCs. For a monthly fee, the service adds additional features and supports more devices, such as the iPhone, iPad and Android devices. Pricing and other details for the U.S. market have not yet been announced.

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Welcome one and all to BGR’s live coverage of Apple’s WWDC 2011 keynote! Apple CEO Steve Jobs is on hand to unveil the latest Apple has to offer, and we’re expecting a huge event despite the fact that Apple is not expected to reveal a new iPhone model at the show this year. Instead, Apple will focus on software, with the big addition being the company’s new iCloud service. Apple will also show off more OS X Lion details during the keynote, but we have to admit: we’re much more anxious to see Apple show off iOS 5 for the first time. We think iOS 5 is going to be the most significant update to the platform since Apple introduced the App Store alongside iOS 2.0. A completely rebuilt notification system, basic widget functionality, a new automatic app update delivery mechanism and deep social integration are among the changes we’ll be looking for, but we’re certain that Apple has a few surprises up its sleeve as well. Hit the break for our live coverage of Apple’s WWDC 2011 keynote for the latest updates!

12:28PM:We're heading in and should be seated soon!

12:40PM:Doors are finally opening.

12:45PM:Alright we're almost seating, there are still tons of people pouring in.

12:49PM:We have a feeling the event might be starting a little bit late as we are getting reports that WWDC attendees aren't even in the building yet, but still in line outside.

12:59PM:"Please turn all your devices on silent."

1:01PM:Pair of MacBook Pros on stage, for demo time, obviously!

1:02PM:Steve Jobs is out! Everyone is applauding!

1:03PM:There are over 5,200 people here today — the biggest place we have, sorry to everyone who couldn't make it.

1:03PM:over 100 hands on labs, 1,000 Apple engineers, and 120 sessions.

1:04PM:We're here to talk about 3 things today. And we're going to talk about software. Hardware is the brain, software is the soul.

1:04PM:We're starting with Lion. Phil Schiller is up on stage/

1:05PM:Ha — he's trying to get people riled up in Ballmer-esque fashion.

1:05PM:"We have over 54 million active Mac users."

1:05PM:Sorry guys, we're having major camera issues! Working on it!

1:06PM:PC market has shrank 1% this year, Mac has outgrown the industry. Products are incredible like the MacBook Air

1:06PM:Leading in notebooks, over 70% of Mac sales are notebooks

1:07PM:Entire PC industry wants to copy our hardware. We make the best, not just hardware, but software, too.

1:07PM:Showing off OS X 10 years ago.

1:08PM:Next up is Lion. There are over 250 new features, only have time to show 10.

1:08PM:Multitouch gestures. We have built multitouch trackpads into all our laptops

1:08PM:Kinetic scrolling, multitouch zoom and taps and swipes

1:10PM:Phil is talking about fullscreen apps and how in Lion there is a simple swipe to get in and out.

1:11PM:Mission control is up

1:13PM:We're now seeing full screen apps — three-finger swipe will take you from the full screen back to the desktop/dashboard.

1:14PM:The three-finger swipes will also switch from one app to the next. To exit full screen it just takes one click.

1:15PM:PhotoBooth looks awesome full screen — especially with effects being added in real time as you add/remove them.

1:15PM:Three-finger swipe up on the trackpad will bring mission control back into focus.

1:16PM:Spaces can bee added simply by clicking at the top corner of mission control, and windows can then be added to a new space by simply dragging and dropping.

1:17PM:When you close a space in mission control view, the windows within will slide back into the main windows — very smooth.

1:17PM:Spaces can bee added simply by clicking at the top corner of mission control, and windows can then be added to a new space by simply dragging and dropping.

1:18PM:Schiller is talking about the Mac App Store now, which is now the number one PC sales channel for software, passing Best Buy.

1:19PM:The Mac App Store is now built right into Lion. There are also push notifications to alert users of updates. Auto updates are also supported.

1:20PM:Launchpad — a simple pinch gesture brings up an iOS-like inteface where you can access all of your apps and launch them.

1:21PM:The next key feature is Resume — when you launch an application in Lion, it will bring you right back to where you were when you left the software. The feature even works after a reboot!

1:21PM:Applications, Spaces and settings are all covered by Resume.

1:22PM:Auto-save — Lion will automatically save documents in the background with no need for the user to do anything.

1:23PM:The feature can be enabled and/or disabled for each document individually. There's also a lock feature that will stop auto-saving at a certain point.

1:23PM:Versions — like Dropbox, Lion will make past versions of documents accessible in a document history.

1:24PM:The Versions interface is similar to Time Machine — you can scroll through every version of a document with a smooth animated interface.

1:24PM:Sorry again for the lack of photos guys... we're working on it!

1:26PM:Now we're watching a demo of these new features. Launchpad really is awesome — think of it as a giant iOS home screen that is automatically populated with all of the apps on your computer.

1:27PM:Auto-save also means there is no prompt to save a document if you're made changes just before closing a program. When you open it again, it will be exactly as you left it — including cursor position!

1:28PM:With Versions — and this is awesome — you can view multiple versions of a document in live windows. This means you can actually copy/paste things from one version of a doc to another!

1:29PM:Feature number 9: Airdrop — this basically a peer-to-peer Wifi-based network that lets you move files from one computer to another by simply dragging and dropping.

1:30PM:When you drag the doc to another person's PC — which will appear automatically in Finder — they get a pop up where they can accept the transfer.

1:30PM:The last feature is a completely redesigned Mail app. Needless to say, it looks A LOT like the iPad version.

1:32PM:The coolest feature of the new Mail app is easily conversation view. Think Gmail threads but a little sexier.

1:32PM:Craig is coming back up to demo the new Mail app now.

1:33PM:The message list runs down the left side in a column just like the iPad version. Folders are further to the left, and they're hidden when you don't need them.

1:33PM:The search is enhanced, and it suggests searches as you type based on your mail and your search history.

1:34PM:Users can also search for keywords and date-ranges with one string. Awesome!

1:35PM:Finally, conversation view will auto-hide everything but the new content within each message. Craig just poked Gmail for now doing that very well. Wink, wink.

1:36PM:Lion also features a new migration feature for users switching from Windows, not just another Mac. There are over 3,000 new APIs total in Lion. Get cracking, developers!

1:36PM:Lion will be available ONLY in the Mac App Store. No more discs!

1:37PM:Lion will be about a 4GB download and a single purchase can be installed on ALL of your authorized Macs.

1:37PM:Lion will cost... just 29.99 when it's released. WOW!

1:38PM:Lion developer preview will be available today, and the release version will be available in July.

1:38PM:Next up... iOS 5! Scott Forstall is coming up on stage

1:39PM:To date, Apple has sold over 200 million iOS devices total.

1:39PM:That makes iOS the No.1 mobile operating system with over 44% of the market.

1:40PM:In the first 14 months, Apple has sold more than 25 million iPads. That's iPad and iPad 2 combined.

1:40PM:Apple has sold more than 15 billion songs through the iTunes music store across all platforms.

1:41PM:More than 130 million books have been downloaded through iBooks.

1:41PM:There are now more than 425,000 apps in the App Store, with more than 90,000 of them built for the iPad.

1:42PM:The iOS App Store has served more than 14 billion downloads, and more than $2.5 billion has been paid out to devs.

1:43PM:Apple now holds more than 225 million accounts on file, all with credit cards and one-click purchasing enabled.

1:44PM:iOS 5 is a MAJOR release, Forestall stressed. There are more than 1,500 APIs and more than 200 new features!

1:44PM:The first new feature being covered... NOTIFICATIONS!

1:45PM:Apple has served more than 100 billion push notifications so far.

1:46PM:Apple has completely redesigned the push notification system for iOS. Notification Center is the big addition. It combines all over your notifications into one panel that is accessed by swiping down from the top. Oh hi, Android.

1:46PM:Stocks and weather sit at the top of the notification center.

1:46PM:Notifications are no longer disruptive — they appear at the top of the display and they do not interrupt usage.

1:47PM:The lock screen displays recent notifications as well, and a swipe on a notification will open the applicable app.

1:48PM:A swipe brings you right to the relevant message, by the way, as longer as the developer makes full use of the notifications APIs.

1:48PM:Second feature: Newsstand

1:50PM:Newsstand lets users access magazines through a new, separate interface. It is accessible in the App Store and there is a new newsstand on the home screen where all of the magazines are accessible (it works like a folder).

1:50PM:Background downloading is supported!

1:50PM:Newspapers and magazines can take advantage of newsstand.

1:51PM:Third feature... Twitter integration.

1:51PM:Twitter is now built into the Settings app in iOS. Every twitter app will work with the new single sign on feature!

1:52PM:Twitter is now integrated with the Camera and Photos apps in iOS. Photos can be tweeted from either app now.

1:53PM:Other apps that have twitter integration are Safari, Maps, and YouTube. Also, contacts features contact integration — contact photos will automatically be pulled from Twitter.

1:53PM:Next feature: Safari. Nearly 2/3 of all mobile web browsing is done with Safari.

1:54PM:Safari now has a Reader feature that takes the story you're reading and eliminates all of the noise around the story and just displays the images and text from the body.

1:54PM:Safari will also let users email a link AND story content right from within the browser.

1:55PM:There's also a new Reading List feature that lets users save stories to read later. Uh oh, Instapaper.

1:56PM:Safari will also now include full tabbed browsing. Tabs are displayed across the top and switching between them is lightning fast. We're watching a demo now.

1:57PM:The Read Later feature is accessible on the same button as bookmarks, and it will save items across all of your iOS devices and Mac computers.

1:58PM:Next feature: Reminders. 50,000 apps were just made obsolete.

1:59PM:Reminders is a reminder and task feature that lets you set time or location-based reminders.

1:59PM:In other words, a date and time can trigger a reminder, or a GPS location can trigger a reminder. Reminder also sync with Exchange which is nice.

1:59PM:Next new feature: camera.

2:00PM:The iPhone 4 is now the most popular camera phone used to take photos on flickr and second most popular over all.

2:01PM:The new camera app opens much, much, much faster. Camera is also accessible with a double-tap on the home button.

2:01PM:The volume up button can also be used to take shots. FINALLY!

2:02PM:The native camera app now also has grid lines available and pinch to zoom works in the UI. There's even a zoom-lock feature!

2:02PM:There are now integrated editing features as well. Cropping, red eye removal, and one-tap enhance are all supported.

2:03PM:The seventh new feature being covered is a redesigned Mail app.

2:03PM:Rich text formatting is now supported, indentations are supported, dragging addresses between cc and bcc is supported, and so is flagging!

2:04PM:Search now supports content searching on the server as well.

2:04PM:There's also added support for SMIME for enterprise users.

2:05PM:Now we're getting a demo. Flags can be added and removed with a single tap, and there's also an integrated dictionary that lets you look up words in emails with just a tap.

2:06PM:There's also a new system-wide thumb keyboard available. Users can now split the keyboard into two halves and thumb-type very easily. Not sure how the split keyboard will be received, but it's nifty.

2:07PM:Eight new feature: PC Free. Uh oh... Tons of applause.

2:08PM:With iOS 5, users will no longer need a PC to activate iOS devices. FINALLY! The "post-PC" marketing is slightly more realistic now...

2:08PM:Setup is now done right on the device, as is activation.

2:08PM:Software updates are now OTA (over the air)!!

2:09PM:Delta update are supported as well, so only changes to the OS will be updates and the entire OS doesn't need to be downloaded.

2:10PM:Ninth new feature: Game Center. That's still around?

2:11PM:iOS is by far the most popular gaming platform in the mobile world, and Apple currently has over 50 million registered Game Center users. That's 20 million more than Xbox Live.

2:11PM:Game Center now supports user photos, game recommendations, and game purchase support right within Game Center.

2:12PM:Turn-based game support is now supported as well (think Scrabble).

2:12PM:iMessage is the next iOS 5 feature being covered.

2:12PM:WOW. Apple is launching a new iOS-only messaging service called iMessage.

2:13PM:It supports text, photos, videos, contacts, group messaging, delivery receipts, read receipts, typing indications, and multi-device support so you can move from an iPhone to an iPad and not miss anything.

2:14PM:It is fully encrypted as well, and it works over Wi-Fi or cellular connections.

2:15PM:Poor, poor third-party messaging app devs. We're now seeing a demo and it really is BBM for iPhone. Multi-platform is all app like WhatsApp and Kik have going for them now...

2:16PM:We're now seeing how easy it is to send photos and videos — the interface, by the way, is the same as the Messaging app so it's beautiful and familiar.

2:17PM:Those are just 10 of the 200 new user features. Others include TV mirroring, which let's you mirror your iPad 2 to your TV to Apple TV.

2:18PM:Wi-Fi sync to iTunes is now supported as well! Your iOS device will back up and sync to iTunes automatically over Wi-Fi. FINALLY

2:19PM:iOS 5 is available to developers TODAY. Fire up those accounts, fellas!

2:19PM:iOS 5 will ship to end users this fall.

2:19PM:The iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, both iPads and the two latest iPod touch models are all supported.

2:20PM:Next up... Steve Jobs is coming back up on stage to unveil iCoud!

2:21PM:iCloud has been in the making for 10 years, when APple realized the PC was going to become your digital hub — one device to hold all of your media.

2:22PM:A new problem has risen lately though — multiple devices all need the same data and it's become necessary to sync them all separately. Wonder where this is going...

2:22PM:With iCloud, the digital hub is being moved to the cloud.

2:23PM:So now, photos (even new ones as you take them), music, etc are synced to the cloud automatically and they become available across all devices.

2:24PM:iCloud also is completely integrated with your apps — everything happens automatically. "It just works."

2:24PM:"Why should I believe them? They're the ones who brought me MobileMe?" Steve joked. Zing!

2:25PM:Contacts, calendar and Mail are no longer MobileMe apps — they're now iCloud apps. For example, a new contact will automatically be uploaded to the cloud and synched across all devices. Changes to existing contacts are handled the same way.

2:26PM:iCloud also supports calendar sharing, so changes you make on your calandar will automatically be visible by anyone you share your calendar with.

2:27PM:Jobs also highlighted the fact that there are no ads involved with this service... at all.

2:27PM:MobileMe was $99... Mail, Calendar and Contacts with iCloud are completely free!

2:28PM:There are also three new apps coming with iCloud that weren't in MobilMe. The first is the App Store.

2:28PM:Apps purchased on one devices can now be added to any other device through iCloud.

2:29PM:For future devices, all apps are automatically added to all devices.

2:30PM:The next app they added is iBooks — books purchased on one device can be downloaded to all devices. Also, your read history is synched between devices as well, as is reading position.

2:30PM:Finally, Apple added automatic cloud backup.

2:31PM:The service will back up your important data once daily, and when you get a new device, all of your data will sync wirelessly from the cloud.

2:31PM:Uh oh... there are three more apps being added to iCloud!

2:31PM:First... Documents in the Cloud.

2:32PM:Documents now sync automatically via the cloud from one device to all your other devices.

2:32PM:Pages, Numbers and Keynote are all supported as of the latest versions of the apps, which have already been released. Sneaky!

2:34PM:There is a new interface within the apps that lets you view all of the documents that are synced to the cloud, and they all sync automatically.

2:36PM:Apps can store documents to iCloud as well!

2:37PM:Developers have access to iCloud Documents in the Cloud APIs with the iOS 5 SDK.

2:37PM:Macs and PCs are supported as well! This is a huge ding for Dropbox and the like.

2:38PM:Next up, Photo Stream.

2:38PM:Photo Stream will sync photos taken on any device to the cloud, and then to all other devices.

2:39PM:The functionality is all built right into the apps, so there is nothing new to install or configure. It all just works.

2:40PM:Photo Stream is also built into Lion on Macs, and on PCs it will work with the Pictures folder. What's more, Photo Stream will work on Apple TV as well.

2:42PM:Another feature of Photo Stream is memory management. It will store the last 1,000 photos on each iOS devices, and all photos on Macs and PCs. In the cloud, photos will be stored for 30 days so they can be synced to all other devices before they are automatically removed.

2:42PM:Eddie Cue is on stage now to demo Photo Stream.

2:43PM:He just took two photos on stage with an iPhone and as soon as he launched the photos app on his iPad, the photos wer already there.

2:43PM:Since only the last 1,000 photos are saved with Photo Stream, users can drag any photos they want to keep permanently into an album.

2:44PM:Last up... iTunes in the Cloud!!

2:45PM:This is what we've all been waiting for — music purchased in iTunes will automatically be synced to all devices.

2:46PM:Songs you've already purchased pre-iTunes in the Cloud can be downloaded on other devices for free.

2:46PM:For future purchases, once this feature is enabled, a song purchased on one device will be pushed to all devices.

2:47PM:Eddie Cue is back up to demo the service. Unless they throw us a curveball, it looks like music purchased outside of iTunes will not be supported by the service. We'll know for sure in a few minutes.

2:48PM:In the demo, it looks like they just snuck in a redesigned iPad music app.

2:49PM:The service is amazingly seamless. Buy a song on one device and it's available everywhere else immediately.

2:49PM:iTunes in the Cloud supports up to 10 devices.

2:50PM:WOW. Everything relating to iCloud, including iTunes in the cloud, is completely free!

2:52PM:Awesome — to set up iCloud, all you need to do is log in with your Apple ID. What's more, users get 5GB of free storage... and that doesn't include music/etc purchased through iTunes.

2:52PM:iTunes in the Cloud becomes available today for iOS 4.3 as a beta — the full release will launch with iOS 5 in the fall.

2:52PM:ONE MORE THING

2:53PM:iTunes in the Cloud is just for songs purchased from iTunes... but you might have music you got elsewhere.

2:54PM:These other songs can be synced to the cloud one time, and they will become available everywhere.

2:55PM:Rather than syncing, there is also an "iTiunes Match" application that will scan your library and match songs with versions available through iTunes. These songs will then become accessible just like iTunes purchases!

2:55PM:In addition, iTunes Match will upgrade all of those songs to 256 AAC.

2:56PM:iTunes Match service will be $24.99 per year.

2:56PM:That yearly fee will support up to 20,000 songs!

2:57PM:"If you don't think we're serious about this, you're wrong," Steve said. He's talking about the new data center in NC now.

2:58PM:"It's a pretty large place and it's full of expensive stuff."

2:58PM:This facility will manage all iCloud services.

2:58PM:It looks like that's it folks — thanks for tuning in!

BGR has landed on the left coast to bring you live coverage of one of the most anticipated tech events of the year: Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference 2011 keynote. Apple CEO Steve Jobs will be on hand with the usual suspects at his side to give the world its first look at the future of Apple software. In uncharacteristic fashion, Apple let the cat out of the bag ahead of the show this year — well, part of the cat, at least — so we know we’re in store for some goodies surrounding iOS 5, Mac OS X Lion and of course, iCloud. We’re sure the crew from Cupertino has a few surprises up its sleeve, of course, so be sure to tune in for all the latest news as it breaks.

Bookmark this link and make sure to head there for our live coverage of Steve Jobs’ keynote! Coverage starts at or around 12:30 p.m. EDT / 9:30 a.m. PDT.

Apple confirmed on Tuesday that CEO Steve Jobs will be on hand at the company’s Worldwide Developer Conference next week to unveil Apple’s next-generation software. Jobs and other Apple executives will finally take the wraps off iOS 5, the highly anticipated software update iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users around the world have been clamoring for. Among the enhancements expected to be revealed are widgets and a completely revamped notification system. Apple will also detail its new iCloud offering, and while the company did not elaborate on the offering, it is expected to be a suite of cloud-based services that will include a streaming music service backed by major record labels in the U.S. Finally, Apple said it will provide new details surrounding Lion, the eighth major release of the Mac OS X operating system. Hit the break for Apple’s full press release.

Apple to Unveil Next Generation Software at Keynote Address on Monday, June 6

CUPERTINO, California—May 31, 2011—Apple® CEO Steve Jobs and a team of Apple executives will kick off the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address on Monday, June 6 at 10:00 a.m. At the keynote, Apple will unveil its next generation software – Lion, the eighth major release of Mac OS® X; iOS 5, the next version of Apple’s advanced mobile operating system which powers the iPad®, iPhone® and iPod touch®; and iCloud®, Apple’s upcoming cloud services offering.

WWDC will feature more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers. Mac® developers will see and learn how to develop world-class Mac OS X Lion applications using its latest technologies and capabilities. Mobile developers will be able to explore the latest innovations and capabilities of iOS and learn how to greatly enhance the functionality, performance and design of their apps. All developers can bring their code to the labs and work with Apple engineers.

For more details, visit the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2011 website at developer.apple.com/wwdc.

Apple is expected to finally unveil its cloud-based music service next month at its annual Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco. Unlike similar products recently introduced by Google and Amazon that feature limited utility, Apple is thought to have deals in place with major record labels that will allow it to offer a paid service and a simplified library building process. The service has been rumored to be in development for years, and now Bloomberg Businessweek has supposedly spilled the beans, detailing exactly how the offering will work. Citing anonymous sources who were briefed on Apple’s talks with record labels, Apple’s cloud music service will constantly scan a user’s iTunes library and mirror the songs on Apple servers. The user will then be able to stream the music to any PC, iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, and some day, even to a car. While the appeal of such a service might be questionable due to the ever-increasing storage capacity of Apple’s portable iOS devices, it is believed that Apple plans to charge a monthly fee for the service.

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mSpot just took the wraps off of its new Radio Spotter Beta app for Android, which will allow users to listen to their own cloud-based music, as well as tunes from streaming radio stations. It works like this: you can match any song you’re playing from your own collection to a radio station to continue playing similar music, or you can select a specific radio station based on genre directly from the application itself. There’s even a new mSpot Music Android application with the built-in Radio Spotter support, so you can take your stations on the go, too. mSpot provides 5GB of space free to new users, but you can sign up for 40GB for $3.99 per month if you have a larger music collection. The company says an iPhone version of the application with Radio Spotter support will launch later this year. Hit the jump for the full release from mSpot.

The First Combined Streaming Radio and Cloud Music Service, Launches

mSpot Music™ Offers Radio Spotter™

-      Match the Songs You’re Playing to Hundreds of

Internet Radio Stations

New Service Offers Instant Access to Free Internet Radio Stations Based on Favorite Genres and Artists – Initially Available for Android

Palo Alto, Calif. (May 26, 2011)—Popular cloud entertainment provider mSpot, Inc., today announced Radio Spotter™ Beta – the first digital music service to combine a cloud music and storage locker service with streaming radio. The new service offers two main features: Match the songs you’re playing from your personal online music collections, to similar music playing on hundreds of radio stations across the Internet; or, instantly select Internet radio stations you’ll like, based on music genres or your own artist searches. Radio Spotter puts the metadata in your music collection to work by matching whatever you’re listening to, and quickly adapts to offer new recommendations based on your changing preferences.

“Radio is still the easiest and most popular music discovery tool – people love its spontaneity and variety. Yet, it can take years to discover the best radio stations. We’re giving people a mash up between Cloud music and streaming radio:  It’s a great way for people to find new music and enjoy their own – all in one service,” stated Daren Tsui, CEO and co-founder of mSpot.

How does Radio Spotter work?

• Put your music collection on the Internet: Go to www.mSpot.com and upload your music collection from your PC/Mac^® into your own personal music locker in the Cloud. Now, you can access it anytime, anywhere from your Android or any PC/Mac.
• Download the mSpot Music Android App on your phone. Your music will appear on your phone.
• As you listen to your music on mSpot Music, the service will match the songs and artists you’re playing with similar music on hundreds of Internet radio stations. These stations will be available in the “Stations Suggestions” tab. The service keeps track of what you’re listening to and gives you new recommendations as the music you’re listening to changes.
• Favorite stations can be saved for easy reference on the app homepage.
• New songs can be flagged for future reference and automatically synced to their online accounts at www.mspot.com for later purchase, through Amazon or iTunes music stores.
• The “Browse Stations” tab offers an instant selection of Internet radio stations, which are always available through the service without matching songs to your own music collection. You can also search by favorite artists to find radio stations playing music by that artist, or similar artists.
  • Genres range from Alterative and Rock to Dance and Electronic, Pop, Urban, Country, Reggae, Latin, Jazz, Spiritual, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, Youth, Bollywood, French and Canadian.

How mSpot Music with Radio Spotter Differs from Existing Music Services:

• Unlike Pandora and Slacker; Play all of your own music alongside new music that is discovered on real radio stations: Your own music collection is the basis of all the new music you find and listen to.
• Unlike iTunes; Store your music collection in the cloud so that you can always access it, wherever you are. Your music is connected to the Internet, so you can match your preferences to hundreds of Internet radio stations to discover and play new music for free.
• Unlike subscription services like Rhapsody, MOG and Rdio; Listening is free. Match the music you already love with music playing on radio stations all over the Internet.
• Unlike Cloud storage services like Amazon or Google; Listening is not limited to your own music, or music for purchase; your music now connects you to hundreds of radio stations.

Radio Spotter Beta is available in the Android Market for Android users, in the United States only; iPhone, PC/Mac and other internet connected device support will be offered later in 2011, along with new premium features. mSpot Music is available at www.mspot.com for PC and Mac, in the Apple^® App Store and Android Marketplace.

mSpot Music offers the following features:

• Instant access to music collections from mobile, PC/Mac^® and Web-ready TV.
• Smart syncing across devices: No USB cords required; instantly syncs music from the cloud to user’s mobile; avoids playback interruptions.
• Automatically exports playlist, metadata, cover art, and more from iTunes.
• Continuous playback, even during spotty cellular coverage.
• Airplane mode: play cached songs on the phone without network connectivity.
• “Live Lyrics”: read the words to select favorite songs as they play on mobile.
• “Streaming only” option for users who want to save all the storage on their mobiles for other media.

mSpot Music offers free cloud storage for the first 5 gigabytes (approximately 4,000 songs): Additional storage is available for purchase; 40 gigabytes for $3.99 per month.

Apple has now reportedly signed three of four major U.S. record labels as it prepares to launch a new cloud-based streaming music service in the near future. According to Bloomberg, Apple has inked a deal with Sony that will allow the label’s massive catalog to be used alongside a forthcoming streaming product Apple will likely unveil next month. The news comes just one day after Apple is said to have finalized a similar deal with EMI. Google recently unveiled its Music Beta by Google service and before that, Amazon launched its Cloud Drive and Cloud Player products. Neither service is accompanied by deals with record labels, however, so their utility is reduced to providing users with a means to upload music they have purchased elsewhere and then stream it to a variety of devices. With the support of major labels, Apple will be able to introduce a paid service with a great deal of added functionality. “Streaming iTunes” has been rumored to be in development for years, and it looks like Apple is finally ready to make it a reality.

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We received word from a tipster that Amazon, practically confirmed to be entering the tablet market in the near future, isn’t planning just one device, but is planning on releasing at least two before the end of the year. Information is light, but we have been told that the “entry” level tablet, codenamed “Coyote” will be based on the NVIDIA Tegra 2 platform. The big boy? That’s codenamed “Hollywood” and will be based on the NVIDIA T30 “Kal-El” which will bring a screaming quad-core processor with a 500% performance increase over the dual-core Tegra 2. No word on screen sizes at this point, and we’re digging for more information, so stay tuned!

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in an interview earlier this week to “stay tuned” for news on the company’s plans to release its own tablet. Bezos wouldn’t come out and confirm the tablet, but he took particular care in clarifying that such a device would not replace its popular line of dedicated Kindle eBook readers. “We will always be very mindful that we will want a dedicated reading device,” Bezos continued. “In terms of any other product introductions, I shouldn’t answer.” It doesn’t take Nostradamus to see where Amazon is headed with all of its recent product and service launches, of course. An Amazon-controlled Android app store, a new streaming movie and TV show service, Cloud Drive, Cloud Player, the Amazon music store, Kindle… it all adds up to a self-contained ecosystem that will allow Amazon to issue a complete package when it finally does release its first tablet.

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We can’t say it comes as much of a surprise, but Google has just taken the wraps off of a service many of us have been waiting for years to see… or should we say, hear. Google’s freshly unveiled Music Beta service will give users a cloud-based solution for storing and streaming their digital music collections — and we mean, their entire collections; Google’s service supports the storage of up to 20,000 songs as opposed to the 1,000 tracks supported by Amazon’s Cloud Drive product, which Music Beta will compete with directly. Google’s Music Manager app supports Windows and Mac, and it allows users to upload their tracks directly to Music Beta. The Web-based music manager is a full-featured music player that supports organization, playlist creation and plenty more. The related Android app features all of the same functionality as the Web player, and playlists created on one device will instantly be available on all devices. Recently played music is always cached by the mobile player, and albums can also be downloaded and stored for playback when data connections are unavailable. Music Beta is available initially by invitation only, and it is free — at least, it’s free during the beta period. Google’s updated music app with Music Beta support is available in the Android Market beginning today.

Google is expected to announce its long anticipated entrance into cloud-based music on Tuesday from its Google I/O conference in San Francisco. The New York Times reports that the service will initially be called Music Beta by Google, and it will allow users to store 20,000 songs in a cloud locker for free, which can then be accessed by any PC or Android device. Activity will be synced automatically between devices, so playlists created on one device will be accessible from all others, according to the report. Like Amazon’s recent Cloud Drive and Cloud Player offerings, it is expected that Google will launch its service without the support of major record labels. Also like Amazon’s offering, the service is expected to initially be very limited in functionality. In the beginning, Music Beta will reportedly be accessible by invite only. Motorola XOOM users with Verizon Wireless models will all receive invitations, and others will be able to sign up for invites at music.google.com. There is currently no timeline in terms of when the service might become available to the general public. We’ll be on hand reporting live from I/O later today, so be sure to tune in for all the latest news as it breaks.

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Amazon’s Cloud Player, which provides access to music stored on your Amazon Cloud Drive, is now working in Safari on iOS devices including the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Amazon hasn’t announced the support just yet, but if you navigate to your Amazon Cloud Player account from an iOS device — and ignore a few warnings about your device not being supported — you’ll be able to access and play all of your tunes. As TechCrunch first spotted, your music will also pause if you receive a phone call or a push notification. Amazon has only recognized full support through computers and on Android smartphones, so there may still be a few bugs to be found. We’re hoping there’s a native iOS app in the works, too, but we won’t hold our breath just yet.

[Via 9to5 Mac]

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