Basically, as you can see in the picture, you will see play buttons alongside different songs when you get search results. If you press play, a popup from MySpace (iLike) or Lala appears, letting you play the full song and giving you buttons to buy it or get more info. You will also have the chance to check out the band on other services/sites, including Pandora, iMeem and Rhapsody. (As you might imagine, there’s no mention of iTunes in all of this.)

In essence, Google isn’t playing the music at all. It’s up to MySpace and Lala to manage the rights of the full-song playback business and to serve up the content. For more info, check out the YouTube video or Google blog. They say they’ll be rolling it out to US Google users over the next day. [Google]

Cybraphon is an interactive, internet-connected musical art project that’s sort of a riff on insecure emo bands—when more people online discuss it, it plays happier music, and when it’s not getting enough attention, it gets melodramatic.

Created by Scottish musical collective Found, Cybraphon is basically a collection of mechanical instruments in a box, including some acoustic instruments and a whole lot of junk machinery. It constantly searches the internet and adjusts its “mood” between depressed and ecstatic by such vapid statistics as number of Myspace friends and Facebook invites. Its mood is then demonstrated by the tone of the music it plays, from dirgey melodrama to perky upbeat tones.

It’s a really cheeky and fun project, and we’re in a unique position here to overflow the Cybraphon’s happiness sensors by bombarding its social networking pages with hits. Let’s make the cabinet-sized whiner as cheerful as it can possibly be. [Cybraphon]

The key aspect of this handset though isn’t its solid build, but its integration with social media tools like Facebook, MySpace and Instant Messenger. And once again, it does the job amazingly well. Not only is there an integrated iPhone app on the phone, but using 3’s network, it will keep you constantly connected to the service, updating you when you receive a message or when someone updates their status just like you’re receiving a text message.

On top of that, the phone will pull down your Facebook friends’ contact info and merge it with the contacts in your phone, including profile pics. It does the same thing for Skype, too, and presumably MySpace, although I didn’t (and won’t ever) have a MySpace account to check it out. Photos taken on the INQ1’s 3.2 megapixel camera can be directly uploaded to your social media accounts as well.

It’s not the perfect phone though – browsing the web is as painful as every other phone with a 2.2-inch screen, and even though Facebook, MySpace, Skype and Windows Live IM are included, there’s no Twitter, Friendfeed or other social networking programs. There’s also no Wi-Fi, although the phone comes with 3’s excellent data rates, which should get most people through a month of status updates and IM conversations.

Battery life was also extremely surprising – even with both Facebook and Skype running in the background, the phone was still kicking on after a few days use. Hell, one week, when I didn’t use it at all, but left it switched on, it managed to last for a full 5 days.

This isn’t a phone many of us will ever buy, but for the teenage demographic, it’s practically the Holy Grail. At $179 on a $29 prepaid cap it’s extremely affordable, it’s well built, has a 2-year warranty and is more socially connected than the PM on Twitter. If only all cheap phones were so appealing.

UPDATE: Autoplaying video tossed after the jump. Sorry about that.

[cracked]

The study was carried out by the law firm Deacons, and found that of the 691 workers questioned, 16% said that having access to social networking sites would be a major influence in choosing a job. When you drop the age bracket to people under 24, that percentage rises to almost 25%.

Other nuggets included the 76% of people who believed that there were benefits to companies who allowed social networking, and the 68% who thought that having access to social networks showed they were trusted. Of course, how the figures reached so high when only 62% of the surveyed workers actually had internet access at work doesn’t quite add up.

So what do you think? Does being able to poke friends on Facebook during your working day play a part in your job decision making? Is Facebook blocked at your work? And do you see these sites as timewasters that are only going to hurt productivity? Post your thoughts in the comments!

[APC]

We asked Beth, his mum, what happened, exactly, and here’s what she had to say about what went down.

My 13 year old managed to break the vacuum….thinking it would release him from that duty. He also has a list of other chores that were TYPED up for him to do Friday afternoon….one thing on the list was done…mind you these are simple things…empty the trash, clean your room, etc. Then I go thru the cookies on his computer and find out he has been checking out porn sites. Now there is a password so he can’t even get on and his my-space page has a picture of snoopy on it now. Apparently I’m the meanest mum in the world, were his words.

I’m a single mum. I can’t let them walk over me or I might never get up.

Sorry kid, but we’ve gotta get behind your mum on this one. First of all, we’re guessing she bought you that Xbox, unless you’re the most enterprising 13-year-old ever, so you can deal with keeping your room tidy. Second of all, breaking the vacuum? That’s weak. The porn sites thing, well, you should have been more careful about it if you have a mum who knows her way around a computer enough to check out your cookies. As for the Snoopy pic on your MySpace… well, that’s pretty hilarious.

The score is now Beth – 1, her kid – 0. If you want to increase that score for Beth, go ahead and pick up a slightly used Xbox 360 for $250 and all of his games for $15 each, with bitterness from a 13-year-old coming along with them free of charge. [Craigslist]

Much as with Facebook apps, the programs range from the ingenious to the utter ridiculous, but most of them compare well to their Facebook counterparts. There are just under 300 applications available now — but still no port of Scrabulous (in case you were wondering).  [Wired Compiler]

CHUMBY INDUSTRIES DEBUTS ITS INNOVATIVE chumby™ INTERNET DEVICE AND CHUMBY™ NETWORK

Company secures deals with leading content providers including: CBS, MTV Networks, MySpace, The Weather Channel Interactive, AOL’s SHOUTcast and Scripps Networks to offer always-on personalized Internet broadcasts

San Diego, CA – Feb. 25, 2008 – Chumby Industries announced today the public launch of the chumby™, its much-anticipated compact consumer Internet device that enables people to receive a constant personalized broadcast of their favorite parts of the Web. The chumby device is currently available in the U.S. at www.chumby.com for $179.95 including shipping.

A little bigger than a coffee cup, the Wi-Fi connected chumby provides people with a fun, hassle-free way to enjoy what they want most out of the Internet at a glance and wake up to thousands of different streaming Internet radio stations, custom “alarm tones,” videos and more. With a large and growing base of content from the Internet, including the latest news, weather and entertainment, as well as the ability to share photos, widgets and e-cards with family and friends, the chumby is one of the most versatile and lifestyle-friendly Internet enabled devices on the market today.

The company also announced that CBS, MTV Networks, MySpace, The Weather Channel Interactive, AOL’s SHOUTcast and Scripps Networks will offer compelling content through the Chumby™ Network, a dynamic and rapidly expanding open pipeline of user created and sponsor-supported commercial widget applications.

ABOUT THE PARTNER CONTENT

CBS programming will provide the Chumby Network with up-to-date CBS news, CBS sports and entertainment buzz from Entertainment Tonight and more, as well as video widgets of the Late Show with David Letterman, Big Brother, The Early Show, Wallstrip and college basketball games.

“We are excited to provide a range of CBS content to the Chumby launch community,” said George Schweitzer, president, CBS marketing group. This unique device is a great new platform and an imaginative and friendly interface. And you can’t spell chumbys without C-B-S! “

MTV Networks will feature the latest music, movie and game news from MTV and VH1, interactive Babealizer photos from Spike.com and an animated SpongeBob SquarePants character widget from Nickelodeon.

“Across every demographic we serve, our fans want to connect with our brands through devices and platforms that are fun, engaging and relevant to their lifestyles,” said Greg Clayman, executive vice president, digital distribution and business development, MTV Networks. “With its innovative design and open technology, the chumby device is a great fit for the sensibility of our brands and the growing variety of ways our audience interact with our content.”

MySpace will enable chumby users to stay connected and interact with their MySpace friends. Its widget supports interactions with users’ photos, friend requests, messages, comments, blogs, bulletins and much more. Users will also be able to view their friends’ profiles and send messages straight from the chumby.

The Weather Channel Interactive will offer up-to-date custom local weather conditions, forecasts and radar images from weather.com.

AOL will provide its SHOUTcast service and allow chumby owners to tune in to over twenty thousand free online radio stations from DJs and broadcasters around the world.

“We’re pleased to provide the Chumby user with unparalled access to radio stations and programming from around the world via SHOUTcast,” said Lisa Namerow, general manager, AOL Radio and SHOUTcast.

Scripps Networks will offer a widget from its popular Food Network. The Food Network widget will present users with a variety of tantalizing, tasty recipes from the experts at the Food Network Kitchens – served fresh to your chumby daily.

“Food Network fans can use their chumby to get recipes from the famous Food Network Kitchens that can be used right where they need them most – in their kitchen or even by their grill,” said Doug Hurst, senior vice president and general manager of non-linear distribution for Scripps Networks, parent company of Food Network. “As the leaders in lifestyle media, we continue to create new ways to deliver our content – like the fun, bite-size format the chumby offers – to best serve our audience’s current digital lifestyle.”

The Chumby Network is supported by commercial sponsors and provides free content to chumby owners and “virtual chumbys” that can be placed on other connected consumer devices and social networking sites. In addition, chumby users can exchange content with other users (”chums”) and share their customized widgets, photos and more.

“The richness and diversity of information on the Web has become critical to our everyday lives, so it becomes more important than ever to stay connected to our ‘Internet life’ and be able to access a wealth of information simply at a glance,” said Steve Tomlin, founder and CEO, Chumby Industries. “The powerful combination of the free Chumby Network and the open and always-on chumby creates a compelling offering to consumers to easily create, view and share what matters to them most from the Web without the need to browse on a PC. And media companies can showcase and monetize content on an exciting new distribution platform that reaches consumers in different parts of their lives and at different times of the day.”

ABOUT chumby
With an LCD touchscreen and embedded squeeze and motion sensors, the chumby delivers a robust audio and video entertainment experience to owners, including:

• Personalized wake-up experience – programmed wake-up to any of the thousands of audio sources available on the chumby
• Fun – games, humor, e-greetings, gossip, cool entertainment content
• Photo sharing through top photo-sharing sites such as MySpace, flickr, Facebook and Photobucket
• Music – over twenty thousand free radio stations
• Constant updates from top Internet sites
• Monitoring – auction updates, on-going searches, such as Craigslist, and friend status updates from MySpace

The chumby can be plugged into any electrical outlet, so users have the flexibility of placing it on a nightstand, bathroom counter, office cubicle, coffee table, kitchen counter or out on a patio. It automatically finds an available Wi-Fi connection and streams personalized channels from the Chumby Network, which continuously delivers refreshed content via widgets such as music, games, movie previews, customized alarm clocks, special offers and more.

Some of the most popular content and widgets include top streaming Internet radio stations, podcasts, daily video clips, news from The New York Times and Google, various fun and animated clocks, the addictive chumball™ game that uses the chumby’s embedded motion sensor, moon phases, sports news and game updates, tech news from Engadget and TechCrunch, entertainment gossip blogs, and web-cams pointed at traffic, zoo animals and everything you can imagine.

The chumby, which measures about 5″ wide, 4″ tall, and 3″ deep, comes in a soft Italian leather casing in a variety of colors including black, latte and pearl. In addition, chumby owners may express their personality by decorating their devices with chumby charms for sale on the site or their own “bling.”

About Chumby Industries
Headquartered in San Diego, CA, Chumby Industries makes, sells, and licenses the chumby™, a compact device that connects via a wireless Internet connection and gives people a fun, hassle-free way to enjoy what they want most out of the Internet, always on and simply at a glance. Chumby Industries also runs the Chumby™ Network, a rapidly expanding open pipeline of user created and commercial widget applications from high-profile media partners such as CBS, MTV Networks, MySpace, The Weather Channel Interactive, AOL’s SHOUTcast and Scripps Networks among many
more. Offering the latest news, weather and entertainment as well as the ability to share photos, widgets, e-cards and more with family and friends, Chumby Industries provides an open platform, enabling the chumby to be constantly updated by any user, developer, media company or content creator to enhance and improve the Chumby experience.

Sure, there have always been the badge-wearing nerds at the back of the forensics lab who knew how to “Google” things and check the “e-mail” of bigger, dumber cops. But now other officers are wising up, according to an AP story. Homicide detectives and beat cops are going online and just poking around, and the dumbasses who think they won’t get caught by blabbing on their public pages are, well, getting totally nailed.

In one recent example, a detective in Newark, N.J., tracked the alleged killers of three college students by mining MySpace pages maintained by the suspects and their friends. In another, pictures and prose posted online by the killer of Taylor Behl, a 17-year-old Virginia college freshman, connected him to the victim and ended up revealing where her body was stashed.

And yeah, I’m embarrassed to say that it was in my home state of Indiana that some dick actually did write “I just killed two cops” on his MySpace page. As it turns out, he was even wrong about that: one of the cops survived. I suppose he will soon think of the state prison as his “second life.” [AP]

Considering that content is still limited to an artist’s page, this content sharing isn’t completely open ended, even within the smallish confines of the MySpace network. Nonetheless, it’s a progressive move by Sony, a company that is usually tighter with their media than a [fill in perverted orifice of choice belonging to religious position of preference]. How deals like this will tie in with rumours of Sony’s upcoming distribution plan, however, are unknown. [japantoday]