In their own words

“Stop listening to only the songs you own or listening to 30-second samples on iTunes before you download. VastFM allows you to listen to full versions of any song imaginable.”

What it does

VastFM allows you to stream every song by every artist, for free. Simply furnish the name of the artist to see his entire discography, and listen to any song you’d like. This solution uses open music directories and audio from YouTube videos to deliver every song you can think of. Links to concert tickets in your area for artists you might like are also provided.

The site claims to have the largest music directory on the Internet, and to have all your favorite unsigned artists. If you just look at the cloud of keywords on the opening screen you will see that is quite accurate – at a single glance I spotted Americana artists like Explosions In The Sky, representative figures from the 60s like Leonard Cohen and also bands like The Jam and Franz Ferdinand. Of course, hip hop artists and contemporary rockers like Kaiser Chiefs were prominently featured.

At the end of the day, the site is a true platform of discovery. You can find new music on the spot, and also listen to brand new albums to decide if you like them before parting with your cash.

Why it might be a killer

Finding new music through the Internet has never been easier.

Some questions

Can you create playlists and share them with your friends?

Link: http://www.vastfm.com
Our Review: http://www.killerstartups.com/Video-Music-Photo/vastfm-com-stream-every-song-by-every-artist-for-free

 

Some questions

Why not simply use PayPal?

In their own words

‘The Invoice Machine takes a new clever approach to online invoicing. It’s beautiful and simple-to-use interface makes producing professional looking invoices a very pleasant experience.’

Why it might be a killer

The end result really looks pretty, and it has some powerful tools that you can use.

What it does

The Invoice Machine is a web application tailor-made for producing nice looking invoices, and keeping track of them at the same time. The whole focus of the site is on making things easier that before when it comes to generating invoices, but also to make them look a bit prettier and making the whole process a bit more efficient.

When one starts thinking why one should use this application it becomes notoriously apparent that the app itself allows a new clever approach to online invoicing. Everyone knows what a big pain it is to produce and chase all of those invoices to your clients, and see if you really got paid what you had to. With The Invoice Machine this has become a lot easier, because you can begin registering your clients and products and services, and then making new invoices can be done super simply. Every time you generate a new invoice you just need to chose the options from the pull-down menus and input the amounts and then you can send the invoice straight away. Another powerful feature is the possibility of detailing and rapidly calculating tax discounts and other variables regarding the invoice itself so you don’t need to pull out your calculator every time you have to produce an invoice. The service is also available in several languages, thus making it very versatile.

The service in its most basic form is free, however if you would like to send more than 3 invoices a month, then you will need to start paying a fee in order to use it.

Link: http://www.invoicemachine.com
Our Review: http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/invoicemachine-com-making-invoices-pretty-simple

 

The best media center software for the Mac just got a little better. The Plex team has announced the release of Plex 0.7.8.

Highly recommended: “The Credit of Crisis – Visualized” [crisisofcredit.com] by Jonathan Jarvis does exactly what it says. It might well be the most educational ten minutes you have experienced in days.

The goal of giving form to a complex situation like the subprime mortgage crisis is to quickly supply the essence of the situation to those unfamiliar and uninitiated.

Watch it below.

Thnkx Julien!

In their own words

“Easy accounting for start-ups, small businesses and contractors.”

Why it might be a killer

Launching a startup and keeping it afloat is not necessarily an easy task. This site provides anybody with a very well-focused service.

What it does

Someone once said that the right structure does not necessarily mean that a project will succeed, but the wrong structure spells failure. In capital letters. The same applies when it comes to startups, and I can tell you that the launch of any new site is so hectic that every resource and building block you can get counts.

When it comes to accounting software for your startup, Bionic Books puts up a very competent service. While it is not a substitute for a real accountant doing the job, this solution will provide you with a clear profit and loss statement and a very comprehensive date balance sheet. Tax considerations are likewise dealt with.

The software has been written specifically for small business and young enterprises, and the emphasis is on providing a solution that is easy to understand, and which can be really used by laymen and those who wish to avoid getting mired in technicalities.

This software has the advantage of being browser-based, too, so that it is accessible from any location where an Internet connection is available, and the data is constantly backed up.

If you want to see if this solution is your potential key to success or at the very least a tool that will give you some breathing space, you can follow the link provided below, sign up for a free account and draw your own conclusions.

Some questions

Are there different plans available?

Link: https://www.bionicbooks.com
Our Review: http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/bionicbooks-com-easy-accounting-for-startups

 

What it does

TinyChat is a new free service that will enable anybody to create a chat room in an immediate manner, and to invite others to it equally effortlessly. That is, this new solution entails absolutely no sign up process or registration of any kind, and once the chat room itself is vacated all the data is erased.

The advantages of such an approach are evident, as users don’t have to worry about who has what messenger installed, or who is who within the chat room. And as it is rightly pointed out online, a service like this one is very suitable for talking with people who are not necessarily the most versed individuals on computers and technology around. They don’t have to install or setup anything, and all they have to do is follow a link and start chatting away.

On the other hand, you can (if you so wish) furnish your Twitter credentials when you create the chat room, and upon doing so a direct message will be sent to all your followers letting them know of the room’s location should they want to drop by and say “Hi”.

In their own words

“TinyChat is a free service that allows you to create a free chat room that is accessible by anyone with a browser. Simply create a chatroom from the homepage then send the link it gives to you to anyone you want to chat with. After you leave the chat room, all the chat data is gone, so its perfect for secure chats.”

Why it might be a killer

It is the perfect tool for those who are not really computer literate and need a quick solution for chatting online.

Some questions

Which advanced features could be added without making the service lose its simplicity?

Link: http://www.tinychat.com
Our Review: http://www.killerstartups.com/Comm/tinychat-com-create-a-free-chatroom

 

What it does

When the Internet was becoming widespread (and some time beyond that too) I recall that having a site of your own was a completely different prospect from the reality we are accustomed with now. That was to happen, really, but the tools and applications we have nowadays can but leave us old-timers a bit awed.

The Tank site is a case in point. In principle, it is a tool that will let anybody come up with a site of his own without having any kind of programming knowledge at all. This application also has the advantage of being entirely browser-based, and you can make adjustments from anywhere an Internet connection is available.

The creation process involves using a dashboard for putting the different elements together. Photos can be merged with posts, and support for pods is to be implemented sometime soon.

By way of conclusion, this solution will let you express yourself on the web as long as you have your basic building blocks at hand. If you would like to know more about this tool, and also inform yourself about pricing considerations, station your browser at www.withtank.com and proceed from there.

In their own words

“Tank is aimed at those who want to create simple, great-looking sites that work. No broken links, no cruft, no clutter. Solid sites composed of urls as clean and succinct as the xhtml it’s built upon.”

Why it might be a killer

It is an apt way to get a site together in no time at all.

Some questions

How much does this solution retail for?

Link: http://www.withtank.com
Our Review: http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/withttank-com-build-your-own-website

 

30 controls for RICH INTERFACE APPLICATION design and development.\r\n

Yesterday, the New York Times blog announced the initial release of the New York Times Article Search API [nytimes.com]. This makes it possible to explore the first occurrence of the term “data visualization”, or identify articles that appeared on the front page and mentioned “blog”. The New York Times now has several APIs available, including (searchable) articles, best sellers (books), campaign finance, community (comments), congress (vote data), movie reviews and dictionaries (will there be a infographic / “interactive media” category, or is this already part of “articles”?).

The Article Search API is meant to make way to find, discover, explore, have fun and build new “things” based on the rich content available on the New York Times. The database contains over 2.8 million articles from 1981 until today (updated hourly). Each article comprises about 35 searchable metadata fields, from title and byline to thumbnail image and geographic region. A few applications seem already to exist, such as some I did not know before like Who’s on First. Surely more will follow?

See also the New York Times Visualization Lab.

More information at the forthcoming Times Open event. Any attendee wants to guest blog the experience?

Parallels rival VMWare is holding a one-day sale on its Fusion 2.0 virtualization product for the Mac, which cuts the price in half to $39.99. However, Parallels users are being enticed to switch through an additional offer that brings the cost of Fusion 2.0 down to just $10.