This week I’m officially launching Spotiguide.

Spotiguide is a brand new website that helps you get more from Spotify with the latest music, news, technology, tips and tools.

The aim is to make Spotify even better, with a hand-picked selection of the best new and classic music to help you navigate Spotify’s huge catalogue, and regular beginners and advanced tools and tips to make Spotify even easier to use.

Spotiguide will also bring you the latest Spotify news, and reviews of Spotify-related technology, such as Spotify-compatible phones.

Check it out at www.spotiguide.com.

Websites Spotify, spotiguide

After a break for an office move and holibobs, here are some things I should have blogged about but didn’t get around to:

The Rocketbelt Caper was selected as one of ShortList magazine’s 25 greatest summer reads for men, alongside books by Antony Beevor, Irvine Welsh, Chuck Palahniuk and Malcolm Gladwell. “What happens when you mix three men, a crushing ambition to build a Buck Rogers-style jet pack, murder and a $10 million lawsuit?” asks the mag. “The sound of Hollywood falling over itself to snap up the film rights to this bizarre story.” If only…

In the Unofficial Football World Championships, Scotland lost 1-0 to the Netherlands, allowing the Dutch to retain the UFWC title. The next title match is Australia versus the Netherlands on 10 October. SBS have a piece about the match here. The UFWC website is currently looking back 80 years to the resumption of international football after the Great War. In the Irish Independent, Aidan O’Hara wrote a piece about the UFWC, using material from the UFWC website, most likely prompted by a UFWC press release, but neglected to actually mention the UFWC…

Russ Routledge got to see his friend Muhammad Ali on the Champ’s final visit to the UK. He showed Ali his photos, and handed out copies of my Ali feature, but was saddened by his hero’s declining health. My account of Russ’s friendship with Ali is here.

Spotify is now available on the iPhone (and Android, and soon on S60). As expected, it features an offline mode that allows users to store 3,333 tracks on your phone. The iPhone app has just been updated, and Spotify have also added an offline mode to the PC version. You’ll need to be a premium user, but £9.99 a month for virtually unlimited music seems a small price to pay.

Lots more content has been added to the TV Ad Music website, including this interview with Slow Moving Millie, who provides the music to the Virgin Media backlot advert, and an explanation of why the track on the Land Rover advert is NOT by Noah and the Whale. See the latest ads here.

I’ve yet to receive my free copy of Free, the book by Chris Anderson. Almost 3 months on it doesn’t look like I’ll be reviewing it any time soon on these pages.

In related news, the Rocketbelt Caper free ebook download offer will be ending in the near future, and if you haven’t yet downloaded it for free you can do so here.

Books, Music, Technology, Websites

There have been some big games in the Unofficial Football World Championships over the last few months, and on Wednesday there is another one as current UFWC title holders the Netherlands (some say Holland) travel to Glasgow to take on all-time UFWC champions Scotland.

The game is also a crucial qualifying match for some tin pot competition to be held in South Africa next year, but obviously the player’s minds will be on the UFWC…

Scotland are the all-time UFWC champions, having won 86 UFWC title matches – more than any other nation, ahead of the likes of England, Argentina, Russia – and the Netherlands, who have won 38 title matches and are ranked fifth overall.

Scotland have not had an easy time of things in UFWC competition in recent years. The Scots last held the title in March 2007, having ended a 40-year drought by beating Georgia, only then to lose out just four days later to official world champions Italy.

The UFWC website has all the build-up to the game, and will cover the action on Wednesday night. The game will be shown live in the UK on Sky Sports 2.

If you have no idea what the previous 200 words mean, you can read an explanation of sorts at www.ufwc.co.uk.

Football, Websites UFWC