Spotify has introduced a host of new social networking features and moved to protect itself against rumored future iTunes features. Spotify’s new library feature lets users store music collections on Spotify, simply by importing any MP3 on your drive to the Spotify library. While this doesn’t mean your tracks are uploaded to the service, it does mean you end up being able to access it using any Spotify-compatible device – leave your tracks at home. Built on the back of Facebook Connect, Spotify users will now be able to connect to their Facebook page and import friends from their profile who…

He may have predicted that Apple’s iPad would ‘rule the world’, but the man who invented the notebook concept isn’t happy with Steve Jobs at the moment. Alan Kay is one of the great heroes of the technological revolution we’re still experiencing today. So much so that when Apple introduced the iPad, Jobs took pains to send Kay one as a personal gift. But it isn’t the product that Kay has a problem with – it’s Apple’s determination to control what developers do with it. Apple last week changed the terms of its deal with developers, introducing new clauses which forbid iPhone apps from…

iTunes keeps cosying-up to Facebook, the world’s largest social network. Now it seems Apple plans to support Facebook Connect, enabling a wave of networking opportunities for music fans. Apple has been promoting iTunes through Facebook for ages. Its UK iTunes Festival last year offered free tickets, music and other promotions to customers via Facebook, and in the US the iTunes team have been developing its own Facebook presence, adding polls, featured items and more. Integration between Facebook and iTunes already lets you share songs on iTunes via Facebook, though this only lets you…

The iPad is just one of a series of futuristic devices Apple plans as it stakes an ever-larger slice of the connected home – expect the company to introduce an Internet and iTunes-connected HDTV. Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster (one of the better Apple analysts) says the front room Apple-powered television will sell for “around $2,000” and will ship in “two to four years”. “Apple is uniquely positioned to deliver a premium all-in-one solution (different than Apple TV),” Munster wrote….