Hear the news first from David Glazer, Google’s Director of Engineering:

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The integration’s happening across Google+ as well as Search. First, the new sign in function with Google+ will make it simpler to sign up or log in, whether you’re on the web or on mobile. You’ll also be able to add a Google+ logo to your profile, so that people can find you there (as always, you can manage your privacy settings here).

Launching today, the Google+ integration makes sharing on the network effortless. Look for the button next to every sound on the platform. (It’s your choice — nothing will be automatically posted on your G+ profile.) And this is just the beginning. Stay tuned for more from our new partnership with Google, all designed to make it even simpler to share your sounds.

Things have also changed with Search: Google is now displaying socially-relevant search results based on activity from Google+ users you’re connected with on SoundCloud. That means that discovering what your networks are hearing and loving will be easier than ever.

The global creative community has always been at the heart of SoundCloud. Starting from the earliest days of our first Berlin HQ, we’ve built a truly international team, now representing 30 different nationalities. We’ve always wanted to be as close as possible to where the action is. Over the years, this meant adding offices in San Francisco in the US, London in the UK, and Sofia in Bulgaria.

And that’s why NYC is next on the schedule. We’re looking forward to working alongside the city’s hundreds of other ambitious companies: being closer to our friends at startups like Tumblr, and continuing to strengthen our relationships with New York’s major media players. We’re also excited about getting up close and personal with the rest of the city’s creatives from the worlds of media, fashion, publishing, the arts…and, of course, music & audio.

We’ll be looking out for remarkable people to be part of our first NYC team, so keep an eye on soundcloud.com/jobs for opportunities. Already in town? Drop us a line. We can’t wait to get started on unmuting New York.

Photo: Chris Brown / zoonabar, Creative Commons 2.0

SoundCloud Voices is a weekly Community feature focusing on new spoken word creators found on SoundCloud. It might be a podcast, radio show, audio book, interview, audio messages, a poem, anything! Keep an eye out every Thursday for a new post. If you are interested in trying out SoundCloud as a spoken word podcast platform, you can sign up for via this form. Successful candidates will be emailed with further details.

The Earwolf network was founded by Jeff Ullrich and Scott Aukerman (creator of “Between Two Ferns” with Zach Galifinakis) with the main focus as making original comedy content. Their shows range from the improv to the nerdy to the general conversational, with hosts such as Tig Notaro, Paul Scheer, Jeff Garlin, Matt Besser from Upright Citizens Brigade, Jake Fogelnest, Seth Godin and even Har Mar Superstar. Scott also has his own podcast, the network’s flagship show, Comedy Bang Bang, a podcast which features top comedians as guests each week, like Aziz Ansari, Paul F. Tompkins, Reggie Watts, Sarah Silverman, Michael Cera and many more. If you’re new to the show, check out this episode featuring the wonderful Sarah Silverman. Please excuse the title!

Two more shows to welcome you into the world of Earwolf are “By the Way, In conversation with Jeff Garlin” and “Improv for Humans“. Many people know Jeff Garlin from his years in the comedy biz, but most will recognise him for his role as Jeff in Curb Your Enthusiasm. His relatively new podcast is a straight up conversation with some of the best people in the entertainment industry, who he is friends with. Take a listen to the first show with Larry David below.

Improv4Humans is, on the other hand, as the name suggests, a fully improvised weekly show hosted by Matt Besser from the brilliant Upright Citizens Brigade. The UCB is an improvisational comedy and sketch group with a school and theatre based in both NYC and LA, founded by Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh and podcast host Matt Besser. Hear the latest episode below.

SoundCloud Voices is a weekly Community feature focusing on new spoken word creators found on SoundCloud. It might be a podcast, radio show, audio book, interview, audio messages, a poem, anything! Keep an eye out every Thursday for a new post. If you are interested in trying out SoundCloud as a spoken word podcast platform, you can sign up for via this form. Successful candidates will be emailed with further details.

The drop in a track can be unpredictable and surprising. Some of you have even told us that you find it unsettling, not knowing when to expect that sense of overwhelming euphoria. Inspired by your feedback, we’ve invented the Dropometer.

Using a unique algorithm (patent pending), the Dropometer is designed to help you prepare yourself for the big moment, whether that means getting in the mental space where you can really break it down, or fixing yourself a fortifying snack.

While we first innovated the Dropometer around dubstep, we’ve identified broad utility for this new functionality across all genres. Look to the Dropometer to find out when to expect a key crescendo in a 17th-century symphony or the emotional climax in an episode of This American Life.

The Dropometer is web-only at the moment; we’ll be rolling it out to mobile in the coming weeks, so you can brace yourself for the drop on the go. Let us know what you think, and watch this space: we’ll be bringing you even more advanced features soon!

Update April 2: Happy April Fools :)

We’re proud to be partnering with Public Radio pioneers, PRX, with the launch of their new show, Generation Putin. Here is PRX’s John Barth with more about the project.

One of PRX’s strategic goals is to massively increase listening to public radio works of all kinds, no matter the platform or channel. (We do pretty well!)

So, we’re taking one of our most successful recent specials — Generation Putin — and making it available or free streaming, embedding and sharing through SoundCloud.

Generation Putin is an hour-long show, that you can listen to in segments, about the Millennial generation in the former Soviet Union: you’ll find radicals, feminists, 20-and-30-somethings full of ennui and vodka, greedheads, unrepentant fascists and even rowdy punkers…in Kazakhstan, of all places.

Brooke Gladstone from On the Media is the host and two brave women from the Seattle Globalist – Sarah Stuteville and Jessica Partnow – did all the reporting on the scene. The generous people at the Open Society Foundations make it possible and PRX pulled the project together.

So far, 35 individual stations including WNYC, WGBH, KUOW (Seattle), KUT (Austin), and Minnesota Public Radio have aired it.

Now you can listen on SoundCloud and present it yourself on your blog, site, Facebook post or Twitter feed with your own context and comments.

On behalf of the SoundCloud Heroes, thanks to all the SoundClouders who took the time to tell the world (or show the world, for those of you who chose music and noise over verbiage) about who they are and what they do. With nearly 300 submissions, the #audiobio SoundCloud tag is now home to a fascinating cross-section of the community’s creators. And though our weekly roundups may be coming to a close for now, the indelible tag will always be there. Let’s continue to grow SoundCloud’s collection of sonic self-portrayals.

Here are some selections from the latest collection to get you inspired.

Though audiobios are all about distinct human existences, WildAmbience’s audiobio is all about capturing “the silence from the noise of human activity.”

Imagine sitting by a fire in the forest, having a conversation with Kai Altair, an artist who loves community and coming together through sound.

Praverb an emcee from Northern Virginia shares how he uses SoundCloud to connect with the global community. “I love the global unification that occurs through sound. I love the uplifting emotional experience that happens when I’m down. I love discovering music the same way I love being found.”

As diverse as SoundCloud’s genre-scape is, so to is the geography of its creators. Hailing from the UK, J Active delivers dynamic prose regarding his sonic philosophy.

We still welcome you to share your audiobiography: record a 90 second spoken and/or music trope and upload it with the #audiobio tag. Press play on other creators’ introductions and discover new opportunities to listen, collaborate and get inspired.

The biggest development: sets are here on iPhone and Android. You’ve been able to create and hear them in your stream on the web for a while; now you can create, share and hear sets on your mobile, too. We’ll be adding the functionality to the iPad app in the coming weeks.

Build new collections of your favorite music & audio, or add individual sounds to sets that you’ve already started building. Plus, a new filter in the search tab lets you look for sets that other community members have put together.

You might notice that the Record button has moved: to help you discover and hear more with the app, we’ve shifted things around to make way for sets and more features (watch this space). iPhone users can find it in the ‘More’ menu. If you’re on Android, just swipe to find it in the side menu.

For iOS users, we’ve also given the UI an update, making it cleaner, sharper and simpler. Look out for the updated app icon, too.

We hope you’ll give the new apps a spin. As always, they’re free to download from Google Play or the Apple App Store. Let us know how you like the updates! We’re looking forward to your feedback.

We kicked off by welcoming Tumblr and SoundCloud community members to a joint meetup. We hosted performances by established and emerging SoundCloud artists and podcasters.

And Snoop Lion even dropped by to premiere his new film, Birds of a Feather, about his collaboration with Polish pop star Iza Lach. Snoop and Iza started making music together after he came across her tunes on SoundCloud; less than a year later, they’d co-produced 160 songs.

SoundCloud Pro user singer-songwriter Luke Sital-Singh took to the mic at the SoundCloud/Tumblr community meetup.

Mitzi’s smooth electro disco was a perfect accompaniment to the lakeside sunset.

While violin riffs by Barnaby Saints added unique flavour to the Grammy Amplifier Showcase.

We had a packed house at 4 PM for Red Bull Sound Select pick Cherub, with a unique, stripped-back take on their usual electro-pop sound.

There were live comedy performances, featuring Chris Hardwick of The Nerdist who spoke with Rooster Teeth as well as Earwolf, creators and producers of hilarious comedy shows.

The line was around the block to catch Island Def Jam’s The-Dream, while Usher and Snoop Lion watched from the decks.

SoundCloud’s CTO Eric Wahlforss announced the launch of our new Pro accounts. Afterwards, he talked all about it with SoundCloud Chicago Hero Jaime Black.

Thanks to Feedmagnet, we were able to keep up with all the #creatorclubhouse buzz.

We were also excited for everyone to experience our collaborations with local artists, who experimented with sound as a design tool.

Creator Clubhouse art directors Public School created a living waveform from 5000 feet of paracord.

And Houndstooth Studio built a lighting installation that responded to the sound system and a midi controller in the crowd.

Big thanks goes out to all of our partners who worked with us to make the Clubhouse Austin’s unofficial creative hub for two days last week. But our biggest thanks goes out to you, the community, for creating so much that’s worth celebrating. We loved meeting all of you who made it down to the Clubhouse last week. Hope to see even more of you in Austin next year!

This past week was a diverse, creative week for the Audiobiography project. We had submissions in French, Norwegian, German and English with poetry, music, and stories galore.

Here are some highlights from this week’s set:

Bill Kirton took a fictional heroine to SoHo for dinner. She’s been dead for 160+ years. Mystery, murder, a good guy with a cellar…and his prisoners. A policeman standing on a coffee table, wearing a dress. 

Meet Ändy from Hamburg, Germany. “I’ve been born in the early 50s last century in Germany. I’m a post Rock’n Roller. Grown up with stuff like the Beatles, the Stones, the Kinks and many others from the very first beginnings.”

Alisa DelTufo hails from North Bennington, Vermont, in the US to talk about her organization, Threshold Collaborative, which uses story gathering and other community engagement techniques to work towards effective community change.

Skye Milan found a way to incorporate sounds from his everyday life around the house with some dramatic dialogue between himself and his sons to create a musical soundscape that reveals more about himself than words.  From the sound of keys to ice cubes in a glass bowl, percussive elements create this unique Audiobio.

D. Murali, from Chennai, India, was a staffer at a print newspaper until a whistle-blowing incident caused his abrupt exit for speaking out against gender and racial prejudice within the organization. Hear the inspiring story that makes his Audiobio.

Keep the unique Audiobios coming. See all past recaps here. If you have uploaded one and it’s not here, send us a message at @SoundCloudHeroes. We’ll be sure to include it in the next set. We still want to hear more until the end of this month, so share your Audiobiography and have your voice heard, too. Remember to give it the “audiobio” tag to help us find it. Find out how to get involved at http://blog.soundcloud.com/2013/02/06/audiobiography.