Prosper.com To Announce Milestones Tuesday

On Tuesday Prosper.com, a person-to-person lending site that launched in February, will announce a couple of fairly significant milestones: 100,000 members and $20 million in funded loans.

They reached both milestones faster than UK-based competitor Zopa, which was recently named a Busines 2.0 “Disruptor”.

Prosper allows members to request loans of up to $25,000 (the average funded loan is $5,000), and then other members offer to fund the loan at various interest rates. Prosper breaks the loan up into multiple pieces to distribute risk, and then funds from the lenders offering the most attractive interest rates. Over 4,000 loans have been funded since the site launched in February 2006. Prosper earns revenue by taking 1% of the loan amount in fees from the borrower up front, and charging a 0.5% yearly loan maintenance fee to lenders.
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Comedy Central banned from Google's $1.6bn AV club

If YouTube is in fact pulling down Comedy Central clips, as reported by the New York Times, then it's not doing a terribly good job.

As of this writing late Monday afternoon, thousands upon thousands of clips from The Daily Show, South Park and The Colbert Report were available on YouTube - Google's overpriced high school AV club. The existence of such clips seems to counter a Times report that YouTube had agreed to follow a Comedy Central request to remove all of its copyrighted material. Of course, the newspaper cited but one source for its story.
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Server vendors show Red Hat that Oracle is boss

Oracle's move to support the Linux operating system has called more than Red Hat's business fundamentals into question. It has demanded that customers examine just how strong Red Hat's partner ties really are.

The likes of Dell, HP and IBM have enjoyed a very lucrative relationship with Red Hat, selling millions of servers to run RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux). (Dell even invested in Red Hat.) Such profits, however, did little to stop the server makers from celebrating Oracle's advance into the Linux OS and support games.

"As a customer with first hand experience of Oracle's outstanding support organization, Dell will use Oracle to support Linux operating systems internally," said Michael Dell, the Chairman of Dell, in a statement, adding that customers can immediately pick up Oracle's Unbreakable Linux from his server store.
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Save 2.2 GB of Mac OS X Hard Drive Space!

The app is called Monolingual. Essentially what it does is remove all of the language packs that you will never use (Swahili anyone?) off your Mac and clear out the hard drive space. When I ran it on my MacBook Pro it saved 2.2 GB of space and from what I have read this is about average.
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MySpace Will Block Music Uploads

MySpace.com on Monday said it had licensed a new technology to stop users from posting unauthorized copyrighted music on the social networking website and oust frequent violators of its policy.

The move comes amid pressure from major studios and record labels against popular online sites like MySpace and YouTube, which they accuse of infringing the copyrights of their artists' music and videos.

MySpace, one of the most popular sites on the internet, licensed technology from privately-held Gracenote allowing it to review music recordings uploaded by community members to their profiles.

The technology compares those filed with Gracenote's database of copyrighted material and can block uploads without proper rights. Terms of the licensing agreement were not disclosed.
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HOWTO ditch your landline but keep your DSL

www.digitalnoir.com Dry-loop DSL is a new service being rolled out by telcos across the USA. It's a DSL line without phone-service, and in an era of mobile phones and VoIP, that sounds like a good idea. Land-line? What land-line

Of course, it's not that easy -- the phone companies don't want you to ditch dino-phone service, so you need a good HOWTO before you embark on your dry-loop odyssey. The Eat Our Brains group-blog has a great post on how to game the system:
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Microsoft Windows Media Player 11 ready to sing

Microsoft on Monday said it shipped a new version of Windows Media Player, a week after the company had initially hoped to debut the new jukebox player.

The software maker posted the free download of Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP after months of testing the new program, which includes built-in support for Urge, a subscription music service co-developed with MTV.
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Microsoft targets auctioneers of pirated software

Microsoft plans to file more than 50 lawsuits worldwide against online merchants who allegedly peddle counterfeit software on popular auction sites, the software giant said Monday.

The actions include 15 lawsuits in the U.S., 10 in Germany, 10 in the Netherlands, six in France, and five in the United Kingdom, Microsoft said. Additional cases are being filed in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Korea and Poland, the company said.
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Searching on Zotspot could earn users a 10 spot

In a field dominated by Google, some smaller search Web sites are hoping to lure people by offering them money or charitable donations to search.

Start-up Zotspot is set to officially launch on Tuesday a site that pays people to search, and pays them even more based on how many other people they refer to the site.
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Liquid Computing launches high-end server

Liquid Computing, an Ottawa-based start-up, has begun selling its high-end servers based on Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron processor.

The systems, called LiquidIQ, have room for as many as 80 Opteron chips in a 45.5-inch-tall rack-mountable chassis, and as many as 12 chassis can be linked together with a single high-speed communication network. They're geared initially for high-performance computing markets, where the company promises faster performance than conventional clusters of x86 servers, but eventually the company hopes ordinary commercial buyers will be interested.
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Google Video Goes High Brow with Revenue Split

While the launch of Brightcove has garnered no shortage of attention today, it wasn’t the only important video news of the day. Google’s first “Sponsored Video” had its debut as well. Titled The Domino Effect, it’s Diet Coke and Mentos part II from the guys in white lab coats - EepyBird. Sponsored of course by Coca Cola and Mentos. The original video the pair made was much more entertaining and brought them a reported $35,000 via the Revver revenue sharing system.
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Microsoft Banning 360 Firmware Modders?

"After several months of silence it was more or less accepted that Microsoft wasn't going to do anything about the firmware hacks that allow Xbox 360s to play backups. Rather surprising, considering the 'inventor' of the hack confirmed in March already that the mods are easily detectable, and the reports that piracy is running rampant in countries like China. It appears that Microsoft is finally taking action against them though, although they may be hitting the wrong persons."
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USB Dongle Records Web, FM Radio

"Gizmag just wrote about "Instant FM Music," a USB dongle that plugs into your computer's USB Port and records FM and Web Radio stations. You can record the playlist, tag the songs for easy playback, all without that nasty DRM."
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Pete Ashdown on his Run at the Hill

"Wired recently conducted an interview with Pete Ashdown, the tech-minded ISP owner who is hoping for a major upset in the race for Utah's Senate seat against long-time incumbent Orin Hatch. Ashdown hopes to help pave the way for better decision-making on the Hill regarding technology. Hatch is among the more conservative politicians on the issues of 'digital privacy' and 'fair use,' while one of Ashdown's main objectives is to reform the Digital Millennium Copyright Act."
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Finland convicts 22 in file sharing case

Twenty-two people were convicted of internet piracy in Finland last week. A judge in Turku ordered them to pay fines and more than €420,000 in damages for copyright offenses - about €19,000 each.

Software and media companies were seeking damages worth €3.5m in total.

All 22, some of whom are still under the age of 18, were operators or administrators of Finnish BitTorrent tracker Finreactor.

In its ruling, the court said the administrators had intentionally created the service to violate copyright law.
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DVLA email smut dragnet catches 65

The email porn investigation at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) which saw staff get the boot earlier this year today saw a further 65 staff charged with gross misconduct.

A trawl of the agency's network had fingered more staff for "inappropriate use of its email facility". A spokeswoman said: "All servers have been scrutinised, with no exceptions."
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Report warns of people-tagging madness

Within 10 years we will all be chipped "like dogs", according to a report in the online version of London newspaper The Evening Standard.

We suspect the paper (sister to reactionary rag, The Daily Mail) is upset about this because the RFID chips are expected to be implanted in everyone, not just criminals and foreigners. But that is an aside to the details of the report from which the website draws its material.
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Razer's First Keyboard Reviewed

Razer's highly awaited gaming keyboard, the Tarantula, is about to be released and the first round of reviews have started to come. Here is an in depth look at the keyboard, as well as its innovative drivers, brand new "BattleDock" system, and all the rest.
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The best freeware Mac apps

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Yahoo trying to buy AOL, report says

Yahoo recently talked with Time Warner about the prospect of acquiring AOL, according to an article in Fortune.
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Intel gains server share, AMD gets notebook boost

Intel and Advanced Micro Devices swapped roles in a third quarter that wasn't as bad for shipments as some had initially feared, according to new data from Mercury Research.
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At Motorola, giving IT a reality check

Good time management skills ensure Motorola CIO Patricia Morrison is in control of her work and personal life.

Morrison may carry a Motorola Q smart phone wherever she goes, but the busy chief information officer knows when to keep her hands off the mobile gadget.
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CX NOW Puts Spreadsheet Graphs in Flash with Dials

Business Objects has released a free, lightweight version of its spreadsheet visualization software Crystal Xcelsius. Called CX NOW, it’s a Windows desktop application that connects with Excel, Powerpoint and Word to offer an interface for creating dynamic graphs and charts based on spreadsheet data.

The best thing about the software is that it lets you use GUIs like sliders and dials to change a particular field in the spreadsheet and both your spreadsheet and visualization change in real time along with the slider.
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Vista to Allow "One Significant" Hardware Upgrade

"Ars Technica spoke with Microsoft concerning the controversial changes in Windows Vista's licensing, and they have lerned that Vista will permit one "significant" hardware change before requiring users to either appeal to Microsoft support or purchase another license. Automatic re-activation online will fail after one use. Microsoft is using a new algorithm to monitor hardware changes and enforce licensing compliance, and the company says that it is more forgiving now than it was with Windows XP."
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Sony to release "silver" PS2 at $129

For anyone scared of dropping $250 for a Nintendo Wii, $399 for an Xbox 360 or $599 for a PlayStation 3 this holiday season, fear not: Sony wants to remind you that a perfectly serviceable video game console is still available for a mere $129.
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Spot Runner, TV ad start-up, lands $40 million

Spot Runner, a start-up that puts local shoe stores on national television networks, has announced it has received $40 million in additional funding from CBS, Interpublic Group and other investors.
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Make Linux 'Gorgeous,' Says Ubuntu Leader

"They say beauty is only skin deep, but when it comes to Linux and the free software movement, people like Mark Shuttleworth think looks have an important part to play. On his blog and an article on SearchOpenSource.com, Shuttleworth and a slew of open source end users say it's the look and feel of open source is also a matter of wider acceptance among enterprise players who are used to Windows, yet crave Mac OS X and the functionality of Linux. 'If we want the world to embrace free software, we have to make it beautiful,' Shuttleworth said. "We have to make it gorgeous. We have to make it easy on the eye. We have to make it take your friend's breath away.' With the early success of Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10, Shuttleworth and company may be onto something."
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Google ad sales outpace all comers

How does Google do it? With millions of customers such as Buono, who use its simple and ever-expanding search advertising program, AdWords, to reach customers. Google is on a roll because it is "the best and most used search engine," says Mahaney. "More people want to do searches on Google than Yahoo."
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Apple's Macs most popular choice among US students

Apple seems set to rebound on US campuses, with a higher-than-industry-average market share.
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Seagate to encrypt data on hard drives

SAN JOSE, CALIF. — Seagate Technology LLC hopes its new security system for the hard drive will become the most formidable barrier between computer data and thieves.

The world's largest hard drive maker says its DriveTrust Technology, to be announced Monday, automatically encrypts every bit of data stored on the hard drive and requires users to have a key, or password, before being able to access the disk drive.
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Kyoto Failing to Cool the Planet

The industrialized world's emissions of greenhouse gases are growing again, despite efforts under the Kyoto Protocol to cap them and stave off global warming, the United Nations reported Monday.

Emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases declined in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet bloc and the shutdown of polluting factories and power plants in eastern Europe. But now those economies are rebounding, contributing to a 2.4 percent rise in emissions by 41 industrialized nations between 2000 and 2004.
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Oracle welcomes Linux users with support site crash

So very breakable

Oracle today dished out a rude awakening to the Linux users it hopes to support over the long-haul. Its MetaLink support site crashed.

"Oracle Metalink (support website) has been virtually unusable all day," wrote in one Reg reader.

And, sure enough, a trip over to Oracle's site reveals the following message: "Urgent: Potential Performance and Login Problems - Please note that due to heaver than normal activity during peak hours, you may experience performance and login related issues. This is a temporary situation that we are working to resolve." The site took ages to load as of 9 a.m. on the West Coast.
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Mainframes making a comeback

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- Cheap little servers handle so much of the Internet's dirty work that giant computers known as mainframes, which debuted 50 years ago and often cost more than $1 million, are supposed to be passe.

When Hoplon Infotainment, a startup video game company in Brazil, let it be known that it uses a mainframe to operate its signature online game, "People would actually take a step back and say, 'What? Did I hear correctly?"' said Tarquinio Teles, Hoplon's CEO.
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Best of the Best Web 2.0 Websites

So many great new web sites are cropping up all over the place! From Social Bookmarking Sites, to Real Estate sites, this list has only the best Web 2.0 Sites available today.
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Another IE 7 pop-up security flaw discovered

Security researchers on Monday warned of a vulnerability in Internet Explorer 7 that could allow malicious attackers to alter content in a legitimate Web site's pop-up window.
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Paying the piper on global warming

It's the environmental equivalent of balloon payments on a mortgage: Countries may be saving money now with low spending on R&D to address global warming, but the costs down the line will be enormous.
Paying the piper

That's the gist of a new report from the British government, which warns that rising temperatures could devastate the global economy, shrinking it by 20 percent if governments don't spend now to address climate change. "This disaster is not set to happen in some science fiction future many years ahead, but in our lifetime," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday in unveiling the findings from economist Nicholas Stern. ""For every 1 pound invested now we can save 5 pounds, or possibly more."
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Old bugs blight shiny new browsers

An old security bug provides a way to crash Firefox 2.0, security researchers have discovered. The memory corruption vulnerability involving the handling of JavaScript code has been known about since June 2006 and Firefox version 1.5.0.7 was supposed to fix the problem.
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Hiring (Superstar) Programmers

"We've been looking for senior engineers to work on SourceForge.net for a while now, and it's been a lot more difficult than it was a few years ago. Has the tech market improved so much that working on a prominent website is no longer enough to attract the best talent? Is everyone else running into the same problems, or is it just here in the Valley and other high-tech corridors?"
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Alienware Admit Trying to Fiddle Reviews

"Alienware seem to have admitted threatening review sites with no future hardware unless positive reviews are written about their products. Hexus.net attempted to obtain a recent Alienware system and were rebuffed in an email claiming that their last review had scuppered the chances of them getting any hardware to review in the future. Follow-up emails confirmed this was part of Alienware's global marketing strategy. "
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The CalDigit S2VR Duo RAID Enclosure

If you've ever spent time editing video, you probably know how frustrating it can be to wait helplessly for your computer to catch up with the edits you're making in whatever video editing application you've chosen. Editing streams of video in real time eats up a great deal of storage bandwidth, probably as much as your system will allow. Of course, there are other applications that also hunger for a lot of data transfer, but video editing is probably the most compelling reason to consider striping a couple drives in RAID mode to get some extra speed out of them.
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BlueTie Launches Free Ajax Email Suite

New York based BlueTie released a very nice hosted Ajax email suite last week. This is a polished product - the company has been in business since 1999 and has hundreds of partners, like ISPs, that already distribute this software to their customers. The new product is a customer-facing email solution, with both a free and premium version.
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Optimizing Page Load Times

"Google engineer Aaron Hopkins has written an interesting analysis of optimizing page load time. Hopkins simulated connections to a web page consisting of many small objects (HTML file, images, external javascript and CSS files, etc.), and looked at how things like browser settings and request size affect perceived performance. Among his findings: For web pages consisting of many small objects, performance often bottlenecks on upload speed, rather than download speed. Also, by spreading static content across four different hostnames, site operators can achieve dramatic improvements in perceived performance."
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Revver puts money where its talent is

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--When it comes to profits, there's no sharing in the video-sharing sector.

Not enough, anyway, fumes Steven Starr, a former talent agent, Bob Marley devotee and now the impresario of Revver.com, the video-sharing site he co-founded in 2005.
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