classified

Rumor says Facebook may create classified ads -- again

Rumor has it that Facebook is on the verge of creating a new classifieds listings, which could put it in direct competition with Craigslist.

According to The Daily's Matt Hickey, two anonymous sources within the social network revealed information on the project and said that it's likely to be finished sooner rather than later.

The service would reportedly let users create ads to show up in friends' news feeds. These would essentially offer the same sorts of things Craigslist posts do -- jobs, apartment rentals, and items for sale -- but would only target users who meet specific … Read more

3Taps countersues Craigslist, alleges unfair 'monopoly'

A company that lets developers pull Craigslist data off the site is suing the online classifieds site for trying to stop competition in the growing market.

3Taps, which lets apps like PadMapper use Craigslist's listings, filed a counter lawsuit against Craigslist today, according to a court document (posted below). Craigslist originally filed suit against PadMapper and 3Taps for copyright infringement.

Not only does 3Taps's response deny Craigslist claims -- the company argues that public facts are public property and should be open for everyone to use -- it says Craigslist has created a "monopoly."

"While … Read more

Craigslist sues PadMapper for 'mass harvesting' listings

Craigslist made good on its promise to go after PadMapper if it continued using Craigslist content on its site. The online classifieds company filed a lawsuit in San Francisco's federal court on Friday against both PadMapper and the data harvester it uses -- 3taps.

"For their own commercial benefit, defendants 3Taps and PadMapper are unlawfully and unabashedly mass-harvesting and redistributing postings entrusted by Craigslist users to their local Craigslist sites," reads the complaint filed by Craigslist. "This exploitation of Craigslist content undermines the integrity of local Craigslist communities, ultimately harming both Craigslist and its users."… Read more

Turn your iOS device into a killer Craigslist companion

I'm a bit of a Craigslist junkie. I've used it to buy everything from a piano to a loft bed to a go-kart, and to sell or give away a host of unwanted items.

But despite its spartan interface--or perhaps because of it--the service isn't particularly user-friendly. For one thing, it doesn't let me save individual listings. And adding photos to my own listing means copying them over from my camera, resizing them, and on and on. Hassle city.

That's why I'm jazzed about apps like Lifelike Craig HD, which can turn an iPhone, … Read more

WikiLeaks, Assange feel the heat (roundup)

Whistle-blower site continues to face heavy criticism and repercussions for publishing extensive details of U.S. military and diplomatic activity. Controversial editor Julian Assange, meanwhile, confronts his own challenges in court.

Assange can be extradited to Sweden U.K. judge approves extradition of WikiLeaks founder to Sweden to face questioning over sexual assault and rape allegations. Assange has a week to appeal. • Witness: Assange's version of events needed to be heard • Assange extradition hearing kicks off in London (Posted in Politics and Law by Tom Espiner) February 24, 2011 3:38 AM PT

WikiLeaks hearing set in dispute over Twitter data … Read more

eBay buys mobile-app developer Critical Path

eBay said yesterday that it has bought Critical Path Software, a mobile-app developer that had already been working with the auction site for the past couple of years.

Helping to design several eBay mobile apps, Portland, Ore.-based Critical Path has partnered with eBay's mobile group to create eBay for the iPhone and eBay Classifieds. Critical Path and eBay also teamed up to develop StubHub, a ticket-buying app, and Shopping.com, a shopping comparison app.

The acquisition is part of eBay's move to focus even further on the growing mobile market. The auction site has also been busy … Read more

Oodle goes after Craigslist with social classifieds

The online marketplace Oodle started as a classifieds aggregator, then dabbled in online dating (also through aggregation). In late 2008, it was given a big gift from Facebook: the social site gave Oodle its marketplace app to run. As Oodle CEO Craig Donato says, "It was a moment in time. Facebook was transitioning from building all these apps to working with partners." Since then, Oodle has been figuring out how to best run with the new Facebook classifieds system.

Finally, two years on, Oodle is merging the refresh it did of the Facebook Marketplace with its own Oodle.… Read more

Amazon: U.S. played no role in WikiLeaks disconnect

Amazon denied today that government pressure played any role in its decision earlier this week to stop hosting WikiLeaks' content.

In a blog post, the online retailer said it terminated its hosting relationship with the controversial site because it became clear that WikiLeaks was violating Amazon's terms of service. That violation occurred, Amazon said, because WikiLeaks did not control all of the rights related to the classified government cables it posted this week. The e-tail giant's post also said it doubted the documents had been carefully redacted as promised and innocent lives could be put at risk as … Read more

WikiLeaks: We are under denial-of-service attack

Whistleblower WikiLeaks said today its Web site has been targeted by a massive computer attack, just hours before an expected release of classified U.S. documents.

"We are currently under a mass distributed denial of service attack," WikiLeaks said on its Twitter feed. Efforts to reach the page as of this writing were unsuccessful.

The site released 75,000 confidential files on the war in Afghanistan in July and defied a series of warnings from the Pentagon and other government officials by releasing nearly 400,000 secret files from the Iraq war last month. In a Twitter post … Read more