Become a loan shark with Prosper February 25, 2007
Posted by Kathy in Internet.add a comment
This is a fascinating concept I never heard about until just today. Prosper.com is a web site where regular Joes (and Janes) like you and me borrow money from and lend money to each other. It’s like the eBay of the lending world. If you become a lender on the web site, you bid on loans you want to fund and make money by charging interest (as any commercial lender would) to your borrowers. But these loans aren’t shady under-the-table deals: Prosper.com is licensed in all states that require it, and defaulting on a Prosper loan will sic the collectors on you and lower your credit rating.
Prosper: The online marketplace for people-to-people lending | Prosper in the press
iPod without iTunes? Possible with Floola February 23, 2007
Posted by Kathy in Gadgets & Hardware, Internet, Software.add a comment
Many people dislike the fact that, by Apple’s design, purchasing an iPod requires you to use iTunes as your media manager. When one of my friends recently got an iPod, although she had started using iTunes she found herself in a quandary as to how she might get her older MusicMatch music onto the device as well.
Enter Floola (don’t you love software names?). Though the web site doesn’t make it entirely clear, Floola is free software that lets you manage your iPod music without having to use iTunes. It installs directly on the iPod and according to the web site runs under Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. If you want to see a demo that is too small to be useful and is accompanied by annoying music, there’s a YouTube video on the home page.
I’m perfectly happy with iTunes (and am currently without an iPod anyway), so I myself don’t have need for this product, but it might be perfect for someone who is thinking about an iPod but doesn’t want to give up their current music software. And hey, it’s free.
