Roundup: Amazon takes over reader social networking, IE8 to subtract ads, bad signs from China and more

Roundup: Amazon takes over reader social networking, IE8 to subtract ads, bad signs from China and more

Amazon buys social network for book lovers — Shelfari, a small social network for bibliophiles, has been acquired by Amazon.com, according to John Cook at the Seattle PI. Amazon also has a stake in Shelfari’s main competitor, LibraryThing.

Internet Explorer to subtract some ads — A feature called… Continue Reading

Driverside revs up with first funding, steering toward mass market

Driverside revs up with first funding, steering toward mass market

Driverside, a consumer-focused website that aspires to be the one-stop destination for information on cars, has raised its first funding. The investment is for less than $5 million from Catamount Ventures.

Along with RepairPal, another recently-launched competitor, Driverside is aiming for a big win. Realizing that… Continue Reading

RepairPal turns the key on car site, setting stage for DriverSide rivalry

RepairPal turns the key on car site, setting stage for DriverSide rivalry

Coincidence, or just intense competition? Two auto-related sites, RepairPal and DriverSide, have launched within a week of each other, and they do something very similar.

They aim to add a type of information to the Internet that so far hasn’t made it on to any website,… Continue Reading