VentureBeat

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 InPrivate Blocking will stop tracking pixels that help advertisers see where you have been on the web, while another privacy feature will prevent information like cookies and browsing history from being saved.

China considers a stimulus package — The growth of China often pointed to as proof that the credit slowdown won’t cause a global slump. But if the country is considering a stimulus, that may indicate that matters are worse than expected.

Triphub gets deadpooled — TechCrunch has the post-mortem on the Seattle-based travel site.

Set-top box maker Vudu goes through layoffs — Hard-pressed set-top box maker Vudu, which most recently added hi-def porn to its offerings, appears to be suffering through some layoffs.

States group sues EPA — A group of 12 states is suing the Environmental Protection Agency for refusing to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, a fairly necessary step in convincing industry to switch to cleaner power sources.

Micro-batteries built on viral assembly line — MIT researchers have coaxed viruses into building a dense, miniaturized battery that could be biocompatible, giving fanboys hope of one day embedding an iPhone in their arm.

Strengthening dollar may hurt tech — Large tech companies including eBay and Yahoo will be hurt by a rallying dollar, according to the LA Times.

Obama takes the title for largest mobile marketing event — A text from Barack Obama’s campaign announcing his vice presidential pick reached 2.9 million people, according to Nielsen.

Car info network DriverSide acquires fairBenjamin — The newly-launched car information site has acquired a fairBenjamin, a cost estimation and diagnostics site, which should help it keep up a healthy rivalry with RepairPal, another new site.

Silicon Valley Bank adds to Utah outpost — Could Salt Lake City be growing in importance as a tech and life sciences hub? Silicon Valley Bank must think so; it’s beefing up its presence in the area.

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 there are few websites that address car ownership — as opposed to buying or selling a vehicle — both sites are making content plays. They aim to supersede the only decent source of free auto information on the web right now, namely enthusiast-driven forums.

We covered both companies when they launched, but have since heard a few more details on Driverside’s model. While RepairPal is working to corner the information market for, you guessed it, repairs, Driverside hopes to quickly build a much larger site, covering every aspect of ownership.

For example, founder Trevor Traina says the company can out-do time-tested Kelly Blue Book valuations on cars by collecting thousands to millions of data points on each model of vehicle. By taking advantage of the data users provide, Driverside could then send out notices when their car had depreciated past a certain point. Notices could also be sent in case of a recall.

Traina has plenty of other plans for the site, including wikis, reviews, community features, and more data on the cars themselves. The team will soon “radically improve” the existing pricing details on parts and accessories, and update its repair costs, which could make it competitive with RepairPal’s more comprehensive repair data.

However, all the work is going to require another round of funding, and soon. This is where it should get interesting to watch Driverside and RepairPal duke it out. Both sites, despite raising relatively large seed investments, are ready to immediately move on to larger rounds; Traina says Driverside will likely settle for between $5 and $10 million, and RepairPal will probably go for something similar.

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, or even the public domain: Solid, reliable estimates of the worth of your vehicle, as well as how much it will cost to keep it repaired and running.

DriverSide, based in San Francisco, launched first, going live with its beta last week. Its focus is broad: The site promises to help you buy and sell cars and parts, learn how much repairs cost, see how much it’s worth, and network with other users to learn more.

RepairPal, next door in Emeryville, is launching this morning with a narrower focus. It just wants to help you fix your beater (or fancy BMW). If the repairs aren’t worth the money, it might help advise you in selling your car and getting a replacement, but the focus is on maintenance.

Why are these sites notable? For starters, the auto market is enormous, but there’s so little reliable information that the sleazy (or honest) mechanic has become a cultural archetype. From personal experience, I know it’s possible to spend hours searching for details on a single repair, even on a common car. On either of these sites, the process will take five minutes, at most.

The key is bringing to light the trade information, kept by only a handful of companies, that mechanics have worked with for years, according to RepairPal co-founder David Sturtz. That information covers costs for the multitude of parts on the market and the time required to do a repair. On top of that, the sites have to estimate costs based on geographic area — a shop in Savannah should probably be cheaper than San Francisco.

That covers the basics of both sites. Comparing them is trickier — with both having just launched, numerous flaws in their data are likely. But from my testing, it appears that DriverSide, despite a somewhat more mass-market-friendly interface, has more distance to travel. With hundreds of repairs possible on any one of thousands of existing car models, this is a real data game; and RepairPal simply lists far more results.

DriverSide also failed to work correctly on a number of points, including not being able to load any estimates at all for the ‘96 Dodge Neon I used to own. But there’s a deeper difference between the two sites. Where DriverSide simply tosses out a firm number — $267.50, say — RepairPal takes a more thoughtful approach, providing an estimate range heavily modified by a number of factors, including region and whether you’re visiting the dealer or an independent shop.

Despite the differences, there may well be room for both sites flourish. DriverSide’s broader view speaks to the automobile neophyte — car-grease phobics who just want a bright, well-designed site to poke through. RepairPal speaks more to the cautious consumer, who wants more in-depth information, and doesn’t mind making a judgment call. And both sites are very well positioned for both search engine placement, to bring in traffic, and targeted advertising from car manufacturers and others.

RepairPal, the site launching today, has taken a large round of seed funding. Sturtz says the company will probably start looking for a venture round in about a month.