ReadWriteWeb

MIT Alumni, technologist, venture capitalist, marathon runner, Colorado dweller, thinker, blogger, and all around super human, Brad Feld (LinkedIn, Twitter) has made a huge impact on startups. With posts on his personal blog, Feld Thoughts, and on Ask The VC (a must read for anyone interested in venture funding) Feld has played a major roll in lifting the curtain on the traditionally mysterious venture process. We recently caught up with him for a quick interview.

Two months ago, Portland, Oregon-based Jama Software -- the makers of a web-based project management app called Contour -- began a program called "You try. We give." The idea was simple, for everyone who signed up for a free trial of Contour, the company would set aside some money to invest in microloans at Kiva. In theory, word of their philanthropy would help spread their product and more people would sign up to try it out, get hooked, and pay for the full version. Today, Jama made a bold decision: stop advertising on Google AdWords, and instead funnel the money from their advertising budget into Kiva.

Last week, when we heard that Technorati had raised another $7.5 million, bringing their total raised to $30 million, we asked you what blog search engine you use. 41% of you answered Technorati, but it was clear that Google Blog Search has cut into Technorati's marketshare, and some commenters said that they didn't have a need for a dedicated blog search -- Google worked just fine. This morning, Technorati expanded beyond the business of blog search to blog advertising with the launch of Technorati Media.

As you may know, today is Firefox's big day: June 17th: Download Day. At Mozilla, they've set a goal to achieve the Guinness World Record for the most downloads in 24 hours. The number they want to reach is 5 million. This may turn out to be tough because as of 1 PM ET, the Firefox download page at www.getfirefox.com was to feature the download for the new Firefox 3 web browser. Instead, it features nothing. The site is down.

Earlier this month we reported on a survey that revealed that 48% of online banking customers between the ages of 18 and 34 would be interested in using "secure gadgets for personal banking" if their bank offered them. More than a quarter of bank customers would consider switching to another bank if it took better advantage of web 2.0 technologies. While that survey was flawed in some ways, there is another access point to banking information that customer may want more than secure widgets: mobile.

Loopt is the third location aware mobile social network to become available for the majority of U.S. smartphones . It joins fellow competitors Whrrl and Brightkite, both of which have already started to gain traction (see our coverage of Brightkite here). However, this is not a market where the first one to debut on the smartphone will be the ultimate winner. Instead, in the wild west of the mobile social networks, the key will be adoption. This is an area where Loopt is making headway, having recently announced deals with all the major U.S. carriers and support for Blackberry smartphones.

Spore, the hugely ambitious follow up to The Sims game series, won't be publicly available until September - but you can start creating characters for the pan-evolutionary epic today using the just launched SporeCreator. Windows and Mac users can join a celebrity roster including Carlos Santana, Ze Frank and Jay Adelson of Digg in making Spore creatures for the SporeVote contest.

Spore will be a game that tracks a world of creatures along each step of their evolution, from primordial slime fights to hyper civilized urban environments. If the read/write web is of interest to you, you'll want to give Spore a look.

The law-abiding and popular BitTorrent client Vuze added some key new features this week that make it an even better choice of ways to get video on the internet. When you encourage your friends and family to be part of a world's record today by downloading Firefox, it could be a good time to encourage them to grab Vuze as well. If they like it, you'll be glad you did.

The new Vuze client includes some really useful search and social features that are worth a look. It's remarkably easy to use and includes access to both affordably priced and free content from around the world.

In the Web 2.0 world, applications are simplified and easy for everyone to use. Few people need training on how to sign up for Facebook or how to Digg an article. However, set one foot outside the consumer-friendly land of social media, and it's like a time warp. When dealing with real-world businesses, especially if doing so online, you'll often have the experience of encountering long, cumbersome forms and non-intuitive processes that are so tedious that you just want to close the browser and pick up a phone.

DivShare, an online service for storing and sharing video, photos, music and documents, has had a security breach. The company announced on its blog tonight that "a malicious user" had accessed its database, "which included user e-mail addresses and other basic profile information." The startup states that "no financial information has been accessed by any unauthorized parties." After the Omnidrive troubles, it's yet another reminder that storing your files on a startup's servers is risky business.