ReadWriteWeb

CoffeeandPower, the latest project from Second Life co-founder Philip Rosedale has launched in test-mode in the San Francisco area. The service describes itself as a "sort of live version of Craigslist."

There have been a number of startups take aim at Craiglist as of late. That's no surprise, really. The UI is wretched, there's no social sharing component, and there's no mobile Website and no mobile app. There's definitely room for disruption here, right?

In a big win for MongoDB and its sponsor company 10Gen, Craigslist is migrating its archives to MongoDB. In an interview on the MongoDB blog, Jeremy Zawodny of Craigslist explains that the company is moving around two billion documents into a MongoDB cluster.

Craigslist is just using MongoDB for its archive of deleted and expired posts, not for the posts that are live on the site. However, in a video presentation Zawodny made it clear that the archive is in use by the live site - it's not just "cold storage" for old posts.

If you've ever used craigslist before then you know, it's just not very good. That's not to say you can't find what you need on there. The site is full of amazing deals and goods and services of all kinds, but navigating it involves opening new browser tab after browser tab, going back and forth and generally losing your way.

For those of you who are tired of the craigslist user experience from circa 1996, head on over to craiggers, the site that lets you interact with Craigslist the way you ought to.

Craigslist took down Adult Services in the U.S. four days ago, replacing it with the word "censored" without explanation. Advocates seized on the ambiguous move today, calling on Craigslist to remove the infamous section in cities across the world.

It's hard to say what the effect of shuttering Adult Services will be on the profitability of the sex trade. But it will certainly curtail Craigslist's ability to profit from sex traders.

The powers behind craigslist.org appear to have decided that withdrawal is the best strategy to deal with recent controversy around the "adult services" section of the site.

Last week, Craigslist shut down "adult services," which normally features paid advertisments for sex. "Adult services" was recently the subject of legal threats from 18 states, but it looks like it was media coverage that drove the people behind Craigslist underground. Craigslist has not responded to any media inquiries since the shutdown.

It's the story that seems to pop up every year or so - the classified ads site craigslist.org is again being accused of facilitating crime in its "adult services" section. But this time, the allegations are even more serious.

Last week, craigslist was the subject of a primetime CNN story that criticized the site for "not doing enough" to prevent child sex trafficking, quoting a youth rights advocate who said craigslist is the primary venue for selling minors for sex. The reporter ambushed craigslist founder Craig Newmark, who appeared to be unable to answer her questions about what the site is doing to prevent exploitation of underage girls.

If you've ever used Craigslist before (and who hasn't?) then you know it can be amazingly useful for some things and a terrible waste of time for others. If you're a small business looking for an accountant or the best and cheapest way to outsource your HR, for example, then Craigslist might be asking for trouble.

Austin-based startup BidModo is launching a public beta today that hopes to simplify this process for small businesses and provide them with better information to make better decisions, instead of simply relying on word of mouth referrals.

Borrowing a rake or cup of sugar used to be a matter of just stopping by your neighbor's apartment. Now even that's gone online, thanks to a new service launching in Los Angeles called NeighborGoods. The brainchild of L.A. Derby Dolls player and former Revver director Micki Krimmel, NeighborGoods builds on the Craigslist and Freecycle models, using a hyper-local bent and the idea of borrowing or renting what you need, rather than selling or trading for keeps.

A friend recently held a garage sale to purge all of his worldly possessions. At 8:58am before the final tables were out, men and women circled the block like buzzards over a fresh kill. The first group included punky-looking eBay dealers, antique collectors and audiophiles looking for rare dance hall vinyls. The second wave consisted of board game enthusiasts, recycled clothing designers, preschool teachers and espresso-touting Shabby Chic home decorators. And finally, at about 2pm, the geeks and bike-enthusiasts came to claim the last Playstation games, computer parts, brake levers and tubes.

Garage sales are no longer just for blue-haired grandmothers with teacup fetishes. While eBay and Etsy are great for selling rare or specialty items, setting up an auction or store for your mismatched cutlery might not get you the results you need. One blessing in this down economy is that we're learning to reclaim and recycle in a way that our grandmothers have been doing for years. Whether you like haggling over weird items on a Sunday or you'd simply like to list your own sale, here are some great resources.

I am not a shopper. I am a buyer. I need something; I locate it; I buy it. By some accounts, this makes me a total gender traitor. On the other hand, it makes me a prime target for any startup willing to do the shopping for me.

Take consumer electronics site Woya, for example. When faced with the daunting task of buying a new laptop without the requisite Gs needed to make that process sufficiently simple, I have been paralyzed into procrastination. In about 30 seconds, Woya showed me inexpensive, well reviewed laptops I wanted from eBay, Craigslist, Overstock, Amazon, and other sites. It did the legwork and analytics for me, making the process entirely painless.