craigslist

Every year there's always one or two gifts that prompt you to ask yourself "what were they thinking?" You know it's something you'll never use, and you're left with the question of what to do with it. This year, don't let it sit in your closet collecting dust, and most certainly don't throw it away. Turn that unwanted gift into something you do want, be it cash, a gift card, or another item you'll actually use. Here's a few different ways you can deal with the gift you loathe.

Sell … Read more

The biggest rumor of the week insists that Apple is going to have a surprisingly exciting first quarter next year. We discuss whether it makes any sense to flout the patterns of history and release three brand-new devices at the start of the year so soon after the holidays and hot on the heels of the iPad 4 and iPhone 5 releases. Are you willing to bet on it? Vote in the polls in our interactive video player, and here in the blog post.

We also discuss a rumor about Facebook that Emily thinks is the epitome of creepy, and … Read more

Are you looking for a new rental in San Francisco and finding it impossible to keep up with the pack? A brand-new iPhone app called Lovely just might be the answer.

Launched today, the Lovely app is designed to give apartment hunters a leg up on their considerable competition, in particular because speed is absolutely of the essence in the hottest rental markets these days.

Lovely has had a Web presence for some time and is now available nationwide. But with the launch of its mobile app, the San Francisco startup is aiming to put the very latest listings in … Read more

Rumor has it that Facebook is on the verge of creating a new classifieds listings, which could put it in direct competition with Craigslist.

According to The Daily's Matt Hickey, two anonymous sources within the social network revealed information on the project and said that it's likely to be finished sooner rather than later.

The service would reportedly let users create ads to show up in friends' news feeds. These would essentially offer the same sorts of things Craigslist posts do -- jobs, apartment rentals, and items for sale -- but would only target users who meet specific … Read more

One of my favorite exes used to put her hand over my mouth, just before I was about to say something monumentally stupid. (She could guess most of the time.)

It made me more socially productive.

I can therefore entirely sympathize with Maneesh Sethi, a San Francisco blogger who believes that he needs to be less socially networked and more capitalistically productive.

So, as he says on his own Hack The System blog, he went on Craigslist and hired someone who would slap him every time he veered toward Facebook. Yes, slap him in the face.… Read more

A company that lets developers pull Craigslist data off the site is suing the online classifieds site for trying to stop competition in the growing market.

3Taps, which lets apps like PadMapper use Craigslist's listings, filed a counter lawsuit against Craigslist today, according to a court document (posted below). Craigslist originally filed suit against PadMapper and 3Taps for copyright infringement.

Not only does 3Taps's response deny Craigslist claims -- the company argues that public facts are public property and should be open for everyone to use -- it says Craigslist has created a "monopoly."

"While … Read more

Not long after Craigslist cut off a mapping app that tapped its housing data, the popular online bulletin board has quietly begun embedding maps in certain real estate listings.

The maps, which appear on housing ads in the San Francisco Bay Area and Portland, Ore., harness data from OpenStreetMap, a service that offers free maps of the world compiled and edited by volunteers.

The new feature emerges a little more than a month after Craigslist sued PadMapper, an apartment listings aggregator that collects listings from Craigslist and other services and displays them on a Google map. Craigslist, which has become … Read more

Craigslist has dropped a provision claiming an exclusive license to users' posts just two weeks after implementing it in a bid to fend off third-parties trying to re-purpose the site's content.

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Craigslist quietly abandoned the provision, which the EFF said also claimed the exclusive right to "enforce copyrights against anyone copying, republishing, distributing, or preparing derivative works without...consent."

The provision was first spotted about a week ago -- not long after the site sued PadMapper and 3taps for harvesting listings without permission and using them in PadMapper's offerings of … Read more

Craigslist is allegedly ramping up its efforts to keep PadMapper from displaying the online bulletin board's listings.

Craigslist has reportedly asked general search engines to stop indexing its postings, effectively cutting off data harvester 3taps and those who use its API, including the popular apartment listings aggregator. The request was made Monday, according to 3taps' Twitter feed.

"We are sorry CL has chosen this course of action and are exploring options to restore service," 3taps said in a tweet today. "We may be down for an extended period."

CNET has contacted Craigslist for comment and … Read more