The Best of the Blogs

The winners of the Bloggies, the Web's annual awards for the best blogs have been announced. We're just going to name a few in our links section today, but you can find the rest here . The top awards went to the quirky folks at Boing Boing  who took the "best group weblog" and the "weblog of the year," awards for their strange daily Internet links and musings. The best weblog about politics went to potty-mouthed Wonkette , known for sifting through Washington's dirty undies in her blog. Dooce  -- the webzine of a young mother and recovering Mormon took the most-humorous blog and best writing categories. And for its links to topless Hollywood photos in British tabloids and daily doses of LaLa Land gossip, Defamer  takes the prize for best newcomer. The award for best European blog goes to My Boyfriend Is a Twat , which offers anything but dull reading from a British single mom expatriate living in Belgium. We hope you enjoy reading them -- we sure did!

The Next Step in Cyber Banking

Got some extra cash lying around? Or maybe you need a bit of cash to make that next big purchase. Either way, there's no need to get the bank involved. Following the example of Internet-based auction houses such as eBay, a British company called Zopa has launched the world's first-ever online lending and borrowing exchange . Those with money to lend can enter the date by when they would like their money paid back, and the interest rate they would like to receive. Those who need to borrow money can expect lower fees -- there are virtually no middlemen involved -- and, as the Web site suggests, allows you to avoid profit-hungry banks. In order to build in a safety net for the lenders, the Web site spreads out money invested to at least 50 different borrowers and limit exposure to any single borrower to $385. A whole new meaning to the idea of online banking.