Excerpt from JPM Tech News of the Day: * Moogul takes on Craigslist

Moogul, which officially launches today, hopes to link would-be
borrowers with lenders of everything from industrial strength steam-
cleaners to the latest Radiohead album, CNET News reported
yesterday. Moogul says its most popular service has been music
sharing, with people arranging to borrow CDs from each other. Books
and DVDs are also popular trades, but the service also encourages
people to put things as diverse as camping equipment or home
improvement tools up to share.

Members post what they have available, and create wish lists of
things they would like to borrow. People can lend only to private
networks of friends or to the Moogul community as a whole.
Transactions are free or involve a small fee for the lending. The
company is looking at the business rental market as its primary
source of revenue. It's launching with a few hardware stores,
maternity resources and software companies on board, and will take a
small cut of each transaction that involves money.

Editor's comment: Moogul's pitch to individuals is that it will
lower costs and help connect to a social network of like-minded
individuals. The pitch to businesses is to make money through "try
then buy" programs or by turning products into services. A visit to
Mogul revealed a very sparse inventory. Perhaps most unusual is a
half ton Chevy Silverado truck in "like new" condition for $20 at
zip code 98004, which is in Bellevue, Washington.

Moogul, which is a reference to the Indian Mughul Empire that built
the Taj Mahal, is a commercial version of Craig's list. Craig is
Craig Newmark, who in 1995 wanted to leverage the Net to let people
know what was happening around San Francisco. The list has taken off
and has versions in lots of cities. It's a place for everything from
old couches to jobs, with little or no money changing hands, and no
middleman. Craig's list has the traffic. www.craigslist.org.