Microsoft spinoff Wallop Technologies has taken 8,300 square feet in San Francisco, which will give the social networking startup room to grow once the top-secret site is launched. Wallop is developing a Web site to compete with MySpace. Wallop is using technology developed at Microsoft's research laboratory in Redmond, Wash. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS TIME

Mark Brooks: It was very wise to spin Wallop off from Microsoft. Wallop still has a chance to be a small, secretive, cool, home-spun new social network...which is critical for the seeding stage of growth. A social network started by Microsoft would be too big to be cool. Too loud in the media to be worthy of talking about. Wallop will get a nice balance of plentiful media attention but will still be able to be hip and cool and renegade enough for people to want to talk about it.