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Matt Cutts:

Google launched App Engine, which lets you write code for a web application, then Google takes care of the scaling/failover/logistics-type issues. You can store your data in a Google Bigtable using the Google File System (GFS). There’s a bunch of App Engine APIs to simplify things like sending email and fetching urls. Your application can authenticate users that are using Google Accounts, so you can avoid the whole “ask your users to create a new account” issue if you want.

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O’Reilly Radar

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Google App Engine

[Competitor: Amazon AWS]

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YouTube Video

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Bo Cowgill, this is completely crazy.

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UPDATE: Raves from TechCrunch and Silicon Alley Insider.

UPDATE: Google AppEngine – A Second Look

UPDATE: Praxy

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Nigel Eccles (HudBud CEO – Previously with McKinsey, Betdaq, and BetFair-Flutter)

HubDub is developing a web application which will change the way people discover, track and interact with news stories.

His startup: HubDub – (What they are brewing: a news aggregator using some kind of prediction market mechanism.)

More info:

What we are developing is a social news aggregation site. Elements of it are similar to Digg but as a whole it is a totally unique concept (partially based on experience developing betting exchanges). The site will provide a whole new way of interacting with news and the site in turn generates its own news out of user interactions. Initially the site will be US focussed as it is the bigger market. The primary revenue stream would be advertising however there are a number of other very significant revenue opportunities once the site reaches some scale.

And, yes, they do have a blog.