TechCrunch UK & Ireland weekly news round-up

It’s time again for the weekly round-up from TechCrunch UK & Ireland.

• Social lending site Zopa is to launch in Japan, following its expansion to the US and Italy from its UK base. Read more

• A Brit university replicated itself in Second Life. Lazy students rejoiced. Read more

• Pikum, a UK-based online social gaming start-up by a US entrepreneur, secured a £2.6m investment from Virgin USA. Read more

• Video site Dailymotion hired an ex-Googler as its first UK MD. Read more

• Rapid Mobile Media, a startup mobile ad platform, won £2 million ($4 million) funding from a US VC firm. Read more

• BlinkBox, a video ads overlay startup, relaunched its site. Read more

• Video interview: Phorm CEO rejected ‘big brother’ allegations over its partnership with UK ISPs to serve ads via packet tracking. Read more

• TechCrunch UK & Ireland Jobs board officially opened – post your jobs aimed at UK and Irish startups now. Read more

• 7digital’s deal with Warner for DRM-free tracks confirmed it as the UK music startup to beat. Read more

• Apple bought a British-owned patent crucial to the iPhone’s interface. Read more

• UnLtdWorld launched a social network for ’social entrepreneurs’. Read more

• Blinkx re-launched its NowThen side project as a moblogging site. Read more

• An Irish startup aimed at movie downloads… via kiosk. Read more

• Truphone fired new low VOIP call charges at mobile operators. Read more

• Mobile social networking startup Trutap added Facebook to the list of social networks it integrates with. Read more

• O2 launched the iPhone in Ireland with a punitive tariff compared to the UK rates. Irish consumers are understandably not happy. Read more

• UK-based AllPeers shut down its browser-based file-sharing service, entering the deadpool. Read more

• T-Mobile’s investment in British femtocell start-up Ubiquisys seemed to suggest Google might consider an MVNO. Read more

• Facebook’s German version may not impress the locals after all. Read more

• MTV UK and MySpace created a user-generated TV chart show. Read more

• CBS-owned Last.fm will power the online radio service for German newspaper Bild. Read more

• Irish bloggers partied at their annual awards. Read more

• New startup ProofHQ launched collaborative document version tracking. Read more

• Brits posted video about how Facebook was now passe. Reality check: Facebook grew by 712% in the UK in the last year. Read more