Alternative payments company, Dwolla has been covered quite a bit in the news lately. Here’s why:

First off, Silicon Prairie News reported that Dwolla rolled out a redesign of its user dashboard page on Sunday. There are no major changes, but the design is more user friendly and aesthetically pleasing. 

Here are the major changes:

1) Account balances are located at the top of the user’s dashboard page

2) Users send and request money using a text box below their photo

3) A text box in the middle of the page enables users to find contacts by entering their name, email address, or phone number

4) There’s a new tab called Places (as seen below) that has a Foursquare application. There’s no identified use for this yet, but the text on the dashboard states, “We are currently in the process of building an awesome platform to help you find new places to use Dwolla!”

5) During the registration process, users are immediately given 10 cents to send to five of their friends. Silicon Prairie explains how it works:

“Following a registration page, the first action a new user is encouraged to take is to send money, free money. ‘Search for someone and we’ll shoot them some cash on your behalf,’ Dwolla’s website says. Users have the ability to send 10 cents to an individual by entering an email address or phone number or connecting their Facebook account to send to a friend.”

The Iowa-based startup is also in the news for the confirmation of rumors that Ashton Kutcher invested in Dwolla’s recent Series B funding round. Kutcher, an Iowa native, broke the news on an episode of Prairie Cast yesterday.