PacketFront wins Red Herring 100 award

"PacketFront, the pioneer in open-access broadband networking, has been selected as a winner at the acclaimed Red Herring 100 Europe awards. The awards, which celebrate the top 100 companies leading the way in technology innovation, were judged by the Red Herring editorial board, following thorough scouring of the entrepreneurial scene throughout the EMEA region.

PacketFront is one of only four companies in Sweden to be recognised as a Red Herring winner this year. It can attribute its success at the awards to its cutting-edge technology and its ground breaking open-access solution, which enables multiple service providers to compete on the same network, giving consumers greater choice and flexibility. The key component in PacketFront's broadband solution is the award-winning BECS control and provisioning system. BECS makes it possible for operators to build and run fully automated broadband networks with self-provisioning capabilities. These capabilities give users the option to choose services for themselves without having to wait for a third party to make the changes.

"We're extremely proud to have been selected as a winner of the Red Herring 100 Europe 2007 awards," said Martin Thunman, CEO of PacketFront. "The award is testament to our ongoing commitment to innovation and is recognition of the success of our solution. Developing advanced broadband networks that enable healthy competition for service providers and increased choice for consumers, has always been our vision, and it's very positive that this vision has been embraced by not only businesses that see its validity, but also by a prestigious body like Red Herring."

Urgo's 2007 list of April Fools' Day Jokes on Websites

2007 Jokes, #Site and Joke

1
xmwidget.com
XM Satellite Radio to create the first ever, podcaster driven channel - XM Widget
2
wowwiki.com
Meowwiki instead of Wowwiki
3
googlesystem.blogspot.com
Google Writer, a new tool that helps you write blog posts.
4
overclockers.com.au
Cats! (visit this site many times, pulls up random cat pages)
5
labnol.blogspot.com
Download Full Movies, TV Shows or Music Videos from iTunes for Free
6
solitairecraving.com
Solitaire Craving displayed cards backward.
7
techcrunch.com
Michael Arrington announced a merger between TechCrunch and F'ed Company.
8
techno-science.net
A gravitational mirror in the cosmos (french site/img in english)
9
customsoftwareconsult.com
Too good to be true Firefox extension
10
irc-galleria.net
popular Finish website announced its being bought by a Swedish company. Most of the texts in the user interface were translated into Swedish (containing humorous spelling errors).

What is your April Fool's Blog?

TechCrunch Has Acquired FuckedCompany.com.....NOT

"It seems Mike Arrington has gotten the last laugh on more than a few bloggers — with his announcement that he has bought Fuckedcompany.com. Even Dave Winer got reeled in by the news. I don’t know for sure, but I’m willing to bet that Mike got the idea after reading the Valleywag post about the sale of Fuckedcompany, which suggested Mike should buy it (my friend Steve O’Hear at ZDNet figured out the gag too)."


Here's his note:

"Tomorrow we will announce that we have acquired Philip “Pud” Kaplan’s FuckedCompany.com in a stock for assets transaction. The basic details of the transaction are included in a press release that will go out around 9 pm PST tonight, and Pud has also mentioned this on his personal blog. We weren’t going to announce this for another week or so (even though I hinted at it on CrunchNotes), but too many people know about it already and news of it was starting to leak (see Wired and CNET as well). I don’t want to be in a position again where other sites are breaking our news, so we’re announcing officially this weekend.
We’ve been working on this deal for months, it is good that we are finally able to close and announce it.
FuckedCompany first went live in 2000, chronicling failing and troubled companies in its unique and abrasive style after the dot com bust. Within a year it had a massive audience and was getting serious mainstream press attention. As the startup economy became better in 2004, much of the attention the site received went away. But a large and loyal audience remains at the site, coming back day after day for its unique slant on the news. At its peak, FC had 4 million unique monthly visitors."

Barron’s Online : Think The Web Is Killing TV? Think Again.

"Nielsen Media Research found in a recent study that the average U.S. household watched a whopping 57 hours and 37 minutes of television a week in 2006 - an average 8 hours, 14 minutes a day - up 20 minutes a week from 2005. The average household now has 104.2 channels to choose from, up from 96.4 in 2005; the average household spends at least 10 minutes a week watching 15.7 channels, up from 15.4 channels in 2005. (Attention Bruce Springsteen: time to revise your song.)
The Bernstein boys offer another interesting tidbit: American Idol attracts 18 million viewers a week. If all of those people were watching it on the Web, it would create 40 million GBs of Internet traffic a week. For comparison, they note that Evolution of Dance, the most popular clip ever on YouTube, has been viewed 45 million times. (Plus one more, I just watched it.) Given that the max file size on YouTube is 10 MB, that makes 500,000 GB of traffic for that clip ever, “or less than 1% of American Idol’s weekly equivalent requirement.”
The death of TV? Very much exaggerated. "

Netezza Files To Go Public...again

"Jit Saxena, who started and took Applix public in 1994, is trying again with Netezza, which filed its S-1 papers with the SEC the other day.
Netezza, which is still losing money, is looking to pick up about $100 million, less than it's been fetching in revenues for its Linux-based storage-replacing data-analyzing data warehouse appliances.
It's gotten $68 million in VC from Matrix Partners, Charles River Ventures, Battery Ventures, Orange, also a customer, Sequoia Capital and Meritech Capital Partners.
Motorola CEO Ed Zander and One Laptop Per Child CFO Charles Kane sit on its board.
Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley are supposed to take it out.
The company web site decribes Saxena's bio as:"

Wait Until AppleTV Flops to Buy Apple Stock: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Seeking Alpha: "Ok, so I can't be certain that the Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL) TV will flop, but I haven't heard a lot of optimism about the product and it's definitely missing a lot of features. At least add a DVR. I can understand no DVD because you can play the DVD on your computer. Oh but wait, you can't stream from your DVD drive to your TV. The DVR was a necessity for the product. It needs to be able to stream back to your computer and allow you to watch TV on your computer or transfer shows to your iPod. But that would lead to fewer TV show sales on iTunes. Apple has developed another great idea, but it needs more."

Jurvetson and synthetic life forms

"Doerr, McNamee, Jurvetson and Schoendorf each picked two trends for the evening. The last two were contributed by Tony Perkins, founder of the tech-focused media company AlwaysOn Network and the panel's moderator.
In one of the few ambitious predictions of the evening, Jurvetson, the founding investor in Hotmail and renowned tech geek who speaks several times faster than most people, predicted that the 'next couple of years will herald the first synthetic life form,' citing recent advancements such as the one from researchers who've managed to insert foreign DNA into an organism, altering its species.
Speaking on the issue for several minutes, Jurvetson, who got his undergraduate engineering degree in 2 1/2 years at Stanford before getting both a masters and MBA there, left the audience quietly bewildered until Perkins, shaking his head, said, 'This is particularly interesting given that you've never even experimented with hallucinogenics.' Added McNamee with a laugh, 'Everything I ever knew about that subject I just learned in the last three minutes.'"

Apple's iPhone will be released on June 11 | News.blog | CNET News.com

"Ever since Steve Jobs' keynote at the Macworld Expo in January, we've known that the iPhone is being released sometime in June. But we haven't known exactly when.
Now Cingular is confirming that the release date will be June 11. A customer service manager at Cingular (we called 800-947-5096 and were transferred to sales) gave us that date late Thursday, but, alas, said he didn't have any additional information beyond that.
That date is no coincidence. It's the first day of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, scheduled to be held in San Francisco from June 11 through June 15. (Incidentally, the agenda includes a focus on Leopard, the next generation of OS X that's supposed to be released sometime in the second quarter of 2007.) "

Web 2.0 Companies in Online Social Networking Space receive HTGC funding

\"Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTGC), a leading specialty finance company providing growth capital to venture capital and private equity backed technology and life science companies, today announced that it has provided venture leasing financing to two early stage companies.
On March 30, 2007, Hercules provided $1 million of equipment based financing to Wallop, Inc., a San Francisco-based internet social networking company that started as a Microsoft research project. In addition, on March 15, 2007, Hercules provided a growth loan of $1 million to an undisclosed company based in Los Angeles in the multimedia networking community for music and pop culture.
“Online social networking sites have become immensely popular over the past few years,” said Steve Kuo, principal at Hercules, who added that the two financings marked Hercules’ initial transactions in the internet social networking space. “At Hercules, we believe the sector has great potential for continued growth. Wallop’s attractive business model and growth potential positioned the company well for our venture leasing investment.”
Wallop, which was spun out of Microsoft Research and Microsoft IP Ventures, is led by experienced entrepreneur and Chief Executive Officer Karl Jacob and is backed by venture capital firms Norwest Venture Partners, Bay Partners, Consor Capital and an equity stake from Microsoft. The company is an online social networking community that enables users to freely express themselves and is dedicated to finding solutions to the limitations of other social networking sites. "

Ethanol Demand Boosts Corn Planting: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

"An ethanol-fueled boom in prices will prompt American farmers to plant the most corn since the year the Allies invaded Normandy, but surging demand could mean consumers still may pay more for everything from chicken to cough syrup."

Justin.Tv meets Truman Show

Techcrunch:

Two years ago Y Combinator invested in Justin Kan and Emmett Shear’s calendaring company, Kiko, which eventually folded after Google Calendar launched in 2006.
The Kiko guys have returned to the startup scene since their acquisition on eBay with two new partners and a new quirky live blogging startup, Justin.TV, also funded by Y Combinator. Justin.TV is a website entirely devoted to chronicling the life of one of the company’s founders, Justin Kan, around day and night via web cam. This might sound a lot like JenniCam circa ‘96, ill-fated DotComGuy, or marketing ploy OurPrisoner, but some really cutting edge mobile technology sets the show apart. Justin won’t be chained to his house like these previous cam shows. Instead, armed with a head-cam, batteries, and 4 EVDO cards, he will roam free, streaming video across the mobile network and onto their own live flash content distribution platform.
On the site, you can watch the live feed of what Justin sees and hears, and chat, call, or text message him. The site also features a calendar that serves as his TV guide, listing his plans for the upcoming days. There are a couple boundaries about what Justin will film. He won’t be filming in the bathroom and will do his best to respect people’s wishes to not be on camera. His plans this afternoon will be to get a new wardrobe, and carry out some interviews with founders of other startups based out of San Francisco, such as ShoutFit, PairWise, and LicketyShip."

His Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/laughingsquid/432693873/in/set-72157600024572061/

Shai departs SAP ZDNet.com

"The departure of SAP's Shai Agassi may not change much for the enterprise software company's daily operations, but the company is likely to be examined more closely now that its software architect is gone.
On Wednesday, SAP announced that Agassi is leaving the company. SAP then created an executive council and split CEO duties between Henning Kagermann and Leo Apotheker. There's no reason to believe that Agassi's departure signals something worrisome at SAP, but perception matters. "

Visa mobile payments vs. Paypal mobile

"Visa USA sees cell phones as the best way to expand electronic payments, Chief Executive John Philip Coghlan said at the CTIA wireless show, where he also revealed ties with several wireless technology companies."

"Wireless transactions are common in some countries, such as Japan, where shoppers with mobile phones can pay with a wave of a handset instead of a swipe with a credit card, but the market is in its infancy in the United States.

U.S. mobile service providers see mobile payments as a way to increase customer loyalty while payment companies such as Visa view phones as the key to winning over American consumers, who use cash and checks for 46 percent of their spending.

"I think the mobile device is simply the most promising new form of payment system available today," Coghlan said during his CTIA keynote.

About 57 percent of U.S. consumers are interested in using cell phones for purchases and 64 percent would consider leaving a wireless service provider that did not offer mobile payments, Coghlan said, citing a Visa survey of 800 people in mid-March.

Visa said on Wednesday that it would become an investor in Web venture dotMobi, which is promoting use of the .mobi Internet domain address -- instead of .com, for example -- for mobile Web browsing. It did not disclose the size of the investment."

Can Adobe Unbox? - Forbes.com

"Bruce Chizen's Adobe Systems is in a sweet spot. This week, the company unveiled its biggest software package ever, and initial reactions are positive. For the event, Chizen and executives traveled from their San Jose, Calif., headquarters to Manhattan, renting an airy SoHo gallery space to show off their new products to creative professionals and Wall Street analysts.
But are cellphones and ad revenue among the long-term growth engines his investors are seeking – beyond Adobe's (nasdaq: ADBE - news - people ) core creative software?
On display in SoHo was Adobe's Creative Suite 3, or CS3, software that ties together its hugely popular graphic-design titles like Photoshop and Illustrator with the animation and Web design products like Flash and Dreamweaver that it acquired as part of its $3.4 billion deal for Macromedia in 2005."

RED HERRING | Wi-Fi VoIP to Reach $15B

"Is voice the real business Wi-Fi killer app?

"A newly released report sheds light on the fervor that met the IPO of wireless gear maker Aruba Networks Tuesday. According to Juniper Research, the worldwide equipment market for Wi-Fi VoIP will grow from $2 billion in 2007 to a whopping $15 billion by 2012.

The report is great news for Cisco, the wireless network gear market leader, and about a dozen smaller firms in the United States including Aruba, Trapeze Networks, Meru Networks, and Proxim Wireless."

Limelight IPO: $200M raise

From BizJournals:

"Limelight Networks Inc., a delivery network for Internet content providers, has filed for an initial public offering.

The Tempe company's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission indicated the offering could total as much as $201 million, however, pricing and the number of shares to be sold have not yet been determined.

The company expects to receive up to $140 million of the proceeds, which are earmarked for capital expenditures, working capital, debt payoff and possible acquisitions, according to the filing. Selling stockholders would receive the remainder of the offering proceeds.

Limelight was founded in 2001 and as of March 1 had 158 employees. It delivers content digitally for traditional and emerging media companies in industries from television and music to magazine, movies and software. Using Limelight's delivery network, clients then provide their end-users with content, including video, music, games, software and social media.

Company revenue has grown from $11.2 million in 2004 to $21.3 million in 2005 and $64.3 million in 2006.

The company posted six-figure net income in both 2004 and 2005 but a $3.7 million loss last year.

The loss was attributed to an increase in option and restricted stock grants coupled with an increase in the fair market value per share, according to Limelight's S-1 filing with the SEC. The company also reported litigation expenses of $3.2 million and its involvement in a lawsuit with a competitor that has alleged patent infringement.

Underwriters for the offering are Goldman, Sachs & Co., Morgan Stanley, Jefferies Broadview, Piper Jaffray and Friedman Billings Ramsey. "

"GS Capital Partners Entities, affiliated with Goldman, Sachs & Co., is Limelight's largest shareholder, holding a 45 percent stake."

Aruba Networks IPO rises 29 pct in market debut | Reuters.com

"Wireless networking hardware maker Aruba Networks Inc. (ARUN.O: Quote, Profile , Research), on Tuesday rose as much as 29 percent in its market debut, a day after pricing above a forecast range.
Shares of the company opened up 27 percent at $14 before climbing to $14.22 in late morning trading on the Nasdaq.
On Monday, the Sunnyvale, California-based company raised $88 million with an 8 million share offering that sold for $11 per share compared with an $8 to $10 forecast range.
Underwriters, led by Goldman Sachs & Co. and Lehman Brothers, have the option to purchase an additional 1.2 million shares to cover overallotments. "

ZenZui and the Art of Mobile Web Surfing - WSJ.com

"In the battle to create a better mobile Internet experience, a small start-up company and offspring of Microsoft Corp., is taking a game-like approach to browsing the Web on a cellphone.
Split off from Microsoft's research labs, the new venture, ZenZui, today will announce plans for a downloadable application that allows users to browse through mobile content such as sports scores, recipes and movie times, navigating through icons with their handset keys. After a trial phase, it will be available for the majority of the U.S. cellphone market by the end of the year.
ZenZui is one of numerous new attempts to make browsing the Web from a mobile phone easier. Mobile search and content companies, including InfoSpace Inc., have been experimenting with ways to display results more elegantly with more easily navigable menus and by displaying local search results on maps. And Yahoo Inc. recently launched new mobile software that allows users to navigate content such as maps, news, sports and search functions by scrolling through a carousel of icons on their screens."

WebWire | WAYN partners up with Kayak, the world’s largest travel search site

"WAYN (Where Are You Now), the world’s largest travel and lifestyle online community, has just announced a strategic partnership with travel search aggregator Kayak to offer a comprehensive flight search service for their 8 million members.


Kayak will provide the technology for the new flight search service on the WAYN web site, enabling users to change their travel search parameters and see the updated results instantly. As one of the first travel sites to use AJAX technology, WAYN users will benefit from hundreds of flight options to search from with all available price and itinerary combinations, as well as results displayed according to relevancy. Kayak.com is especially helpful because it links travellers directly to the airlines to make their purchase, which means users avoid paying the high service fees charged by online agencies and benefit from incentives offered on supplier sites such as reward points and upgrades."

YouTube - Imposter (Snow) - The Impressive Jim Carrey

Golden Globe Awards
1995 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, The Mask (Nominated)
1998 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, Liar Liar (Nominated)
1999 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama, The Truman Show (Won)
2000 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, Man on the Moon (Won)
2001 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Nominated)
2005 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Nominated)

Linkedin Power Forum Yahoo Group

Steli Efti: education, business and School

Many jobs in Bay State are tied to venture capital, survey says - The Boston Globe

"Massachusetts, long the nation's second-largest magnet for venture capital investment, also ranks among the top five states in jobs and revenue generated by companies fueled by venture capital.

A new report by Global Insight, a Waltham research firm, shows that venture-backed companies overall accounted for 10 million jobs and $2.1 trillion in revenue nationally since 1970.

Massachusetts companies raising venture capital during the 35 years surveyed employed 639,881 workers in 2005, fourth in the nation, and reported 2005 revenue of $111.7 billion, fifth in the nation, the report said.

The study, issued by the National Venture Capital Association, seeks to measure the economic impact of venture-backed companies in the United States. It draws on data from quarterly MoneyTree surveys, sponsored by the PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm, along with the Thomson Financial research house and the venture trade group.

Venture-backed companies had a 4.1 percent annual growth rate in jobs and an 11.3 percent annual growth rate in sales between 2003 and 2005, compared to total private sector growth rates of 1.3 percent for jobs and 8.5 percent for sales, according to the report."

AdMob ads USD 15 million — MobileMonday Global: Industry News

"AdMob, the world’s largest mobile advertising marketplace, announced Monday that it has closed USD 15 million in venture capital funding. The Series B financing round was led by Accel Partners, with previous investor Sequoia Capital participating as well.
The company says that it will use the funds to develop new solutions that will make it easier for advertising customers to leverage mobile. AdMob has served over 1.6 billion ads in less than a year. The ads gave come from more than 1200 publishers and were viewed in over 160 countries.AdMob, the world’s largest mobile advertising marketplace, announced Monday that it has closed USD 15 million in venture capital funding. The Series B financing round was led by Accel Partners, with previous investor Sequoia Capital participating as well.
The company says that it will use the funds to develop new solutions that will make it easier for advertising customers to leverage mobile. AdMob has served over 1.6 billion ads in less than a year. The ads gave come from more than 1200 publishers and were viewed in over 160 countries."

Wikipedia co-founder seeks to start over - Yahoo! News

"In just six years, Wikipedia has mushroomed into one of the Web's most astonishing successes, with 1.7 million articles in English alone. The downside is that the free encyclopedia has its share of errors and juvenile vandalism, and sometimes the writing is incomprehensibly arcane."

"But Larry Sanger doesn't buy it. To Sanger — who was present at the creation of Wikipedia (in fact, call him a co-founder, although that, like many things within Wikipedia, is disputed) — its charms seem to outweigh its warts simply because it has no competition.
And that's precisely what Sanger hopes to change.
This week, Sanger takes the wraps off a Wikipedia alternative, Citizendium. His goal is to capture Wikipedia's bustle but this time, avoid the vandalism and inconsistency that are its pitfalls.
Like Wikipedia, Citizendium will be nonprofit, devoid of ads and free to read and edit. Unlike Wikipedia, Citizendium's volunteer contributors will be expected to provide their real names. Experts in given fields will be asked to check articles for accuracy.
"If there's going to be a free encyclopedia, I'd like there to be a better free encyclopedia," says Sanger, 38, who has a doctorate in philosophy and speaks slowly, as if cautiously choosing every word. "It has bothered me that I helped to get a project started, Wikipedia, that people are misusing in this way, and yet the project itself has little chance of radically improving."
Citizendium is hardly the first Wikipedia alternative. But this is different — not only because of Sanger, but because of the questions at its core: Would Wikipedia be better if its contributors fully identified themselves? Would Wikipedia be better if it solicited guidance from academics and other specialists?
To be sure, Wikipedia's egalitarian mantra that "anyone can edit" is a huge draw, across cultures. Few are the people who have even heard of all the languages that now have a Wikipedia (Zazaki, Voro, Pangasinan, Udmurt and Shqip, to name a few).
However, critics contend the setup turns off many people with valuable expertise to share. They don't want to wade in with contributions that can be overwritten within minutes by anyone.
Stephen Ewen, an adult-education instructor in Jupiter, Fla., who gave up on contributing to Wikipedia and plans to work on Citizendium, believes the quality of Wikipedia entries often degrades over time because someone inevitably comes along to express a counterproductive viewpoint.'

Toyota not among carmakers invited to White House - Yahoo! News

"With gas prices climbing, an increasing number of consumers have turned away from Detroit's sport utility vehicles and pickups to more fuel-stingy options offered by Toyota and other foreign manufacturers.
Toyota is the world leader in hybrid technology and is researching batteries for electric cars, testing hydrogen fuel cells and working on clean diesel, ethanol and ethanol/gas blends. Those are among key elements of Bush's plan.
The White House said it displayed a modified Prius, Toyota's popular hybrid, at a electric car event this month. But no Toyota officials were present.
Some political and industry experts say Toyota still does not measure up politically on enough counts.
Alan Tonelson, a research fellow at the U.S. Business and Industry Council in Washington, said Toyota should be able to discuss energy issues with the others."

Blood Diamonds: NYTimes

"Most days, diggers like Charles Kabia, a 25-year-old grade-school dropout who has been digging since the rebels forced him to mine as a teenager, come up empty — he has not found a stone in two months. That last diamond, a half-carat stone, went for about $65, which he split with his three partners.
“From all my years of mining I don’t even have one bicycle,” said Mr. Kabia, his hands trembling. “I really get nothing out of it.”
The struggle to reform Sierra Leone’s troubled mining industry is emblematic of many of the difficulties faced by this small, impoverished nation as it tries to heal.
Sierra Leone is at peace, its economy is growing and in July it will hold a presidential election that will turn a fresh page in the country’s troubled history. But the recovery has been painfully slow. In the center of Koidu sits an enormous tank gun with a sign slung around its barrel — “War don don, we love peace,” a hopeful message in English and Sierra Leone’s lingua franca, Krio, placed there at the end of the war. "

Vonage Ordered To Stop Using Verizon VoIP Technology - Yahoo! News

"In a courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia, U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton granted Verizon's request to block Vonage, but the permanent injunction will not be signed before an April 6 hearing, where Vonage will request a stay. Vonage has asked for a stay of 120 days or until its appeal is decided.
Although this decision could potentially have a major impact on Vonage's ability to offer a complete phone service to its 2.2 million customers, Vonage said it will not, as the company will switch to technological alternatives so that its business would not be affected.
'Our fight is far from over,' said Vonage CEO Mike Snyder. "

The Motorola LAZR? - Engadget

"If you still have RAZRs on the brain after laying eyes on this puppy, we might recommend you get that noodle checked. At a time when Moto perhaps needs a hit more than ever, this shiny piece of gorgeous -- allegedly the 'LAZR' -- appears poised to come in and save the day. Features of the chromed-out clamshell are said to include a half gig of internal storage with no expansion slot, Linux (a trend we'll see more and more in Moto's new models), some manner of text-to-speech system for emails and SMSes, and a frickin' two inch external display. No word on a release at this point, but we've got our fingers crossed that it'll bow all official-like at CTIA next week."

A talk given by Bill Gates in 1989 to the UW Computer Science Club

Bill Gates discusses the software and computer industry, and how Microsoft has contributed. Gates also discusses his views on the future of the computing industry. The talk was recorded in 1989 but was only recently digitized. Topics include:
The start and history of the microcomputer industry
Microsoft BASIC and the Altair 880 computer
The transition from 8-bit to 16-bit computers
Microsoft's history with IBM
640k memory barrier and 16-bit architectures
32-bit 386 and 486 architectures
RISC and multi-processor machines
EGA graphics and WYSIWYG editors
Decreasing cost of memory, harddisks and hardware in general
The importance and future of the mouse
Object-oriented programming
MS-DOS and OS/2
Multi-threaded and multi-application systems
Synchronization in multi-threaded applications
Diskette-based software
UNIX standardization and POSIX
History of the Macintosh and Microsoft' involvement
Involvement of Xerox in graphical user interfaces
Apple vs. Microsoft lawsuit regarding user interfaces
OS/2 future as a replacement for MS-DOS
Microsoft Office on Macintosh
Thin/dumb clients
Compact discs
Multimedia applications
Gates' current role at Microsoft

The Weekend Interview FacebOOk- WSJ.com

"With Facebook, exclusivity and control somehow means freedom. The more personal control, the more people are willing to let their guard down. 'One billion page views a day is cool,' Mr. Zuckerberg admits, 'but really what I care about is giving people access to connect and the information they want as efficiently as possible.'
For this, Facebook created a service known as Newsfeed, which caused a strange stir among its users. Newsfeed takes all the information on the site for each person and computes what is the most 'interesting' about them, which translates into what is now a very primitive news ticker, but is headed toward being complete stories.
'Before Newsfeed, basically you had to go and you kind of look at people's profiles you wanted to check up on, but there was nothing to tell you what was the most interesting stuff. Now as soon as they log in, people get a sense of what is going on in their world more efficiently,' Mr. Zuckerberg says.
Lots of Facebookers didn't like what felt like an electronic stalker reporting on their every move. When Newsfeed launched in September of 2006, Mr. Zuckerberg faced a huge backlash from angry users. This would test any CEO, let alone one whose peers were just starting law or business school."

Cell phones unlikely to cause brain cancer: study - Yahoo! News

"Cell phone use does not appear to be associated with an increased risk of glioma -- the most common type of brain tumor, according to a new study. The story may be different, however, for intense use of cell phones over many years. "

San Francisco Giants to Install Solar Panels (TreeHugger)

"As in other entertainment industries, the world of sports is recognizing the value of greening itself. On Wednesday, major league baseball signed a new player to the green team: the San Francisco Giants announced that, in partnership with Pacific Gas and Electric, they would be installing 590 solar panels on the port walk outside of the team's home field, AT&T Park. This would make the facility the first in baseball to incorporate solar technology. "

Current TV, Al Gore

"YouTube is just the start. Dan Ilett looks at the many ways the internet could change your TV habits
When the former US vice president Al Gore launched his new television channel, Current TV, he said the programs were designed to be 'snacked on'.

The channel, which shows a mixture of homemade and professional "bite-size" video clips between three and eight minutes in length, is aimed at 18- to 35-year-olds. Although the cable company Virgin Media will host the channel, it can also be viewed on satellite TV and, crucially, on the web. It is yet another sign of the rapid growth of internet TV in popularity and significance. As several deals between well established old media bastions and new media's young pretenders show, web TV is becoming increasingly important to broadcasters, advertisers and viewers."

Wi-Fi-proof paint Company | The Register

"An American company says it has successfully tested wireless-blocking paint. EM-SEC Technologies, in a release last week, said its 'Coating Solution', applied to a test facility, had successfully protected 'wireless devices and other electronic equipment'.
According to the company, 'a one-time application of the coating creates an 'electromagnetic fortress' by preventing airborne hackers from intercepting signals'."

Citigroup Venture Capital International Picks 19.9% Stake In Anand Rathi Securities

"Anand Rathi Securities Ltd. said Citigroup Venture Capital International is participating in its equity by picking up 19.90% of its stake. The company plans to use the funds for faster growth both organic, inorganic and working capital requirements. Avendus Advisors acted as financial advisors to Anand Rathi Securities Ltd. for this deal. "

A tiny telecom startup snags a deal with Lucent. - March 1, 2007

"Lisa Hanlon and Kelley Church, Co-owners Teltech Communications teltechcomm.com.
Before it inked a deal with Lucent (Charts) this fall, Teltech Communications had a client base of small, rural cellular companies drawn to its low-cost used telecom equipment.

Hanlon (left) and Church, flanked by a Lucent filter that transmits signals for cellphones.

Now Teltech will resell Lucent gear to some of the biggest names in the industry, including Sprint (Charts). Revenues should hit $25 million this year, up from $16 million in 2006. "

Pitbull Breeding: Food for thought

New brake light system could mean fewer collisions

"A dynamic brake light system that enables rear lights on a leading vehicle to contract or expand during hard braking could help lessen how often rear-end automobile collisions occur, says new research from the University of Toronto. "

Gigaom: Aruba for $750M?

"Aruba Networks, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company that makes and sells enterprise WiFi equipment is looking to sell 8 million shares and raise between $64 to $80 million. At the high end of the offering price, the company could be valued over $750 million.

Ambitious for a company that had $51 million in revenues for six months ending January 31, 2007 and with a net loss of $11.7 million. As of January 31, 2007 - the company had accumulated deficit of $88.5 million and has always been in the red. Aruba’s competitors: Cisco Systems and Motorola (Symbol Technologies,) not to mention a potpourri of other start-ups."

Hello NBCNewsTube, Goodbye GoogTube, and Goodbye Mortiz off Goog Board

"During the press conference, Peter Chernin and Jeff Zucker mentioned signing five advertisers in four hours before the venture was announced. A little color on that from an executive close to the deal: NBCU’s digital media sales head Peter Naylor was asked to pitch some advertisers on being part of the announcement. Armed with a hastily constructed presentation, “favorable” CPMs and the power of being part of a press release they hadn’t seen, Naylor had commitments for Q3 and Q4 from five charter advertisers in four hours—“multi hundreds of thousands of dollars.” The exec: “He sold in four hours more than 10 percent of the total revenue YouTube made last year. That tells me everything I need to know about the commercial demand.” -- Based on an analyst’s estimate that YouTube 2006 took in about $15 million in revenue for 2006, the Wednesday afternoon sales would be worth more than $1.5 million. Two more advertisers came on Thursday morning. "

Weiss Tech House: PennVention Startup Winners

Thanks to Jenny Brennan, from Weiss Tech House for pointing this our way. Kudos to the Pennvention program.

I saw that you recently blogged about MuscleMorph. They won first place in our PennVention competition last year before winning the Wharton Business Plan Competition and then FORTUNE Small Business Magazine's Battle of the Business Plans.

Since 2005, the PennVention competition at UPENN's Weiss Tech House has helped launch more than 10 businesses including Humanistic Robotics www.humanisticrobotics.com and Intellistem www.intellistem.com.

The Weiss Tech House provides funding, mentoring, and other service to help entrepreneurs create and commercialize innovative technologies.

On April 6, ten finalists will unveil their prototypes and compete for $60K worth of cash and prizes in this year's PennVention competition.

Finalists can be found here:
http://www.tech-house.upenn.edu/dynamic/site/pennvention/finalists_07.php

YouTube - Matzoball on David Letterman

Funny.

Oracle claims Yahoo as Linux convert | CNET News.com

"Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison announced the company's first prominent Linux customer Tuesday: Yahoo. But Red Hat hasn't been pushed aside at the Internet company.
Ellison cited the Yahoo deal as the first real evidence of progress from Oracle's high-profile attack on Linux leader Red Hat that began in October. Oracle is cloning Red Hat Enterprise Linux, selling support for less than Red Hat's list prices. "

Glu Mobile (GLUU): $327M Mkt Cap

"San Francisco-based mobile gaming firm Glu Mobile raised $84 million with an IPO that was priced within a forecast range. The 7.3 million share offering sold for $11.50 per share compared with a $10 to $12 per-share forecast range, according to an underwriter, reports Reuters. The offering price gives the company an initial market capitalization of about $327 million."

The Blog | Phil de Vellis, aka ParkRidge47: I Made the "Vote Different" Ad | The Huffington Post

"Hi. I'm Phil. I did it. And I'm proud of it.
I made the 'Vote Different' ad because I wanted to express my feelings about the Democratic primary, and because I wanted to show that an individual citizen can affect the process. There are thousands of other people who could have made this ad, and I guarantee that more ads like it--by people of all political persuasions--will follow."

RingCube raises $12M (same as VMWare VDI)

Note from Cedric Vanhaver, Director, Client Services & Business DevelopmentGlobalFluency:

"This announcement is a couple of weeks old but the news is not about the amount of money raised. It’s about launching a new tech category with tons of applications. Two guys from San Jose State University and one guy from Stanford have a vision of turning the desktop computer, i.e. hardware, into software. Anyone who owns an iPod or other form of portable storage (which is becoming pervasive and extremely cheap) can literally go to any computer and have access to their desktop environment. This is really about “desktop on-demand,” or “desktop portability.” There’s a ton of angles for this type of application and can lead to interesting stories.

For example, there’s the notion of helping the “digitally disadvantaged.” In countries where computers are not pervasive, users can have their info and software on MojoPac while using a communal computer (such as in underdeveloped countries). This redefines multi-user computing.

There’s also the mobility component to it, or what you could call “carry-on computing” (referring to both travel carry-ons and to continuous, uninterrupted computing). People who have to travel far to, say, oil rigs and need expensive rugged computers could instead rely on one local computer while still having access to all their stuff and all their desktop environment, from applications to shortcuts to favorites to languages, etc. This is true for any traveler staying in hotels, going through airports, etc.


There’s the notion of “computer contamination,” where kids visit their parents for the holidays and download tons of IM software, music, etc. With MojoPac, they take their own stuff with them and the computer is never contaminated because, first of all, kids bring their stuff with them and also, if they download something, it goes straight to the memory stick or iPod and is never actually installed on the computer. No footprint at all. No contamination for the parents.

There’s also the notion of computers everywhere that are sitting in labs, idle and not being used (“orphan computers”). There are huge implication for e-waste, which is a much talked about subject as well. With this, computers will be used by many people everywhere and safely without leaving a single footprint."



"RingCube Technologies, Inc., the creator of truly portable personal computing solutions, announced today that it has secured $12 million in Series B funding. The funding comes from MDV-Mohr Davidow Ventures and first-round investors New Enterprise Associates (NEA), bringing total investment in the company to $16 million.

RingCube will use the capital to expand its leadership in consumer and enterprise markets worldwide, including North and South America, Europe, Asia, and the BRIC nations. The company’s revolutionary operating systems virtualization software platform, MojoPac, gives users around the globe a truly mobile workplace in the palm of their hands. The MojoPac software platform is experiencing strong market adoption across consumer and enterprise channels. MojoPac has tens of thousands of users since launch in September 2006, while the MojoPac Enterprise Solution™ is seeing strong growth across legal, insurance, healthcare and home-based sales business verticals.

“MojoPac is experiencing phenomenal growth month to month across multiple channels,” said Shan Appajodu, CEO and Founder of RingCube. “This round of funding will enable us to accelerate our consumer and enterprise market growth and to service our customers across the globe.” "

GlobalFluency :: Intelligent Market Engagement, Worldwide

"GlobalFluency is a worldwide communications services firm offering its clients a distinctive combination of capabilities for shaping perceptions, developing and growing markets, expanding customer relationships, and building valued brands. With offices in over 50 countries throughout the Americas, EMEA and Asia, we provide the right resources to deliver effective, standout marketing campaigns anywhere in the world.
GlobalFluency has proven invention processes, innovative ideation practices and global media and influencer relationships to put our clients in overdrive. Our proprietary methodologies are designed to take clients to market faster with the most compelling and sustainable value proposition…one that separates and differentiates them in a complex and ever-changing global economy. We have a history of taking innovative, breakthrough technologies, companies and ideas to market in an intrusive and arresting way."

A former airline pilot produces renewable biodiesel fuel - March 1, 2007

"After ten years of flying jets for Northwest Airlines, John Plaza decided during a long, cold layover that he wanted to change the world. 'I was flying cargo planes from Anchorage to Tokyo,' says Plaza, 41. 'I did a rough estimate and realized that the tonnage of fuel it took to fly my 747 to Tokyo could power my Nissan Maxima for about 42 years.'
Inspired to launch a renewable-energy business, Plaza chose biodiesel, a clean-burning alternative to petroleum diesel that can be made from most types of vegetable oil. He cashed in his 401(k), mortgaged his home and sold his ski boat to buy a 5,000-square-foot warehouse in an industrial section of Seattle. "

Law.com - Silicon Valley IP Lawyers Are Cleaning Up With Clean-Tech Clients

"VC firms nationwide poured $2.9 billion into so-called clean technology investments last year alone, up from $1.6 billion in 2005, according to the Cleantech Venture Network, a group that monitors venture capital investments in environmentally friendly technologies. Though that figure represents only a fraction of the $25.75 billion that VCs plowed into startups in 2006, Cleantech expects investment in the sector to reach $8.7 billion by 2009. "

Jaxtr Looks to Give Social Networking a Voice

"Every business owner knows it: If you could just talk to prospects one-on-one, you could convert them to customers.
Click-to-chat and click-to-call features, of course, have existed for years, but now there's a new, more viral twist. Starting today you can test out a new service that attempts to combine the best of social networking with Internet-based telephony. In short, it gives visitors to your Web site or a blog a free local number to call from virtually anywhere. All you have to do is add a widget to your site, blog or e-mail signature.
Jaxtr has been in private beta testing, but now you can see and hear it for yourself as the company today announced the launch of the public beta of its service. After you sign up for a free Jaxtr account, you can link your mobile or landline phone with your online network. And while it's not strictly an e-commerce tool, it could prove itself to be a new way for you to interact with your customers. For example, the VoiceBlast feature allows you to record your own voice to automatically greet and update customers who visit your blog or Web site. "

PSFK: iVillage Creates Social Network

"iVillage's 'Connect' aims at the same women's demographic as marthastewart.com. They are calling it 'the social network for grown-ups,' which sounds awfully similar to the buzz around LinkedIn late last year. "

Web 2.0: great ideas, but few rich yet

"March 20 (Reuters) - Funding of "Web 2.0" start-ups, the hottest segment in the venture capital market, more than doubled worldwide in 2006 to $844.4 million, researcher VentureOne said in a study published on Tuesday.
The annual survey by VentureOne, a unit of Dow Jones & Co. and Ernst & Young, of Web 2.0 investment showed a 108 percent increase over the $406.2 million raised in the sector in 2005.
Web 2.0 is a catchphrase for the new generation of Internet services that run on slick, interactive software and typically rely on content generated by users to attract more visitors to sites.
But while such jazzy features have become a necessary part of almost every popular online destination these days, the Web 2.0 phenomenon has drawn criticism from nay-sayers who complain that there are few successful business models for these firms."

Sales of Music Plunge

"In a dramatic acceleration of the seven-year sales decline that has battered the music industry, compact-disc sales for the first three months of this year plunged 20% from a year earlier, the latest sign of the seismic shift in the way consumers acquire music.
The sharp slide in sales of CDs, which still account for more than 85% of music sold, has far eclipsed the growth in sales of digital downloads, which were supposed to have been the industry's salvation."

Growing Swedish companies attract more VC

"Venture capital investments in small companies in Sweden grew to 46 billion kronor ($6.6 billion) in 2006, 14 percent more than in 2005.

Around 6 billion kronor went to 668 investments in companies in the seed, start-up and expansion phases, according to a new report."

"The report was produced by the Swedish Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (SVCA), along with the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth and the state-backed innovation finance foundation Innovationsbron.Companies in the more mature growth phases of buyout and replacement capital received investments of around 40 billion kronor, a rise of ten percent on 2005. Companies involved in medical technology and biotechnology received the largest numbers of investments."The majority of venture capital companies believe that the economy will continue to grow, and they see improved possibilities for good exits," said Tom Berggren, CEO of SVCA."

Pink Truth: Facts, opinions, and the real story behind Mary Kay Cosmetics

"If you’ve hung around this site any length of time, you know that there is plenty wrong with multi-level marketing companies (MLM). In short, these companies offer a “business opportunity” that is really little more than a product-based pyramid scheme. They offer a product that looks viable, but in reality the whole purpose of the scheme is to recruit new distributors. Those distributors are brought in for the primary goal of recruiting more new distributors."

RED HERRING | Earthanol Raises $7.1M For Waste-to-Ethanol Plant

"Cleantech startup Earthanol has raised $7.1 million in venture funding to make ethanol from waste, said company CEO Larry Folks on Wednesday. The financing was led by Sail Venture Partners, the seed capital investor in company. Other investors are Nth Power, @Ventures and Calvert Social Investment Funds.

Earthanol is an early-stage company that is developing a project to convert waste-products to ethanol. Unlike typical ethanol producers, Earthanol is trying to utilize a cheese industry waste called whey permeate, an acidic by-product that is generally considered environmentally harmful. Earthanol will also try to utilize forestry biomass and municipal waste containing high energy content.

Ethanol-analyst Rick Kment of DTM said that Earthanol’s way to produce ethanol will probably not be a significant competitor to corn-ethanol in the short term, but he said it was good to focus on alternatives to corn-based ethanol."

RED HERRING | Tellme About Benchmark

"Complicated Calculations
Calculations, however, are complicated by the fact that AT&T, Bowman Capital Management, and San Francisco mutual fund Van Wagoner may have liquidated their holdings in the company, only to have some of those picked up on the secondary market by outfits such as Saints Capital and Millennium Technology Ventures.

Also, a Tellme representative said employees owned two-thirds of the company, something several VCs in Silicon Valley found surprising.

“I just don’t see how that leaves enough equity interest to keep VCs involved,” one said. “It certainly defies conventional metrics.”"

"Microsoft’s move to buy Tellme for about $800 million represents a boon for Benchmark Capital, as well as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, but no home run on the order of Google.



Benchmark was the biggest outside investor. Benchmark and KPCB invested when the company was only a few months old in a 1999-vintage first round at $47 million. Venture capitalists around Silicon Valley said that figure likely bought 50 percent of the company at the time.



Now Benchmark appears poised to haul in the biggest return among the investing venture firms. One Silicon Valley venture capitalist described it as “no Google, but a good, solid hit.”

How good? Benchmark’s half of the $47 million investment “would have been somewhere around 6 to 8 times return,” said one VC speaking on condition of anonymity. That would conservatively bring Benchmark’s return to between $141 and $188 million—about a quarter or better of the value of its most recent $550-million fund. "

RED HERRING | Bye-Bye Bankers?

"A new crop of online lending marketplaces is letting even the hoi polloi try their hands at being angel investors or micro-bankers.

On Monday, U.K.-based Zopa, an online loan marketplace that unites lenders and borrowers without a bank in the middle, announced a $12.9 million third round investment led by Bessemer Venture Partners to fund a U.S. launch.

Zopa, launched in March 2005, joins a group of online lending marketplaces that includes raisecapital.com, a Port Washington, New York-based startup that matches startups and angel investors and kiva.org, a San Francisco-based site that lets lenders make microfinance loans to Third World entrepreneurs.

Should direct lending online gain a foothold in the marketplace, it could put pressure on a market traditionally dominated by banks, savings and loans, and credit unions.

Douglas Dolton, who is joining Zopa as global chief executive, will oversee the launch of the company’s U.S. operations based in San Francisco. A major hurdle will be to create an online loan marketplace in the United States that complies with federal statutes."

Mitch Lasky Leaves Electronic Arts Mobile To Become A Venture Capitalist At Benchmark Capital

"Mitch Lasky, the former CEO of Jamdat Mobile, is leaving Electronic Arts to become a general partner at venture capital firm Benchmark Capital. Lasky helped grow Jamdat from a startup in Los Angeles to the world’s biggest publisher of cell phone games. EA bought Jamdat a year ago for $680 million in cash last year.
The move is a loss for EA, but Lasky said that he had a “positive experience” working for EA in the past year. He said that he is glad that John Riccitiello is coming in as the new CEO at EA. But he said that he the EA experience convinced him that his passion was to work with entrepreneurs. Now he’ll be handing out cash to startups."

PRENOVA SECURES $3 MILLION

"Prenova, Inc., one of the nation’s largest independent energy management solutions providers, announced today it received $3 million in venture capital funding from Siemens Venture Capital to support Prenova’s continued market growth, fueled by interest in its patent-pending technology delivery platform. This investment furthers Siemens Venture Capital’s goal to identify and fund investments in emerging and innovative technologies that will enhance the core business scope of Siemens.

“Prenova has an unmatched technology capability to manage remotely the complex enterprise-wide energy-based assets and systems for businesses,” said Todd Jaquez-Fissori, General Partner at Siemens Venture Capital. “This unique capability will help them deliver their solutions to more customers in retail, telecommunications, restaurant, commercial, and manufacturing business sectors to drive down and manage total end-to-end energy costs. Prenova serves highly referenceable, blue-chip customers who have realized significant returns on investment through their relationship with Prenova. We are confident that Prenova's solution set and experienced management team ideally position the company in a market where customers are increasingly focused on reducing and managing their energy-related expenses."

Yahoo! Reinvents Search for the Mobile Web: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

"Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - News) has today expanded the reach of the popular new Yahoo! oneSearch service to the Mobile Web in the United States. Yahoo! oneSearch reinvents search to give consumers exactly what they want on their mobile device - instant answers. The innovative search service that initially launched in Yahoo! Go for Mobile 2.0 is now accessible on more than 85 percent(1) of mobile phones through the mobile Web and is also available through the gamma version of Yahoo! Go for Mobile 2.0. The service leverages Yahoo!'s deep experience, investment and expertise in search on the desktop as well as relationships with leading content providers to deliver an un-matched search experience to consumers."

Google mobile phone seen coming closer - Mar. 18, 2007

"Google Inc. is developing its own mobile phone, according to industry insiders and analysts, while a Google official in Spain last week acknowledged the company is 'investigating' such a project.
Google isn't commenting directly on leaks from Europe and the United States which describe a low-cost, Internet-connected phone with a color, wide-screen design. Newspaper and blog reports in recent months have Google shopping its phone design to potential mobile phone manufacturing partners in Asia."

AUTHENTEC, INC. s-1

Overview

We are a leading mixed-signal semiconductor company providing fingerprint authentication sensors and solutions to the high-volume PC, wireless device and access control markets. Since our inception in 1998, we have shipped over 15 million sensors which have been integrated into over 150 different models of laptops, desktops and PC peripherals as well as over 6 million mobile phones. In response to accelerating demand, we shipped over 6.9 million sensor units in 2006, a 122.6% increase over the 3.1 million sensor units we shipped in 2005. Correspondingly, our revenue increased over the same period from $19.2 million in 2005 to $33.2 million in 2006, a 72.9% increase. In the last two years, we generated revenue from over 100 customers including ASUSTek Computer, Inc., Fujitsu Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Company, High Tech Computer Corp., Hitachi, Ltd., Lenovo Group Limited, LG Electronics Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and Toshiba Corporation.

We believe we are well positioned to benefit from the continuous drive of customers in our target markets to add features to, and enhance the functionality of, their products including the demand for integrated and convenient security solutions. Our research, development and marketing efforts are focused on the following markets which are characterized by significant unit volumes and high growth rates:


• PCs: laptops, desktops and PC peripheral products, such as memory keys, hard drives, keyboards, mice and other devices;

• Wireless devices: cellular phones and other wireless communication devices, including personal digital assistants, or PDAs; and

• Access Control: time and attendance products, home security systems, business physical access control systems and other access control devices.

Goodbye ZeFrank - Los Angeles Times

"Peering down from an airplane last spring, Ze Frank decided to turn the Earth into a sandwich.

After he landed, the comedian, who was making Internet videos years before YouTube existed, challenged his audience to place two pieces of bread at exactly opposite ends of the globe. They did, and he posted videos and photos of their exploits on his website, http://www.zefrank.com .

'The Show With Ze Frank' was a yearlong online experiment in interactive entertainment that was to end Saturday. And it's an example of how one guy with a camera in his living room can take viewer participation made popular through television shows such as 'American Idol' to absurd levels.

Frank, a wide-eyed 34-year-old New Yorker with a drawn face, isn't afraid to hand control to his fans, who include movie stars such as Jack Black and Ben Stiller."

Brown Tech Investing: Mohr Davidow Ventures

"“High prices of oil facilitate more oil discoveries and more innovations that get more money out of oil,” he said.
In Silicon Valley, there’s a word for that kind of investment.
"It’s called browntech," said Erik Straser, a partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures. One of that venture firm’s investments is in a start-up called Panasas, which has developed computer storage technology to help oil companies become hyperefficient at finding new places to explore.
Mohr Davidow invests in energy markets, he said, because they are big, and have big profit potential, not foremost because they offer an opportunity to help the environment.
"I’m here to make the kind of green my limited partners can spend,” Mr. Straser said.
Mr. Straser said that he, too, was interested in environmental concerns. He sits on the cleantech committee of the National Venture Capital Association, an industry trade group, which is creating policy initiatives to promote investments in alternative-energy start-ups.
In 2006, venture capitalists put $727 million into 39 alternative energy start-ups, compared with $195 million in 18 such firms for 2005, according to the National Venture Capital Association."

Scientists: Trying to change earth's climate is tricky

"Scientists are exploring global warming solutions that sound wholly far-fetched, including giant artificial "trees" to filter carbon dioxide out of the air, a bizarre "solar shade" created by a trillion flying saucers that lower Earth's temperature, and a scheme that mimics a volcano by spewing light-reflecting sulfates high in the sky.
These are costly projects of last resort -- in case Earth's citizens don't cut back fast enough on greenhouse gas emissions and the worst of the climate predictions appear not too far away. Unfortunately, the solutions could cause problems of their own -- beyond their exorbitant costs -- including making the arid Middle East even drier and polluting the air enough to increase respiratory illnesses.
Kevin Trenberth, climate analysis chief at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said mankind already has harmed Earth's climate inadvertently, so it's foolish to think people can now fix it with a few drastic measures."

Geosign® Completes $160 Million Private Placement With American Capital

"Geosign Group Holdings Inc. and Geosign Technologies Inc., members of the Geosign Group of Companies (“Geosign”), today announced the closing of $160 million in private financing from American Capital Strategies Ltd. (Nasdaq: ACAS). Geosign is an Internet media company focused on online publishing and targeted search. Proceeds from the financing will be used for working capital and to support the Company’s strategic growth initiatives including future acquisitions, as well as shareholder liquidity.
RBC Capital Markets acted as the exclusive private placement agent for Geosign on this transaction.
“We are excited to partner with American Capital as we move at an accelerated pace through our next growth phase,” said Ted Hastings, President of Geosign. “The additional capital will allow us to strengthen our core product lines and provide flexibility to make strategic acquisitions of complementary technologies and Internet properties.”"

GrandCentral.com: Unified telephony

"A new service called GrandCentral, now in its final weeks of public beta testing, solves all of these problems. It’s a rather brilliant melding of cellphone and the Internet.
Its motto, “One number for life,” pretty much says it all. At GrandCentral.com, you choose a new, single, unified phone number (more on this in a moment). You hand it out to everyone you know, instructing them to delete all your old numbers from their Rolodexes.
From now on, whenever somebody dials your new uninumber, all of your phones ring simultaneously, like something out of “The Lawnmower Man.”
No longer will anyone have to track you down by dialing each of your numbers in turn. No longer does it matter if you’re home, at work or on the road. Your new GrandCentral phone number will find you."

High-tech slots could transform gambling - Yahoo! News

"Engineers at PureDepth Inc. spent years developing tools for helping the military plot 3-D maps of war zones, eventually licensing top-secret technology to the U.S. Air Force and Navy.

But the Silicon Valley startup hit the jackpot in October when it inked a deal with International Game Technology Inc., the world's largest maker of slot machines.
Industry experts say a realistic digital video display is the final hurdle that will completely digitize one-armed bandits. The new displays by PureDepth and others — set to debut later this year — could profoundly change the $85 billion U.S. gambling industry and how it's regulated."

HighContrast Vc Blog: More on G Phone

More G Phone:

"Andy Rubin has a team of about 100 people at Google working on the Google Phone. So people have been paying attention. Andy was the founder of Danger and later Android, which he sold to Google in August of 2005. Andy is a systems guy and so it’s a good bet that he’s working on an OS for the famed Google Phone."

"What is more or less unknown is that later in 2005, Google bought Skia. (That acquisition is not part of even the Wikipedia list of Google acquisitions and there is very little information about this on the Net.) Skia was founded by Mike Reed, a device software guru who’d built a very tight vector-based presentation engine."

Notable Calls: Sandisk (SNDK)

"Oppenheimer says they are seeing NAND flash pricing stabilizing and module manufacturers scrambling to build spurring demand - positives for SanDisk (NASDAQ:SNDK).

Firm's channel checks with leading Taiwanese flash module manufacturers - Transcend(#3), A-Data (#4) - indicate Flash prices moderating and module manufacturers scrambling to build inventory post Chinese New Year.

Outlook for the June quarter is for NAND ASPs pricing declines to be much more moderate, with June quarter capacity addition more muted. On the supply side: Samsung's output in Q406 was almost 70% at 63nm. Samsung continuing at 63nm, and has not added significant capacity in Q1 and not adding significant capacity in Q2, continuing output in Q1/Q2 on 63nm. Believe Samsung 51nm which could add to supply will be a mid to late Q3 event. Given that Samsung is still on 63nm in 1H07, firm believes it is being less aggressive on pricing since it does not have any cost levers. Nevertheless, Samsung is working aggressively on 51nm. Also, Samsung has not changed its NAND/DRAM allocation since moving 50% of capacity on its new fab to DRAM in Dec-06."

PGP Corporation

"A global security software company, PGP Corporation is the leader in email and data encryption. During the past 10 years, PGP® technology has earned a reputation for innovative, standards-based, trusted solutions. PGP solutions are used by more than 80,000 enterprises, businesses, and governments worldwide, including 95 percent of the Fortune® 100, 75 percent of the Fortune® Global 100, 87 percent of Germany's DAX Index, and 51 percent of the FTSE 100 Index. Customers depend on PGP solutions as part of a regulatory and audit compliance solution, to protect confidential information, secure customer data, and safeguard companies’ brands and reputations.A global security software company, PGP Corporation is the leader in email and data encryption. During the past 10 years, PGP® technology has earned a reputation for innovative, standards-based, trusted solutions. PGP solutions are used by more than 80,000 enterprises, businesses, and governments worldwide, including 95 percent of the Fortune® 100, 75 percent of the Fortune® Global 100, 87 percent of Germany's DAX Index, and 51 percent of the FTSE 100 Index. Customers depend on PGP solutions as part of a regulatory and audit compliance solution, to protect confidential information, secure customer data, and safeguard companies’ brands and reputations."

What the Verizon Verdict Means for Vonage - Americas Network

"Web-calling outfit Vonage suffered a major setback on Mar. 8 when an eight-person jury found it guilty of infringing on three patents owned by rival telco Verizon.
After a weeklong hearing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, a jury ruled that Vonage Holdings (VG) must pay Verizon Communications (VZ) $58 million in damages and a 5.5% licensing fee per subscriber per month. The damages and fee fell short of what Verizon asked for, and the jury said Vonage didn't infringe on two of the patents at the heart of the case. It also found Vonage was not willful in its infringement, helping Vonage avoid stiffer penalties."

Chinese Flikr Yahoo

"For anyone who noticed Flickr’s help wanted post on its company blog seeking translators, here’s why: Yahoo will start a Chinese language version of its photo-sharing site Flickr this year as the company looks to expand other user-generated content sites, such as Del.icio.us, Reuters reports. Yahoo is also coming out with Chinese versions of its email and Yahoo Groups services. "

Related Sites:
Yahoo preps Chinese version of Flickr
ZDNetYahoo to launch Chinese version of popular photo site
Gulf NewsYahoo! to Launch Chinese Version of Flickr

Slimy Livedoor CEO Sentenced to Jail

"The self-styled rebel of Japanese business was convicted today of breaking securities laws after a prosecution that many here saw as an attempt by the corporate establishment to snuff out a financial upstart whose only crime was his refusal to play by traditional rules.
The Tokyo District Court found fallen Internet mogul Takafumi Horie guilty of misleading markets about the financial health of his Livedoor business empire to drive up its stock price. He was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail.
The verdict, like the raid on Horie's home and office that marked the beginning of his downfall more than year ago, was carried live on Japan's major TV networks."

Introduce My Blog.com

IntroduceMyBlog is all about YOUR blog. It's another way for you to promote your blog and gain additional readers. You can also help other bloggers by posting comments about their introductions. In turn, you get the benefit of additional exposure.

50+Digital » EONs.com gaining traction

"Jeff Taylor’s Eons.com closed a second round of venture capital earlier this month, raising $22 million. And the site appears to be gaining traffic momentum, with sharp upward ticks in unique visitors and page views in February. The new investors are led by Charles River Ventures, and also include Intel Capital and Humana Inc. (the first round last year raised $10 million and included General Catalyst Partners and Sequoia Capital).
Eons.com traffic picked up sharply in February, probably the result of the site’s…uh, unusual television advertising campaign featuring none other than Taylor himself. If you haven’t seen the ad, a long-form version is posted here on YouTube. I found it a bit creepy, but you’ve got to give Jeff credit–he’s a true believer. And the marketing is working. The only other 50+ niche site with traffic sizeable enough to talk about is AARP; Quantcast.com shows Eons’ traffic leapfrogging the mega-association unique visitor count during February. Eons tells MediaPost that it is logging about 500,00 unique visitors per month"

Google Buys Data Visualization Software - Forbes.com

Sorry, Al Gore. Since Google acquired visual statistics software Trendalyzer from Gapminder late Friday, the former vice president and “Inconvenient Truth” star no longer has a monopoly on the market for entertaining, yet sobering PowerPoint presentations.

Stockholm-based non-profit Gapminder sold off its primary product to the search giant for an undisclosed amount. Trendalyzer, according to the company, “unveils the beauty of statistics by converting boring numbers into enjoyable interactive animations.”

Tech Trader Daily BMOC, Steve Ballmer Visits Stanford GSB

"Ballmer says the company in 2006 had “its best recruiting year ever.” But he also acknowledged that it faces stiff competition for talent from Google (GOOG).
Ballmer says Microsoft looks for people with two characteristics: “very bright” and “very intense.”
Bill Gates, he says, “is the smartest guy I’ve ever met.”
On the reaction he received to dropping out of business school: “My dad thought it was nuts.”
Ballmer took a few digs at Google. “Google has one very good business.” But he also admitted that Google got to $10 billion in revenue faster than Microsoft did. "

TubeZoom - Pirates Of Silicon Valley - Watch Videos Online ..

The Million-Dollar Kid : Yahoo! Finance

"The government says families in the top-third income bracket will spend $279,450 to raise a child born in 2005 through age 17 -- or about $16,000 a year. The government clearly hasn't been to some kids' birthday parties lately.
In San Diego, Jacqueline Jones recently rang in her fifth year with a $1,000 mermaid-theme party. The fete, held at a community pool, included a pinata, pizza, cake, juice boxes, customized goodie bags for 20 and a former beauty queen who arrived dressed head to toe as Ariel, the Disney princess.
Jacqueline's mom, Laura, says it's worth it. 'A lot of my friends said I'm crazy, but I mean, it's for a memory she'll have forever.'"

Cisco CDO on WebEx Acquisition

"Cisco is an innovation company and the philosophy at the core of our innovation strategy is to use the “network as a platform” for the next explosion in business and consumer applications. WebEx fits this philosophy exactly, as their technology is network- based and hides complexity from not only users, but from their IT organizations as well.
Clearly, our view is that most forms of communications and collaboration will be provided by the IP network. Cisco is at the forefront of evolving the network from pure connectivity to a reliable, sophisticated platform for communications and IT services, and WebEx will now be our partner on this journey.
WebEx shares our vision as well as our culture. We believe we can help each other to drive greater success for our customers, and to reach more customers around the world. I am very enthusiastic that WebEx is joining the Cisco team, our mission and our passion"

Orbitz IPO planned | Chicago Tribune

"Online travel agency Orbitz Worldwide is going public, for the second time.

Travelport Limited said today that it's planning an initial public offering to sell a portion of its ownership interest in Orbitz Worldwide, which is headquartered in Chicago.

New York-based Travelport hasn't yet determined the size of the ownership interest it plans to sell, how much it plans to raise in the offering or the price it plans to charge investors for shares. The travel conglomerate plans to file registration documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission during the second quarter and take the IPO to market during the third quarter, 2007."

BigBand Bounces 31% in IPO

"Shares of BigBand Networks Inc. leaped Thursday in first-day trading for the provider of equipment for cable-television companies.

The Redwood City, Calif.-based company's stock rose $4, or 30.8 percent, to close Thursday at $17 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

The initial public offering price was $13 for each of the 10.7 million shares, above the expected price range of $10 to $12 set by underwriters Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch & Co."

Tullys Coffee plans IPO - Drinks Business Review

"Tully's Coffee Corporation has announced plans to file a registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the initial public offering of its common stock.
US-based Tully's Coffee expects to file the registration statement before the end of April 2007, and anticipates that gross proceeds from the offering will reach approximately $50 million. Proceeds will fund the expansion of its retail and wholesale operations."

Friendster lands a third patent | News.blog | CNET News.com

"Social-networking pioneer Friendster said Thursday it has received its third U.S. patent in the past nine months, another attempt to bolster its profitability.
Patent No. 7,188,153 B2, which covers "System and Method for Managing Connections in an Online Social Network," was awarded officially by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on March 6.
Friendster's first patent, covering "A System, Method and Apparatus for Connecting Users in an Online Computer System Based on Their Relationships within Social Networks," was granted in July 2006. In October 2006, it landed a second patent called "Method of Inducing Content Uploads in a Social Network," which is related to the process of adding text, video, pictures and additional content to other users' profiles. "

BigBand Announces Pricing of IPO

"BigBand Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBND - News) today announced an initial public offering of 10,700,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $13.00 per share (before underwriting discounts and commissions). Of those shares, BigBand Networks will sell 7,500,000 shares and selling stockholders will sell 3,200,000 shares. Several of its stockholders have granted the underwriters the right to purchase an additional 1,605,000 shares of common stock to cover over-allotments. BigBand's common stock will be listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol 'BBND' and will begin trading on March 15, 2007."

DigitalGlobe IPO in 18 months

"DigitalGlobe, which provides imagery for Google Inc.'s interactive mapping program Google Earth, said on Tuesday it was still on track for an initial public offering in about 18 months.
The company announced on Monday it was opening a corporate office in Boston to be closer to commercial customers, a move it said was important ahead of the IPO.
"The IPO is still on our radar for the medium term," Chuck Herring, the company's director of corporate communications, told Reuters in a telephone interview.
The final timing of the IPO would depend on "a combination of DigitalGlobe being ready, as well as market conditions being right," he said. "

GigaOM » 5 Things about Microsoft TellMe deal

GigaOM:
"The price is over $800 million but below a billion dollars. Microsoft and Tellme are not disclosing financial details.
While Microsoft has been trying to position Microsoft Business Division President Jeff Raikes as the guy who took the lead on this deal, the truth is that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was personally handling this deal. I have confirmed this with two people.
Mobile search is the impetus behind this deal, but TellMe is making over $100 million a year from selling automated call-center services to large companies like FedEx.
TellMe is going to become an independently run subsidiary of Microsoft.
Mike McCue and other senior executives are going to stay with the company. McCue worked at Netscape. Microsoft destroyed Netscape, and now Steve and Bill are making amends, it seems "

Tech Trader Daily: G Phone?

Tech Trader Daily - Barron’s Online : "So let’s hear it for Google (GOOG), which is supposedly working on…a mobile phone.
In a research note today, Marianne Wolk, an analyst at Susquehana Financial Group, took a look at the Google Phone rumors that have been floating around the Internet lately. Wolk notes that the rumor is that the company has a 100-person team working on a cell phone. She theorizes that the company would likely partner with a hardware manufacturer, and focus on creating a device that would allow Internet access, mobile search, mobile video and mobile advertising. Imaging a device that would provide access to Google Maps, Gmail, Google Talk and documents stored in Google Docs and Spreadsheets.
Wolk notes that 73% of the smartphone market is controlled by Nokia’s (NOK) Symbian operating system, but that Microsoft (MSFT) Mobile “is gaining momentum.” She notes that neither Nokia nor Microsoft integrates Google search; and asserts that a Google phone “would likely make Google applications (e.g., maps) including the Google search box, a more prominent and accessible aspect of the phone.”"

Apple Second Life

Site: Second Life
Publisher: Linden Lab
Genre: Role-Playing Game

Revver test

Dark Reading: Meru Mixes WLAN Security and QOS

"Meru Networks introduced new wireless LAN software this week that pulls double duty by helping to secure wireless traffic while also optimizing mobile application performance.
AirShield Security Suite 2.0, due to ship at the end of the month, blocks threats from rogue devices while ensuring time-sensitive applications such as voice and video traffic get an adequate level of service, Meru said.
The vendor also announced new partnerships with network access control vendors including Juniper Networks, Lockdown Networks, Microsoft, and Vernier Networks to further help enterprises secure their WLAN deployments. "

Microsoft to buy voice recognition company Tellme: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

"Tellme already generates a profit, McCue said on a conference call with reporters. Raikes said the two companies investigated partnerships for a while, but talks for an acquisition intensified around December.
Credit Suisse analyst Jayson Maynard, who estimates that Microsoft paid more than $1 billion for the acquisition, said in a note to clients that the company is cash-flow positive and has annual revenue of more than $100 million."

" Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in his 1995 book "The Road Ahead" predicted that humans would one day talk to their computers rather than have to type and Tellme fits with his vision of expanding input to more natural ways than typing.
The company also has worked on handwriting and touch technology for tablet notebook PCs."

Google adds photos to Maps

"Google has added photos to Google Maps local search, to make destinations easier to spot. Once businesses get their photos up on the site, you'll be able to view a map along with images of a storefront or road. This can be immensely helpful if you're trying to spot a store or restaurant on a busy street. "Google Maps also includes pictures of buildings storefronts signs, and logos", writes Jess Lee, Product Manager for Yahoo Maps, on the Google Blog. At the moment, photos will understandably not be found that often, as it will take a while for businesses to cotton on to this new marketing tool. "

Faux products are hot -- and so are the Web's counterfeit detectors.

This is already shaping up to be a banner year for one Internet industry. Unfortunately, it's the fraud business.
Though official numbers are scarce, online protection company MarkMonitor says a record $119 billion in knockoff goods will be sold on the Web in 2007, up from $84 billion last year - everything from counterfeit watches to fraudulent pharmaceuticals. eBay (Charts) has ballooned into a city-size megastore that only an army of security guards could monitor for shady merchants. New online services make it simple and cheap for any site to accept credit card or bank payments, and ads on Google (Charts) can lure bargain-hunting shoppers within hours.

Interview with Google's Matt Cutts about Next-Generation Search

"Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing the head of Google's Webspam team, Matt Cutts. The topic of our conversation was Next-Generation Search. In my pitch to get an interview with someone at Google, I explained how Read/WriteWeb has been covering Next-Gen search a lot and so it would (obviously) be great to get Google's views on this topic!
Matt Cutts is a well-known Google identity, who apparently gets mobbed by fans at SEO conferences. His Wikipedia page states that he co-invented one of the most well-known patent filings from Google, involving search engines and web spam. One note about the following interview: Google has a policy of not discussing competitors, so a few of my original questions had to be dropped or re-phrased."

RED HERRING | Networks Under Siege

"In the continuously shifting world of IT security, where restless entrepreneurs are constantly scouting for the next big thing, Jay Chaudhry is taking a breather.

In July, the 22-year veteran of the security business sold his startup, CipherTrust, which specialized in products to stop threats like spam, viruses, phishing, and sensitive data leakage, to Secure Computing for $274 million. But he’s already plotting his next venture.

“Why do you see hundreds of startups in the security space instead of financial applications, for instance?” asks Mr. Chaudhry. “Because customers are willing to buy the next mousetrap because it’s better, or it can save them money, or it’s easier to use.”"

Lehman buys a 20% stake in DE Shaw - MSNBC.com

"Lehman Brothers has taken a 20 per cent stake in DE Shaw, one of the world's biggest hedge fund groups - part of a growing trend by big banks to take strategic stakes in the rapidy growing hedge fund industry.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But banks have been paying 15 to 20 per cent of funds under management for hedge funds. Under that model, DE Shaw would be valued at up to $6bn, making a 20 per cent stake worth up to $1.2bn."

Unstrung Meru Intros AirShield - Wireless Networking News Wire

"Meru Networks, the leader in standards-based mobility infrastructure solutions for the All-Wireless Enterprise, today announced AirShield™ Security Suite 2.0, the first wireless local-area network (WLAN) security offering that simultaneously prevents RF threats while assuring application availability and continuous quality-of-service (QoS) in converged voice and data networks. "

Unstrung - Tech Product Roundup - Wireless Networking News Analysis

" Mesh networking startup Tropos Networks Inc. has updated its mesh networking operating system in anticipation of more large operators getting into the municipal networking game.
Tropos claims that large carriers, as opposed to smaller wireless ISPs, are now getting more involved in running citywide mesh networks. For instance, Tropos supplies EarthLink Inc. with much of the mesh kit behind its network in San Francisco and other cities."

Bloomberg.com: MBA Kaching

"Competition for MBAs from banks such as New York-based Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. may push starting- pay packages above last year, when graduates averaged a record $186,174 in total compensation at Harvard Business School and $183,000 at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. It also is prompting universities to crack down on the timing and number of on-campus recruiting events. "

Pulvermedia :: Pulvermedia Announces the 2007 'Pulver 100'

"The companies named to the 2007 Pulver 100 are:
911 Enable, Abbeynet, AccessLine Communications, Aculab, Advoco Software AB, Agito Networks, Apparent Networks, Atreus Systems, Azimuth Systems, blip.tv, BlueSlice Networks, Bridgeport Networks, Brightcove, Brix Networks, BroadSoft, Cantata, Centile, Cicero Networks, Citel Technologies, Commetrex, Contigo, Dialexia Communications, Dialogic, DiamondWare, Digium, DiVitas Networks, Edgewater Networks, Empirix, Endeavor Telecom, Fonality, Fring, GrandCentral, Grandstream Networks, GUPP, HighDeal, Inclarity, Ingate Systems, Intertex Data AB, Intoto, Iotum, Iperia, iSkoot, Jajah, Jaxtr, Jungo Software Technologies, Kayote Networks, KoolSpan, Lignup, Longboard, M5 Networks, MailVision, Mediatrix Telecom, Meru Networks, MetaSwitch, MINO Wireless, NewHeights Software, Neulion, Nextone Communications, Nominum, OnRelay, Ooma, Owera, Pactolus Communications Software, Paradial, Personeta, Psytechnics, Quescom, Quintum Technologies, Rebtel, Revver, Ring Central, Sansay, Sightspeed, Sling Media, Snom Technology, Soma Networks, Speedbit, SPIRIT DSP, Stickam, Surf Communication Solutions, SwitchVox, Swyx, Sylantro Systems, SysMaster, TalkPlus, TalkSwitch, tekVizion PVS, Inc., Telchemy, Telepo, Tellme Networks, TelTel, Tilgin, Trinity Convergence, Truphone, U4EA Technologies, USA Datanet, Veoh, Vivox, VOZ Telecom, WeFi, and XConnect."

Originally introduced in 2002, the Pulver 100 features private companies that impact the distribution of communications and entertainment with Internet technology. The value chain characterized by the Pulver 100 differs from the vertically integrated model of the last century, focusing more on the direct interface to customers and consumers which has been brought about by the Internet.

Ygnition Announces $20 Million in Venture Capital - 2007-03-13 10:33:41 | Venture Capital News

"Ygnition Networks, a leading provider of Video, Internet, and Voice services to the multi-family real estate industry, announced today that it has closed a $20 million senior secured revolving credit facility provided by both Full Circle Capital and FCC, LLC ('First Capital').
Ygnition will use the proceeds from the facility for subscriber acquisitions and organic growth opportunities. Ygnition provides broadband services to over 150,000 apartment units throughout the United States. The company also provides point-to-point data circuits and T-1 Internet circuits."

Visions: Carbone bullish on Wisconsin venture capital | WTN

"Baird Venture Partners, the U.S. venture fund of the Baird Private Equity platform, has followed up on its presence in China by partnering with the Indian investment and advisory firm Tholons, Inc., to serve portfolio companies as they establish a foothold in the Indian market. In the following interview with WTN, Paul Carbone, managing partner of Baird Venture Partners and director of Baird Private Equity Group, explained the venture fund's pan-Asian strategy and why he's bullish on Wisconsin's ability to attract venture capital. "

Microsoft in talks to buy Tellme Networks-sources $800m: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

"Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqGS:MSFT - News) is in talks to buy Tellme Networks Inc., the privately owned voice recognition technology company, two sources familiar with the situation said on Tuesday."

Investing the Middle Way: NEW and Bear Stearns Scott R. Coren Upgrade?

"According to this NY Times article published on Sunday, Mar. 11,
The Bear Stearns analyst who upgraded New Century, Scott R. Coren, wrote in a research note that the company’s stock price reflected the risks in its industry, and that the downside risk was about $10 in a “rescue-sale scenario.” According to New Century, Bear Stearns is among the firms with a “longstanding” relationship financing its mortgage operation. Mr. Coren, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment.
Hmmm, are you thinking what I'm thinking? It can't be that Bear Stearns was trying to cover its own behind with that upgrade, can it? The question on everyone's mind should be, "How much are they on the hook for?"
My brokerage could find any IAI for me to short, so instead I shorted Bear Stearns (BSC) and Merrill (MER) today. Major Wall Street investment banks are reporting this week, to be led off by Goldman Sacks (GS) tomorrow morning. It's going to be interesting!"