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The markets may be volatile and concerned but the VC industry is chugging ahead.  There have been 4 IPO’s and 4 $100m-plus M&A exits for portfolio companies at Accel Ventures this year.  Buoyed by that success, the firm just closed their tenth fund with $520m available for investment.  That total, while still below the $950m raised in 2000,  is up a handsome 30% over prior fund Accel IX  (IX closed with $400m in 2004). 

Accel hasn’t been involved in any new digital media or entertainment related deals the past couple weeks, but other firms have committed plenty of capital.  Takkle, Vivox and Vobile are among the recipients.  On the other hand, AmeriTV, a supposed IPTV company that sounds like Joost, apparently didn’t receive capital despite a press release to the contrary.  AmeriTV’s financing, possibly even the existence of the company, appear to have been a hoax that tripped up a few news sites that didn’t check on their facts.

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In February 2006, notable executives from Internet companies and Telecom giants converged on Capital Hill to lobby to consider revising a ten year old Telecom bill.   The issue at stake was the concept of Net Neutrality, a divisive idea suggesting that all internet content (regardless of format) should be treated equally.   

On one side of the debate fell Internet and software companies.  Businesses like Google and Yahoo wanted to insure that all websites – from blog to portal, could be accessed equally.  Even more so, they wanted legislation that would protect different types of content like video, or music, or the technologies that deliver them (like Peer to Peer) from arbitrary exclusion.  Their goal was to insure nothing was singled out and taxed by the ISP’s who control the supply pipeline, the network infrastructure over which Internet traffic flows.  The software and Internet companies wanted to insure their content would always flow freely without tax or toll.

The Telecom companies, on the other side of the stage, wanted the freedom of an unregulated market.  Click to Read More

It is the story of the day. Scan the headlines and everywhere that touches technology has a tidbit on the subject. The mysterious G-phone, a myth as exotic as an udumbara flower and as circulated as a chain email has finally been revealed. The urban myth quashed.

Today, Google revealed as widely expected there will not be (at least for now or the near future) a Google branded cell phone; no gPhone to challenge the iPhone. Instead, Google has been applying its considerable software development skills to the development of a next generation open-source mobile operating system platform. Engineers with analog and cellular design experience were there for optimization, for marrying software to hardware, not to reinvent the phone itself.

Andy Rubin, head of Google’s mobile platforms said unequivocally, "we’re not building a GPhone; we are enabling 1,000 people to build [it]."

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The period leading up the the Thanksgiving holiday tends to be among the quieter times for venture investments but plenty of checks are getting written. In fact, despite an increasingly crowded market and lack of new "disruptive" technologies, Internet video remains hot. mDialog and Vitrue are among the slate who’ve gotten new capital. Here’s a roundup of five recent deals.

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Back in July, via Peacock Equity, GE and its subsidiary NBC Universal, invested in in-game advertising network IGA Worldwide $25m Series B Financing. Now in a move best labeled as somewhat curious, NBCU and IGA have struck an operational deal too.

According to a press release issued Tuesday, IGA and NBCU have made a pact that will allow NBCU’s ad sales force to sell inventory from IGA’s "Radial" in-game ad network.

In-Game Advertising offers the ability to serve dynamic advertising within a video game. The common example is the billboard in the background of a sporting game. Once upon a time it might have been available for a one time "product placement" where a sponsor bought the rights in perpetuity. But now, thanks to Internet technologies, in-game ads allow that billboard to be sold repeatedly and managed as if it’s real advertising real estate. Through net connections (for consoles or computer based games), the billboard (or other ads) can be changed similar to the way banners are changed on a web page. With in-game ads, media buyers can buy time-based ads and game publishers can derive an ongoing stream of revenue.

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msnbc.com isn’t going to be confused with ESPN for sports centric reporting any time soon but that doesn’t mean quality sports coverage isn’t a priority at the NBC and Microsoft owned Internet news portal.  Big changes are due on the site just in time for the Superbowl.

Announced today, the report is MSNBC and NBCSports.com have entered a multi year syndication deal where NBCSports will provide all sports related content for the MSNBC.com site. The offering will include everything from video and fantasy sport coverage to breaking news.

Content changes that are part of the deal will be effective immediately.  A major relaunch and promotional campaign supporting the changes are due in February.

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Few companies are victims of more pre-launch scrutiny than Hulu.  The NBC/Universal and News Corp joint venture has been derided as too little too late.  Some have called it a YouTube killer. Others’ have called it a bad joke.  It’s been challenged as an impossible, ill-conceived dream. The video site has even but mocked with the literally intended nickname Clown Co.   … and all that is without putting forth a single service or feature for critics to feed on.

Today that changes. With the launch of an invitation-only public Beta, Hulu will finally face critics head-on.  At last, the questions, all theoretical until now, are up for measurement.  

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