The big event dominating Xconomy San Francisco’s calendar last week was our on-stage conversation with Sequoia Capital partner Michael Moritz, which was enlightening and well-attended, filling San Francisco’s KickLabs to capacity. I’m working on bringing you video highlights from the talk, which ranged from Moritz’s tricks for identifying great entrepreneurs to the funding options for early-stage startups his experiences as a journalist. Meanwhile, here’s a rundown of the other news we covered last week.
—Google bought Seattle, WA-based Widevine Technologies, a maker of streaming, digital rights management, and copy-protection software for on-demand Internet video, as Greg reported. The purchase could help Google fill a hole in its competition with Apple on the Internet TV front.
—I profiled Blinkx, a six-year-old San Francisco company that trades on the London Stock Exchange and specializes in online video search. The company has quietly built the world’s largest index of online video.
—In my holiday gadget gift guide, I looked at eight devices (and associated accessories) that would make great presents for any technology lover, including the Roku Streaming Player, Apple TV, the Amazon Kindle, the Flip Ultra HD video camera, the Canon Vixia HF R100 camcorder, the Vizit digital photo frame, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, and the Apple iPad.
—Famous Menlo Park, CA, venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers hired longtime Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker as its newest partner.
—In acquisitions news, Redwood City, CA-based Makara, which makes software for managing cloud applications, was purchased by Red Hat (NYSE: [[ticker:RHT]]); San Mateo, CA-based social media startup Ludic Labs was bought by Chicago-based Groupon; San Jose, CA-based Ketera Technologies was bought by Rearden Commerce; San Jose-based Cisco bought LineSider Technologies of Danvers, MA; and Sunnyvale, CA-based 4Home was acquired by Motorola Mobility of Libertyville, IL.
—In funding news, Yammer raised $25 million, Payvment raised $6 million, and Rackitivity raised $8 million.
