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VC confidence level takes third-quarter hit

Venture capitalists' confidence level took another hit in the third quarter, marking the sixth-consecutive quarterly decline for the Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index, which was released Wednesday.

The index fell to 2.89 points, nearing the midway point of a 5-point scale, with 5 ranking the highest confidence level.

According to Mark Cannice, associate professor of entrepreneurship and the founder of the University of San Francisco's Entrepreneurship program and author of the index, the faltering confidence level stems from several factors:

The unprecedented deterioration of macro economic conditions and the resulting impact on the venture capital business model … Read more

Microsoft once again offering pseudo-open source on CodePlex

Microsoft has been criticized in the past for how it manages CodePlex, Microsoft's "open source project hosting site" (emphasis mine). This time, as The Register reports, Microsoft is hosting code that can only be run on the Windows platform.

This is not, of course, a violation of open source. Plenty of projects on Sourceforge will run on only Linux, or some other operating system.

No, the problem here is that Microsoft is restricting these projects to Windows by license, and not merely be technical capability.

In at least one instance, that of the Microsoft Extensibility Framework (MEF), Microsoft switched the license from its Windows-only Microsoft Limited Permissive License (Ms-LPL) to the Microsoft Public License (Ms-PL), an Open Source Initiative-certified license, under pressure from Miguel de Icaza and "community feedback." The reason given for putting the code under the MS-LPL in the first place is lame, however:… Read more

The Real Deal 129: Bandwidth caps

What are bandwidth caps and how do you deal with them? Seth Rosenblatt from Download.com joins us to discuss. Listen now: Download today's podcast… Read more

Fujitsu laptop strikes (pink) gold

All laptop makers have joined the fashion bandwagon--some later than others--so it's no surprise that Fujitsu is continuing to experiment with its runway persona. The Japanese company has gone through some interesting evolutionary phases of its designer laptops, from finishes in ubiquitous pink to an odd cedar and now precious metals, at least in name.

The Fujitsu LifeBook P8010E has already gotten a good review from CNET (7.5), but its new "Limited Pink Gold Edition" is trying to sell beauty as well as brain and brawn with such aesthetic features as a high-gloss finish and chrome … Read more

Suit accuses Google of trade secret theft

LimitNone, a small software development company, is seeking nearly $1 billion in damages in a lawsuit that accuses Google of reneging on a partnership with the small company and misappropriating its trade secrets for its Google Apps online service.

Specifically, the suit concerns LimitNone software called gMove designed to let people move e-mail, contacts, and calendar information stored in Microsoft Outlook to Google's online service. Google initially helped LimitNone develop, promote, and sell the product, assuring LimitNone it wouldn't offer a competing product, but then reversed course by giving away its own tool, Google E-mail Uploader, to premier-level … Read more

'Metal Gear Solid IV' gets its own watch

Grand Theft Auto IV is a tough act to follow, to put it mildly, but that's not keeping Metal Gear Solid IV from trying--and one of its key tactics is a blitz of bundles and branded accessories that even include its own Bluetooth headset.

That makes sense, to a degree, but its marketing people might be reaching a bit with their latest offering, an MGS4 limited-edition watch. About 500 of these exclusive brushed-steel timepieces will go on sale in the U.K. market on Halloween, according to Tech Digest, for about $197.

There's nothing wrong with the watch … Read more

Levi's comes out with 'Red Tag' phone

It's hard enough to distinguish a new product in the ridiculously crowded mobile phone market, and even more so when it comes from an outsider--such as a clothing company. But rather than just make another phone whose only difference is a logo, Levi's is at least trying something different that capitalizes on one of the trademarks of its jeans: the red tab. No, it's not a cloth tag sticking out of the keypad, but a red section of the limited edition "Red Tab" phone being sold by French retailer Colette for 550 euros (about $870).… Read more

Olympus skins bring back the '60s

If traditionally stuffy HP can come up with a psychedelic laptop, then certainly Olympus can do the same with its cameras. (Though that doesn't necessarily mean that's a good thing.)

Like it or hate it, Olympus is releasing a limited-edition "Mju 1020" sporting colors and patterns that could be spotted by a one-eyed beggar a mile away. Designed by Romanian artist Matei Apostolescu, 5,000 of the 10.1-megapixel cameras will be produced with skins worthy of a Jefferson Airplane album cover. Aside from the funky threads, it features a 7x optical zoom, 2.7-inch LCD, … Read more

Jawbone designer talks some trash

There's a good reason that Yves Behar was once crowned "The Brand Wizard": It's true. The Swiss-born designer has proven himself something of a Renaissance man in his profession, finding success in fields as diverse as sports and interior decor, as well as his work on the OLPC XO laptop.

But his name became much more familiar in consumer electronics with his avant-garde design of the popular "Aliph Jawbone" headset, so one can't really fault him for going back to that well for a limited edition. The special models are perhaps most noticeably … Read more