Wired writes that, “when it comes to the Internet, venture capitalists are facing the toughest investing environment in recent history. As companies become cheaper to launch, fewer entrepreneurs need the kind of cash infusions that VCs provide. And angel investors are encroaching on VCs’ turf by throwing more money at early-stage companies; in 2006, angels pumped a total of $26 billion into 51,000 startups, up from $18 billion in 2003. At the same time, large companies are snapping up Web businesses before these startups ever see a second or third round of funding.” However, “

[s]avvy VCs are finding ways to compete. One gambit: doling out perks to entrepreneurs. San Francisco-based Founders Fund, started by ex-PayPal CEO Peter Thiel, lets entrepreneurs trade some of their equity for cash, something they usually can’t do until their companies are purchased or go public. Other VCs are competing with angels by investing like them — with small amounts and at early stages.”

The Mercury News has a good article on California leading among U.S. “cyberstates,” reporting that “California’s high-tech industry continued to flex its muscles last year, adding more than 21,000 jobs and maintaining its place as the nation’s industry leader.” However, “[w]hile that was the good news” in the “cyberstates” study by the AeA (formerly the American Electronics Association), “the industry group worries that the United States is risking ‘an impending slide’ in global competitiveness unless Washington addresses a serious set of problems. Christopher Hansen, AeA president and chief executive, singled out ‘negligence on the part of our political leaders’ to invest in research, improve the U.S. education system and ‘allow the best and the brightest’ from around the world to work in the United States.”

The Register reveals that “[s]pammers have found a fertile new marketplace on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. The ‘wall’ feature on Facebook is being abused by spammers to post deceptive messages, linking to spam sites such as online ‘pharmacy’ shops. The tactic is similar to the long-standing link-spamming approach which involves posting misleading links to spamvertised sites on blogs and forums. […] Spambots on MySpam have recently begun using more sophisticated techniques, net security firm Websense reports. Malformed profiles are created in such a way that they hide all of the real MySpace profile areas. Surfers clicking on these expecting to view pictures or messages are instead met with content from spamvertised sites or worse.”

According to PC World, “[a] set of guidelines to help European ISPs and law enforcement agencies cooperate on cybercrime investigations are close to being complete. The guidelines are aimed at satisfying law enforcement’s need to quickly obtain data needed for investigations while also not unduly burdening ISPs (Internet service providers) or threatening subscribers’ right to privacy, said Alexander Seger, head of the economic crime division for the Council of Europe. Industry and government representatives are meeting Tuesday in Strasbourg, France, and hope to have a final draft ready by the conference’s end on Wednesday. The guidelines will be voluntary for ISPs and law enforcement, and intended to be a set of best practices to supplement a particular country’s existing laws against cybercrime. ISPs and police in any country will be encouraged to use the guidelines.”

In a different article, PC World reports that “Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) based on Intel’s Centrino Atom chip package will be available with Microsoft’s Windows operating system in addition to Linux, according to the chip maker. ‘The platform is going to be enabled for both Windows XP and Windows Vista,’ said Gary Willihnganz, director of marketing at Intel’s Ultra Mobility Group.”