SFGate.com reveals that, according to a survey released Tuesday by the University of San Francisco, “

[c]onfidence among local venture capitalists has plunged to its lowest level since 2004.  Concern about a possible recession, weakness in the stock market and tight credit since the subprime mortgage crisis has caused venture capitalists to question how quickly they’ll be able to take their companies public or sell them during the next six to 18 months.   The result could be less money to invest in new companies. And that could mean fewer companies and ultimately fewer jobs for Silicon Valley, said Mark Cannice, a professor at USF’s school of business and management.”

There is some good news as well.  The New York Times reports that “[f]ederal regulators are about to ease rules that have made it difficult for small and medium-size publicly traded companies to raise money. The changes, experts say, are well timed, given the tightening credit market.  The revisions in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Rule 144, which governs the sale of so-called restricted securities, affect companies with annual revenues of less than $700 million, and take effect on Feb.  […]  Under the changes, which were approved by the commission on Nov. 15 and are retroactive, the investors must wait only six months to sell the securities, and can part with them all at once.  ‘The changes will likely make private placements by smaller publicly traded companies much more attractive to investors,’ said David Danovitch, a partner at the Manhattan law firm of Gersten Savage who specializes in securities laws.  ‘When the credit markets tighten people run to the equity markets, and now it should be easier for companies that are starved for cash to tap into them.’”

According to Internetnews.com, “[t]he United States topped a new ranking that measures how well countries use telecommunications technologies — networks, mobile phones and computers — to boost their social and economic prosperity. Sweden and Japan were also ranked high in the study.”  However, “[t]he study said the top-ranking United States, which has benefited the most from ICT, was rated below 7 out of 10, mostly due to weak usage of vast broadband networks, indicating room for improvement exists for all countries.”

The International Herald Tribune writes that Bruce Gosper, the Australian ambassador to the World Trade Organization “is likely to be named chairman of its General Council, according to officials and diplomats.”

Venture Beat today has an interesting article on TellyTopia, “a secretive Silicon Valley startup that claims it can help give cable television providers superior delivery of their content in the face of increased user generated content from places like YouTube.”