Silicon Valley roundup: Khosla debunked?, Pincus censored, YouTube ain't that big, more

Here’s the latest news for Silicon Valley tech-money crowd:

The Dead 2.0 blog — In case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the Dead 2.0 blog, we’ve seen referenced a few times. It says we let Jobster off the hook.

Top Digg.com user going for $710 on eBay — The user, named Geekforlife, who is popular because he diggs stories that get to the top of the Digg homepage, has attracted 34 bids on eBay, and top bid is $710. His profile is here. He has submitted 748 Digg stories, 39 of which have made it to the Digg home page.

Nike’s Philip Knight donates record $105 million to Stanford’s business school — This donation is significant: It is the largest ever donation to a business school, and will expand what is arguably already the nation’s leading biz school (it is neck and neck with Harvard). The school is at the center of the valley’s ecosystem, producing business types who go on to run local start-ups, and enter the best venture firms. Knight conceived the idea for Nike in a Stanford small-business class in 1962 there. The biz school endowment last year was valued at $711.8 million.

WiFi on Silicon Valley’s Caltrain, from Millbrae and Palo Alto — Caltrain has successfully tested the mobile WiFi system, the first trial to do so. Here is the story, and the Merc’s follow-up today. Caltrain wants to open it to the public next year. It is on track to be the first large-scale mobile internet connection in the nation, with WiFi antennas in the Caltrain cars connecting with WiMax Internet towers along the route. Bad news for satellite technology: Caltrain scrapped plans to try out satellite technology, saying it was outdated.

Greg Reyes, ex-CEO drove Brocade, himself — Here is a noteworthy story about Greg Reyes, one of the first execs facing fraud charges because of option back-dating. Written by Michelle Quinn of the Merc, it provides good background on his very entrepreneurial Silicon Valley family.

Matrix latest venture firm to go to India — Matrix Partners, one of the more successful venture firms, with offices here and in Waltham, Mass, has raised a $150 million fund earmarked for investing into India, the firm told us yesterday. It is one of the first local firms to raise a separate fund to invest in India.

Canaan announces its first investment in India — Meanwhile, the race to scoop up the best ideas in the hot India market is on. The venture firm Canaan Partners told us yesterday it has joined Yahoo in making an $8.6 million investment in Bharat Matrimony, a 9-year-old Indian online matrimony service, the biggest in the world.

Other headlines:

Blog software company Six Apart tries to censor Mark Pincus, founder of Tribe — Bizarre post.

Habeas, a Mountain View provider of email accreditation and “reputation solutions,” raises $6 million — It is a Series B” funding, according to a regulatory filing. Return backers include Canaan Partners, Diamondhead Ventures and Skymoon Ventures. (via PE Week)

YouTube overtakes MySpace? — Such is the headline over at the Guardian, but you read the piece and you pause because of the fuzzy reporting. First, it uses Alexa data, which everyone knows is hugely flawed (it relies on data garnered from a subset of people who have downloaded a piece of software — mostly Website optimizers, who tend to frequent certain sites more than others). Second, the article says a price tag of $1 billion has been put on this company. No explanation, no citation. Who says? Sure, there are rumors, but shouldn’t we be confirming this stuff? (We see that Om has chimed in, showing vastly different stats. Thanks Om. Who said that mainstream media is more reliable than the blogs?)

DiVitas raises $15 million to allow easy switching between cellular and WiFi networks– The Mountain View-based DiVitas told us a couple of days ago it had raised the money in a second round led by Menlo Ventures.

Celiro, a secret San Jose developer of software for mobile phones, raises $550,000 — It is a first round of funding led by Draper Associates, according to a regulatory filing. (via PE Week)

Reality Digital, yet another online video site, grabs $2 million — from undisclosed investors.

4Home Media, a Saratoga software startup focused on “home automation,” raises $1.52 million — This part of a $2.86 million “Series A” round led by Pond Ventures, according to a regulatory filing. We couldn’t find a link, so this is another secretive company.

In case you didn’t see the story about San Jose college football player who allegedly used Craigslist to lure robbery victims — He’s been charged with 13 felony counts related to four June robberies.

Josh Kopelman, of First Round Capital, is trying to psyche out Sequoia — Check it out. Click on the audio file to see how if you a local directory assistance for Sequoia’s number, you’ll get an ad for First Round Capital!

Robert Rapier, an oil industry insider, attempts to debunk ventuer capitalist Vinod Khosla’s embrace of ethanol. Read it here. Khosla is out on vacation, but he responded to an email, saying he’ll respond when he “has a moment.” Get ready for a big one. Khosla is tenacious.

RFID company Alien, with the scary IPO prospectus — We wrote about Alien earlier, and now it has pulled its plans to go public.

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