receives

So much for the idea of a second Second Life.  Lively, launched by Google this July, has already been deemed something of a failure, and the search giant's issued a notice that it will more or less kill the collection of virtual rooms at the end of December.

Enquisite, Inc., a developer and provider of the next generation of search analytics solutions, today announced that it has secured $3.2 million in Series A funding. The investment was led by Jeff Webber, Managing Director of The Entrepreneurs Fund III, a Silicon Valley based, early stage venture fund focused on Web 2.0 Software startups.

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s “buzz targeting” advertising announcement from YouTube, the video hosting service has another feature announcement. Back in March, YouTube began offering free stats to video owners about the popularity of their videos.

Lots of fun with Dilbert and Web 2.0 thanks to a site update gives visitors the ability to rearrange and rewrite the foibles of everyone's favorite cubicle dweller.

Amazon.com is a decent place to shop for books, CDs, or whatever else you like.  It's also a good site to read reviews, even if you do your buying elsewhere.  But the company has once again embarrassed itself by receiving an obvious patent.

It would have been more fitting (in terms of alliteration) if FiveRuns had gotten around $5 million in funding.  Instead, the company, which works with Ruby on Rails, did especially well and took in $6.2 million.

When it comes to financial matters, I like to play it safe.  Bubble Boy-safe.  So the concept of a wiki for investors makes me a little nervous.  But Wikinvest apparently inspired enough confidence in some onlookers to win $2.5 million in funding.

More pressing, I think, than the question of how much wood a woodchuck can chuck is the matter of how many social networks the World Wide Web can withstand.  It seems we’re rapidly approaching the point at which there’ll be one per person.  And with a fresh $4.25 million in its pocket, Ripl may soon be ready to contribute to the crowding.