Here’s the latest action:

Google’s search-within-search bugs some publishers — Apparently some folks such as the Washington Post aren’t looking too kindly on latest feature provided Google which lets people search within publications like the Post directly from Google. The feature, started earlier this month, lets you search for a publication on Google, for instance the Post or other sites like Wikipedia, The New York Times, and Wal-Mart, and then gives you a secondary search bar to search within those sites. Here’s the rub: If you search the Washington Post from that bar for say, “jobs,” you’ll see results for the Post’s employment pages, but also ads nearby for competing job sites like CareerBuilder and Monster.com. The NYT has the story.

Modu, a secretive company with a module that can be inserted into various wireless devices, raises $100 million — The Israeli company is expected to close the round within the “next few weeks,” according to the Globes, which also says the company is valued at a significant $150 million before the investment. The company has raised $20 million to date from Genesis Partners, Gemini Israel Funds, SanDisk and founder Dov Moran. The company hasn’t released many detail, but there’s a video here (or just see below).

Sun gets $44M contract from Pentagon’s DARPA to replace chip wires with laser beams –The wiring between processors on a chip is one of the biggest bottlenecks to increased efficiency in semiconductors. Sun has beat out Intel, IBM, MIT and HP on a government contract to figure out how to use silicon photonics, or light beams, to make chips faster and more efficient.

Will Fed make taxpayers pay more for Bear Stearns? — Shareholders of Bear Stearns, a third of which comprise Bear Stearns’ own employees, were so upset by the deal to bailout Bear Stearns at the low price of $2 per share that they’ve revolted and are pushing for a higher price of $10 per share. This is the bank that got caught up in the worst excesses of the subprime bubble, was apparently literally gambling while the ship sank and refused to participate in bailing out other companies (Long-Term Capital Management) in the past. So why would the Fed would and JPMorgan want to make taxpayers pay the higher price to bail these guys out?

Search arbitrage company Geosign disintegrates after receiving record $160M investment last year – The Canadian company’s saga shows the danger of trying to use an arbitrage strategy with Google’s ads. It was buying Google keywords and sending people to landing pages with Yahoo ads on them. When Google found out about the trick, it changed its terms and shut off Geosign’s ability to conduct its arbitrage. The company’s business model disintegrated. American Capital, the lead investor in the company last year, is looking pretty foolish. Why make an investment in a company that isn’t producing anything of sustainable value? We reported on the company here last year when it raised the money.

The X Prize Foundation offers $10 million to team that produces vehicles that can get 100 miles per gallon or more — Details here. The winning cars must carry four or more passengers and have climate control, an audio system and 10 cubic feet of cargo space. Qualifiers also must have four or more wheels, reach 100 mph, and reach 60 mph in 12 seconds, and have a range of 200 miles.

Battery companies LionCells and Seeo raise cash — Seeo, of Berkeley, Calif., has raised nearly $1 million in capital from Khosla Ventures, to make safe, high-density batteries. This comes after the company (which doesn’t have a web site) took in $1 million last year, according to a California regulatory document cited by VentureWire. Last month, another company, Menlo Park’s Lion Cells, whih makes high-power lithium ion batteries, raised approximately $12 million, according to the SEC. Battery Ventures and Nth Power participated in the second round, according to the filing.

GotVoice, the speech-to-text company, now wants to raise money too — Perhaps jolted by the announcement last week that competitor SpinVox raised $100 million in a carrier land-grab for its own speech-to-text technology, GotVoice is now saying it too wants to raise financing. To give it more time, the Kirkland, Wash. company has raised a $1.78 million a “bridge round” of funding to supplement the $3 million in raised in 2006 from Ignition and other individual investors, according to VentureWire.

Silicon Valley venture firm Morgenthaler Ventures raising funds — The venture capital firm is trying to raise another fund, totaling about $400 million, but VentureWire reports that its firm’s 2001 fund is below median in its performance and suggests investors are on the fence on the firm, founded in the 1960s.

NanoInk, a developer of tools used to write with nanoscale “ink” for medical and security purposes, has raised a round of $12 million, according to VentureWire (subscription required).

The company appears to have raised a large amount to date. The Medill School of Journalism reported that it has taken $50 million, although that may or may not have included the current round.

NanoInk is based in the Chicago area, with an office in Campbell, Calif. It was founded in 2001.

NanoInk, a developer of tools used to write with nanoscale “ink” for medical and security purposes, has raised a round of $12 million, according to VentureWire (subscription required).

The company appears to have raised a large amount to date. The Medill School of Journalism reported that it has taken $50 million, although that may or may not have included the current round.

NanoInk is based in the Chicago area, with an office in Campbell, Calif. It was founded in 2001.

Genesis Partners, an Israeli venture firm with ties to Silicon Valley, is raising $150 million for its fourth fund, according to Globes.

Most Genesis investments are in semiconductors and wireless technology. However, the company also funds some software firms, and was an investor in Kidaro, which was just sold to Microsoft.

Genesis Partners, an Israeli venture firm with ties to Silicon Valley, is raising $150 million for its fourth fund, according to Globes.

Most Genesis investments are in semiconductors and wireless technology. However, the company also funds some software firms, and was an investor in Kidaro, which was just sold to Microsoft.

Playlogic, a small game publisher headquartered in the Netherlands and with offices in New York, has taken a combined $3 million funding and $4 million venture loan from an unnamed investor.

The company makes games for several platforms, including Xyanide Resurrection on the PC, Dragon Hunters on the Nintendo DS, and Obscure 2 for the Wii.

It also took $12.3 million last November. Aside from receiving various private investments, Playlogic’s stock is also listed on the over-the-counter bulletin board.

Playlogic, a small game publisher headquartered in the Netherlands and with offices in New York, has taken a combined $3 million funding and $4 million venture loan from an unnamed investor.

The company makes games for several platforms, including Xyanide Resurrection on the PC, Dragon Hunters on the Nintendo DS, and Obscure 2 for the Wii.

It also took $12.3 million last November. Aside from receiving various private investments, Playlogic’s stock is also listed on the over-the-counter bulletin board.

REVShare, a Temecula, Calif.’ company that lets advertisers to bid for television time on a cost-per-action basis, has raised $20 million in a first round of funding.
The private equity firm Carlyle Group and H.I.G. Ventures co-led the round.

The auction/exchange model contrasts with the traditional method of charging based on projected audience size.

Founded in 1989, REVShare’s exchange allows advertisers to specify a price they are willing to pay per response (i.e. when someone is prompted to call a toll-free number or visit a website) and the air time is allocated according to return on investment. Under this system, stations are able to sell their inventory without revealing the effective rate of their ads, and advertisers are able to pay rates that are determined by a combination of market forces and response to their ads.

Here are the full details.

NeoScale Systems, a Silicon valley provider of data storage security products that ate through $44 million in venture backing, has shuttered.

NCipher, a “management specialist” company, has acquired the Milpitas, Calif.’ company’s assets for $1.95 million. The assets include NeoScale’s CryptoStor tape encryption product and KeyVault key management technology, but did not include the company’s disk encryption technology.

VentureBeat first heard about the closure of NeoScale from a source three weeks ago, and had been trying to confirm details with investors. The company’s representatives weren’t returning phone calls. Lead investors, including Atul Kapadia of Bay Partners, Wes Raffel from ATV, declined to comment. Lightspeed Venture Partners and Seven Rosen, the company’s two other investors, did not respond to a request for comment. The company faced plenty of competition, including from Decru, now owned by Network Appliance.

The sale to nCipher was made by Hercules Technology Growth Capital, which owned the assets after having offering a loan the company with preferential terms.

European shopping search engine Twenga has received €2.6 million from venture capital firm 3i, reports Techcrunch.

The site launched in the UK in early November, and it is translated into several European languages. Perhaps it has a fighting chance by launching in Europe, because the U.S. market is chock full of competitors, with sites like Yahoo, but also Shopping.com, Nextag, Shopzilla, The Find and a bunch of other startups from Bountii to Pricefight, Retrevo and SmartShopper.
The company says it has gotten 7 million visitors in November, but Techcrunch doesn’t report where that traffic comes from. Most young search engines buy their traffic by placing advertisements on places like Google, and drawing people with easy clicks. Also, no word on whether these are uniques.