BoomTown has been an unabashed fan of Pure Digital’s Flip digital video cameras since we debuted them at the D: All Things Digital conference in 2005.

And I have used the nifty device on this site since for my shaky-tastic video extravaganzas.

Yes, Pure Digital’s CEO Jonathan Kaplan (pictured above) is to blame!

Now, Kaplan has gone and sold Flip off to Cisco (CSCO) for $590 million in stock.

Sources said that Pure Digital–this corporate name will go by the wayside, by the way–had also chittered-chatted with Sony (SNE) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) about such a possibility.

That’s pretty good company for Pure Digital, considering it started as a white-label product, shrink-wrapped for theme parks and drugstores.

But the simplicity of its line of relatively inexpensive cameras, including the recently released Mino (seen below, and also sold in a high-definition version), has made it a huge consumer success, which is no easy task in the devices arena.

With Flip software, a user can plug the unit into a USB port of a computer to upload digital video easily. Flip models cost anywhere from $100 to $299.

Spot-on simplicity and a no-brainer feel have made them into the most popular such devices around, and in a very short time.

But, although it got $68.2 million in funding since its founding in 2001, taking all that innovation and success and truly turning it into a global brand was a much longer and more expensive slog for the San Francisco start-up.

Hence, a sale to the bigs.

Pure Digital is probably a good fit for Cisco, which has been trying to turbocharge its consumer-focused business, especially in home networking, and the move is a clear step in that direction.

In the integration, Cisco has made the Flip team part of ypuCisco’s Consumer Business group, and Kaplan will become general manager of the combined organization.

What comes next for Flip could be interesting, including the addition of social-networking and streaming features, which would dovetail well with Cisco’s other investments in consumer networking.

But most of all, it’s a nice ending to a very sharp company that makes a great product. Introducing a new consumer electronics device into the world is no small task and, clearly, Flip deserves the much bigger stage it is set to get.

Here’s my video interview with Kaplan, about Flip’s history and future:

Pure Digital, the maker of the popular Flip digital video cameras, has sold itself to Cisco (CSCO) for $590 million in stock.

The deal, which had been rumored last week by TechCrunch, was announced this morning by Cisco.

The innovative San Francisco-based start-up has made it big from its modest roots as a white-label digital video camera shrink-wrapped for themes parks and drug stores.

But the simplicity of its line of relatively inexpensive cameras, including the recently released Mino HD, has made it a huge consumer success, which is no easy task in the devices arena.

Using its own software, a user can plug the Flip into a USB port of computer to upload digital video easily. Flip models cost anywhere from $100 to $299.

Cisco has been trying to turbocharge its consumer-focused business, especially in home networking, and the move is a clear step in that direction. It is better known for its business making hardware and software that powers the plumbing of the Web.

Although it used stock in buying Pure Digital, Cisco has a $29 billion pile of cash. Recently, I wrote a piece about how a lot of tech companies, with big hordes of money, will soon be buying up a lot of the most promising tech start-ups.

The first commercially-branded Flips were, in fact, introduced at the third D: All Things Digital conference in 2005 by CEO Jonathan Kaplan (pictured here at D3.)

In an email to BoomTown this morning, Kaplan was happy with the outcome, because no matter its success, taking Flip to the next level is not easy:

“We’re thrilled by the partnership. Cisco shares my vision for capturing and sharing simple, accessible, and high-quality video to the mass-market consumer. Now we can deliver that ideal on a global basis.”

Cisco said that “upon the close of the acquisition, the Pure Digital team will become part of Cisco’s Consumer Business Group, which includes Linksys® by Cisco® home networking, audio and media-storage products. Kaplan will become general manager of the combined organization,” reporting to Ned Hooper, SVP of Corporate Development and Consumer Groups.

He and his team will also get a $15 million in retention-based equity incentives.

The sale to Cisco is a big win financially overall. Pure Digital got another $40 million in additional funding in mid-2007, from investors Morgan Stanley Principal Investment, Heights Capital Management and AllianceBernstein, who joined initial investors Sequoia Capital and Benchmark Capital.

It had previously gotten $28 million in 2004 from Sequoia and Benchmark, as well as Crescendo Ventures, Steamboat Ventures and Focus Ventures. It was founded with $200,000 in seed funding in 2001.

And, more to the point, Flip cameras have been used by me for nefarious interviewing of scared Web execs since our site’s launch. In fact, I have been so bizarrely enamored with the Flip that I even did a video of my many old Flips meeting the new high-definition Mino last November.

Here is that Felliniesque effort:

And here’s the full press release from Cisco about the deal:

Cisco Announces Intent to Acquire Pure Digital Technologies, Makers of Flip VideoTM Networking Leader Adds Popular Flip Video Solutions to Consumer Portfolio Photos

SAN JOSE, Calif.–March. 19, 2009–Cisco today announced its intent to acquire privately held Pure Digital Technologies Inc. San Francisco-based Pure Digital, creator of the best-selling Flip VideoTM brand, is a pioneer in developing consumer-friendly video solutions with mass-market appeal.

“The acquisition of Pure Digital is key to Cisco’s strategy to expand our momentum in the media-enabled home and to capture the consumer market transition to visual networking,” said Ned Hooper, senior vice president of Cisco’s Corporate Development and Consumer Groups. “Pure Digital has revolutionized the way people capture and share video with Flip Video. This acquisition will take Cisco’s consumer business to the next level as the company develops new video capabilities and drives the next generation of entertainment and communication experiences.”

Pure Digital’s Flip Video has sold more than 2 million units and quickly demonstrated market appeal in the United States by making video simple, accessible and fun. All Flip Video products come equipped with FlipShare, a best-in-class software that allows users to easily organize and edit videos and then share them instantly on YouTube, MySpace and other popular sharing Web sites.

“Flip Video puts the power to instantly capture, edit and share video into the hands of everyday consumers,” said Jonathan Kaplan, chairman and CEO of Pure Digital. “By combining forces with Cisco, we join a company that shares our passion for video and whose global scale and tremendous technology expertise we expect will enable us to quickly expand and enrich the Flip Video experience.”

Upon the close of the acquisition, the Pure Digital team will become part of Cisco’s Consumer Business Group, which includes Linksys® by Cisco® home networking, audio and media-storage products. Kaplan will become general manager of the combined organization, reporting to Hooper.

The Pure Digital acquisition exemplifies Cisco’s “build, buy and partner” innovation strategy to move quickly into new markets and capture key market transitions. Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco will pay approximately $590 million in stock in exchange for all shares of Pure Digital. In addition, Cisco will provide up to $15 million in retention-based equity incentives for continuing employees. The acquisition is subject to various standard closing conditions and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2009. The acquisition will be accounted for in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

As you might know from Katherine Boehret’s review of Pure Digital Technologies’ newest Flip today, there is now a high-definition version of the popular digital video camera.

Boehret mostly liked the new $230 Flip MinoHD, noting:

If you’re in the market for a simple camcorder that records high-quality video, the Flip MinoHD is definitely worth $50 more than the regular Flip Mino. But don’t say I didn’t warn you so when you’re bummed out by the screen’s still-small size and its inability to share true HD footage via the FlipShare software.”

Walt Mossberg and I demoed San Francisco-based Pure Digital’s first effort at our third D: All Things Digital in 2005.

And BoomTown has been using some version of the Flip for the column’s videos since the site started almost two years ago to make our jiggly masterpieces about the tech scene.

Thus, here is a video where my old Flips meet the newest digital video recorder in town:

On Wednesday, an always worthwhile Internet-focused conference, the annual Web 2.0 Summit, kicks off in San Francisco.

The lineup for the three-day event is particularly good this year and it is also a perfect time to take the temperature of the Internet’s movers and shakers, given all the hubbub of late with the weak economy. (BoomTown will thus be there with the trusty–and shaky–Flip video, chronicling it all for future generations.)

Speakers will include bicycle champ Lance Armstrong, Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Jerry Yang, former VP Al Gore, Google.org head Larry Brilliant, Paul Otellini of Intel (INTC) and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, among others, chattering away on a wide range of topics. (You can see the full schedule here.)

There’s also, of course, a passel of parties, including one on Thursday night thrown by MySpace Music. And it will–shades of Web 1.0!–feature an exclusive performance by Lionel Richie (and also DJ AM).

I am, I shall admit it and without irony, a closet fan of Richie. And why not, with so much infectious fluff to choose: “Hello,” “Say You, Say Me,” “Three Times a Lady.”

Most importantly, I will be curious to see if there will be “Dancing on the Ceiling” among the beaten-down start-up crowd. (See that music video below and ponder exactly why you know you know each and every word to that funkadelic song.)

Hosted by Tim O’Reilly and John Battelle, the Web 2.0 Summit is called “Web Mets World” this year. By that, BoomTown is inferring that its organizers think it is time for the Internet to grow up. But why don’t we let them speak:

The commercial web is now a teenager—it’s been fifteen short years since Marc Andreessen released the Mosaic browser. To put this in perspective, television as a commercial medium reached its fifteenth birthday in 1956—the year Elvis Presley made his first appearance on national TV…as we pondered the theme for this year, one clear signal has emerged: our conversation is no longer just about the Web. Now is the time to ask how the Web—its technologies, its values, and its culture—might be tapped to address the world’s most pressing limits. Or put another way—and in the true spirit of the Internet entrepreneur—its most pressing opportunities.”

And, of course, here’s Lionel:

(Also, while there is only a 54 percent chance of being lectured to by the Big Brains of Google, there is a 100 percent chance of both free comic books and tasty organic snacks!)

And Chrome, the shiny code name of the project, which has stuck as the brand name, will also be going out to the world at large–100 countries, that is–right after that.

BoomTown is bringing the trusty Flip video camera to make some Silicon Valley memories, and will render a full report about what’s what.

But until then, I have decided to forgo writing the expected long, long, long, long what-the-new-Google-browser-represents-for-geekkind thumbsucker.

Instead, here is my three-part short version about Google’s new piece of open-source software to navigate the Internet, using my favored cultural references:

1.) Google=Red cape and and way too many picador lances. Microsoft=Really angry bull (not at all flower-sniffing Ferdinand-like).

2.) Remember “War Games” and the then-cute Matthew Broderick as teen nerd David Lightman, playing Global Thermonuclear War with the supercomputer called Joshua, and then being told the consequences of that by head government techie John McKittrick (Dabney Coleman)?

If not, here’s some dialog from the movie that is now apt, if you imagine Google (GOOG) as David and Microsoft (MSFT) as Joshua:

McKittrick: See that sign up here–up here. “Defcon.” That indicates our current defense condition. It should read “Defcon 5,” which means peace. It’s still on 4 because of that little stunt you pulled. Actually, if we hadn’t caught it in time, it might have gone to Defcon 1. You know what that means, David?
David Lightman: No. What does that mean?
McKittrick: World War Three.

3.) And, last, if Google’s Chrome browser does not take off on all the hot-air hype, isn’t outstanding as a product and does not make a substantial dent in Microsoft’s overwhelming market share in the browser market, I’d point to one of the best opening lines from “Sunset Boulevard”–the one with Joe Gillis (William Holden) narrating about himself post-mortem as a floating corpse:

“The poor dope–he always wanted a pool. Well, in the end, he got himself a pool.”

Well, Google has got itself an Olympic-sized pool now!

We kid! Google’s in no danger of foundering, given that its search business still dominates, and quite profitably, of course.

But for all the halo of that, Google has never had any other similar true home run with any of the other products it has released so far.

And to portray Chrome as a Windows killer–which some are quite incorrectly doing–is not the kind of image Google should encourage.

Nonetheless, with this move, the search giant has certainly stepped into the spotlight more than it ever has (and this is a company that–let’s be honest–never misses a chance to frolic and show off in that spotlight).

So, with these loftier ambitions, I think it is fair to say that this time Google had better be ready to actually perform better than Michael Phelps.

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

BoomTown was blogging so manically from the Yahoo annual meeting, which took place in San Jose on Friday, I plum forgot to load up the video I did there.

No video was allowed inside the meeting or anywhere near it, by the way. So rather than getting beaten senseless by the squads of purple-clad Yahoo (YHOO) minions of CEO Jerry Yang, I decided to pocket my Flip camera for part of it.

But, afterwards, I did a very interesting interview with shareholder activist Eric Jackson, who has been beating on Yahoo for awhile.

To no avail, for now. As it turned out, Yang and the Yahoo board sailed out of the meeting pretty much intact, despite all the hubbub of this past year, from the company’s weakened performance to the full-frontal bid attack by Microsoft (MSFT).

Here is the video (and apologies for saying “board” meeting in several places in the video, rather than “annual” meeting):

Also, here are my liveblogging posts from the meeting, in time order:

BoomTown Liveblogging From Yahoo Annual Meeting in San Jose!

Liveblogging From Yahoo Annual Meeting: Empty Chairs and No Power

Liveblogging From Yahoo Annual Meeting: Tim Koogle Returns!

Liveblogging From Yahoo Annual Meeting: Bostock Defends Microsoft Dealmaking (Or Lack Thereof)

Liveblogging From Yahoo Annual Meeting: Yangtastic!

Liveblogging From Yahoo Annual Meeting: Shareholder Q&A!

Yahoo Shareholder Vote: Old Board Stays Put (While AOL Makes Another Boneheaded Move!)