This week’s viral video is for filmmaker Michael Moore’s latest, which takes direct aim at the banking bailout.

Here’s a picture of Moore, from his Web site, trying–in his usual annoy-security manner–to get into Goldman Sachs (GS).

Called “Save Our CEOs,” the teaser for the movie notes: “This time it’s personal.”

Well, Moore is always pretty much personal, so slapping around Wall Street and the politicians responsible for the econalypse should be interesting, to say the least.

Here’s the video:

Last year, Yahoo EVP Hilary Schneider and then-Media Group head Scott Moore had a summery seaside dinner with Demand Media co-founder and CEO Richard Rosenblatt (pictured here) in Santa Monica, Calif., right around the corner from the online publishing company’s HQ.

While many speculated that Yahoo (YHOO) could be doing some friendly kibitzing to get a sense of where the eclectic network of general- and special-interest sites was headed, for a possible acquisition, nothing came of it.

That’s because at the time, Rosenblatt insisted that he was aiming to eventually take his company public and Yahoo was in the midst of ongoing corporate turmoil.

“There is a lot of potential here and I want to build a big company for the long-term,” said Rosenblatt in an interview with BoomTown last July (see video below).

But, as my post noted: “Still, at some point when Yahoo is not in the free fall it is currently in, Demand might make a great purchase for Yahoo.”

And now, a year later, as new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz works to stop that slide, several sources close to the company tell me another look-see at Demand is likelier than ever.

That’s underscored with recent indications that a major strategy will finally follow through on making Yahoo’s massive but disparate service more social, especially its content offerings.

But would Bartz go as far as making a big buy now or would she be more likely to strike a massive partnership with Demand, from which Yahoo could learn a lot?

Such an acquisition could cost anywhere from $1.5 billion to–as was floated last year in better times–$3 billion. In addition, if Demand was to engage in more serious talks with Yahoo, there would likely be other suitors.

As costly as that is, some sort of link-up with Demand is an interesting idea, especially since Yahoo could use a bold and definitive move to signal social goals that play to its strengths and are not a copycat of more powerful social-networking sites now in place.

At a Morgan Stanley (MS) conference last month, Bartz said, for example, that “I do not believe we can invent the next Facebook,” while noting Yahoo still needed to be more social throughout the service, especially in its content.

And, just yesterday, a Reuters article about that focus was titled: “Yahoo’s Plan: Create Community from Isolated Sites.”

Said the article: “If [Yahoo co-founder David] Filo and new CEO Carol Bartz have their way, the kinds of social networking features available on Facebook will become part of many Yahoo websites and allow their users to network with each other without using Facebook. The company hopes the strategy will help link its disparate properties, bringing more advertising dollars and growth.”

And that’s just at the heart of Demand Media, which dubs itself the “leader in social media.”

Demand was founded in 2006 by Rosenblatt and Shawn Colo, who raised a giant pool of funding–$355 million–from gold-plated investors like Goldman Sachs (GS), Oak Investment Partners and even a private investment from major Yahoo investor Gordon Crawford.

Getting that kind of backing was due to Rosenblatt’s entrepreneurial track record.

As founder, chairman and CEO, he sold iMALL to Excite@Home for $425 million in a 1999 stock swap.

And, perhaps most famously, as CEO of Intermix Media, Rosenblatt sold it with the company’s crown jewel, MySpace, to News Corp. (NWS) for $580 million in cash.

Then, Rosenblatt started Demand, which takes user-generated content of all kinds and on all kinds of topics–especially via video–from an army of freelancers and leverages it into massive traffic that it monetizes.

Demand is also the one of the bigger suppliers of video to YouTube, which it also monetizes.

And, through the acquisition of Pluck, the company also laces social-networking tools throughout the sites, as well as for many well-known third parties.

All this has given Demand upward of 70 million unique visitors per month, at sites like eHow and GolfLink.com, with about $150 million in annual revenue.

And–drum roll please–it is reportedly profitable, although how much is not clear.

While he has long maintained a public offering was on the horizon, despite the weak economy, Rosenblatt has also been interested in the idea of how to revive major players like Yahoo and Time Warner (TWX) online unit AOL.

Both have been struggling, but still have massive traffic and brand recognition, along with large advertising businesses.

And in many ways, the energetic Rosenblatt is just the kind of product-centric and visionary exec Yahoo lacks, despite Bartz’s clear ability to get the company’s management ducks in order.

What could be even more interesting, said one source, would be to marry Yahoo and Demand with a lot of what is going on with the publishing of niche sites at AOL’s MediaGlow content unit, in a giant publishing network.

Ironically, AOL was another acquisition target of Yahoo, in yet another deal that did not pan out last year.

Here’s the interview with Rosenblatt at Demand Media HQ last year:

BoomTown always enjoys chatting with the always sunny Loïc Le Meur of Seesmic (and will, in fact, be appearing at his Paris-based digital conference in December, called Le Web).

But I am not quite sure what to make of his big, happy smile that was in this picture above (click in the image to make it larger), which went with a story in the New York Times about start-ups cutting costs.

In fact, the whole Seesmic crew is grinning awfully hard, putting a very game face on recent layoffs that cut the staff at the video blog service by more than a third.

Money–or, more accurately, non-money–quote from the Times piece:

“To preserve cash, many tech start-ups are rushing to lay off employees and cut expenses. They are shelving their dreams of Google-size riches and getting small, humble and thrifty, all with the more modest goal of surviving the coming economic winter.”

In a less puritan mode, Seesmic raised $6 million in May from a bunch of high-profile angels, of $12 million total.

They include LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, former AOL head Steve Case, SoftTech VC Jeff Clavier, entrepreneur Mark Pincus, former Goldman Sachs analyst Michael Parekh, entrepreneur Ariel Poler, investor Ron Conway, FON founder Martin Varsavsky and an investment group called Atomico founded by Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis. Tech bloggers Jeff Pulver, Michael Arrington and Dan Gillmor have also invested.

Now, Le Meur is trying to stretch his dollars in the economic downturn, spurred by venture capitalists who have been pressing entrepreneurs like him to do so.

“If I can’t make this work in three years it will be a failure,” Mr. Le Meur said to the Times. “If I can and I get through this, it will be much stronger.”

In other words, what doesn’t kill us …

C’est la vie in Silicon Valley!

But in more bon-vivant times, back in February, I did a video post on my happier visit to Seesmic’s San Francisco HQ.

(Note: Many in the video are no longer at Seesmic and neither are the shows discussed, as well as the now-defunct Web 2.0 sentiments about growth without revenue.)

Here’s the video:

Image Credit: Jim Wilson/New York Times

When I was in Los Angeles recently, I stopped by the Santa Monica offices of Demand Media, the network of social networking sites and apps maker, because of the rumors that I had heard swirling around that Yahoo was looking to purchase it for up to $2 billion.

Such a major deal seemed to me to be a rash one for Yahoo (YHOO) to make at this point, due to its current turmoil, as it seeks to find ways to socialize its massive content and communications assets more quickly.

As it turned out, reports of that possibility were greatly exaggerated, mostly due to a dinner that top Yahoo execs Hilary Schneider and Scott Moore had with its founder and CEO Richard Rosenblatt the very night I was visiting, which was not treated like a secret in any way whatsoever.

(I called Moore and Schneider, in fact, to tell them Rosenblatt would be late due to our interview, and I am guessing they would not have picked up for me if they were in the midst of prepping a big offer.)

Rosenblatt played down the idea of any Yahoo offer on the record, noting he was not interested in selling at this point anyway.

“There is a lot of potential here and I want to build a big company for the long-term,” said Rosenblatt, who has sold several. And while IPO plans are not in the near future, one imagines Demand could work toward that.

And Yahoo sources confirm that there has been no offer floated.

But there is no question that Schneider, who just took over all U.S. operations at Yahoo, is very interested in partnering in a significant way with Demand, because it has built a profitable company that creates a plethora of ad-impression-generating social networks of all kinds.

The bigger Demand sites are eHow, and Livestrong, a health-oriented site in partnership with famous cyclist Lance Armstrong.

The company also has a major domain registry business and recently acquired Pluck, which powers social networking features on many other sites, such as the Washington Post.

So far, gold-plated investors like Goldman Sachs (GS), Oak Investment Partners–and even a private investment from major Yahoo investor Gordon Crawford–have poured almost $400 million into the company.

Nonetheless, some wonder whether the patchwork of sites–many of which get content from other Demand sites, along with its many other disparate businesses–adds up to a multi-billion-dollar valuation quite yet.

Still, at some point when it is not in the free fall it is currently in, Yahoo might make a great purchase for Demand.

And it could certainly use the dose of energy from the ebullient Rosenblatt–who came from a paparazzi-clogged lunch with Armstrong, his latest squeeze Kate Hudson and her mother, Goldie Hawn, right before our chat.

And, in fact, Rosenblatt, who was former CEO of Intermix, which owned MySpace (Rosenblatt was chairman) and sold it to to News Corp. (NWS)–the owner of Dow Jones and All Things Digital–might indeed be the kind of bold, swing-for-the-fences exec Yahoo needs to reinvent itself.

But, as you will see in this long video interview below, he has some interesting ideas about where he can take the start-up first.

Here’s the video:

Recently, while I was at a conference in Los Angeles, I caught up with Veoh Founder Dmitry Shapiro.

BoomTown will be focusing a lot on online video this year and Veoh is one of the several online video-sharing sites–a group of smaller players that includes sites like Joost, Hulu, Dailymotion, Vimeo and others that I like to call not-YouTube.

But there are pluses to not being the Google-owned (GOOG) video behemoth, in that major entertainment companies who want to figure out how to put their content online aren’t wondering all day long whether to hug or sue you (or both if you are Sumner Redstone).

Today, for example, the Los Angeles-based Veoh announced that the ABC (DIS) television network would put full episodes of its hot prime-time shows–such as “Ugly Betty” (love it) and “Desperate Housewives” (not so much)–up on the site on a non-exclusive basis.

While Veoh has a lot of short, user-generated material, it has also made a push to get more professional material from big media companies like CBS (CBS)–which wins kudos for being the most promiscuous of networks–on its service.

Interestingly in this deal, media connections seem at play here: Disney-owned ABC is giving over content to Veoh, which has former Disney poobah Michael Eisner as one of its principal investors.

The traffic-type deal is typical–Veoh gets paid to send audience to ABC’s site or gets it to use ABC’s really nice player, and ABC tries to monetize it. Veoh currently says it has 28 million unique monthly visitors.

Of course, Veoh is also trying to figure out that nettlesome monetization issue that all online video sites face, which centers on building audience with the attractive big media content and then getting them to watch other ad-supported fare on its site.

But, as with all video sites, it is still in the early stages and, thus, Veoh got another tidy pile of new funding just two weeks ago to help it muddle through.

That would be $30 million more to add to the kitty of about $40 million previously raised.

Along with existing investors–Shelter Capital Partners, Spark Capital, Goldman Sachs (GS), Eisner’s Tornante Company, Tom Freston’s Firefly3, Time Warner (TWX) Investments and Jonathan Dolgen–Veoh’s latest round included Intel Capital, Adobe Systems (ADBE) and also media and tech investor Gordon Crawford.

I talked to Shapiro, who now serves as Veoh’s chief innovation officer, about the money and more here:

Called “The Comeback Id” (oh, how pun-ny!), the article has gotten a lot of attention for pointing out the rampant speculation that Clinton’s well-known penchant for marital infidelity had returned.

And the reason for that disturbing development, besides Clinton himself? The piece actually placed a good bit of the blame on Clinton’s close friend, grocery magnate and billionaire Ron Burkle (pictured here), who also has been one of the key directors at Yahoo (YHOO) in its takeover fight with Microsoft (MSFT).

It’s a wonder Burkle can focus on the turmoil at Yahoo, given how busy he appears to be in the article corrupting Clinton both personally and–worse–professionally, via some questionable investments the pair had made through Burkle’s Yucaipa Companies.

Writer Todd Purdum paints a decidedly unattractive picture of Burkle, noting even the tasteless nickname of Burkle’s plane these days, in a portrayal so rough that Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang’s tough treatment by the press recently looks like a walk in the park.

Well, almost.

In what amounts to a rant by Carl Icahn (pictured here), The Wall Street Journal gives the billionaire investor lots of room to kvetch about what he thinks of Yang, including asserting that he will oust the Yahoo founder if he wins his proxy fight against the company.

“I am amazed at the lengths that Jerry Yang and the board went to entrench themselves in this situation,” said Icahn.

Apparently, Icahn was the only one who didn’t get the memo that Yahoo has been consistently obstreperous about Microsoft’s many overtures, since–well, let’s do the exact calculations–forever. And a day.

Still, Icahn perseveres and hangs this old entrenched management chestnut on a lawsuit that was recently filed by shareholders that points to the massive and costly severance plan Yahoo sneakily put into place as a ploy to fend off Microsoft.

“It’s no longer a mystery to me why Microsoft’s offer isn’t around,” Icahn said. “How can Yahoo keep saying they’re willing to negotiate and sell the company on the one hand, while at the same time they’re completely sabotaging the process without telling anyone.”

How? By Yang opening his mouth, that’s how, and then doing nothing much.

As a student of this lugubrious style of Olympic dithering, I would point Icahn to Yang’s 100-day Sacred Cow VisionQuest, well before this soap opera got started.

You need to catch up pronto, Carl!

And speaking of people irked by Yang of late, investor Gordon Crawford (pictured here) also made some news yesterday with his investment in Veoh Networks, part of a $30 million round that included Intel Capital and Adobe Systems (ADBE).

Existing investors in the not-YouTube video service–Shelter Capital, Spark Capital, Goldman Sachs (GS), Michael Eisner’s Tornante Company, Time Warner Investments (TWX) and Jonathan Dolgen–also ponied up more money.

Crawford, the SVP of Capital Research Global Investors, manages a massive portfolio, and it is one of Yahoo’s biggest shareholders.

And, unlike Veoh, Yahoo is an investment Crawford has not been happy with recently.

“I am extremely angry at Jerry Yang and at the so-called independent board,” he said in an interview a month ago. “I’m hoping that there is such an outpouring of outrage that the board is embarrassed into revisiting this thing, but I’m not optimistic about that.”

And by independent board, by the way, he meant directors like–you guessed it–Ron Burkle!

At least Burkle’s not to blame for the so-so, lots-and-lots-missing–Google? What Google? (GOOG)–piece in the same Vanity Fair issue, an oral history of the Internet.

Called “How the Web Was Won,” it makes the founding of the world’s most important medium seem awfully dull.

I’d recommend instead–as any sentient being would–the cover story on Angelina Jolie, with this sharp quote from her: “In my father’s generation, the product was 80% of what you were putting into the world, and your personal life was 20%. It now seems that 80% of the product I put out is silly, made-up stories and what I’m wearing.”

Or not wearing, in the case of the pictures of Jolie in this article.

While the group met with polite audiences, most investors I talked to were unenthusiastic about the plan and dubious that Yahoo’s blue-sky hopes would come through. “I think we wanted to give Jerry a hearing, but mostly to save face,” said one investor, in a sentiment that was typical.

What Yahoo (YHOO) was selling, of course, has been a plea for time from shareholders and a way to signal Microsoft (MSFT)–which made an unsolicited bid for the company in the beginning of February–that a price rise was needed to complete the deal. In addition, so far, no alternative offers have panned out.

Thus, last week, Yahoo released information about its future prognosis, saying there would be no surprises for 2008 off guidance, strong gains in revenue and cash flow for 2009 and 2010 and a resulting share price closer to $40, $9 above the original $31 a share–the cash-and-stock offer is actually now worth about $29.50–offered by Microsoft. (See chart.)

Interesting, Microsoft has been unusually silent on Yahoo’s growth predictions, which to me signals: Unimpressed, not inclined to raise its price and increasingly bored waiting for the inevitable call to negotiate.

But that call, I think, will now have to happen–even though I would bet my precious “Beverly Hills 90210″ pilot episode DVD (seen here!) that Microsoft’s Morgan Stanley (MS) bankers and Yahoo’s Goldman Sachs (GS) bankers have been secretly communicating for a while now.

(Morgan to Goldman: “Ignore what the left hand is doing–it will stop gesticulating wildly soon and we can begin bargaining and collect our big fat fees!”)

So do others: “I now give it 14 days,” said one person who has experience in merger back-and-forth Kabuki dances. “There are no more moves to delay this, although you have to give Yahoo credit for its efforts.”

Extra credit even! But is that all there is?

Some at Yahoo do not agree. One person close to the company noted that Yahoo’s situation is like that of financial software maker Intuit (INTU), which was not bought by the software giant in 1994.

“Remember what happened to their deal with Microsoft?” said the person.

Actually, I do. After a lot of behind-the-scenes pressure from Microsoft, Intuit Founder and CEO Scott Cook struck a deal with Microsoft’s Bill Gates in which the company got a 40% premium, or $1.5 billion in Microsoft stock.

That deal was only scuttled, when the Justice Department stepped in and threatened to file suit to stop the union.

Thus, Yahoo’s only hope is the Justice Department, defanged under the Bush administration and with the existence of a major online rival like Google (GOOG) to point to as competition?

It could happen, I guess. But, I would have to say: Count me dubious.

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

Even with Abu Dhabi buying up shares of tech firms like Advanced Micro Devices and the bubbly euphoria in Silicon Valley’s Web 2.0 sector, the tech picture is getting less pretty, according to a report by Barron’s Eric Savitz on the downgrading of software stocks by Goldman Sachs.

Noting a softening in capital spending, Savitz quotes Goldman’s report that said, “with software a typically back-end loaded sale, if there is any concern on budgets in the early part of 2008, we would expect CIOs to hold off their purchases until later in the year.”

So Goldman cut estimates slightly on Adobe, Autodesk, BEA, BMC, CA, Check Point, Citrix, Cognos, CommVault, Informatica, Macrovision, McAfee, Oracle, Quest Software, Red Hat, RightNow, SAP, Secure Computing, Symantec and Tibco.

Could ad-supported or commerce-driven Web sites be next? To say nothing of the spate of pre-revenue–our kind way of saying none to speak of–Web 2.0 start-ups.