Here's Red Herring's take on b5's venture capital deal.

Funding: $2M

Description: A blogging network with more than 150 different blogs to its name

Investors: Brightspark Ventures and JLA Ventures

The Herring Take: At first, it looks like B5Media’s missed the boat. The world of blogging is a tough, active marketplace, and B5Media—at first glance—looks no different than a bevy of other blog portals that already command a great deal of attention. Basically, what’s so different about B5Media?

For starters, B5Media has a bit of a pop appeal—like blogger Scott Goldblatt, the first Olympian to blog from the 2004 Olympics in Athens. The site also features new topical blogs on a fairly frequent basis, so there’s always something new to take a look at. And these sites are noted directly on the front page; instead of hunting for new information, users get it presented to them.

With over 130 blogs, 1.5 million unique, monthly visitors, and more than 20 million total page views, B5Media is clearly doing something right. It will be interesting to see how the site uses its newfound cash to expand its foothold in the marketplace. The blogosphere certainly seems excited.

Mark Cuban really doesn't like the idea of Google buying YouTube. His latest rant, which not surprisingly includes the word "moronic", hammers the point that YouTube's appeal is largely based on its ability to offer unlicensed content - a gig, he contends, that will eventually disappear when the lawsuits starting flying. Perhaps YouTube sees the writing on the wall, which would explains the potential deal with Google. But maybe YouTube's M&A appeal has more to do with its strong brand and the Web's ability to deliver content to anyone at anytime. As for whether YouTube is worth $1.6-billion, I would argue it's worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. Was Cuban's Broadcast.com worth $5.7-billion when it was acquired by Yahoo in 1999? Were any of the $1-billion+ acquisitions made by Nortel during the telecom boom worth it? Is the bag of organic milk you bought yesterday worth $9? Where there's smoke, there's fire, which means YouTube is in play - and the investment bankers are already counting their commissions and placing their orders for new BMWs. Maybe YouTube's copyright issues will be a factor in the final price but I think many of Cuban's arguments - while passionate - won't be a consideration at all.