Briac

* Imagining the future of business television * Last week I reported that The Blackstone Group was still planning to hold its final fund close on June 30. Seems that things have changed. * Near the end of an exhaustive piece on Apollo Management, Bloomberg notes that Leon Black wasn't the only Black to use the disreputable services of placement agent Al Villalobos. So too did his brothers-in-law. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower, London rises early, European shares boosted by banks and the Nikkei gains 2.8%. * David Gaffen: 5 questionable arguments against the double-dip * Recognition dilution: 30% of everyday MLB players are named All-Stars * Googler's take on social networking reveals chinks in Facebook's armor * Good news: The feds are creating a system to detect cyber assaults on private companies and government agencies. Bad news: They've given it the Orwellian name "Perfect Citizen." * Little girls give away lemonade for free. Get criticized as extensions of America's socio-economic ills. At first I thought this column was a joke, but then sadly realized it wasn't. I hope the author goes thirsty.

* William Cohan: Let Goldman be Goldman * Dangerous liaisons: Inside IBM's sex and insider trading scandal * Chris Thompson: How the Viacom lawsuit helped YouTube avoid another, more damaging complaint. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower, London falls early, European shares slip and the Nikkei loses 0.6%. * Rom Badilla: What bond bubble? * Is Blackstone Group (finally) undervalued? * Europe's private equity queen gets ready for a buying spree * Tim Geithner on PBS: "Confident we're going to continue to grow" * Mark Suster: Startups are better served when its team works together in an office, rather than distributed at home. * Tom Bower on Tony Hayward's future: "Although he has no serious enemies within BP, even loyalists speaking off the record admit that he is swinging in the wind. There he will remain until the oil stops gushing into the Gulf."

* Heidi Moore on junk bonds (now with less junk) * Justin Fox: Financial reform ideals vs. financial reform realities * Roger Ehrenberg: How an angel investor becomes a venture investor * Steve Lohr on the Bilski ruling: "There was a clear message for patent trolls, patent brokers and licensing companies, patent lawyers and lobbyists: Play on!" * Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower, London falls early, European shares extend losses and the Nikkei hits a 3-week low. * A tale of three angel financings * Micha Rosenbloom: Trolling for technologies (and a good beer) * Windows 8 details get leaked. Maybe some MS employee left his PC in a bar... * Doug Kass: The world is a mess, because all we care about is the short-term

* Elizabeth Lesly Stevens: Catching a Ponzi schemer * Vijay Chattha: A 5-point marketing plan to bring sexy back to the Blackberry. * The financial reform bill has finally been posted online. If you don't have time to devour all 2,300+ pages, here's a 10-page summary. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point to mixed open, London rises early, European shares dip and the Nikkei keeps falling. * Bloomberg thinks Comcast should have to sell CNBC * Simon Johnson: J.P. Morgan is trying to become too global to fail * Jon Lech Johansen: Google's mismanagement of the Android market * Matthew DeBord: The craziest conspiracy theories behind the oil spill * Jon Steinberg: "Everyone obsesses about competition when product and execution are so much more important." * Paul Kedrosky: "When a product is in excess supply and its benefits less certain, you usually see its price fall. Such is not the case, however, in the wonderful world of institutional venture capital."

* Winners and losers from the financial reform bill * Researcher finds that social networking affects our brains like falling in love * How much is a Catholic hospital's Catholicism worth? Just 3% of its total value, according to Cerberus' deal to buy Caritas Christi. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower, London rises early, European shares slip and the Nikkei hits a two-week low. * Are those World Cup vuvuzela filters the future of Internet TV? * Harvard researchers develop a living, breathing lung-on-a-chip * Cleveland Fed: Could low educational attainment be slowing the recovery? * Patrick Andrews has been coming up with a new invention every day for the past four years

* Deborah Gage: Why Dmitry Medvedev wants a Russian Silicon Valley * From CEO to Senate: Why some CEOs make better politicians than others * Josie Garthwaite: Will Tesla's IPO take the checkered flag, or crash into the wall? * Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower, London falls early, European shares continue slide, the Nikkei flattens and China shares slip. * Paul Smalera: Why the future of dating sites is rocky * Umair Haque: Four economic benchmarks we need right now * Adam Lashinsky: Elevation Partners is making deep back-office cuts * Arrington reviews Kirkpatrick's Facebook tome: Great historical details, too much swooning

* Steven Pearlstein: Going public could be Booz Allen's undoing * Bloomberg: KKR may postpone its new share listing, but not its shift to the NYSE * Daniel Vorhaus: Consumer genetics needs more transparency, not excessive regulation * Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher, London falls early, European shares drop, the Nikkei loses 1.9% and Shanghai shares tumble. * Tesla's IPO roadshow revealed * "That guy" in the old Facebook logo was Al Pacino * Howard Simons: We are all currency traders now * Virgin America offers free flights to Twitter "influencers" * Simon Johnson: Paul Krugman should replace Peter Orszag at OMB * Northgate Capital's Hosein Khajeh-Hosseiny: There isn't much reason to invest in VC firms outside of the Top 30.

* Winners and losers from a firmer yuan * Henry Blodget: The odds are increasing that Microsoft could collapse * Brent Stinski: How Yahoo shut down my business, and how it could happen to you * Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower, London falls early, European shares extend losses and the Nikkei slips. * The man behind Silly Bandz * Drake Bennett: The science of vacations * Fred Wilson: IPOs just aren't what they used to be * Devin Coldewey: E-readers race to the bottom, as tablet market solidifies * Cory Doctorow: What New York's publishing industry can learn from Silicon Valley

* John Heilemann: BP's hypocrisy problem, and ours * Greg Huang: Five themes to watch in the Boston innovation scene * Mark Gimein: Why does so much federal money go to for-profit schools—and what happens when the system crashes? * Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher on yuan revaluation, London rises early, European shares climb and the Nikkei hits a 1-month closing high. * An "edgy" Fraggle Rock? * ZeroBeta: Leave Business Insider alone! * Today in carried interest: Paul Kedrosky on cynicism * Mark Mobius on China and opportunities beyond the BRICs * Greg Gretsch: "One of the biggest advantages startups have over larger, more established companies, is that their inherent lack of resources forces them to do fewer things - to focus." * Sad scientific truth: "Once you’ve been drinking coffee for a while, the feeling you are getting after a cup isn’t the difference between the normal you and the super you, it’s the difference between the addict before and after a fix."

* Microsoft alum Don Dodge: The first six months of working at Google * Jim Robinson: Why this next wave of NYC startups is just getting started * The Teacher Retirement System of Texas begins webcasting board meetings. Will investment committee meetings be far behind? * Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower, London rises early, European shares retreat and the Nikkei gains 3%. * Uh-oh: SpaghettiO's (recall) * Goldman Sachs office has bedbugs. Unclear if they get bonuses. * Vishesh Kumar: Tony Hayward makes Lloyd Blankfein look good * Mark Suster: It's better to seek forgiveness than to ask for permission * John Doerr is among those who pledge to give away at least 50% of their wealth to charity * Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg: "E-mail--I can't imagine life without it--is probably going away."