Roundup: Venrock raising $350M, what it takes to be a top 100 website, and more

Here’s the latest action:

Venrock raising $350 million? — Venrock may be playing smaller ball, like many of the other venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, expected to announce tomorrow that it has raised a $350 million new fund (half the size of its last) to participate in more modest, early-stage deals.

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What it takes to be a top 100 website — Royal Pingdom has posted results to a study it conducted looking at what makes websites enormously popular, based on Google’s recently published list of the 1,000 most-visited websites on the internet. One example tidbit: to get in the top 1,000, you need to draw at least 4.1 million visitors every month. Check out more here.

Justin Bieber become butt of internet joke — The young pop star has become a punchline after a poll on his World Tour’s website asked fans to vote on where he should tour next. An avalanche of users on forum 4Chan nominated North Korea. Bieber has also weathered several pranks involving his Twitter and Last FM sites.

EU law may force Apple’s hand on Flash — The European Union is working to pass a new measure called the Digital Agenda to prevent technology companies from abusing their positions in the market. Apple is already being investigating for antitrust for blocking Adobe Flash on its iPad and iPhone. The new initiative could force Apple to lift this ban, and to allow other companies’ devices — like Android phones and the Palm Pre — to sync with iTunes.

MySpace-Google ad partnership ending — MySpace has had a partnership with Google, allowing the company to sell small search ads on the site and several other News Corp. web properties. Now that deal is nearing its expiration, giving Microsoft, Yahoo and others an opening.

IBM launches hot-water supercomputer — The computing giant has delivered a supercomputer that is cooled by hot water to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. The solution consumes 40 percent less energy than similar setups that use air for cooling. Data Center Knowledge explains how it works.

New Nissan Leaf ad features Lance Armstrong — The world-famous bicyclist has thrown his weight behind Nissan’s new all-electric car coming out before the end of the year by starring in one of its first television advertisements. You can watch the ad below:

More free Android than iPhone apps — According to a new report issued by analytics firm Distimo, about 57 percent of Android apps are free while only 28 percent of iPhone applications are. The same report found that more than half of mobile apps across almost every platform cost less than $2.

Oil spill costs break $3B mark — The tragic BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has now cost more than $3 billion in relief efforts with very little progress made. The major recent cost has been the world’s largest skimming ship which could remove up to 21 million gallons of oil from the water every day.

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