Monica Keller , a MySpace Group Architect who has played a key role in advancing MySpace’s initiatives in activity streams and openness, is leaving the company to join Facebook. Keller announced the news in a blog post this evening. She will be joining Facebook as an Open Source and Web Standards Program Manager, where she’ll be joining a team that includes David Recordon and Luke Shepard . MySpace confirmed that Keller had left the company but declined to comment further. Keller played a key role in launching MySpace’s Real-Time Stream API , helping to design the Real Time Stream using PuSH and architecting the network’s Twitter Sync Ingest.  Keller was involved with the technical aspects of the Stream, and was also involved with the design of MySpace’s developer platform. She’s also represented MySpace on numerous conference panels. While Keller has some nice things to say about the struggling company in her post, she clearly wasn’t pleased with the way some things were handled at MySpace: But I have chosen to leave. While I was able to have some temporary creative freedom this is not the norm or part of what other engineers enjoy and I do not feel there is one cohesive push to deliver the best we can deliver anymore. To my friends and colleagues at MySpace, some parting advice: It is imperative that MySpace puts in place strong technical leadership who can attract good technical talent and make well-informed decisions. It is important that they stay connected to rest of the world and work on interoperable standards and solid products which benefit the end user. Many of my fellow engineers have fantastic ideas and a plan for phased delivery. This is a loss for MySpace, but it certainly isn’t the end of their real-time and open initiatives (which have been more progressive than Facebook’s).  We hear that these are still being spearheaded by recently promoted MySpace co-president Mike Jones , and that Christina Wodtke , who recently joined the company after running the activity stream product at LinkedIn, is involved in running the team’s day-to-day operations. Image by Adam Tinworth . CrunchBase Information Monica Keller Information provided by CrunchBase

Naturally, which you launch a new product with a huge amount of hype, like Google Buzz , you’re going to want to own the .com domain name for it. And Google obtained googlebuzz.com just in the nick of time, according to a document from the National Arbitration Forum. On November 13, 2009, Google, represented by Meredith M. Pavia (presumably, a Google lawyer), filed a complaint that BuzzNews Network was using the googlebuzz.com domain in bad faith. Further, they argued that it was “confusingly similar” to Google’s trademark on the company name. This was an easy one for the forum to rule on since BuzzNews Network never responded to the complaint. The presiding panelist also cited Google as being one of the most recognized brands in the world, and clearly that part of the name overcame any claim to “buzz” BuzzNews Network might have had. It probably didn’t help that BuzzNews bought the domain from GoDaddy in 2004 and had parked it with links ever since. On December 23, 2009, the panelist ruled the name had to be turned over to Google. And though it doesn’t yet forward anywhere, you can bet Google will soon set up googlebuzz.com to point to the service, just as googlewave.com points to Google Wave. While Google launched the service today , it originally planned to do it at a later time, we hear. That had to be moved up for some unknown reason, so they’re lucky they got the domain when they did. Of course, it looks like someone else just registered buzzgoogle.com and is parking it. The fight continues… [thanks Shmuel] CrunchBase Information Google Buzz Information provided by CrunchBase

Ads on the iPhone, just as ads on the web, are something most users want to avoid. But some of the ad companies that are specifically targeting newer smartphone devices such as the iPhone are becoming increasingly inventive with their approach to advertising. A good example of this just launched today in the NPR app for the iPhone. In this app, the mobile analytics and advertising company Medialets is serving up an ad for the new album, Contra, by the band Vampire Weekend. At first, the ad just peeks out at the bottom of the NPR app, but if you click to expand it, it quickly takes up the entire device. So why would you want to do this? Because it’s a video for Vampire Weekend’s new song “Cousins” — and thanks to some of the iPhone’s unique features, you can actually interact with the ad, shaking your iPhone to change how the video looks. Sure, it’s not a huge amount of customization, but it’s much better than normal methods of advertising and it creates a sense of interaction with the ad. Naturally, you can also click the screen to show an option that will allow you to buy the album on the device. Companies like Google and Apple , two of the most important players in mobile right now, are scooping up some of these mobile ad companies left and right these days. Clearly, they think there’s a bright future for the medium as well. Watch the ad in action below. Crunch Network : CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

Nasdaq-listed Unica has acquired privately-held Pivotal Veracity for approximately $17.8 million in cash, the company announced this morning prior to the opening of the market. The marketing software company picked up Pivotal Veracity, which was founded in August 2003, to ramp up its e-mail marketing software solutions in what it regards as a ‘logical extension’ of their offerings. Pivotal Veracity markets a suite of tools designed to optimize the deliverability, reputation and effectiveness of digital communication. Its software suite enables its customers, which include companies like Cisco, Classmates.com, Digitas, Nestle and Sears, to maximize e-mail content rendering and delivery effectiveness and reduce the cost of sending emails that never reach intended recipients, including those that are filtered by ISP and third party spam filter services, or end up in personal spam folders. Pivotal Veracity also helps customers protect their brands by minimizing the risk of being blacklisted, as well as ensuring that customers are actively protected by ISP and third party whitelists. Unica had already integrated Pivotal Veracity’s solutions into its enterprise and on-demand offerings and says it expects to deepen that integration across both companies’ product lines and continue to sell Pivotal Veracity’s solutions on a stand-alone basis as well. Pivotal Veracity’s co-founders, Deirdre Baird and Michelle Eichner, will join Unica and guide the company’s efforts in email marketing and deliverability. Unica says the acquisition is not expected to have a material impact to its revenue in fiscal year 2010 and should be neutral to slightly accretive to FY10 Non-GAAP EPS. Crunch Network : CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Zynga CEO Mark Pincus pulled all in-game offers in the wake of Scamville . At the time, he said “We recognize it is our responsibility to ensure that offers which generate a bad user experience are not shown with any of our games. Therefore, we are removing all CPA offers across zynga games until we can control their inclusion and presentation ourselves.” That was November 8, 2009, a little over two months ago. Today offers are officially back on Zynga. In a new blog post , Pincus says they are tightly controlling which offers are accepted. Just eight companies are included: Netflix, Discover Card, Blockbuster, HSBC Direct, Gamefly, Book of the Month Club, SnapFish and The New York Times. There’s certainly nothing wrong with Zynga putting these offers back online, and these companies are unlikely to engage in the type of scammy behavior that started the whole Scamville saga in the first place. Not all offers are evil. I am amused though by Pincus saying about the companies “all of which have high Better Business Bureau ratings.” A BBB rating is nothing to be proud of. Video Professor, o ne of the more serious scammers , maintains an A rating at the BBB. Crunch Network : CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors