Lightbank -- an investment group led by Groupon founders Eric Leftkosky and Brad Keywell -- recently led a $2.3 million Series B round for Web pawnshop Pawngo. Launched in August 2009 as InternetPawn, the company had written about 1,000 loans worth $1.4 million, according to All Things D. "Lightbank founder-in-residence Kevin Leland came across the company, helped hook up the deal, and has now joined as VP of marketing," it writes. "The Pawngo business model, as CEO Todd Hillis explains, is aimed at people who need between $1,500 and $15,000." Users are expected to send in information about …

In another case of Facebook unleashing its wrath on an unsuspecting user, some 16-year-old girl in Germany mistakenly invited over 15,000 "friends" to her birthday party after forgetting to set the privacy settings on the invitation. The mistake began when the birthday girl, identified as Thessa, published an invitation meant to invite only a few friends over to her house," reports The NY Daily News. ,br> "Instead, 15,000 people checked that they would be there -- and her parents promptly cancelled the party." Despite the cancellation, more than 1,500 guests and 100 police officers showed up to the party. …

In case you're wondering, Groupon Chairman Eric Lefkofsky has full confidence that the company will be "wildly profitable," Bloomberg reports. Good thing considering the daily-coupon provider just filed its IPO. Still losing money, Groupon said last week that it plans to raise $750 million in an initial public offering. "While sales at the Chicago-based company surged more than 14-fold to $644.7 million last year, Groupon has also amassed $540.2 million in operating losses since its founding in 2008 and its costs are rising faster than revenue," Bloomberg reports. Meanwhile, some have raised questions about Lefkofsky's professional track record. …

If and when Microsoft is allowed to buy Skype, what will it do with the Web-calling company? And how might the deal impact the state of Net neutrality at home and abroad? The New York Times, for one, doesn't have answers or either question. Some experts tell the NYT that Microsoft will likely intensify Skype's lobbying efforts in Europe, "providing a strong ally in a fight that could require European operators to open their networks to economic competitors." Others, however, expect Microsoft to retreat, "either dropping Skype's critical line of argument in Brussels or striking a deal to …

Do foreign-born social networks stand a chance here in the United States? We could soon find out as China's Sina Weibo reportedly prepares to release its Twitter-like microblogging platform in English in as little as two months. First reported by Chinese tech news resource TechWeb, The Next Web notes that Sina already announced plans to monetize its popular service and since then has been very active with rolling out new features. "Probably the most conclusive piece of evidence to support the rumor is the introduction of an English version of its iPhone app last month," writes The Next …

Tablet publishing platform Onswipe just announced a $5 million round led by Spark Capital. Regarding what he's calling a "Series Awesome" round, company co-founder Jason Baptiste tells TechCrunch: "We realized what we are building is a larger opportunity than we ever thought while growing at a breakneck speed." As such, "In order to own the market we went out and raised a Series Awesome from the best group of investors possible ... And yes...the legal docs actually say Series Awesome." Onswipe most recently announced a partnership with WordPress.com to power the tablet experience of over 18.5 million blogs via …

Prior to its bust, the Web's first boom was infamous for conspicuous spending, lavish parties, and superfluous perks like Aeron chairs and in-house masseuses. With those heady days in mind, and amid what some suspect is another Internet bubble, The New York Times reports on the hiring practices of Hipster, a San Francisco start-up that lets consumers post queries and answers to others in their geographic area. Hipster is offering new hires $10,000, a year's supply of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, and a sort-of hipster starter kit, including a bicycle, pair of over-sized glasses, skinny jeans, a bow …

Fending off mounting competition from Google, Amazon, and other would-be music streamers, Apple has reportedly struck a licensing deal with Universal Music Group.  "The agreement means Apple now has the rights to offer recordings from all of the major labels," sources tell CNet. "In addition, Apple has reached agreements with some of the large music publishers." In addition, The New York Times is reporting that half of the four major music publishers have made deals on iCloud. "The agreements will allow Apple to unveil the service at its five-day Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, which …

Will Google ever get its digital library? Well, the search giant still hasn't agreed with authors and publishers on a legal arrangement, while the federal judge who struck down an earlier accord just gave it another seven weeks to try. "The issues are complicated," Circuit Judge Denny Chin said in Manhattan federal court this week, according to Reuters. Citing antitrust and copyright concerns, Chin rejected a $125 million settlement in March, saying it went "too far" in allowing Google to exploit digitized copyrighted works by selling subscriptions to them online and engage in "wholesale copying of copyrighted works …

Along with the standard YouTube license, Google's video hub just debuted a new way for uploaders to license their content: Creative Commons (with attribution). "In short, you can now give other people permission to use your footage however they'd like, provided to include a link back to the source," TechCrunch explains. As a result, users will now be able to use YouTube's video editor to splice their own video with content that has been uploaded by other users under Creative Commons. As part of the broader initiative, YouTube has partnered with C-SPAN and Al Jazeera to offer users …