As centers of innovation go, there are worse places to place a bet on the past repeating itself than California's technology hub. Looking beyond the Internet, housing and credit bubbles, it's still the preferred playground of such leading financial weathervanes as venture capitalists, gizmo nerds and software studs.

Perhaps Wall Street, searching for reasons to remain optimistic about the market's summer rally, should take heart from the spate of articles painting pictures of green shoots all over Silicon Valley. The Wall Street Journal's Deal Journal notes that tech IPOs are staging a comeback, and asks if its time to party like it's 1999?

Our reporting shows that investors, encouraged by a growing number of acquisitions and public stock flotations in the past few months, are keeping a close eye on a coterie of promising startups in Silicon Valley. David Lawsky identified six privately held companies as the ripest for acquisition or readiness to go public, out of 34 cited in industries ranging from alternative energy to social networking.

The top four are business social network LinkedIn, solar panel maker Solyndra, smart grid company Silver Spring, and Zynga, a casual games company whose products run on social networks like Facebook. Two others are Guidewire, which makes software for property and casualty companies, and LiveOps, which runs call centers using private contractors who work from home.

But he reports that the Silicon Valley Six say they intend to keep growing organically rather than agreeing to be acquired or go public during the recession. Recession or no, there is clearly plenty of money looking for a ride. That's the thing about bubbles; they tend to be more fun when you catch them early.

The Wall Street Journal took the wraps off its new luxury magazine yesterday –  a big glossy that appeals to those polo players and yachtsmen who weren’t sweating out $4/gallon gasoline this summer.

Check out the demographics of the average WSJ.  magazine reader: Carries household assets of $2.9 million, spent 26 days golfing last year, took seven leisure trips and still managed to squeeze in 16 days of sailing. That’s 16 days of sailing.

The New York Times this morning reminds us that even the launch event was a bit on the posh side:

Reflecting the magazine’s high style, its unveiling was held at the Pierpont Morgan Library over a breakfast that included smoked salmon, caviar and raspberry parfait, with a digital slide show and executives reading from teleprompters.

Robert J. Thomson, managing editor of The Journal, poked a little fun at the pomp, saying, “This being convention season, histrionics are the order of the day.”

But who’s to say that News Corp isn’t on to something here? The magazine expands the Journal’s advertising base, and truth be told, most believe that luxury goods are holding up much better than other parts of the economy right now. In its first issue, WSJ. pulled in 51 advertisers — 19 of which are new to the paper.

Ken Doctor, news industry analyst for research firm Outsell Inc, described it to the Associated Press as “smart positioning” by the newspaper:

 ”You’ve got to pick your spots even in the bad market and you have to be positioned for the rebound.”

As for the magazine itself, we’ll be interested to hear the reaction of readers  — those who aren’t too busy tacking or jibing to browse through the first issue. In the meantime, Editor and Publisher’s Fitz & Jen blog describes the inaugural cover this way:

 A woman outfitted in a dress made entirely of Wall Street Journal newspapers. It’s a curious choice. The model is certainly stylish and attractive enough and the garment isn’t half bad considering its made from newsprint. BUT it conjures up images of bums curled up on park benches using newspapers for cover.

And homeless definitely don’t fall into the magazine’s choice demographic.

Keep an eye on:

• The New York Sun, a daily newspaper launched six years ago as an often conservative-leaning alternative to The New York Times, may stop publishing by the end of September unless it gets $10 million (Reuters)
• New York cable TV operator Cablevision Systems Corp has started rolling out a free Wi-Fi network for subscribers who want to access the Web via laptops and other wireless devices (Reuters)
• CNBC has entered into an alliance with LinkedIn under which the financial news channel will air content generated by the professional networking site’s 27 million members (Reuters)

(Photo of WSJ. magazine courtesy of Dow Jones and Co)

Surprise, surprise! Online advertising spending appears to have slipped quarter-to-quarter, the first time that’s happened in three years, according to a new report.

Before pulling your hair out, keep in mind that first quarter online advertising spending rose 18 percent from the year ago period – it’s just that it slipped from the fourth quarter,  according to the IAB. So while still robust, it seems that online advertising isn’t impervious to the economic troubles gripping the United States.

Another report, this one by PricewaterhouseCoopers, takes a longer view of advertising in new media. It finds that advertising tied to digital and mobile media will account for 24 percent of the growth in the media and is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 19.5 percent to 2012.

There are a lot of different numbers to sort through, and they address different things, but the upshot seems to be this: Digital media may suffer a bit during the downturn, but smart money still has it booming over the coming years and leading the way for growth in media.

Keep an eye on:  

• Sam Zell’s Tribune could face default by year’s end, even with attempts to sell assets and debt to shore up its debt, says a Standard & Poor’s analyst (Bloomberg) 
• DreamWorks SKG and India’s Reliance ADA Group are near a deal to create a new movie venture, which would provide director Steven Spielberg with the cash to finance his DreamWorks team’s departure from Paramount Pictures (WSJ.com) 
• Business community site LinkedIn has pulled in a $53 million infusion from venture capitalists, valuing the company at $1 billion (Reuters)
• A new study finds that advertisements in traditional media are ”much more likely” to make a  positive impression with consumers than those appearing in digital media (NY Times/TV Decoder)
• Microsoft has bought Navic Systems, a company that helps advertisers place spots on TV programs, for an undisclosed amount (paidContent.org)