peHUB First Read

Cofee* This is your brain on venture capital.

* Stay clear of single-owner private equity firms.

* 13 year-old boy temporarily swaps his iPod for a Sony Walkman: “It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. ”

* Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower as oil keeps slipping, London rises early, European shares climb, the Nikkei dips and Chinese shares snap rally.

* Deal of (yester) Day: School of Rock raises growth equity.

* Banks plan “Harry & Louise” ads to fight new regulation.

* Matthew Lynn: Hedge fund industry 2.0 is already taking shape.

* Facebook has lost younger users in the past six months, but middle-age/elderly usage is skyrocketing.

* Felix Salmon: Why driving a car into Manhattan costs $160.

* Joel Kotkin: Five suspects in the murder of California’s economy. Good piece, but he ignores the gerrymandered districts that have led to a polarized/paralyzed state legislature, and wrongly brushes off the need for ballot initiative reform.

* Tribune Co. finally reaches a deal to sell Cubbies to the Ricketts family.

* Seems my corporate overlords keep bulking up their webcasting biz, this time by buying decade-old Canadian company Streamlogics.