Oracle has agreed to buy Taleo Corp. for $1.9 Billion to add talent management software to its cloud computing strategy. According to today's announcement holders of Taleo will get $46 a share - that’s 18 percent higher than Taleo’s closing share price yesterday.

While any Billion dollar acquisition is big news, Techvibes tends to focus on Canadian news. So why are we covering the acquisition of Taleo?

Akamai Technologies announced today that it is acquiring Ottawa's Blaze Software for an undisclosed sum.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based Akamai said the purchase will complement its technology to optimize the speed that web pages are rendered, regardless of the device.

From Blaze's blog this morning:

This is obviously big news for Blaze, and we’re thoroughly excited about it. Beyond that, we see this as a big moment for the field of Front-End Optimization (FEO), and for the goal of making the web faster. Having Akamai provide an automated FEO solution will make this technology easily available to thousands of the top websites in the world, and make a real impact on the web.

Blaze was founded in 2010 with a mission to help clients deliver better performing Web businesses by making their sites faster. 

Applications are now being accepted for the Rick Hansen Institute Emerging Company Showcase, scheduled to take place at Interdependence 2012 Global Conference and Exhibition, May 15-18, 2012 in Vancouver.

The Rick Hansen Institute is providing emerging companies, seeking financing for an innovation related to accelerating progress to a cure for paralysis after spinal cord injury or innovations that will improve the lives of those living with SCI, the opportunity to pitch their company and innovation to the delegation at Interdependence 2012.

Five companies will be selected by an external panel and have the opportunity to present directly to various experts and key opinion leaders from across the continuum of spinal cord injury research and care, including investors with experience in the life sciences and healthcare sectors.

Learn more about application criteria and important dates online.

Today on Silicon Valley Watcher Tom Foremski writes about The Dirty Little Secret of Silicon Valley's Startup Boom.

Thousands of startups are being launched with dreams of making a difference in the world. Yet Angels and VCs are selling them off to the big corporations in what are essentially engineering talent acquisitions.

Foremski's article seems to have been prompted by the Amazon acquisiton of Seattle's TeachStreet earlier this week. The e-commerce giant purchased the 5-year-old online marketplace that matches students and teachers and will be shutting it down the service in less than two weeks.

Telus Health Solutions announced this morning that they have acquired Wolf Medical Systems. The acquisition will create a new line of business within Telus Health Solutions called Physician Solutions. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Wolf Medical Systems is Canada’s largest and fastest-growing cloud-based EMR provider. Since 2010, over 11 million patient visits have been documented by physicians using Wolf EMR.

Intertainment Media announced today that it has made an investment in self-service ad platform Shiny Ads.

The strategic investment in Toronto's Shiny Ads provides Intertainment with an opportunity to more efficiently direct premium advertisers to their portfolio of online properties including itiBiti, Ortsbo, and Ad Taffy.

The initial early stage investment of $250,000 will provide Intertainment with an ownership stake in Shiny Ads and also provides the opportunity for Intertainment to increase its investment by an equal amount within six months at today's valuation. Intertainment Media will also have a seat on the Shiny Ads board.

The 15th Canadian Finacing Forum takes place in Vancouver this week on February 2nd and 3rd at the Fairmont Pacific Rim.

The Financing Forum facilitates relationship building between entrepreneurs and leading venture capital and corporate investors, paving the way for company financings that ultimately sustain economic growth through new business creation and development.

The presenting companies have been announced and the Information Technology Stream will include the following companies:

Siemens Canada has reached a friendly takeover deal with RuggedCom, an Ontario-based maker of smart grid technology. Siemens will pay $33 in cash per common share, making the deal worth roughly $382 million.

Only weeks ago, RuggedCom resisted a hostile takeover bid by Belden. The American company tried to steal Rugged for less than $280 million, but according to the Financial Post, the Ontario company "adopted a poison pill plan to allow management time to search for other offers." 

Calgary's Tynt Multimedia has been acquired by New York's 33Across in an all-stock transaction and it sounds like a perfect fit.

33Across uses proprietary technology to build a unique Brand Graph for each of its 350+ Fortune 1000 customers. 

Tynt sees 3 out of every 4 of the world’s unique Internet users to capture information on their interests and interactions online. This data represents Tynt's Interest Graph, and provides an accurate measure of consumer intent.

Tynt was co-founded by Derek Ball And Dayton Foster in Calgary of 2007. Over the past four years Tynt has raised $11.9 Million in venture capital from Panorama Capital, iNovia Capital, Greycroft Partners, Metamorphic Ventures, Disruptive Ventures, and W Media Ventures.