The gang of webheads sent by the State Department to Iraq is doing what webheads do: blogging, Twittering, and posting photos in real time. This must be giving their government minders fits.

Our tipster was right that Fotolog, the New York-based photo-sharing site had been sold — but wrong, alas, about the buyer, and the price. We'd heard of a Latin American buyer paying north of $100 million. Instead, it's Hi-Media, a French Internet concern, paying $90 million in cash and stock — a rich price for a company with 10 million users but only $2.3 million in revenues projected for this year. Hi-media is publicly traded on the Euronext stock exchange, so its shares are as good as cash. But Fotolog backers 3i and BV Capital say they plan to hang onto their shares and "participate in the development" of the combined company. So now the most interesting question is, who cashed out? We wouldn't be shocked if CEO John Borthwick, above, and founder Scott Heiferman were among those receiving an immediate cash payout. Borthwick has a host of other startup ventures, and Heiferman is the CEO of Meetup.

NICK DOUGLAS — Meetup, the startup built around real-world gatherings, is doubling its staff. CEO Scott Heiferman posted a cute comparison of working at Google HQ and working at Meetup's 38-employee office in New York. The list actually makes some good points about Meetup's growth and the small-office environment. My favorite quote: "At Google, a few Googlers wish they were at a fast-growing company where they can personally still make a huge difference. At Meetup, some Meetuppers wish we had a toilet like the Googleplex."

After Michael Arrington's suspect post on Edgeio funding, we think now would be a good time for the TechCrunch staff to attend the Social Media Roundtable's discussion on Disclosure.
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