Mountain View, Calif. - Google announced partnerships on Monday with the states of Arizona, California, Utah and Virginia to make it easier to search for public information on state government websites. "Connecting citizens with their government by offering the public better access to public sector information and services is consistent with our broader vision -- to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful," said Eric Schmidt, Google’s chairman and CEO.

Chicago - Independent record label Touch & Go plans to launch its own digital music store, which will sell unprotected MP3 downloads when it launches in June, Billboard reported. Tracks from artists including !!!, CocoRosie, Slint and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists will be sold for the standard 99 cents per song and $9.99 per album. The store will also be the only online retailer to carry downloads from legendary musician and producer Steve Albini's bands Big Black, Rapeman and Shellac.

New York - MTV Networks' VH1 on Monday announced the launch of a new website, VH1Classic.com, which will feature music videos, interviews and other content from the 70's, 80's and early 90's. The site will also feature retro video games like "Spy Hunter" and "Defender," and VH1 Classic ringtones.

New York - The New York State Racing and Wagering Board said on Monday that it has approved an application by the New York Racing Association (NYRA) -- which owns Belmont Park and other horse racing tracks -- to offer Internet-based wagering. The NYRA tapped Sona Mobile to develop a Web-based wagering platform that will offer real-time track information and a means to securely wager online. Legislation authorizing Internet wagering in New York took effect in January.

Hudson Valley, N.Y. - Pump Audio on Monday announced a partnership with Redeye Distribution, and will make music from independent labels and artists distributed by Redeye available for licensing for commercial productions through its service. New York-based Pump Audio operates a website where producers of television and advertising can browse and license tracks for use in their productions.

Orlando, Fla. - Video game publisher Electronic Arts announced on Monday that sports media firm XOS Technologies has licensed its core football video game technology to develop a training simulator for collegiate and pro football teams. The XOS PlayAction Simulator features the same technology found in EA's "Madden NFL" and "NCAA Football" franchises. Separately, EA said on Monday that it has signed Washington Wizards All-Star Gilbert Arenas to serve as cover athlete and spokesman for its "NBA Live 08" title, slated for release in the fall.

Santa Clara, Calif. - Vudu, the developer of a TV set-top box that aims to deliver movies directly to televisions over the Internet via a peer-to-peer network, announced on Monday that it has signed content licensing agreements with seven major Hollywood movie studios, and 15 independent and international distributors.

Las Vegas - CBS Television Stations announced on Monday that it has partnered with Microsoft to enable its local TV stations to collect user-generated news, photos and videos.

Needham, Mass. - TechTarget, a provider of online content related to corporate information technology products, has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for its initial public offering of stock.

New York - Clear Channel, the nation's largest owner of radio stations, on Monday introduced localized social networking sites for seven of its radio stations' websites, with plans to debut an additional five this summer.

San Diego - RoyaltyShare, a provider of Web-based digital royalty processing and reporting services for the entertainment industry, announced on Monday that it has raised $5 million in its second round of venture capital financing, led by Trident Capital.

New York - Global information and news agency Reuters announced on Monday that it has acquired ClearForest, a provider of text analytics technology. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Sunnyvale, Calif. - Yahoo announced on Monday that it will acquire Right Media, the creator of an online advertising exchange, for $680 million.

San Francisco - Wired on Monday called attention to the fact that seminal hip-hop group the Wu-Tang Clan -- whose members included Raekwon, RZA, Ghostface, Method Man and Ol' Dirty Bastard -- have made 215 tracks available to download as free, 160 Kbps MP3 files on their website. The tracks include original versions of the group's tracks, in addition to live versions, demos, mixtape outtakes and other rarities.

San Francisco - Snocap, the provider of a digital music registry and online music retail technology, announced on Monday that major record label Warner Music Group will use its services to offer its artists' songs for sale through the MySpace social network.

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Washington - The Bush administration on Monday announced its latest list of countries placed on a "priority watch list" for piracy by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, giving special attention given once again to China and Russia.

In the industry I work in, it's easy to get overly passionate about all of the new sites emerging every day that fit into this Web2.0 classification the industry has created.  The majority of these sites are willing to trade short term revenue for the prospect of building up a user base.  New users have become a metric that seems valued among these sites more highly than revenue.