Waterloo, Ontario - Research In Motion (NASD: RIMM) on Wednesday introduced its first touch-screen BlackBerry, the Storm, which the company and initial carrier partner Verizon expect to have in U.S. stores for the holiday shopping season. Pricing details were not provided for the Storm, which will also go on sale for Vodafone customers in Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand. CNET News.com noted in its review that the device's ClickThrough touch-screen takes a little getting used to, because a user must actually apply pressure on the screen itself to hit buttons, rather than simply touch them. The device features 1GB of onboard memory, microSD card slot, and a media player that supports music and video.

New York - The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) plans to shutter the website for the International Herald Tribune (IHT.com), and move its content to the flagship NYTimes.com website, Fortune.com reports. NYTimes.com general manager Vivan Schiller told Fortune the move was "absolutely, positively not about cost savings," but instead about growth. According to comScore, NYTimes.com drew 19.4 million unique visitors in August, compared to 2.5 million for IHT.com.

Berlin - Mufin on Wednesday announced the beta launch of its new audio fingerprinting and music discovery service. Co-developed at the Fraunhofer Institute -- which invented the MP3 format -- Mufin's (short for "Music Finder") technology automatically generates a unique audio fingerprint of a song, based on more than 40 acoustical characteristics. The company launched with over three million songs from major and independent labels in its library, and is offering a MySpace widget.

Shenzen, China - HD Radio technology developer iBiquity Digital on Wednesday announced several milestones for the technology, including the shipment of 1.5 million HD Radio chipsets, manufacture of 1 million HD Radio modules, and certification of 100 HD Radio products. The company added that HD Radio products are now available for purchase at over 14,000 retail stores, as well as from online retailers.

London - Last.fm, the social music discovery service owned by CBS (NYSE: CBS), announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with LyricFind to add the lyrics to over 800,000 songs to the free site. LyricFind has licensing deals with nearly 2,000 music publishers, including Warner/Chappell, Sony/ATV and EMI Music Publishing.

New York - Indaba Music, the provider of an online music collaboration Web application, on Wednesday announced a contest that challenges musicians to collaborate with famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma. To promote his forthcoming album "Songs of Joy and Peace," Yo-Yo Ma posted a recording of himself performing the melody to one of the album's tracks, and asked musicians to add their own counter-melody or record an entirely new set of variations. The winner, as selected by Ma, will get the chance to record a new piece of music with him.

New York - Major record label Universal Music Group on Wednesday announced a deal to provide ad-supported music videos on Kiwibox, a teen-focused online social network. Videos are expected to appear on the site in the fourth quarter; labels, artists and Kiwibox will each receive a share of ad revenue.

Los Angeles - In Demand, a cable TV video-on-demand provider joint venture between a number of cable TV operators, has shuttered its Mojo HD high-definition programming service, TVWeek.com reports. The service was launched in 2003 and counts about 10 million subscribers. "The Mojo HD channel was originally conceived as a way to satisfy consumers' thirst for pure true high-definition programming," In Demand told TVWeek. "While Mojo HD accomplished this goal, there is a wealth of HD programming now available and thus we have chosen to discontinue the service."

Mountain View, Calif. - Google (NASD: GOOG) on Wednesday introduced AdSense for Games, a program that integrates video ads into Web-based video games, complemented by text and image ads.

New York - CollegeWikis, the provider of a group messaging and information platform "for students by students," has raised $2 million in its first round of venture capital, led by HighBAR Ventures.

London - Major record label EMI is preparing to launch its own consumer-facing digital music store before the end of the year, the Financial Times reports.

San Francisco - A federal judge on Tuesday ruled to extend an injunction against the sale of RealNetworks' (NASD: RNWK) DVD-copying RealDVD software, while a lawsuit targeting the software lodged by the Hollywood movie studios proceeds, according to reports.

San Bruno, Calif. - Google's (NASD: GOOG) YouTube has begun placing links to purchase music and games on the pages of related videos on its site in the U.S., with initial partners that include Amazon (NASD: AMZN) MP3, Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store, record label EMI and game developer Electronic Arts (NASD: ERTS). The "click-to-buy" links to purchase media at Amazon's MP3 store and Apple's iTunes Store can currently be found on pages for music videos by EMI artists, and pages related to Electronic Arts' new universe-building game, "Spore."

Paris - Believe Digital, a France-based provider of digital music distribution and marketing services, has acquired German independent digital music distributor MTunes, and also raised a $6.5 million second round of financing, PaidContent reported.

Shanghai - Chinese video-hosting site PPLive.com is looking to raise $20 million over the next month for a third round of financing, Reuters reported, citing a copy of a company prospectus it obtained.

New York - ReverbNation, the provider of an online marketing and promotion platform for musicians, labels and venues, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $3 million in its second round of venture capital financing, led by new investor ETF Venture Funds.