Palo Alto, Calif. - Lawrence Lessig, the noted Stanford law professor, copyright expert and founder of the Creative Commons less-restrictive copyright scheme, is considering a run for Congress, CNET reports, citing a note on Lessig's blog. If he decides to run, Lessig would be vying for the seat vacated by the death last week of Rep. Tom Lantos. Lessig says he would run on a "Change Congress" theme, that includes banning lobbyist/PAC contributions and legislative earmarks, and moving to public campaign financing. "I need to see your support right now to understand there is enough support for this idea to make this campaign worth it," Lessig states in a video at Lessig08.org.

New York - NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) has announced plans to begin streaming episodes of vintage TV shows on its websites, including "A-Team," "Miami Vice," "Battlestar Galactica," "Simon & Simon" and "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour." The shows will be offered both through distributors of Hulu, the company's online video joint venture with News Corp., and on NBC Universal-owned sites including NBC.com, SCIFI.com, ChillerTV.com and SleuthChannel.com.

Redmond, Wash. - Nintendo of America on Wednesday announced plans to launch its new downloadable game service, WiiWare, on May 12. Nintendo hopes developers will use the WiiWare service as a "breeding ground for new games," while consumers will see a wider array of titles for the console made available at a dynamic price range. The company also plans to release its exercise-themed title, "WiiFit," on May 19, which will also introduce the new weight- and motion-sensing Wii Balance Board accessory. The highly anticipated "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" for Wii will ship to retailers on March 9.

Paris - Vivendi has launched a subscription-based mobile content service, Zaoza, that charges users about $4.42 per month for unlimited downloads of music, ringtones, games and videos, MocoNews reported. Content partners at launch include Sony BMG, THQ and Eidos. The site already claims 100,000 beta users in France. Vivendi hopes to grow this number to 500,000 by year's end, spurred by launches in Germany and the U.K. planned for later this year.

San Francisco - Emotiv Systems on Wednesday introduced its EPOC, a "neuroheadset" that allows players to control gameplay with their thoughts, expressions and emotions. The EPOC detects over 30 different facial expressions (smile, shock, wink, grimace), emotions (excitement, frustration, meditation) and cognitive actions (push, pull, rotate), as well as "a completely new category of action based on visualization, the first of which is the ability to make objects disappear." The headset also incorporates a gyroscope, which lets the camera or cursor be controlled by head motions. The $299 EPOC is scheduled to ship to retailers in late 2008. Emotiv also announced a partnership with IBM to explore the headset's potential uses beyond the gaming market.

New York - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV and Dickhouse Productions on Wednesday announced the official launch of JackassWorld.com, a site devoted to the MTV hit show "Jackass" and its spin-offs. The daily-updated site will feature original programming, unreleased footage and will eventually host Big Brother, the skate culture magazine that was the inspiration for Jackass. MTV said JackassWorld.com has generated over 2.6 million streams of "Jackass 2.5," an hour-long collection of clips, since the site launched in beta just over two months ago.

Westwood, Mass. - Multiplayer game developer Turbine has announced an extension of its agreement with Tolkien Enterprises through 2014, enabling the company to develop additional titles based on the books "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings." Although the company, which developed "The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar," doesn't hold game rights to the films, it should benefit from the upcoming movie based on "The Hobbit," slated for release in 2010.

North Hollywood, Calif. - Disney Online (NYSE: DIS), part of the company's Walt Disney Internet Group, has announced the formation of a new unit, Disney Online Studios, that will focus on creating and publishing games, virtual worlds and online social communities.

Salinas, Calif. - Web-based music radio services generated 4.85 billion total listening hours in 2007, a 26% increase over 2006, according to a report from AccuStream iMedia Research.

New York - The Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF), Omidyar Network, and Google.org (NASD: GOOG) on Tuesday announced a new $17 million investment company for small and medium-size businesses in India, "to create job opportunities and spur greater economic participation for a larger segment of the population."

Sports Illustrated has published its annual Swimsuit Issue. I noticed the website in my weekly fast movers report and thought it could make a fun post. When I looked at the data however, something struck me as really odd. The top search term sending visits to the Swimsuit Issue website was "si swimsuit issue". The term had a huge spike this year but was relatively flat for the past two years. I had expected it to spike for each annual issue. What did this year's issue include, I wondered, to cause such a frenzy online.

Los Angeles - News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace has been pitching a new music service that would offer ad-supported downloads and streaming, according to published reports. PaidContent first reported news of the talks between MySpace and the four major labels, which would reportedly be offered equity in the proposed service in return for use of their copyrighted content.

Mountain View, Calif. - TrialPay, a provider of alternative payment technology that offers free products and services when consumers agree to accept advertising, has raised $12.7 million in its second round of funding.

Newton, Mass. - Jackpot Rewards, a provider of online, consumer cash-back rewards programs for consumer purchases, announced its official launch on Wednesday and the fact that it has raised $16.7 million in its first round of venture capital.

Seattle - Blist, the provider of an online social database service, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $6.5 million in its first round of venture capital financing, from Frazier Technology Ventures and Morgenthaler Ventures.

Los Angeles - Gimado, the operator of a search engine for streaming and downloadable music files, has landed $300,000 in seed funding from an undisclosed investors, Mashable.com reported.