Mountain View, Calif. - Google (NASD: GOOG) this week added a new local news feature to its Google News service, allowing users to see the day's top stories based on an address, city or zip code. "While we're not the first news site to aggregate local news, we're doing it a bit differently -- we're able to create a local section for any city, state or country in the world and include thousands of sources," the company wrote on its blog. "We're not simply looking at the byline or the source, but instead we analyze every word in every story to understand what location the news is about and where the source is located."

Sunnyvale, Calif. - Yahoo (NASD: YHOO) this week launched a new experimental feature, Yahoo Live, which allows users to set up video channels and broadcast their own live video feeds, which can then be embedded on other sites. CNET News.com was impressed with Yahoo Live's multi-camera viewing panel, which lets you see the video channels of other users tuned into the same video channel you are. While on Yahoo Live, users can also chat live with other users viewing the same live video feeds.

Palo Alto, Calif. - The Facebook online social network on Friday announced the launch of a Spanish-language version of its site, which was created with the input of nearly 1,500 Spanish-speaking Facebook users who helped translate the site in less than a month. Beginning on Monday, any person who visits the site from a Spanish-speaking country will see the site in Spanish; the company currently claims 2.8 million active users in Latin America and Spain. Facebook said German and French versions are expected to be added in the coming weeks.

Los Angeles - Verizon (NYSE: VZ) on Friday announced that hip-hop producer Timbaland has been named its first Mobile Producer in Residence, who will use the company's V CAST service to launch an entire mobile album during the course of 2008. Timbaland is scheduled to release one new track each month, featuring a different guest artist, exclusively to Verizon Wireless customers through the company's V CAST Music mobile service. Video may also be offered through V CAST Video and Verizon Surround.

Venice, Calif. - NovaTunes this week announced the launch of its Internet record label, which counts a roster of 50 artists who will be paid 70% of music revenue at the moment of purchase. The company said veteran musician Graham Nash has joined its board of advisors. On NovaTunes, users can listen to full albums from all of its artists on the site, and purchase digital album Download Packs (DP) for $7, that include DRM-free tracks in a range of high-quality formats, printable artwork, and often an iPod-ready video. The label is also giving away two sample albums featuring 24 songs from its artist to new visitors to its site.

Las Vegas - The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) last night announced winners of the 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, with "Call of Duty 4," "BioShock" and "The Orange Box" each picking up four awards. Activision's (NASD: ATVI) "Call of Duty 4" won for Overall Game of the Year and Console Game of the Year, while "The Orange Box" from Valve/Electronic Arts (NASD: ERTS) took home the award for Computer Game of the Year. Take-Two Interactive's (NASD: TTWO) "BioShock" won various awards for art direction, music, sound design and story development. A full list of winners is available from a link below.

Los Angeles - Members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) will meet on Saturday to decide on whether to accept a prospective deal hammered out in closed door discussions with studio executives and TV producers, which could potentially end the strike that began on Nov. 5 and put writers back to work on Monday, according to various reports. The striking writers are seeking a larger share of profits from their works when distributed on the Internet, among other areas.

Reston, Va. - U.S. Internet users watched more than 10 billion videos online during the month of December 2007, representing the heaviest traffic to sites like YouTube (NASD: GOOG) since market research firm comScore began tracking Web video, the firm said this week. "With the writer's strike keeping new TV episodes from reaching the airwaves, viewers have been seeking alternatives for fresh content. It appears that online video is stepping in to help fill that void," said Erin Hunter, comScore EVP of media and entertainment.

Washington - The U.S. House on Thursday approved an education bill that includes provisions stating that universities which receive federal funding need to come up with technological deterrents to campus file-sharing, and look towards offering legal alternatives, CNET News.com reported. The provisions are part of the College Opportunity and Affordability Act, and were applauded by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), while being derided by university groups like Educase and the Association of American Universities.

Tokyo - Struggling video game and pachinko machine company Sega Sammy Holdings announced this week that it will lay off 400 employees at its game software division, or about 5% of its workforce, after stating that it expects to report a $242 million loss for its fiscal year.

New York - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV Networks on Friday announced that MTV president Christina Norman is stepping down at the end of the month, to pursue new opportunities. MTV Music and Logo Group president Van Toffler will assume her duties until a replacement can be found.

Los Angeles - Billionaire investor George Soros has paid $100 million for a 3% stake in Reliance Entertainment, a multi-platform entertainment provider in India, which was valued at $3.3 billion for the deal.

Los Angeles -WooMe, an online speed dating service, has raised a $3 million bridge round of financing led by Mangrove Capital.

Redwood City, Calif. - Renkoo, a provider of online event planning services, has added $6 million to its second round of financing, led by Maveron Equity Partners, VentureBeat reported.

San Francisco - Dizzywood announced on Friday that it has raised a $1 million first round of funding, which it will use to help launch its 3D virtual world and online game platform for kids ages 8-12.

Hong Kong - HeySpace, a Hong Kong-based social networking site, has raised $10.75 of a $20 million first round of venture capital financing, PEHub.com reported, citing a regulatory filing.