San Jose, Calif. - Adobe Systems (NASD: ADBE) on Thursday launched a public beta of Photoshop Express, a free, stripped-down online version of its popular photo editing software. The service, which uses Flash Player 9, allows registered users to store up to 2GB of images for free online. It also offers ways to upload and download photos between the service and social networking sites like Facebook.

San Antonio, Texas - AT&T (NYSE: T) said on Thursday that it will launch its delayed mobile TV service with partner MediaFLO USA, a unit of Qualcomm (NASD: QCOM), in May. The service will initially support two handsets: the LG Vu and Samsung Access. Separately, AT&T launched two new mobile music applications, and said it will expand its Napster Mobile (NASD: NAPS) over-the-air downloads. The company now offers mSpot's Make-UR-Tones and Remix, which lets users create custom ringtones from their phones, and download songs from their PCs to their phones, respectively. AT&T also said its Napster Mobile service will be available to more than 12 million customers, beginning this summer.

Herndon, Va. - Cable TV and broadband provider Cox Communications on Thursday announced the launch of the Cox Rhapsody digital music service with customers in Northern Virginia. Developed with partner RealNetworks, the service offers unlimited on-demand access to Rhapsody's entire catalog for $12.99 per month; for $14.99 per month, users can also transfer songs to supported portable players.

Burbank, Calif. - TMZ, the celebrity gossip site joint venture between Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) AOL and Telepictures Productions, announced on Thursday the launch of a new ad-supported mobile site, powered by Quattro Wireless. The site will offer news, text alerts, photo galleries and dozens of videos. TMZ said it will also launch an on-deck mobile website with mobile network operator AT&T during the second quarter.

Somerville, Mass. - The Echo Nest, a "music intelligence" firm founded by two MIT Media Lab PhD's, on Thursday announced the release of the Musical Brain, which they say "automatically listens to music and reads about music everywhere on the Web in real-time." The company's first in a planned series of Web-based APIs, "Analyze," can analyze a music file in a few seconds and provide information on tempo, beats, time signature, timbre, key and other attributes. The Echo Nest said the Musical Brain combines large-scale Web crawling, data mining, language processing and audio analysis, and will be able to predict music trends.

Los Angeles - Vivendi's Sierra Entertainment said on Thursday that rapper 50 Cent will reprise his starring role in a video game sequel, "50 Cent: Blood on the Sand," set for release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in the fall. The console version of the follow-up to the multi-million unit-selling "50 Cent: Bulletproof" is being developed by Swordfish Studios. Vivendi Games Mobile will also release a mobile version.

Redwood City, Calif. - Electronic Arts said on Thursday that its "Madden NFL 09" will be available in retail stores in North America on August 12, including a special collector's edition in celebration of the franchise's 20th anniversary. The special edition will include full versions of both "Madden NFL 09" and the new "NFL Head Coach 09," classic Madden gameplay and a library of bonus video content.

Los Angeles - TorrentSpy, a site that indexed files available for download from the BitTorrent file-sharing network, and was the target of a lawsuit from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), has permanently closed down the site for all visitors worldwide, TorrentFreak reported.

London - The video game ratings system used in the U.K. could face a major overhaul, with the number of titles reviewed for content by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) rising dramatically, if the findings of a new study commissioned by the U.K. government and conducted by psychologist Dr. Tanya Byron are followed, the BBC reports.

Philadelphia - Comcast (NASD: CMCSA), currently the subject of an FCC probe and target of a lawsuit related to its practice of throttling peer-to-peer traffic, announced on Thursday a collaboration with peer-to-peer software firm BitTorrent, to address issues with network traffic management. One result of the talks is that Comcast has agreed to migrate to a "protocol agnostic" network management system -- which would not single out BitTorrent, as its current system does -- by the end of 2008.

New York - Ringback tones -- the ringtones that can be programmed to play when a caller dials your mobile number -- will lead mobile music growth and surpass $210 million in U.S. retail sales this year, up 50% from 2007, according to a projection from performing rights organization BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.).

New York - Video game publisher Atari (NASD: ATAR) announced on Thursday that earlier this week it received a delisting notice from the Nasdaq, which said in December that the company's shares could be delisted if they did not reach and maintain a $15 million market value for 10 consecutive days by March 20.

Boston - A Texas judge has ordered several banks to follow through with funding the $19.5 billion acquisition of radio network giant Clear Channel Communications (NYSE: CCU) by Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners, the Associated Press reported. The two private equity firms filed lawsuits on Wednesday against the group of banks, claiming that they were reneging on their agreements to provide long-term financing for the deal.

Los Angeles - Men's lifestyle destination CraveOnline.com has acquired basketball site HoopsVibe.com for an undisclosed sum.

Reston, Va. - Preparing to launch trials of its nationwide mobile media service, ICO Global Communications said on Thursday that it has landed a $40 million credit facility from Jefferies Finance.

San Francisco - On the heels of receiving a $3 million donation from the Sloan Foundation, the Wikimedia Foundation, which operates the Wikipedia online encyclopedia, announced on Thursday that it has received another $500,000 donation from philanthropists Vinod and Neeru Khosla.

UK Internet traffic to online video websites increased by 178% between February 2007 and 2008. A Hitwise custom category of the top 25 video websites in the UK accounted for 2.22% of all UK Internet visits in February 2008, equivalent for one in every 45 Internet visits last month.