Boulder, Colo. - Collective Intellect, a firm that provides social media analytics, announced on Wednesday that it has landed $6.6 million in its second round of funding, led by Grotech Capital Group.

Los Angeles - Notorious Sweden-based file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay has launched an uncensored blogging service, after one of the service's founders saw a friend's blog removed from Wordpress for linking to copyrighted material, TorrentFreak reports. The Baywords service uses Wordpress as its blogging engine. "Many blogs are being shut down for uncomfortable thoughts and ideas," reads a note on Baywords.com. "We will not do that. Our goal is to protect freedom of speech and your thoughts. As long as you don't break any Swedish laws in your blog, we will defend it."

London - Apple's (NASD: AAPL) U.K. iPhone launch partners, O2 and Carphone Warehouse, have slashed the price of the device there by 100 pounds ($197) in anticipation of the launch of a new model of the device, Reuters reports. The 8GB version will now sell for 169 pounds, while the 16GB model will stay at 329 pounds; a similar price cut was enacted by T-Mobile in Germany earlier this month. Apple told Reuters the O2 promotional pricing would not extend to iPhone sales at its own stores.

New York - A rare club performance by Madonna scheduled for April 30 at the Roseland Ballroom in New York will be webcast live by Microsoft's (NASD: MSFT) MSN Music to U.S. users, and to the rest of the world on May 15, Billboard reports. The artist's Icon fan club has also added social networking components, including a $40 platinum membership that offers exclusive concert pre-sales and other goodies.

New York - Verizon (NYSE: VZ) said on Wednesday that it has filed with the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications to become the first provider to offer digital TV service throughout the five boroughs of New York. "Currently, only two legacy cable TV companies operate in separate and distinct parts of the city, leaving consumers, effectively, with little or no competitive choice for their cable TV news, information and entertainment," the company said. If approved, Verizon could begin offering its FiOS TV service in the city later this year.

Amsterdam - Apparel designer Tommy Hilfiger on Wednesday announced the launch of TommyTV, an online video channel collaboration with Sony BMG Europe that will showcase high-profile artists paired with emerging talent at intimate gigs across the world. TommyTV's "The Hilfiger Sessions" has already featured Wyclef Jean and Kelly Rowland. The channel will also offer interviews and videos uploaded by aspiring artists to "Hilfiger Auditions."

Victoria, Canada - Dittybase Technologies said on Wednesday that it has signed a deal with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), to become the worldwide digital distributor and licensor for the CBC Music Collection. The deal includes sessions and concerts from artists including Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Feist, Sloan and Rufus Wainright.

Austin, Texas - Video game developer and publisher NCsoft on Wednesday introduced NCcoin, a new micro-transaction system that will allow players to use real-world money to purchase in-game items and upgrades within its titles. NCcoin will make its debut in the game "Exteel"; NCsoft also publishes "City of Heroes," "Guild Wars" and "Lineage."

Redwood City, Calif. - Electronic Arts (NASD: ERTS) on Wednesday announced that its "The Sims" franchise has now sold 100 million units worldwide. EA pointed out that that figure would include one out of seven homes in Europe, and one out of three homes in America. The first iteration of The Sims was launched in 2000, and went on to become the best-selling PC game franchise of all time.

Austin, Texas - There are now more than 100 virtual worlds operating or that are in development which target the 18-and-under youth market, according to a report from virtual worlds trade media company Virtual Worlds Management.

Washington - The Consumer Federation of America and the Consumers Union have petitioned the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to create a "do not track" list of consumers who do not want online advertisers from collecting information about them without their consent, Reuters reported.

Los Angeles - News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) 20th Century Fox and Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Paramount Pictures have joined Disney in the practice of offering films for purchase and download from Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store on the same day they are released on DVD, with Fox adding "Juno" to the retailer's offering on Tuesday, Variety reported.

Vancouver, Canada - Strutta, a site that hosts video-based competitions, has raised $1.2 million in financing from GrowthWorks, Telefilm Canada and angel investors, NewTeeVee reports.

Santa Monica, Calif. - PluggedIn on Wednesday announced the beta launch of its broadcast and HD-quality music video streaming site, which features over 10,000 videos from both major and independent label artists.

New York - Buddy Media, a developer of social media applications, announced on Wednesday that it has raised a $6.5 million second round of financing, led by Softbank Capital.

San Francisco - Music-focused social network Imeem has raised an undisclosed sum of new funding from Sequoia Capital, Tech Confidential reported.

Facebook has had an update feature similar to Twitter for a while. Now Facebook has a feature that lets users add feeds from other web services like Flickr and del.icio.us — just like FriendFeed. From a technology perspective, Twitter and FriendFeed are now reducable to Facebook features. Even if those two apps are currently more robust than their equivalent Facebook features, there’s nothing to stop Facebook from copying them in their entirety.