New York - Korean electronics maker LG announced on Thursday that it has partnered with Netflix (NASD: NFLX) to develop the first Blu-ray disc player able to access streaming movies and TV episodes from the online rental service. Set for release in the fall, the LG BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc Player will allow Netflix subscribers to browse its catalog, read synopses and rate movies using the player's remote, and stream movies and TV episodes from its catalog at no additional charge.

San Francisco - YouTube (NASD: GOOG) has begun compressing the audio of videos uploaded to its site, which has had the effect of degrading the audio quality and angering some users, Wired.com reported. "It has become quite striking how bad many new clips now sound -- very flat, muffled, and often distorted -- even when the source audio is perfectly prepared," Scott Matthews, new media director for guitar effects pedal maker Electro-Harmonix, told Wired. "The tragic bummer is that now I have to reevaluate my whole plan to use YouTube. We really care about sound quality, and we can accept that YouTube needs to compress (as in file size) the audio -- but we can't move forward if YouTube is going to flatten, muffle, and distort our audio."

Seattle - RealNetworks (NASD: RNWK) has added DRM-free MP3 versions of U2's entire catalog to its Rhapsody music store. The placement marks the first time that the band's music has been available to purchase and download free of digital rights management. In addition to all 19 of the band's records, Rhapsody is also offering extended versions with extra tracks for $20 each.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Activision Publishing (NASD: ATVI) said on Thursday that it has partnered with peripherals manufacturer Logitech International to develop premium musical instrument controllers for its "Guitar Hero World Tour" video game. Switzerland-based Logitech plans to release premium instruments for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii versions of the game later this year.

New York - Concert promoter Live Nation (NYSE: LYV), which has paid millions for the touring and recording rights to artists including Madonna, Jay-Z and Shakira, is considering outsourcing the recording of albums to one or more of the major labels, The New York Post reported, citing sources inside the company.

Los Angeles - Web publishing start-up CrowdFusion has raised $3 million in its first round of venture capital financing, led by Velocity Interactive Group, Greycroft Partners and Marc Andreessen, PaidContent reported.

Santa Clara, Calif. - Intel (NASD: INTC) said on Thursday that it has signed a deal with Facebook to help optimize the social network's hardware and software as the company builds out its datacenter infrastructure.

New York - Google (NASD: GOOG) is planning to launch a new venture capital arm, likely to be led by chief legal officers and senior vice president of corporate development David Drummond, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing several people briefed on the discussions. Along with Drummond, Google hired 33-year-old former entrepreneur and investor William Maris to launch the venture.

Los Angeles - Scrabulous, the popular Web knock-off version of Hasbro's Scrabble on Facebook whose creators took the game down after being sued by Hasbro (NYSE: HAS), has relaunched on the social network as "Wordscraper," an essentially similar game that makes changes to its name and other characteristics. The move is no doubt aimed at testing the boundaries of copyright and trademark claims under current laws.

Menlo Park, Calif. - Nokia (NYSE: NOK) announced on Thursday has committed an additional $150 million to its venture capital arm, Nokia Growth Partners, increasing the funds under the Menlo Park, Calif.-based firm's management to $250 million.

Cambridge, Mass. - Market research firm Forrester Research (NASD: FORR) announced on Thursday that it has acquired JupiterResearch from MCG Capital Corp. for $23 million in cash and assumed liabilities.

San Francisco - Ngmoco, a new publisher of games for Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iPhone, announced on Thursday that it has raised an undisclosed sum of first round funding, led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) with participation from Maples Investments.

Los Angeles - Disney's (NYSE: DIS) ESPN plans to launch a new action sports broadband network in the fall, comprised of a grouping of sites dedicated to various sports like skateboarding, motocross and surfing, the Los Angeles Times reported. The ESPN Action Sports Network will also offer original digital programming, and content from partners such as Surfline.com, Vans.com and Active Ride Shop, as well as encourage users to post their own sports videos. "We felt like we were under-delivering on a year-round basis," Dave Finger, director of action sports for ESPN Digital Media, told the Times. "We felt like we were missing out on covering action sports with the same voice and authenticity that we bring to stick and ball."

Austin, Texas - As a promotion for its massively multiplayer online game "Tabula Rasa," which explores the destruction of Earth, developer NCsoft has announced that it will send a time capsule with the digitized DNA of select video game players and others into space. "Operation Immortality" will see game designer Richard Garriott take the capsule with him when he travels to the International Space Station in October 2008. "I'm thrilled we can offer the once in a lifetime chance to millions of gamers to virtually go to space with me," said Garriott. "A select few will have their DNA digitized and sent. And, theoretically, if anything happens to the human race, it could be their DNA that is used to resurrect humanity."

New York - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV on Wednesday announced that Panic At The Disco and Dashboard Confessional will headline its "Rock Band Live" tour, a fall promotional tour for its "Rock Band" video game from Harmonix. The tour will also feature performances from "Rock Band" bands, who will compete for the chance to play on the main stage in between the headline acts' sets in each of the 28 cities on the tour schedule. MTV has secured Hot Topic and Pepsi Stuff as sponsors for the tour.

London - Universal Music Catalog on Wednesday announced the launch of Lost Tunes, a new U.K. MP3 download store that aims to promote the major label's deeper catalog fare. Powered by independent retailer 7digital, the store at launch offers 134 albums, and will add some 500 more by year's end. The store will mine tracks from Universal's Trojan, Fiction, Decca Verve, A&M, Motown and Stax labels, among others, and offer a range of exclusive downloads. Currently featured on the store are albums from Link Wray, Nick Drake, Jimmy Cliff and Lightnin' Hopkins.

New York - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Nickelodeon children's network announced on Wednesday that it has added a number of classic programs from its library to Apple's iTunes Store for purchase and download, including "The Amanda Show," "Rugrats," "As Told By Ginger," "Hey Dude," "Rocket Power" and "Clarissa Explains It All." In addition to individual episodes, several full seasons and "best of" volumes will be available from $8.99 to $19.99.

New York - Ludlum Entertainment announced on Wednesday that it has re-acquired the rights to develop and publish video games based on the late author Robert Ludlum's works, including the Bourne and Covert One series. The rights had previously been sold to Vivendi Games (now Activision Blizzard), whose Sierra unit published "The Bourne Conspiracy" for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 last month. "The international success of Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy coupled with continued, dramatic changes in the gaming industry enable Ludlum Entertainment to develop new partnerships capable of fully exploiting the multi-platform potential of the Ludlum content and storylines," the company said.