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.