Washington - Thousands of U.S. webcasters on Tuesday went silent, staging a day-long blackout in protest of sharply higher music royalty rates set to take affect on July 15. [more..]

Cupertino, Calif. - Apple and AT&T on Tuesday announced pricing of service plans for the iPhone, for which consumers will be required to purchase a two-year contract when the device goes on sale on Friday. [more..]

Dulles, Va. - AOL on Tuesday launched a completely revamped version of its AOL News portal, using a blog format to combine traditional news sources with AOL programming, user-generated news and social news tools. [more..]

San Francisco - TorrentSpy, a search engine that provides links to media files available for download on the BitTorrent file-sharing network, and is defending against a copyright lawsuit from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), has announced plans to implement a filter to weed out copyrighted content, CNET News.com reported. [more..]

Raleigh-Durham, N.C. - Digitalsmiths, a provider of broadband video contextual advertising technology, announced that it has raised $6 million in its first round of venture capital financing. [more..]

Atlanta - EG Technology, a provider of digital video processing equipment, has raised $5 million more in its third round of venture capital, bringing the round's total to $20.5 million, according to a report in PE Week Wire. [more..]

Louisville, Colo. - Lijit Networks, a provider of search tools and statistics for blog publishers, has raised $3.3 million in its second round of funding, led by Boulder Ventures. [more..]

n/a

n/a

Rohit Bhargava blogs about new interesting social media tools popping up targeted at women. [more..]

n/a

Scott Goldberg blogs about the always controversial Playboy Magazine, and its announcement that a Brazilian soccer referee will be its new July cover girl. [more..]

Los Angeles - Norman Lear, a political activist and creator of TV shows including "All in the Family" and "Good Times," is producing a series of voter awareness short films that will be distributed on popular video sites like YouTube and MySpace, Variety reported. [more..]

Los Angeles - CBS has made several of its soap operas, along with game show "The Price is Right," available for free, on-demand streaming from its website and partner sites in the CBS Audience Network. [more..]

Bedford, Mass. - Groove Mobile, a provider of mobile music download services, said on Tuesday that it has partnered with wireless carrier Vodafone UK on a trial of a direct-to-consumer, off-portal data service with access to the Sony BMG music catalog. [more..]

San Francisco - Social network imeem said on Tuesday that it partnered with independent movie studio Palm Pictures, which will make content including a full-length feature available on imeem. [more..]

San Francisco - KPIX-TV, a local CBS affiliate in San Francisco, said on Tuesday that it has implemented technology from Sling Media to deliver live, remote broadcasts for its viewers. [more..]

Los Angeles - Gemstar-TV Guide International, a provider of electronic program guides for digital TV services, said on Tuesday that it has signed a multi-year patent license agreement with MeeVee, a provider of TV and video recommendations. [more..]

San Francisco - Internet video network GoFish announced on Tuesday that it has added a library of live, high-definition music performances, clinics and recording sessions through an agreement with Rehearsals.com. [more..]

San Francisco - In-game ad network Double Fusion said on Tuesday that it will provide in-game ads for Ijji.com, the North American arm of the South Korean online game publisher, as well as for publisher Gala-Net, a unit of global online community company Gala, Inc. [more..]

Redwood City, Calif. - Video game developer and publisher Electronic Arts said on Tuesday that it signed Kevin Durant from the University of Texas to be the cover athlete for its "NCAA March Madness 08." [more..]