Boston - Federal authorities have launched an investigation into a stock option grant made to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing "sources familiar with the probe." [more..]

New York - Brisk hardware sales in December helped push total U.S. video game sales for 2006 up 19%, to $12.5 billion, according to sales data from market research firm NPD Group. [more..]

San Jose, Calif. - A private investigator involved in the Hewlett-Packard boardroom spying scandal on Friday pleaded guilty to identity theft and conspiracy charges, the Associated Press reported. [more..]

Washington - A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate would alter royalty rates and add copy-protection requirements to the satellite and Internet radio industries. [more..]

Stockholm - Swedish file-sharing site The Pirate Bay announced on Friday that it is looking to buy its own island, as a means of evading copyright laws, Agence France Presse reported. [more..]

Dulles, Va. - AOL announced on Friday that it has named Napster as the exclusive music subscription service provider for its AOL Music site, replacing AOL Music Now, which claimed 350,000 paid subscribers. [more..]

New York - HarperCollins Publishers announced on Friday that it has made an undisclosed equity investment in NewsStand, a provider of digital book publishing services. [more..]

Park City, Utah - The Sundance Institute announced on Friday that it will offer a selection of the short films in competition at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival for purchase and download from Apple's iTunes Store. [more..]

San Francisco - The Casual Games Association, an industry trade group of developers and publishers of casual online games, and casual games editorial site Gamezebo on Friday announced the nominees for the first annual Zeebys, which will recognize the best casual games of the year. [more..]

Atlanta - EZ Prints, an Atlanta-based provider of digital image fulfillment technology for retailers, portals, ISPs, digital content owners and professional photo services, has raised $8 million in venture capital from General Catalyst Partners. [more..]

Milan, Italy - Buongiorno, an Italy-based digital music and entertainment distributor, announced on Friday that its Hong Kong unit, a joint venture with Mitsui & Co., has acquired eDongAsia, a provider of mobile entertainment in China. Under the deal, Buongiorno Hong Kong will acquire up to 80% of eDongAsia for about $2.7 million. Buongiorno will offer both business to business services for telecom companies and large media groups in China, as well as consumer services, under its Blinko brand. [more..]

Overland Park, Kan. - Wireless carrier Sprint announced on Friday that it has partnered with Fox to offer sneak peeks of upcoming episodes and other content from the upcoming season of "24." Shortly after each episode is broadcast, Sprint subscribers with compatible phones will be able to access a sneak peak of next week's episode on Sprint TV. Clips will also be made available the morning after each episode airs, along with quizzes and a "survival guide." [more..]

Emeryville, Calif. - Amino, a provider of IPTV delivery technology, announced this week that it has partnered with Orb Networks, whose MyCasting service allows users to access their PC content from any Internet-connected device. Under the deal, Orb's software will be integrated into Amino set-top boxes, enabling consumers to access their PC digital media directly from their televisions. [more..]

Sacramento, Calif. - Net Music Makers, a site that offers musicians virtual recording studio technology and includes a Web radio network, on Friday launched a beta version of its Web 2.0 website and named winners of its Battle of the Bands contest. Winner of the contest's Virtual Band category was The Funkdawgs, a five-piece jazz band who create music together online from locales ranging from Nashville to New York to Italy. Sacramento, Calif.-based Net Music Makers' beta site includes the launch of ten genre-based Internet radio channels, which will stream user-provided songs. [more..]

London - Disney's Buena Vista Games announced on Friday a publishing agreement with German developer Sunflowers, to publish its "Anno 1701" title for the Nintendo DS. The "Anno" PC game series, which has sold 4.4 million units worldwide, will be developed for the DS by Keen Games. BVG will publish the title in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia and New Zealand in the second quarter of 2007. [more..]

Redwood City, Calif. - Electronic Arts announced on Friday plans to publish "UEFA Champions League 2006-2007," a title based on the European club soccer tournament. Developed at EA Canada for Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PSP and the PC, the game is slated for release worldwide on March 20. [more..]