London - Fresh off of its $4.8 billion acquisition of major record label EMI Group, private equity firm Terra Firma has replaced the two top executives at the company, CEO Eric Nicoli and CFO Martin Stewart. [more..]

San Francisco - An "insider" at smartphone maker HTC told gadget blog CrunchGear that Google plans to release a long-rumored cell phone in the first quarter of 2008. [more..]

New York - A company based in Northern Ireland that was set to begin selling unlocked iPhones has halted its plans, following phone calls received from lawyers for Apple network partner AT&T, the Associated Press reported. [more..]

New York - The online video joint venture between News Corp. and NBC Universal has been given a name, "Hulu," and will launch in a private beta test version in October, the companies said on Wednesday. [more..]

London - Google's YouTube has reached a deal with U.K. copyright societies for the rights to use some 10 million pieces of music in videos posted on the site, the Financial Times reported. [more..]

London - Apple on Wednesday launched video downloads at its U.K. iTunes Store, initially offering American TV shows from partners including ABC, and MTV Networks' Nickelodeon, MTV and Paramount Comedy. [more..]

Espoo, Finland - Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia on Wednesday introduced the Nokia Music Store, a PC and over-the-air digital music service that uses technology gained from its acquisition of Loudeye. [more..]

Los Angeles - BridgeCo, a developer of entertainment home networking technology that connects consumer electronics to one another and the Internet, has raised $17 million in new private equity and debt financing, PEHub.com reported. [more..]

Santa Monica, Calif. - Trilogy Studios, a developer of video games and virtual worlds, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $3.2 million in its second round of venture capital financing, from undisclosed investors. [more..]

Jay Baage blogs about that Apple has confirmed a media event on September 5. It is widely expected that Apple will use the gathering in order to present a new breed of Mac OS X-based iPods. [more..]

Jay blogs about how things are heating up in the mobile media market. Except for four new mobile phones, the most interesting news from Nokia today was a Nokia music store, a Nokia N-Gage gaming site, and a web services portal called Ovi. [more..]

Scott Goldberg examines the controversy around "Kid Nation," a CBS-produced reality show debuting September 19. [more..]

Washington - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced an agenda for the Digital Television Consumer Education Workshop it plans to hold on Sept. 26 in Washington, which will discuss how to educate consumers about the pending transition from analog to digital television. [more..]

San Francisco - Linden Lab, which operates the "Second Life" virtual world, has implemented a new, voluntary identity verification system on the service. [more..]

Los Angeles - News Corp.'s MySpace online social network on Wednesday announced the launch of the MySpace Music Tour, the company's new series of MySpace-produced and branded nationwide concert tours. [more..]

Washington - The Washington Post is pulling the plug on its Washington Post Radio project with station owner Bonneville International. [more..]

San Francisco - Boing Boing, an influential blog that covers science and digital culture, on Wednesday announced a redesign of its site that adds a new section on Gadgets, and reinstates reader comments after a four-year absence. [more..]

Milpitas, Calif. - Consumer electronics maker Creative on Wednesday introduced the Creative ZEN, a credit card-sized music and video player with a 2.5-inch color screen. [more..]

New York - Digital music retailer eMusic said on Wednesday that it has renewed licensing agreements with four top independent labels: Beggars Group, Matador, Concord Music Group and ATO Records. [more..]

London - European digital media distributor 24-7 Entertainment said on Wednesday that it will power an online music service for Buecher.de, one of Germany's top book and media online stores. [more..]