London - Microsoft's anticipated Xbox 360 title "Halo 3" has been leaked online and is available for download from a number of file-sharing sites in advance of its official release, according to published reports. [more..]

Los Angeles - News Corp.'s Fox will offer free downloads of the premiere episodes of many of its fall television shows from Apple's iTunes Store. [more..]

Morgan Hill, Calif. - A trade group of consumer electronics firms, technology developers and movie studios this week approved a new technology that will allow consumers to burn movies they download from online services to DVDs that will play in any player. [more..]

Atlanta - EarthLink, one of the largest ISPs in the U.S., on Friday confirmed that Korea's SK Telecom will invest up to $270 million in Helio, the companies' wireless voice and data services joint venture. [more..]

Berlin - The German government on Friday approved an update to its copyright law that essentially makes it illegal to make copies of movies and music, even for personal use, Variety reported. [more..]

Ann Arbor, Mich. - Media retail store chain Borders Group announced on Friday that it has sold its U.K. and Ireland subsidiaries to London-based private equity firm Risk Capital Partners, in a deal valued at up to $40 million. [more..]

Seattle - Snapvine, the provider of a service that lets social network users leave voice messages for one another on their profile pages, has raised $10 million in new financing, led by Bridgescale Partners, the Seattle P-I reported. [more..]

Needham, Mass. - Matchmine, a developer of content recommendation technology, has raised $10 million in financing from the Kraft Group. [more..]

San Francisco - Donnerwood Media, an online entertainment company whose products include 3D avatar-building software, has raised $5.4 million in its third round of venture capital financing, from Battery Ventures and Transcosmos, PEHub.com reported, citing a regulatory filing. [more..]

The CW, a television network combining Warner Bros, The WB, and CBS’s UPN, is making noise this fall with a lineup featuring the much-discussed Gossip Girls, an OC-meets-Cruel Intentions show based on the lives of New York’s young and rich, and Reaper, about a kid whose parents sold his soul to the devil, from the writer/director of Clerks, Kevin Smith. [more..]

Coming into the final weekend of the nationwide Halo 3 countdown, we’re about to see a whole lot of ads for the video game phenomenon leading up to the September 25th launch. [more..]

The Australian ABC's decision to open up its television archives online earlier this year appears to have resulted in significant growth for the ABC Television website, blogs Sandra Hanchard of Hitwise Asia Pacific. [more..]

Chiba, Japan - Sony said this week that it will postpone until next spring the launch of its "Home" virtual community service for the PlayStation 3, citing a need to improve the quality of its product, Reuters reported. [more..]

London - German authorities this week conducted raids to shut down seven servers utilized by the eDonkey peer-to-peer file-sharing network, following similar recent actions in the Netherlands and France. [more..]

Los Angeles - Sling Media, a provider of TV place-shifting technology that lets consumers access their premium home TV channels while on the go from Internet-connected devices, has partnered with DirecTV to make NFL game telecasts available to its users, PaidContent.org reported. [more..]

Bangkok - Thailand is once again looking to block videos on YouTube, this time ordering ISPs to prohibit access to clips that allege former Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda plotted the bloodless coup in the country last September, and not the generals who took credit for the action, Reuters reported. [more..]

London - Universal Music U.K. has partnered with Coull.tv on an interactive music video for its artist RyanDan, that allows users to click on objects in the video and post comments. [more..]