Washington - The U.S. House on Tuesday passed a bill that would shield journalists and bloggers from having to identify their confidential sources in the course of federal investigations, CNET News.com reported. [more..]

New York - The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Usenet.com, a company that redistributes traffic from the Usenet global message-board network. [more..]

New York - Despite the fact that Radiohead is letting fans pay whatever they choose -- including nothing -- to download its new album from its website, more than 500,000 have downloaded the album for free off of the BitTorrent file-sharing network since its release, Forbes.com reported, citing data from peer-to-peer monitoring firm Big Champagne. [more..]

Cupertino, Calif. - Confirming a report from yesterday, Apple on Wednesday announced that it has cut the price for DRM-free tracks at its iTunes Plus store from $1.29 to 99 cents, and expanded its catalog to include tracks from independent labels and distributors including Sub Pop, Beggars Group, IODA and The Orchard. [more..]

Franklin, Tenn. - PassAlong Networks, an operator and provider of digital music services, announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with e-commerce firm Digonex Technologies and independent label Nettwerk Music Group to test a digital music store that will offer variably-priced MP3s. [more..]

Cupertino, Calif. - Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in an open letter on the company's website on Wednesday that the company will in February offer tools to developers looking to create third-party applications for the iPhone. [more..]

Los Angeles - News Corp.'s MySpace online social network announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with Skype, the Internet telephone service owned by eBay, to enable MySpace's 110 million users and Skype's 220 million users to call each other for free using Skype. [more..]

New York - U.S. television viewing over the past year has remained at the record levels set in the prior year, while the number of homes with digital video recorders has more than doubled, according to a report from The Nielsen Company. [more..]

McLean, Va. - Gannett, the publisher of 85 U.S. newspapers including USA Today, announced on Wednesday that it has acquired a controlling interest in Schedule Star, which operates HighSchoolSports.net. [more..]

New York - Next New Networks, a developer of niche online TV networks for targeted communities, announced on Wednesday that it has acquired BarelyPolitical.com, the political satire site responsible for the "Obama Girl" viral videos. [more..]

Kiev, Ukraine - Oberon Media, a publisher of casual games for multiple platforms, announced on Wednesday that it has acquired two Eastern European studios, Russia-based Kenjitsu, and Ukraine-based Friends Games. [more..]

London - Acclaim Games, a publisher of massively multiplayer online games, has received a multi-million dollar investment from Mayfield through GameInvestors.com, GamesIndustry.biz reported. [more..]

Seattle - Treemo, the developer of a social media publishing platform, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $2.55 million in new funding from JK&B Capital. [more..]

The Huffington Post has maintained campaign finance section of its site called FundRace 2008, which breaks donations into several categories.  [more..]

Looking to expand on the Star Wars universe beyond the storylines covered in the films, George Lucas has “just begun work” on a television series, the LA Times reports.  [more..]

Today Reuters broke down the most popular Google search terms by country, and the results are telling. [more..]

Having led some of the most successful recent comedies like Knocked Up, Superbad, and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Judd Apatow is hoping to bring some of his magic to FunnyorDie.com, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s site.  [more..]

There are many conclusions that can be drawn from the online popularity of the Philippine version of the reality television show Big Brother, blogs Jay Baage. [more..]

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Los Angeles - Amazon.com will offer a 20% commission on sales to affiliates who drive traffic to its new MP3 store, compared to the 5% commission that Apple provides to iTunes Store affiliates, Mashable.com reported. [more..]

London - BBC Worldwide plans to launch a globally-available, commercial version of its free iPlayer service, which lets U.K. residents watch BBC programs for seven days online after their initial broadcast, PaidContent UK reported. [more..]

New York - Vimeo, a video-sharing site operated by IAC and Connected Ventures, on Wednesday announced the introduction of support for high-definition video, which it claims is an industry first. [more..]

New York - Ratings provider Nielsen and Disney's ESPN cable network on Wednesday announced a collaboration to measure how consumers use media across platforms including TV, the Internet and mobile devices. [more..]

Los Angeles - Ripe Digital Entertainment, a multiplatform entertainment network for men, said on Wednesday hat it has launched a new channel on its RipeTV broadband service that features licensed programming from the Cinemax cable network, a unit of Time Warner's HBO. [more..]

San Francisco - IODA, a digital distributor of independent label music, said on Wednesday that it has partnered with Spectre Entertainment to launch Spectre Digital, a set of online promotional tools. [more..]

Basking Ridge, N.J. - Verizon Wireless on Wednesday introduced its latest music phone, the Juke by Samsung, which features 2GB of storage and will be available for $99 with a two-year contract. [more..]

New York - Groove Mobile, a provider of mobile music services, said on Wednesday that it has signed a licensing deal with Redeye Distribution, which will bring music from labels including Yep Roc, Arena Rock, Purple Feather, PR Records, TKO Records, Rainbow and Quartz to the services it operates. [more..]