Los Angeles - Following the announcement yesterday that Microsoft paid $240 million to acquire a 1.6% stake in the online social network Facebook, Forbes.com is reporting that Facebook is set to receive another $500 million in investments, in the form of $250 million investments from each of two New York-based hedge funds [more..]

Cincinnati, Ohio - The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this week struck down a law that required adult entertainment providers to keep records on all of the performers featured in their products, saying the law was overly broad and violates First Amendment protections. [more..]

Washington - The U.S. Trade Representative has announced plans to establish a new global Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, but initial partners in the effort do not include two countries the U.S. considers to be major havens for piracy, China and Russia. [more..]

New York - Video game publisher Atari, a unit of France's Infogrames, announced on Thursday that it has secured a $10 million credit facility with BlueBay High Yield Investments, but noted the amount isn't enough to satisfy its funding requirements, and the company will seek additional financing. [more..]

New York - Advertising giant WPP Group announced that it has acquired Blast Radius, a digital ad agency based in Vancouver, B.C. [more..]

Rockville, Md. - ZeniMax Media, a developer and publisher of video games for consoles, PCs and handheld devices, said on Thursday that it has landed a $300 million investment from Providence Equity Partners. [more..]

San Francisco - Following in the footsteps of rival social networks Facebook and, asl of last week, MySpace, Friendster announced on Thursday that it will launch a developer program next month to allow third-party applications to be added to its social networking service. [more..]

Atlanta - Beyond Media and Intent MediaWorks, two providers of digital media distribution services, announced on Thursday they have merged to form a new venture. [more..]

Probably the most rewarding part of being on the show was just being able to be me. I had no say over the music, the video packages they did or how they presented me on the show, blogs Mark Cuban, after being voted off ABC's Dancing With The Stars.
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New York - Independent record label The Fader, part of Fader Magazine, announced on Thursday that its roster artist Saul Williams has released his new album exclusively as a download, which is available either completely for free, or with a $5 contribution to support the artist. [more..]

London - Miniweb Interactive Limited on Thursday announced the launch of its interactive TV services company, which was formed following a buyout of the assets and infrastructure of the SkyKeys/Internet Sites services and global licensing of TV browser technology from BSkyB, a unit of News Corp. [more..]

San Francisco - Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry mobile device, announced that it has launched an optimized application for use with the Facebook online social network. [more..]

Marlow, England - SpinVox on Thursday announced the launch of a new service that allows users to post content to their Facebook profiles, as well as on blogging services Jaiku and Twitter, via mobile phones through its voice-powered service. [more..]

Hong Kong - Animax, the Japanese anime satellite TV network owned by Sony, plans to launch a mobile TV channel in Hong Kong and Taiwan, Variety reported. [more..]

Los Angeles - Mobile marketing firm Impact Mobile has announced the launch of a new mobile ticketing service, JumpTXT Access, that will deliver unique barcodes to consumers' cell phones, which may then be presented to gain entry at concert venues, theme parks, movie theaters, VIP functions and other events. [more..]

San Francisco - Video game publisher Ubisoft has announced that actors including Anthony Hopkins, Ray Winstone, Brendan Gleeson and Sebastien Roche will provide their voices and likenesses to the video game it is developing based on the upcoming Paramount Pictures film, "Beowulf." [more..]