San Francisco - U.S. video game sales topped $1 billion again in October, rising 73% from a year ago to $1.1 billion, according to data from market research firm NPD Group. [more..]

Seattle - Online retail giant Amazon.com plans to launch its long-awaited e-book reader device, "Kindle," in New York on Monday, CNET News.com reported. [more..]

Washington - The U.S. House Education and Labor Committee on Thursday approved a major college spending bill that includes provisions urging schools to adopt anti-piracy programs on their campus networks, CNET News.com reported. [more..]

McLean, Va. - USA Today, the national newspaper owned by Gannett, plans to cut about 45 positions in its newsroom, spread throughout its news, money, sports and lifestyle departments, the Associated Press reported. [more..]

San Francisco - Blowtorch Entertainment, a new media company focused on the youth audience that will produce feature-length films, professional-grade shorts, mobile offerings, an online social community and live events, announced on Friday that it has secured more than $50 million in initial funding, including an equity investment from Ignition Partners. [more..]

Arlington, Va. - More than 14% of the nearly $160 billion spent on consumer electronics over the past year was spent online, up from 5% in 2005, according to a new study released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). [more..]

New York - Control Room, a producer of live music programming that is distributed via TV, broadband and mobile platforms, has received an investment from private equity firm InterMedia Partners, Reuters reported. [more..]

San Francisco - RCRD LBL, a new online record label co-founded by Peter Rojas, founder of technology blogs Engadget and Gizmodo, and Downtown Records head Josh Deutsch -- this week announced its launch and the release of its first DRM-free, exclusive MP3s from artist and label partners. [more..]

Maria Luisa, a UNLV student, says on her MySpace page that CNN forced her to ask Clinton whether she prefers "diamonds to pearls" rather than the more challenging question she had in mind. [more..]

The death of email meme is completely absurd. Email is NOT going to die because EVERYONE HAS EMAIL, blogs Scott Karp. [more..]

Detroit - Hip-hop artist Eminem's music publishing company Eight Mile Style Music announced on Friday an administration, technology and marketing agreement with Kobalt Music Group, an online music publisher, and licensing and administration company Music Resources. [more..]

Sausalito, Calif. - Sony Pictures Entertainment's nysesne Crackle online video site this week announced the first major ad partnerships signed since its launch in July, with companies including Pepsi, Honda, Epson and Vodafone to advertise on the service. [more..]

Venice, Calif. - NovaTunes this week announced plans to launch its online music company at the end of the month, which will offer Internet distribution of digital albums for artists, and pay them 70% of revenue at the moment of purchase. [more..]

Boston - Skycore on Friday announced the launch of Cellyspace, a self-service ringtone consumer that can be used by both consumers, and artists looking to create and publish ringtones based on their own music. [more..]

Toronto - Moola.com on Friday introduced what it is calling the world's first massively multiplayer rewards game, which combines elements of multiplayer gaming with an ad-supported cash rewards program. [more..]