New York - Ratings provider The Nielsen Company announced on Wednesday that it partnered with digital watermarking developer Digimarc to launch a new service that will track online video distributed by media companies, social networks, peer-to-peer services and user-generated content sites. [more..]

San Francisco - The U.S. Justice Department has filed a legal brief defending the copyright law that enabled an award of $220,000 in damages to the major record labels, in a copyright infringement case they brought against Jammie Thomas, a Minnesota woman who was found by a jury to have shared 24 songs on a file-sharing network, CNET News.com reports. [more..]

Palo Alto, Calif. - The Facebook online social network on Wednesday announced that it will make its controversial Beacon marketing feature completely optional for the service's 55 million members. [more..]

Frankfurt, Germany - A German court reversed an earlier injunction on Tuesday, and said mobile operator T-Mobile may sell Apple's iPhone with a condition locking it to its own wireless service, the Associated Press reported. [more..]

New York - Sixty percent of U.S. consumers agree that the government should regulate the sale of violent or mature content video games, while 51% agree that the government should regulate mature content itself, according to a poll of 1,147 adults conducted by public relations firm Hill & Knowlton. [more..]

Mountain View, Calif. - Apple's iPhone topped Google's list of the fastest-rising U.S. search terms of 2007, the search engine provider announced on Tuesday. [more..]

Denver, Colo. - Buzzwire, a provider of mobile streaming audio, video and radio services, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $8 million in its second round of venture capital financing, led by new investor Sequel Venture Partners. [more..]

Sunnyvale, Calif. - GestureTek, a developer of gesture-recognition technology used in camera phones for navigation and gaming applications, announced on Wednesday that it has received a minority investment from Spanish telco Telefonica. [more..]

New York - Independent video game publisher Playlogic Entertainment announced on Wednesday that it has retained the investor relations firm Strategic Growth International, to "achieve increased share value and awareness of Playlogic in the investment community."
[more..]

Despite shortages of the popular console in the UK, the volume of searches for ‘nintendo wii’ has increased 158% since November 2006, while searches for ‘wii’ have increased by 278%, blogs Robin Goad. [more..]

Facebook is too easily to replicate. It only has one real asset — people. What Facebook critics see is not the risk that another social networking company can do a better job with the technology — it’s that one could do a better job with the people, blogs Scott Karp. [more..]

London - U.K. broadband service BT Vision on Wednesday announced the launch of a test of a new service that will offer users free online film rentals for watching targeting advertisements. [more..]

Los Angeles - Hulu, the online video distribution joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp., has begun to add HD videos to its offering, shortly following the release of Adobe's new Flash Player that supports HD streaming. [more..]

Los Angeles - NBC Universal's Bravo pay-TV network has ordered a pilot of "Hey Bitches," a "reality docusoap" that will feature 24-year-old YouTube personality William Sledd, whose "Ask a Gay Man" videos comment on fashion and pop culture, Variety reports. [more..]

New York - Viacom's VH1 Classic pay-TV network announced on Wednesday that it will begin offering online editions of its popular "Pop-Up Video" TV series on its website. [more..]

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo announced on Wednesday that it will add several thousand music videos and original programming from Music Choice to its TiVoCast service for broadband-connected TiVo boxes. [more..]

San Francisco - Online social network imeem on Wednesday announced a deal with Microcinema International, to offer full-length streaming versions from the company's library of art-focused film and video, and ambient media on imeem. [more..]

Cambridge, Mass. - Maven Networks, a provider of Internet TV distribution services, said on Wednesday that cable TV network owner Scripps Networks will use its service to power its online video offerings. [more..]