Sunnyvale, Calif. - In a bold move that sent ripples through Silicon Valley before sunrise on Friday, Microsoft said that it has launched an unsolicited $44.6 billion takeover bid for Yahoo. [more..]

Stockholm - Prosecutors in Sweden this week filed charges of preparing and participating in copyright infringement against the four individuals behind The Pirate Bay, the notorious BitTorrent tracker site that has been targeted for years by U.S. entertainment companies. [more..]

Cambridge, Mass. - Maven Networks, a privately-held provider of technology for advertising on Internet video, is about to be acquired by Yahoo for about $150 million, according to published reports. [more..]

Washington - XM Satellite Radio, the provider of satellite radio services in the process of merging with rival Sirius, said on Friday that it has settled a lawsuit filed by record label Sony BMG Music Entertainment relating to the Pioneer Inno, a portable satellite radio with advanced recording features. [more..]

Reston, Va. - Some of the top Internet brands, including Google, Facebook, Wikipedia and Craigslist, were among the biggest gainers last year in terms of their Internet audiences, according to a new report from comScore. [more..]

Boston - MocoSpace, a mobile community site, has raised $4 million in its second round of venture capital financing, led by General Catalyst Partners, PEHub.com reported. [more..]

Miami - Batanga, an online media and entertainment firm targeting Latinos, announced on Friday that it has acquired HispanoClick, an online Hispanic advertising network that reaches over 5.6 million unique U.S. users per month. [more..]

Fremont, Calif. - Nexage, a provider of mobile video and social networking services, announced on Friday that it has received an additional $500,000 from angel investors, bringing its total funding so far to $2.5 million. [more..]

Westminster, Colo. - SpotXchange, the operator of an online video advertising network, announced that it has raised an undisclosed sum in its first round of angel funding. [more..]

Pre-rolls don’t work for advertisers that want to reach a youth audience - “Custom Skins” and “Editorial Integration” is the way to go to monetize online video, according to Ricky Van Veen, co-founder of the vastly popular online video site CollegeHumor.com, blogs Jay Baage. [more..]

the deal makes sense and all of a sudden we have a viable competitor to take on Google. That’s exciting news. However, the combined entity will be fighting an uphill battle and don’t expect either company to change into a web success story overnight, blogs Jay Baage. [more..]

Los Angeles - NBC Universal's Sci Fi Channel pay-TV network announced on Friday that it will bring its Web series "Sanctuary" to TV, adding that it will figure as the first TV series to use live-action actors against mostly virtual sets, similar to the process used in movies like "Sin City" and "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow." [more..]

Los Angeles - NASA on Friday announced plans to for the first time beam music into deep space, and has chosen the Beatles' "Across the Universe," to commemorate events including the 50th anniversary of the formation of NASA, and the 50th anniversary of key events in the formation of the Beatles. [more..]

New York - Viacom's MTV said this week that it will send a team of citizen journalists to cover elections in Super Tuesday primary states, who will stream live video broadcasts throughout the day via mobile phones to its MTVNews.com and ChooseorLose.com sites. [more..]

New York - CBS's CSTV and CBS Sports on Friday announced the launch of Fans Only, a social networking platform that lets sports fans create their own sites with news from thousands of sources, virtual tailgates, blogs and game picks. [more..]

Los Angeles - Video game developer Brash Entertainment said this week that it is developing a game based on "Space Chimps," the upcoming animated film from Vanguard Animation and Starz Media. [more..]