Cupertino, Calif. - Apple reported on Monday that it sold one million iPhone 3Gs in the device's first weekend on sale in 21 countries, while the new App Store for both the new and first-generation iPhone racked up 10 million downloads. [more..]

Redmond, Wash. - Microsoft announced over the weekend that it has slashed $50 off the price of its basic 20GB Xbox 360 game console, to $299, while also unveiling plans to release a new 60GB model in August that will retail for $349. [more..]

New York - Media conglomerate Viacom has issued a statement claiming that it "has not asked for and will not be obtaining any personally identifiable information of any YouTube user" in the course of its $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against the site. [more..]

San Francisco - Activision Blizzard, the company recently formed through the merger of Activision and Vivendi's games division, is considering launching an alternative digital music platform to compete with Apple's iTunes, company CEO Bobby Kotick said in an interview with the Financial Times. [more..]

Tokyo - Japan has at least temporarily abandoned plans to enact an "iPod tax" that would have provided part of the cost of each device to copyright holders and recording artists, from presumed sales lost to piracy, officials there told the Associated Press. [more..]

New York - Chinese online video site 56.com, which has been down for the past five weeks for what a note on the site said was "system maintenance," but which many believed to because of government action, is now back online and serving video, Silicon Alley Insider reports. [more..]

Arlington, Va. - Seventy-one venture capital funds raised $9.1 billion during the second quarter, a 4% raise in dollar value from the same period last year, according to a new report from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). [more..]

San Jose, Calif. - Gaia Online, an online virtual world for teens that claims 5 million unique monthly users, announced on Monday that it has closed an $11 million third round of funding from Institutional Venture Partners. [more..]

Paris - Monte Cristo Games, a Paris-based independent game developer, announced that it has raised about $7 million in new funding from Arts Alliance, 360 Capital Partners and Innoven Partenaires [more..]

Silver Spring, Md. - Two months after announcing $15 million in new funding, Silicon Valley's Social Gaming Network (SGN) revealed on Monday that it has received an undisclosed amount of additional funding from Bezos Expeditions, the investment fund of Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. [more..]

It may set out not to be evil, but the legal and legislative processes are unpredictable, blogs Paul Sweeting. [more..]

There is no reason to re invent TV over the net when TV distributed as TV works, and all the technology is in place to move video from the net to TV distirbution networks, blogs Mark Cuban. [more..]

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New York - The first officially released song from Guns 'N Roses fourteen-years-in-the-making "Chinese Democracy" album is set to debut in September, as a track within "Rock Band 2," the sequel to Viacom-owned MTV Games popular music game, The New York Times reported on Monday, citing anonymous sources. [more..]

San Francisco - Millions of Us, an agency specializing in virtual worlds and large online communities, announced on Monday the launch of Virtual Greats, a new company that aims to take advantage of the growing market for virtual goods. [more..]

Los Angeles - Veoh Networks, the operator of an Internet TV service, announced on Monday the launch of a new behavioral targeting system, which will allow advertisers to target ads to Veoh's 28 million viewers based their past video viewing interests. [more..]

Ann Arbor, Michigan - Cloudtrade, a developer of mobile social networking applications, on Monday said it has added tracks from labels Ghostly International and A-Squared Management to its free, ad-supported mobile music download service. [more..]

Shanghai, China - PPLive, a provider of peer-to-peer-based Internet TV broadcasting and online video streaming in China that claims over 100 million users worldwide, said on Monday that it has signed a deal with China Central Television's CCTV.com, to provide live online broadcasts of Olympic sporting events, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. [more..]

Washington - XM Satellite Radio announced on Monday that it has signed blues legend B.B. King to host a weekly radio show on the service, slated to debut in September. [more..]

New York - GigMaven on Monday launched a beta test of its Web-based service that lets music artists find and book gigs online, and club owners and music bookers to list availabilities and search for artists to book. [more..]

Burbank, Calif. - Disney Interactive Studios on Monday announced a deal with Music for Relief, a nonprofit founded by rock band Linkin Park, that will place in-game Music for Relief content within Disney's upcoming Wii and DS music-based title "Ultimate Band." [more..]