Port Washington, N.Y. - U.S. consumer mobile phone handset sales fell 13% in the second quarter, to 28 million units, while total unit sales were estimated at $2.4 billion, a decline of 2% from the same period a year ago, according to a report from market research firm NPD Group. [more..]

Los Angeles - The National Basketball Association (NBA) plans to begin offering live streaming of games in local markets this fall, Sports Business Journal reported. [more..]

Hong Kong - The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has announced that a recent three-month anti-piracy crackdown in the Asia-Pacific region netted 461 arrests, 56 camcorders caught in the act of pirating films in theaters, and the seizure of 7.5 million pirated discs. [more..]

Los Angeles - Muxtape, a popular free music playlist-sharing service, has taken itself offline in light of an unspecified request from the Recording Industry Association of America. [more..]

Leipzig, Germany - The global PC game industry totaled $10.7 billion in 2007, led by online PC gaming revenue with $4.8 billion, while retail sales accounted for just 30% of total revenues, according to a report from the industry trade group the PC Gaming Alliance. [more..]

Hollywood, Calif. - Major record label EMI's Capitol Records and USA Today publisher Gannett announced on Tuesday that they have partnered on a digital pre-release promotion for Beach Boy Brian Wilson's forthcoming album, "That Lucky Old Sun." [more..]

Scottsdale, Ariz. - Global revenue from mobile phone ringback tones is expected to nearly triple by 2012, to $4.7 billion, as the total mobile premium content market reaches $29 billion, according to a new report from market research firm MultiMedia Intelligence. [more..]

New York - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. bought a minority stake in student journalism site Palestra.net in May, and will begin including student-reported news pieces on its Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network in the fall, Forbes.com reports. [more..]

New York - Lotame, a provider of targeted advertising through social media, announced on Tuesday that it has closed a $13 million second round of venture capital financing, led by Emergence Capital Partners. [more..]

Los Angeles - Comedy purveyor National Lampoon on Tuesday announced its acquisition of AllModelZone.com, a social network for people involved in the modeling industry, from Alle Von Technologies for an undisclosed sum. [more..]

New York - Apple on Tuesday released another update to its new iPhone software that wireless carrier partner T-Mobile said was intended to attempt to fix connection problems users are having with the 3G service on the new model, Reuters reported. [more..]

Baltimore - Fresh off his record-breaking performance at the Beijing Olympics, Baltimore swimmer Michael Phelps also continues to make giant waves online. As of Tuesday morning, the 23-year-old's Facebook fan page had just over 1 million members. [more..]

Tokyo - The Japanese trade ministry is looking into the cause of three fires reportedly caused by overheated batteries in Apple iPod nano digital music players, Reuters reported. [more..]

Cupertino, Calif. - As service issues continue to plague MobileMe, Apple's new cloud computing-based service that synchronizes email, calendars and other features between computers and mobile phones, the company has announced it will offer an additional two free months to subscribers. [more..]

Los Angeles - After the International Olympic Committee on Monday asked the Swedish government to crack down on Swedish file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay -- which reportedly has facilitated 1 million downloads of Olympics-related footage, the group responded by temporarily renaming itself "The Beijing Bay," Wired.com reports. [more..]

Dublin, Ireland - Casual games publisher PopCap Games announced on Tuesday that its flagship "Bejeweled" franchise has hit 25 million in unit sales. [more..]