Dulles, Va. - Signaling the potential for a merger in the near future, Yahoo and AOL have been examining each others books over the past couple weeks, a person familiar with the situation told Reuters. [more..]

Redwood City, Calif. - Video game developer and publisher Electronic Arts announced on Thursday that it will cut 6% of its staff, or nearly 600 employees, in a move the company says will generate $50 million in annual savings. [more..]

Tokyo - Nintendo on Thursday announced that operating profits were up 36% in its second quarter, credited to strong sales of its Wii and DS devices, and raised its Wii sales forecast for the year by 4%, from 26.5 million to 27.5 million. [more..]

Seattle - RealNetworks announced a net loss of $4.5 million for the third quarter, compared to a net income of $4.3 million in the same period a year ago, despite posting revenue gains in both its music and games businesses. [more..]

New York - Viacom's MTV Networks on Thursday announced a deal with the Beatles' record label, Apple Corps, to create a Beatles-branded music video game. [more..]

New York - Digital music service eMusic is laying off about 10% of its staff, and continues to seek a replacement for CEO David Pakman, who departed weeks ago to join venture capital firm Venrock, All Things D reported. [more..]

London - A couple who said they have never played a computer game in their lives has been accused of illegal file-sharing by attorneys representing video game publisher Atari, the BBC reports, citing Which? Computing magazine. [more..]

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo announced on Thursday a partnership with online DVD rental service Netflix that will provide TiVo owners the ability to stream thousands of movies and TV episodes from Netflix directly to their televisions. [more..]

New York - Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO) has announced an agreement to make a strategic investment in Pingg, an online event management site that offers invitations and event planning tools. [more..]

Boston - Comedy purveyor National Lampoon announced on Thursday that it has entered into an agreement to receive an undisclosed amount of financing from the Envit Capital Group, earmarked for a slate of approved selection projects. [more..]

New York - Retail giant Walmart will sell HTC's G1 mobile phone -- the first handset to feature Google's Android operating system -- for $30 less than exclusive wireless carrier partner T-Mobile is charging for the device, Reuters reported. [more..]

San Francisco - News Corp.'s MySpace has offered the CEO position at its new MySpace Music joint venture with the major record labels to Courtney Holt, who currently serves as executive vice president of digital music and media at MTV Networks, a music industry source with knowledge of the talks told CNET News.com. [more..]

Los Angeles - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama spent over $44,000 on campaign ads placed within video games, GameSpot reported, citing the campaign's filing with the Federal Election Commission. [more..]

Dallas - AT&T announced on Thursday that it is provided free Wi-Fi access to first- and second-generation iPhone owners and select BlackBerry owners at its 17,000 hotspots, which can be found in locations including Starbucks and Barnes & Noble. [more..]

San Francisco - Online ticket marketplace StubHub said on Thursday that it has expanded its relationship with cable sports network ESPN. [more..]

Los Angeles - Napster, the digital music service recently acquired by retail chain Best Buy, announced on Thursday that it has extended its Napster Mobile service to AT&T's 13 million wireless subscribers. [more..]