New York - With its hopes for a takeover by Microsoft all but evaporated, Yahoo continues to talk with media giant Time Warner about acquiring at least a portion of AOL, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. [more..]

Los Angeles - The Writers Guild of America (WGA) on Thursday announced that it has filed for arbitration today against movie and TV producers for failing to pay residuals for writers' work that is reused on new media -- one of the sticking points in a deal that ended the writers' 100-day strike earlier this year. [more..]

Cambridge, Mass. - Amid the rapid deceleration of the economy, Akamai Technologies, a provider of content delivery network services, announced on Thursday that it will cut 7% of its workforce -- or 110 employees -- as part of a restructuring plan. [more..]

Sydney - A group of seven Hollywood movie studios has filed copyright infringement lawsuits against Australia's third-largest Internet service provider, alleging that iiNet has failed to take reasonable steps to prevent its customers from sharing their films on its network. [more..]

Los Angeles - Apple has added studio-backed copy-protection technology to its line of MacBooks that prevents movies purchased from the iTunes Store from playing on non-approved external monitors, causing some anger among customers, according to published reports. [more..]

Los Angeles - Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign has responded to a lawsuit from singer Jackson Browne, alleging copyright infringement for unauthorized use of his song "Running on Empty" in a campaign ad, by making a claim of "fair use," Wired.com reports.
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Mountain View, Calif. - Google has decided to shutter its Lively online virtual world at the end of the year, saying it wants "to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business." [more..]

Redmond, Wash. - Microsoft on Thursday announced the launch of a new subscription model at its Zune music and entertainment service, which will allow customers who pay $14.99 per month for on-demand access to select 10 tracks per month to keep for their personal collections. [more..]

Santa Monica, Calif. - Adconion Media Group, a provider of branding campaigns for ad agencies, direct advertisers and premium websites, announced on Thursday its acquisition of KTV Digital Media, a production studio, content distribution network and operator of video sites. [more..]

San Francisco - Real Girls Media, an online publisher that targets young women, announced on Thursday that it has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Meredith Corporation. [more..]

New York - Digital music service eMusic announced on Thursday that it has now sold 250 million MP3 downloads since 2003, when it established its current subscription model. [more..]

Los Angeles - Automatic music recommendation service Mufin has launched a public beta, and is now offering applications that connect with iTunes and Facebook. [more..]

Irvine, Calif. - Activision's Blizzard Entertainment studio said on Thursday that the second expansion to its massively popular "World of Warcraft" online multiplayer game, "Wrath of the Lich King," has sold 2.8 million copies in its first 24 hours on sale -- making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time. [more..]

Redwood City, Calif. - Electronic Arts said on Thursday that composer Winifred Phillips will score the theme music for its newest Sims title, "SimAnimals." [more..]