Dulles, Va. - AOL embarked on another major round of downsizing on Tuesday, handing out an untold number of pink slips, estimated to be around 300 by the blog AllThingsD. [more..]

Mountain View, Calif. - Google on Wednesday announced that it will soon begin serving "interest-based" ads, or those targeted to users based on surveillance of their Web surfing habits, beginning on YouTube and its AdSense partner sites. [more..]

Washington - Billy Corgan, frontman for rock band Smashing Pumpkins, testified at a U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday that performers, and not just songwriters, should be paid when songs are played on U.S. radio stations. [more..]

Cupertino, Calif. - Apple on Wednesday introduced its new iPod shuffle, which the company said is half the size of its previous model and includes a new feature that speaks song titles, artists and playlist names. [more..]

London - The Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), a group of musicians aiming to garner more of a say in industry contracts that includes Billy Bragg, Robbie Williams, KT Tunstall and Radiohead, has come out against YouTube in a dispute over licensing fees paid for music videos that recently saw YouTube pull most music videos from its U.K. site, the Times Online reported. [more..]

Washington - In the latest sign of struggles for satellite radio provider Sirius XM, the company said that it added just 83,000 net new subscribers during the fourth quarter, down from 1.1 million new additions for Sirius and XM individually during the same period in 2008. [more..]

Cambridge, Mass. - Researchers at MIT have developed a new battery technology that could lead to smaller, lighter batteries that could recharge in "seconds rather than hours," according to a report from the university's news office. [more..]

Palo Alto, Calif. - Auditude, an online video management and advertising platform, announced on Wednesday that it has secured $10.5 million in new funding, led by Redpoint Ventures, with participation from Greylock Partners. [more..]

San Francisco - SuperSecret, a start-up developing online social games for kids, announced on Wednesday that it has secured $10 million in its first round of funding, led by Opus Capital. [more..]

San Carlos, Calif. - Cotendo, a provider of content delivery network services and software, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $7 million in second round funding, from Sequoia Capital and Benchmark Capital. [more..]

San Francisco - Greystripe, a distributor of free, ad-supported mobile games, announced on Wednesday that it has closed a $5.5 million third round of financing, led by previous backer Incubic Venture Capital. [more..]

Bellevue, Wash. - Blade Games World, the provider of an all-in-one game development engine and authoring platform, has raised $4 million in its first round of funding, led by California Technology Ventures. [more..]

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London - International mobile carrier Vodafone announced that it plans to begin selling mobile song downloads free of digital rights management (DRM) restrictions, and has licensed tracks from Universal Music, Sony Music and EMI so far for the offering. [more..]

Los Angeles - Disney has introduced a new subscription-based Web portal, D23, that will offer fans of the brand a quarterly glossy magazine, membership certificate and card, collectible gift and member merchandise, and pass to its D23 Expo for an annual fee of $75. [more..]

Foster City, Calif. - Sony Computer Entertainment America has announced a deal with NBC Universal that will see movies and TV shows made available for purchase and download to PlayStation 2 and PSP systems via the PlayStation Network. [more..]

Arlington, Va. - PBS said that it plans to stream interviews with new media, social media and film luminaries, live musical performances and dozens of online events from this year's South by Southwest Interactive & Film Conference in Austin, Texas, March 14-16. [more..]