New York - The co-creators of Internet telephone service Skype, who sold their venture to eBay four years ago for $2.6 billion, are now looking to raise money to help finance a repurchase of the company from eBay, The New York Times reported. [more..]

San Francisco - Current Media, the San Francisco-based media television and Web video network founded by former Vice President Al Gore, on Friday canceled plans for its proposed $100 million initial public offering (IPO). [more..]

Seattle - Amazon.com said on Monday that a "ham-fisted cataloging error" caused thousands of gay-themed books to be classified as "adult" literature and de-ranked from its online store, the Seattle Times reports. [more..]

Cupertino, Calif. - Apple CEO Steve Jobs is still closely involved in running the company, while on a medical leave of absence which he is slated to return from at the end of June, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. [more..]

Bethesda, Md. - With demand for daily print newspapers continuing to weaken, Marriott International said on Monday that it will become the first major hotel chain to cease the automatic delivery of papers to guest rooms. [more..]

McLean, Va. - Gannett, the publisher of USA Today and 84 other daily papers, revealed in a regulatory filing that Chicago-based Ariel Investments has more than doubled its stake in the company during the first quarter. [more..]

Los Angeles - TorrentSpy, an index of files available for sharing on the BitTorrent peer-to-peer network that was shut down after a copyright infringement lawsuit from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), has filed an appeal of part of the case that involved the MPAA's hiring of a hacker to obtain emails from the company, TorrentFreak reported. [more..]

Arlington, Va. - Just 40 venture capital funds raised $4.3 billion during the first quarter, according to a new report from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). [more..]

New York - Qtrax on Monday launched its free, ad-supported music download service, after securing licensing agreements with all four major labels and the major music publishers. [more..]

New York - Collective Media, the provider of an online ad network, announced on Monday that it has closed a $20 million second round of funding, led by Accel Partners with participated from iNovia Capital. [more..]

Palo Alto, Calif. - Cooliris, a provider of visual-based Web browsing applications, has raised $15 million in its second round of venture capital financing and released its Cooliris Wall application.
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Los Angeles - The Rubicon Project, a provider of online advertising services, announced on Monday that it has raised $13 million in new financing, including $5 million in venture funding from Clearstone Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund and IDG Ventures Asia, and $8 million in venture debt from Silicon Valley Bank. [more..]

Boston - ScanScout, a provider of online video advertising networks, has raised $5.1 million in its third round of venture capital, PEHub.com reported, citing a regulatory filing. [more..]

San Francisco - BookTour, an online community that lets authors publicize speaking events, has raised $350,000 in its first round of funding, from backers including Amazon.com, PEHub.com reported, citing a regulatory filing. [more..]

Los Angeles - The 22-year-old operator of Spain-based file-sharing hub Infopsp.com has been convicted of copyright infringement, and sentenced to spend six months in prison and pay a fine of about $6,500, TorrentFreak reported. [more..]

Sacramento, Calif. - A bill has been introduced in the California State Assembly that would limit the amount of time that children in day care could spend playing video games, and also limit the types of games available to educational or exercise-based, GamePolitics reported. [more..]

Los Angeles - Movieline.com on Monday launched its online reincarnation of the defunct Hollywood entertainment magazine, which will feature celebrity interviews, coverage of industry news, daily film and DVD reviews and pop culture commentary. [more..]