Minneapolis - Consumer electronics and media retail chain Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) on Monday announced plans to deploy electronics vending machine kiosks in major U.S. airports as part of a pilot program of the technology. The Best Buy Express kiosks, powered by technology from ZoomSystems, will initially be installed at 12 airports, including LAX and SFO, and sell items including MP3 players, portable game devices, unlocked cell phones, digital cameras and various battery chargers.

Dallas - Video rental giant Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) announced on Tuesday that it has signed a deal with NCR to deploy 50 Blockbuster-branded DVD rental kiosks in a pilot program slated to begin in the third quarter.

Albany, N.Y. - Media retail store chain fye, which counts over 800 U.S. locations, has launched a pilot test of an MP3 download kiosk in two of its stores, Ars Technica reports. The kiosks allow shoppers to browse an initial catalog of 1 million tracks, then either create a custom CD or download tracks directly to their MP3 players for 99 cents per track.

London - Major label EMI announced this week that it has licensed 25,000 tracks and music videos for download to consumers' portable devices from European airport kiosks operated by MEDIAnywhere. U.K.-based MEDIAnywhere's first kiosks have opened at Italy's Fiumicino airport; the company expects to open another 350 kiosks in 26 European airports within the next two years.

New York - Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) is planning to test in-store kiosks that consumers will be able to use to download full-length movies to portable devices, the company said at its annual shareholder meeting, the Associated Press reported.

San Francisco - Ecast, a maker of broadband digital jukeboxes found in bars and restaurants, has secured $12.3 million of an $18.64 million fourth round of venture capital financing, PEHub.com reported, citing a regulatory filing.

Southbury, Conn. - Three months after launching its first technology-enhanced concept store in Michigan, book retailer Borders (NYSE: BGP) on Friday unveiled a new, 22,000-square-foot concept store in Southbury, Conn. The store features multiple computer kiosks dedicated to new services such as music and book downloading, along with services for mixing and burning custom CDs. Customers can trace their roots at a station powered by Ancestry.com, or publish their own books at a station powered by Lulu.com. The retailer, which also is planning to launch a redesigned website, said that it is hoping to use the technology angle to differentiate itself from competitors.

New York - Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) CEO Jim Keyes has announced that the company plans to experiment with pricing and layouts in its stores, including adding book sales and kiosks for downloading entertainment onto portable media devices, Reuters reported.

Dothan, Ala. - Movie Gallery, the nation's second-largest rental chain behind Blockbuster, announced on Tuesday plans to launch an online video rental service in mid-to-late 2007, entering a market dominated by Netflix and Blockbuster.

Minneapolis - Supervalu announced on Tuesday that it will roll out automated DVD rental kiosks with a number of retail partners, following a successful pilot in several of its 2,500 grocery store locations. The DVD rental kiosks, provided by partner Redbox Automated Retail, each hold about 500 DVDs, which are available to rent for $1 per night plus tax. The company said that retailers including Acme, Albertsons, bigg's, Farm Fresh, Hornbacher's, Jewel-Osco, Scott's Food & Pharmacy, Shaw's, Shop 'n Save and Shoppers Food & Pharmacy, in addition to hundreds of independent retailers, will add the rental kiosks. Redbox's kiosks have also been installed at a number of McDonald's locations.

New York - Google has filed for a patent on digital billboard technology that would turn "kiosk-type billboards" in malls, airports and elsewhere into "a network of electronic display devices," The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Las Vegas - MOD Systems, a provider of in-store digital media systems, announced that it has signed new licensing agreements with Warner Music Group, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, and EMI Music. Retailers utilizing the MOD System platform will have access to more than one million tracks and samples, providing patrons with the ability to browse a catalog, preview samples, create customized playlists, and then burn them to CD or download them to a music player or music-enabled phone.