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In This Update:

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Nokia Enters Digital Music Battle with Apple
REUTERS
Britons who have only ever used Apple’s iTunes to buy digital music suddenly have a new and attractive toy: a Nokia mobile music service which offers thousands of tracks for free.
Nokia’s new “Comes With Music” phones are not just a boon for the Apple-averse: parents, worried about piracy may also take to the subscription service.”Comes With Music” phones make their global launch in Britain on October 16, offering unlimited music from the four major music labels and many independents which can be kept after the yearly contract has expired.
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Google Makes Some TV Ad Strides
WEBWARE
Google released two announcements on Thursday that further advance the company’s goals toward being a power player in television advertising in addition to the Web.First, the company announced that Harris Corporation, which manufactures communications equipment for business and government clients, will be integrating Google’s advertising platform into the products it sells to media and communication companies. That means that Harris clients can use Google’s service to manage ad inventory, which Mark Piesenan, director of strategic partnerships for Google TV ads, said will “offer media companies the opportunity to leverage (Google’s) automated online marketplace, providing a new and efficient sales option for their ad inventory.”
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K2 Network Upgrades Game Site
SOCALTECH
Irvine-based K2 Network, which published video games, said late Wednesday that it has launched an improved version of the firm’s GamersFirst.com game site. The site provides downloads, chat forums, and other information about K2’s various games. The firm said the upgraded site adds improved navigation, an expanded marketplace for purchasing game premiums and special items, as well as news and user profile pages. The new site is available in English–and for whatever reason–Turkish.
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South Africa Firm Starts Social Lending Site
REUTERS
AngelMoola Ltd, a private South African company, has started an online social lending service as an alternative for people rattled by turmoil in the traditional financial sector, it said on Thursday. CEO Brian Dalton said the company aimed to attract 4.32 billion rand ($467.9 million) in funds within a year by allowing South Africans to borrow and lend money to each other on the Internet instead of using conventional bank methods.
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Radiohead sells 3 million copies of In Rainbows, but how much is that in American?
CRUNCHGEAR
Warner Chappell, Radiohead’s distributor, is announcing that the band “sold” 3 million copies of In Rainbows, the album that they essentially gave away online in a pay-what-you-want scheme. The reports are that they made more on the album than they did on their previous dumpling, Hail to the Thief. Previous sales numbers were in the high hundred thousands, which makes this move particularly interesting.
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Kleiner-Backed Start-up Ngmoco to Launch Three New iPhone Games
VENTUREBEAT
Ngmoco is unveiling today its first three games for the iPhone and iPod Touch products from Apple. The San Francisco-based start-up is on a tear. Neil Young, a former Electronic Arts executive, founded the company in June, raised $5.6 million from Maples Investments and the Kleiner Perkins iFund (a fund targeted at iPhone-related start-ups) in July and is now about to publish its first games.
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iTunes Sells 200 million TV Shows, adds New HD TV Lineup
APPLEINSIDER
Apple announced Thursday that all four of the major US television networks are offering primetime programs in high definition on the iTunes Store, which has become the world’s most popular online TV service with over 200 million episodes sold, including more than one million HD episodes purchased since last month. The iTunes Store features the world’s largest online catalog of TV programs with over 70 primetime comedies and dramas from the major networks and television programs from over 70 cable networks including Bravo, Comedy Central, Disney Channel, ESPN, FX, HBO, MTV, Nickelodeon, Sci Fi, Showtime and USA.
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Magnify360 Launches Advertising Optimization Tool
SOCALTECH
Los Angeles-based magnify360, a provider of web page optimization tools, has lauched a new product for optimizing Google AdWords advertising, the firm announced today. magnify360 said its new Google Cost Optimizer automatically synchronizes with AdWords accounts, and provides campaign performance metrics to users about return on investment in individual keywords, cost per click, conversion rates, and other information.
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Investors Pump $148.5 Million Into 12 Virtual Worlds Companies In Q3
PAIDCONTENT
While VC firms like Sequoia Capital prep their startups for leaner days, and the WSJ says that marketers are planning to cut back spending on “experimental” ad buys, a group of virtual worlds companies has nearly $150 million to burn. Virtual Worlds Management reports that a dozen virtual worlds-related companies received $148.5 million in funding in Q3, bringing the total amount invested in the space this year to over $493 million. Kid-friendly worlds were definitely a focus, as more than half of the deals (worth more than $36 million) were with companies that had either launched or were set to launch youth-facing properties; but it will be interesting to see if the same level of investment is sustained in the coming months.
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For Your Imagination Gets Funding From OmniReliant Holdings
CENTERNETWORKS
YC online video studio For Your Imagination announced this week that they have raised a bridge capital round of financing from OmniReliant Holdings. The amound of the financing was not disclosed. OmniReliant gets an equity interest in For Your Imagination. OmniReliant focuses on direct reponse marketing. For Your Imagination previously raised $1.3 million in seed funding. Co-founder and CEO Paul Kontonis noted, “The round will provide the company with working capital to continue to deliver a high-quality of service before we complete our Series A round.”
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