General

The founders of Digg.com – which has been rocked by an unprecedented user revolt over the release of an HD-DVD decryption code – accepted sponsorship from the organization behind HD-DVD last year. (See also our exclusive new report for the latest news on this issue, and our latest story, which describes how Digg has seen a huge rise in readership during the HD DVD furore ).

Episodes of the DiggNation video show were sponsored by the HD DVD Promotion Group. DiggNation is produced by Revision3, a company run by Digg founders, Jay Adelson and Kevin Rose. Rose is also a co-host of the DiggNation show. The image below shows the HD DVD logo displayed at the beginning of one such episode.

EMI will publish music videos created by fans for the first time under a new scheme being tested in Japan. Under the plan, fan-created videos, such as 'The Back Dorm boys' will be distributed through EMI's website alongside official video releases, according to Japanese press reports.

Panasonic hid evidence that workers were poisoned at a battery factory, a report in a Chinese newspaper claims. Even pregnant women were not warned they might have been exposed to high levels of Cadmium, a potentially lethal heavy metal, the report alleges, quoting a manager who says he was laid off when he threatened to turn whistleblower.

Movie pirates ran a DVD factory in secret for two years by pretending they were scientists conducting research into highly contagious avian flu, according to Chinese police. The factory, in a quiet farming area in eastern China, sold more than 30 million DVDs before authorities finally noticed the mysterious flow of discs coming from the claimed 'research facility'.

Initially, the warnings about the hazard of deadly bird flu infections had been enough to keep local residents and suspicious officials well away from the factory at the end of a forest road.

Updated: The movie 'Spider-Man 3' has not been pirated, despite reports of copies being sold on the streets in China, claims Sony Pictures Entertainment. Earlier this week, Reuters reported that copies of the movie were on sale in Beijing.