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AFP – Nokia will start offering unlimited music through mobile phones in Britain on October 16, the Finnish company said Thursday, as it seeks to muscle in on a market dominated by Apple’s iPod.

CNET – Microsoft has indicated for some time that it sees a Zune future in the cell phone arena, but the company has been hard to pin down on just what its plans there are.

Reuters – Skype, eBay Inc’s Web communications unit, said on Thursday that TOM Online Inc, majority owners of Skype’s Chinese venture TOM-Skype, had been monitoring and storing some of its users’ text messages without Skype’s knowledge.

AP – A Canadian researcher has discovered that a Chinese version of eBay Inc.‘s Skype communications software snoops on text chats that contain certain keywords, including “democracy.”

AP – The federal Copyright Royalty Board left the rate for royalties paid to songwriters for CDs and digital downloads unchanged.

AFP – Apple has warned that a hike in digital music royalties being considered by US judges could be a death knell for its globally popular iTunes online shop.

NewsFactor – After putting up a wall protecting its iPhone technology, Apple instead started a war with developers — but now the company is waiving the white flag.

Reuters – Japan’s Nintendo Co Ltd (7974.OS) expects to have more of its Wii game consoles available in the U.S. this holiday season, but stopped short of guaranteeing there will be no shortages of the popular device.

NewsFactor – Nokia, the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile phones, has seen its market become more volatile and competitive. In remarks Wednesday at the Churchill Club, a Silicon Valley business and technology forum, Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told attendees that the face of mobile technology is changing.

Reuters – Yahoo Inc’s deal to put some Google Inc ads on its searches may hurt the industry, and warrants monitoring by the U.S. Justice Department even if the agency eventually approves the deal, according to the top lawmaker on the Senate’s antitrust panel.