RealNetworks said on Thursday the newest version of its digital music player would allow users to save Internet video — like those found on YouTube — for viewing at a later time.

The digital media company, whose free software is one of the most popular applications for listening to audio and watching video on the Web, will let consumers grab the clips and also store them on DVDs starting in June.

With RealPlayer, a “download this video” button will hover next to video seen on thousands of Web sites, RealNetworks said. Consumers can download multiple videos simultaneously, including videos in the Flash, Windows Media, and QuickTime formats.

eBay released a statement on Wednesday afternoon confirming that, as speculated, it has acquired Web site discovery service StumbleUpon. The price, according to eBay, is approximately $75 million.

eBay’s most famous acquisition is arguably Internet telephony service Skype, which it purchased in 2005.

Google Inc.’s YouTube has agreed to a breakthrough deal with major music label EMI Group Plc to give users of YouTube’s video sharing site broad access to music videos by EMI artists.

In a statement, the company said YouTube users would be allowed not only to watch and play authorized videos and recordings from EMI artists, but also to incorporate elements of these videos in YouTube users’ own “user generated content.”

Warner Music, the world’s fourth largest music group, is putting its archive of music video online and making it available for free to fans.

Warner, home to Madonna and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, will work with digital services provider Premium TV to create online TV sites or “digital hubs” that will be organized by artist, genre or label and funded by advertising.

The move is part of the music industry’s drive to generate revenue from new sources to offset the fall in CD sales and follows the explosion in popularity of online video.

Warner said the platforms would show previously unseen footage and would eventually be available in different languages.

A 27-year-old man described as one of the world’s most prolific spammers was arrested Wednesday, and federal authorities said computer users across the Web could notice a decrease in the amount of junk e-mail.

Robert Alan Soloway is accused of using networks of compromised “zombie” computers to send out millions upon millions of spam e-mails.

“He’s one of the top 10 spammers in the world,” said Tim Cranton, a Microsoft Corp. lawyer who is senior director of the company’s Worldwide Internet Safety Programs. “He’s a huge problem for our customers. This is a very good day.”

A federal grand jury last week returned a 35-count indictment against Soloway charging him with mail fraud, wire fraud, e-mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.

A Chinese city has halted construction of a chemical plant after residents sent more than 1 million mobile phone text messages protesting possible pollution dangers, news reports said Thursday.

The $1.4 billion facility being built by Tenglong Aromatic PX (Xiamen) Co. Ltd to produce the petrochemical paraxylene was planned for the booming southeastern port of Xiamen, the Xinhua News Agency and newspapers said.

“The Xiamen city government has decided to suspend construction of the PX (paraxylene) plant in Haicang District,” a deputy mayor, Ding Guoyan, was quoted as saying by Xinhua. “The city government has listened to the opinions expressed and has decided, after careful deliberation, that the project must be re-evaluated.”

Thousands of Filipino workers in Malaysia can now remit money to their families back home under a new mobile phone money transfer service unveiled by Malaysia’s top mobile phone operator Maxis.

In a statement late Wednesday, Maxis said it has tied up with the Philippines’ Globe Telecom to introduce what it said was the world’s first mobile international money transfer service called M-money.

Under the system, Maxis customers can wire up to 500 ringgit ($143) per transaction to Globe subscribers in the Philippines, who can retrieve the money at Globe’s 6,000 outlets, the statement said.

F-Secure has patched several vulnerabilities in its security products, the most critical of which could be used to run unauthorized software on a victim’s computer.

The most critical of these bugs affects F-Secure’s anti-virus products. A flaw in the way the software unpacks files that have been compressed using the LHA archiving format could allow an attacker to crash the system, or even run unauthorized software on the computer, F-Secure said in an advisory, published Wednesday.

Cell phone maker Motorola Inc. said Wednesday it will cut another 4,000 jobs as part of a plan to improve sagging financial and operational results.

The latest round of cuts means the world’s No. 2 handset maker has announced plans to eliminate more than 10 percent of its work force since the start of 2007, when it became clear that two years of strong momentum behind the popular Razr phone had collapsed.

The company already is in the process of eliminating 3,500 jobs as part of a two-year cost-cutting plan to save $400 million. Those layoffs, announced in January, are to be completed by June 30.

Motorola said it will save another $600 million in 2008 by cutting 4,000 more workers, prioritizing investments and putting controls on discretionary spending and general and administrative expenses.

Google Inc. said on Wednesday it was building Web software that runs online and off to let users work remotely on planes, trains, slow dial-up connections or even the most remote locations in the world.

The technology, called Google Gears, would allow users of computers, phones and other devices to manipulate Web services like e-mail, online calendars or news readers whether online, intermittently connected to the Web or completely offline.

By bridging the gulf between new Web services and the older world of desktop software, where any data changes are stored locally on users’ machines, Google is pushing the Web into whole new spheres of activity and posing a challenge to rival Microsoft Corp. leader in the desktop software era.

“The Web is great but it doesn’t work very well when you don’t have a Web connection,” Jeff Huber, Google’s vice president of engineering, said in an interview. “Gears addresses a functional gap on the Web.”

Google plans to make the Gears technology available for free as “open source” software, meaning other developers are free to use and enhance the software in their own products.

Apple Inc. said Wednesday it will soon introduce the ability for Apple TV users to access the popular YouTube service on their living room televisions through its video-streaming set-top-box.

Beginning in mid-June, users of the Apple TV device will be able to wirelessly stream videos directly from YouTube. The feature will help address what some observers have said was a shortcoming of Apple TV.

World oil prices jumped briefly on Wednesday after a television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma — the No. 62 U.S. media market — posted an erroneous story about a refinery fire on its Web site.

At 10:14 EDT (1414 GMT), CBS affiliate KOTV reported that a lightning strike had caused a fire at an Oklahoma refinery — sparking a flurry of excitement among energy traders and boosting U.S. crude prices 40 cents.

The refining company announced the story was “completely wrong” and the station withdrew the story.

“All it takes is a screw-up on a Web site to move the market. It just goes to show how tense this market is,” said a Houston-based oil trader.