Cupertino, Calif. - Shares of Apple slid nearly 11% on Wednesday after the company said that its second-quarter earnings are likely to be weaker than expected. [more..]

Washington - Following months of conjecture and anticipation, federal regulators could be on the verge of approving XM Satellite Radio's merger with rival Sirius, according to a published report. [more..]

Washington - The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has admitted there was a "human error" in a 2005 study on illegal downloading it commissioned, which attributed 40% of the movie industry industry's domestic losses from illegal downloading to college students -- a figure it now pegs at around 15%, the Associated Press reported. [more..]

New York - Last.fm, the social music discovery service acquired last May by CBS, announced on Wednesday that it has launched a new free service that allows anyone to listen to songs on-demand -- from all four major labels and more than 150,000 independents. [more..]

San Mateo, Calif. - Mobile game developer and publisher Glu Mobile announced on Wednesday that it will acquire mobile game publisher Superscape Group, for about $36 million. [more..]

New York - Automattic, the developer of the WordPress blog publishing software, has raised $29.5 million in new financing from Polaris Venture Partners, True Ventures, Radar Partners and The New York Times Company, The Times reported. [more..]

New York - Inform Technologies, a provider of website content management technology for established media brands, has raised $15 million in venture capital from Spark Capital, a Boston-based venture fund. [more..]

San Francisco - Ad Infuse, a provider of personalized mobile advertising services, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $12 million in a new round of financing, led by SoftBank Capital. [more..]

San Mateo, Calif. - MixerCast, a provider of social media marketing tools and services, announced on Wednesday that it has closed a $6 million second round of funding, led by Intel Capital. [more..]

After many PC years, I've crossed over. Me the fanboy, blogs Mark Cuban. [more..]

The next time you put together a social media strategy dedicated to getting people to create content and others to consume it ... make sure you also have a smart way of engaging those who will be microsharing it. This is a population of people you can't afford to ignore anymore, blogs Rohit Bhargava. [more..]

Tokyo - Sony will delay the introduction of the Skype Internet telephone service for its PSP handheld game device in Japan while it works on technical problems, Reuters reports. [more..]

New York - Viacom's MTV Networks on Wednesday announced a talent and development deal with video game journalist Geoff Keighley, the host of Spike TV's "Game Head," which launches its fifth season this week under the new title, "GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley." [more..]

New York - CBS's CSTV.com college sports service said on Wednesday a digital marketing partnership with Gannett's USA Today, whereby CSTV.com's CSTV XXL on-demand video player and GameTracker play-by-play application assets will be made available on USAToday.com. [more..]

Columbus, Ga. - Carmike Cinemas, which owns or operates 270 theaters in 37 states, announced on Wednesday that it will screen "U2's Vertigo World Concert Tour" in digital 3D format at 191 of its theaters beginning on Feb. 5. [more..]

London - Rhino Records has launched a website that features 2,000 embeddable music videos, as well as artist interviews and other exclusive content, Billboard reports. [more..]

New York - Digital music retailer eMusic on Wednesday said it added the catalogues of classical music labels Chandos Records, Telarc and Harmonia Mundi to its subscription-based service. [more..]

Overland Park, Kan. - Embarq, a provider of bundled voice, data and video services in 18 states, announced on Wednesday the launch of an unlimited music streaming and download service, which is powered by Synacor with 3 million tracks from MediaNet Digital. [more..]

Palo Alto, Calif. - Metacafe, a video-sharing site with 28 million monthly viewers, on Wednesday began offering mobile access to its site, through deals with Nareos and Zed. [more..]

Washington - The Library of Congress said that it has awarded a $5.2 million Web services contract to Boston-based Aquent. [more..]

San Francisco - CMP on Wednesday announced the list of finalists for its eighth annual Game Developers Choice Awards, with Valve's "Portal" and 2K Game's "BioShock" each grabbing five nominations each. [more..]

London - Playyoo on Wednesday announced the beta launch of its free mobile games portal and social gaming community. [more..]