Apple unveils MySpace challenger

Apple has introduced a social network as part of the latest version of its iTunes software, reveals the BBC.

Ping allows users to build networks of friends and professional musicians, in a similar way to services such as Twitter.

The service also builds playlists based on what friends are listening to.

In a blow to Internet neutrality advocates, who were hoping for sweeping new rules as early as this month, federal regulators suggested they are delaying any action in the near future, reports CNet News.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said it will conduct a "further inquiry" into the details of broadband regulation, including whether wireless networks should be exempted from strict Net neutrality rules, a concept that Google and Verizon recently endorsed.

Technological developments, including per-usage plans from AT&T Mobility and Leap Wireless, have changed the wireless marketplace so much that more research is needed, the FCC said.

Federal prosecutors have uncovered a scam that used tens of thousands of cloned cellphones to defraud Sprint out of $15 million in lost long-distance revenue, writes The Register.

The operation dates back to at least the latter half of 2009, when cellular customers began complaining they were billed for international calls they didn't make, according to court documents made public on Wednesday.

When Sprint employees looked into the matter, they discovered that many of the calls were made from hundreds of miles away from where the customers lived and within minutes of other calls made from the customers' homes.

The battle to become the leading cloud computing vendor turned nasty yesterday, after software giant Microsoft warned VMware customers about the dangers of being “locked into” VMware's virtualisation technology, says Computing.co.uk.

The warning, made in a letter published as a full-page advertisement in USAToday, and undersigned by management and security VP Brad Anderson, was published yesterday morning to coincide with the opening of VMware's VMworld conference, in San Francisco.

"VMware is asking many of you to sign three-year licence agreements for your virtualisation projects," reads Anderson's letter. "[However,] signing up for a three-year virtualisation commitment may lock you into a contract with a vendor that cannot provide you with the breadth of technology, flexibility or scale that you'll need to build a complete cloud computing environment."