Yahoo and Apple may be the latest superhero team-up to hit Silicon Valley, while Apple could be considering plans to space-ify its retail stores. And Steve Jobs’s life is translated into yet another genre. If it be a sin to covet honor, the remainders for Wednesday, April 10, 2013 are the most offending souls alive.

Yahoo, Apple Discuss Deeper iPhone Partnership (Wall Street Journal, subscription required)

While Apple’s long used data from Yahoo for its Weather and Stock apps (as well as, more recently, Siri’s sports scores), the partnership between the two companies may expand under new Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer. A sticking point, however, is said to be Yahoo’s excessive use of exclamation points.

Apple hires Norman Foster’s architecture firm to revamp its retail stores (Marketing)

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Your iPad may soon fly as freely as you do, which is good, because apparently you’re really using those devices in the air. Elsewhere, a judge tells Apple to produce the goods. The remainders for Friday, March 8, 2013 are going to fly like an eagle.

Bill would allow iPad use from takeoff to landing (Politico)

Might you soon be able to use your iPad during your entire flight? That’s what Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri is shooting for with her new legislation, introduced on Thursday. We assume that the “no compromises” Microsoft Surface will still have to stay in your bag until you hit 10,000 feet.

Infographic: Staying Connected in Air (Gogo)

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Photographers love the freedom and flexibility of creating images, but when the shooting environment becomes complex, the folks behind the lens need all the help they can get. Hyper’s CameraMator, a wireless tethered photography device, lets you see and remotely control your shoot from a distance on an iPad, iPhone, Mac, or Android device.

Long in development as a Kickstarter project, CameraMator was released just in time for last week’s Macworld/iWorld with a $299 price tag. The CameraMator device attaches to your DSLR’s hotshoe or a tripod and the USB connection on your camera body (Canon and Nikon only). CameraMator uses Hyper’s iUSBport technology to wirelessly connect your DSLR’s USB ports with Wi-Fi mobile devices either via an existing Wi-Fi network or by creating its own network. When you shoot an image, the CameraMator sends the photo to your device, allowing you to review your shots on the larger screen. You can use it to share your photos and collaborate with remote colleagues and clients through the cloud.

The device works in conjunction with free apps for the Mac and iOS that are available on the Mac App Store and the iTunes store. The app features live viewing from the iPad or your Mac monitor, wireless camera control, instant image review, a 500-plus image buffer for continuous shooting, an intervalometer, HDR bracketing, a self timer, photo sharing to your laptop or iPad, and integration with Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom.

CameraMator competes with a similar device called CamRanger, which was released a few months ago and offers extensive control over your camera function via a free app from an iPad or iPhone. An OS X application is still in the works.

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Kanex on Thursday introduced its new DualRole device at Macworld/iWorld. The DualRole is a hub that provides three USB 3.0 ports and a gigabit ethernet adapter.

With the lack of ethernet in Apple current MacBook models, the DualRole provides ethernet connectivity by connecting to a computer’s USB port. And since the DualRole has additional USB 3 ports, you don’t give up an USB port on your Mac.

The DualRole runs off of the power from a USB port, but Kanex also allows you to connect a power adapter, in case you connect devices to the DualRole that require more juice.

The DualRole is $69. The device is on display at Kanex’s booth (#630) at Macworld/iWorld.

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This week’s roundup of Mac accessories offers options for music production and computer protection—and a nifty little twist on the traditional Swiss Army Knife.

Apogee: The $1,295 Apogee Quartet is designed for serious music-making professionals, featuring four inputs and eight outputs that connect the instruments in your studio to your Mac for high-level audio production. The Quartet also features a MIDI connection for keyboards, synthesizer, and DJ controllers. The device also works with Apple’s iMovie, for users who want to create sound and soundtracks for their video productions.

Kanex: The $50 USB 3 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter offers an easy way to add a Gigabit Ethernet port to your MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, or any other USB 3.0-enabled computer. It’s particularly aimed at travelers who find themselves on wired networks at hotels and in conference rooms, allowing you to share and access files over local networks at rates of 1GB per second. Also new from Kanex is the $60 4-Port USB 3 Hub.

Mujjo: If you’re looking for a lovely, sleek carrying case for your 13-inch MacBook Pro, you could do worse than Mujjo’s €60 MB Pro Retina Sleeve. The sleeve is made of wool and features a leather flap that attaches with a single snap. Inside the sleeve there’s an additional storage compartment that lets you store documents, earbuds, and more.

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The next two years promise much faster short-range and medium-range wired and wireless networking, and zippier mobile connections.

What’s the point of these increasing speeds, when today’s networking gear already feels reasonably fast? Video, primarily. The name of the game is streaming or downloading high-definition video—across a room or from one end of the house to the other—while still leaving enough room on the network for other activities such as file downloads, Facebook, and email.

Connecting devices

Back when Thunderbolt technology was still under development, Intel (its main mover) said that optical cabling would enable multiple-gigabits-per-second connections to displays, peripherals, and networks, and would permit cords to run as far as 30 meters. Things didn’t quite pan out that way.

Apparently optical cabling was hard to produce and expensive, so Apple and Intel switched to copper wiring instead. That wiring still supported the Thunderbolt spec’s two channels of simultaneous bidirectional (“full duplex”) 10-gbps data. But it didn’t allow for those long cables; instead, connections could be no more than about 10 feet (3 meters). Using wire also necessitated the addition of chips to the cables, to handle signaling and to ensure backward compatibility with DisplayPort. The one upside: Thunderbolt cords can pass up to 10 watts per device, more than double USB 3.0’s capacity.

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Under fire from its customers in the higher education market, Apple has proposed creating a new industry standard that would fix problems with its Bonjour zero configuration networking technology that is causing scalability and security problems on campus networks.

Apple described how such a standard could be used at an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) meeting held in Atlanta this week. Apple and other vendors including Xirrus, Check Point, and IBM support the idea of creating an IETF working group to improve network services like Apple’s Bonjour and Linux Avahi, which use an existing IETF protocol called Multiicast DNS (MDNS). The new working group would be called MDNS Extensions or MDNSext.

Built for the home

Bonjour is Apple’s marketing name for zero configuration networking, which allows a MacBook user to easily log into a local network and find an available printer. Behind the scenes, Bonjour provides automatic address assignment, looks up the host name and delivers available network services.

Bonjour uses MDNS, which transports DNS queries in a zero configuration way but only across local networks, not campus or enterprise networks. When it is deployed on large networks - particularly wired and wireless networks run by universities - Bonjour creates a flood of MDNS traffic, causing headaches for network managers.

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A highly anticipated patent infringement case between Apple and Motorola Mobility was dismissed by a Wisconsin district court Monday, hours before the trial was due to begin.

The two companies were arguing over license rates for patents owned by Motorola that cover parts of the wireless UMTS, GPRS, GSM and 802.11 standards. The patents are vital parts of the technologies and so Motorola Mobility is required to license them to competitors on "fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms," often referred to by the acronym FRAND.

At issue was where the boundary lay between reasonable and unreasonable terms.

Last week Apple told the court it would pay up to $1 per device for a license to Motorola patents covering cellular and Wi-Fi technologies. Motorola Mobility was arguing for a royalty payment of 2.25 percent on each device.

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Thieves crashed a car into an Apple retail store, swept up a bunch of iPhones and iPads and then had trouble getting the car out of the store, according to security tapes released by police.

The early morning robbery on Thursday, Sept. 6, was caught by two security cameras in the Apple Store at Promenade Mall, in Temecula, Calif., about 80 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

The proximity to Hollywood suggests the thieves watched too many action movies. The footage shows what looks like a late-model blue car smashing its way under the front metal and glass entrance wall, into the unoccupied store. So far so good.

But the “entrance,” though wrenched and twisted, seems to now work as if hinged at the top, or like a garage door, and the bottom edge falls back to the floor, behind the car.

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The iPhone 5 is Apple’s first mobile device to support Wi-Fi connections on the 5GHz band. Here’s what it means for you.

Is iPhone 5 the first smartphone to support 5GHz?

No. A few Android-based rivals, such as the HTC One X and the Samsung Galaxy S III, offer dual-band Wi-Fi. A growing number of new phones will have 5GHz support.

What is 5GHz Wi-Fi?

5GHz is the “other frequency” that Wi-Fi client radios can use, besides 2.4GHz, to connect to an access point or hotspot.

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While Apple is moving to LTE with the iPhone 5, it’s focused for now on North America and advanced Asian markets, leaving Europe’s most important LTE bands behind.

The iPhone 5 will come in three versions, equipped to use different sets of frequencies: Two phones for the GSM family of technologies and one for CDMA, which also includes GSM bands for roaming.

On top of those frequencies, each model includes selected bands for the faster 4G LTE technology, a key selling point of the iPhone 5. However, the new lineup leaves out two bands — 800MHz and 2.6GHz—that will be critical to LTE service in Europe, according to Tolaga Research analyst Phil Marshall.

“If you were to build a European device, it would have 800MHz and 2.6GHz in it,” Marshall said. Carriers in Germany, Sweden, Italy and other European countries already have or are expected to deploy LTE in one or both of these bands.

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T-Mobile may be the only major U.S. carrier not currently selling the iPhone, but the company doesn’t intend to be left out in the cold. On Monday, the telco said it will make a play for owners of unlocked iPhones, by offering in-store assistance to help get those phones onto the company’s network. And for the first time, those users may be able to get data speeds comparable to those offered by Apple’s official carrier partners.

Starting on Wednesday—the same day that Apple is widely expected to announce the next model of iPhone—T-Mobile will issue an iPhone 4S demo unit to each of its stores, where sales staff can use it to help customers set up their own phones on the T-Mobile network.

The company said it offers a number of advantages for iPhone users over its competitors, including an unlimited data plan starting at $60 a month for a single line; among the official iPhone carriers, only Sprint still offers an unlimited data plan to new users, but that costs $80 a month. T-Mobile also announced that it would be building iOS versions of its myAccount, T-Mobile TV, and Visual Voicemail apps.

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Verizon Wireless Tuesday revealed that there are five additional data tiers over and above the six tiers announced with its Share Everything plans earlier this summer.

The new top tier costs $150 a month for 20GB, a spokeswoman said.

The five new tiers, which are not detailed on Verizon’s website, join the six buckets of data unveiled in June with the Verizon Share Everything program.

The original plans range from a low of 1GB for $50 a month to 10GB for $100 a month. The data can be shared among up to ten mobile devices under the program. The other tiers above the top 10GB one listed on the website are 12GB for $110 a month, 14GB for $120 a month, 16GB for $130 a month, 18GB for $140 a month and 18GB for $150 a month, the spokeswoman told Computerworld today.

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Apple may be readying ebooks for Latin America, Sharp may be setting up to deliver displays for a new iPhone, and piracy is going rampant all over the place. The remainders for Thursday, August 2, 2012 are on their marks.

Apple reportedly pressing Spanish publishers to ready Latin America iBookstore rollout (The Next Web)

According to a report on The Next Web, Apple may soon plan to roll out the iBookstore in Latin America. The report goes on to note that Apple may only allow three currencies: U.S. dollars, British pounds, and Mexican pesos. Come on, Cupertino: Why don’t we have Applebucks yet?

Sharp to start shipping iPhone screens to Apple this month (Reuters)

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Verizon Wireless has agreed to pay $1.25 million to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to resolve a complaint that it blocked third-party tethering applications on Android phones, the FCC said Tuesday.

Verizon’s request for Google to block third-party tethering apps on the Android apps store violated open Internet, or net neutrality rules, approved by the commission for the so-called C block of spectrum in the 700MHz band, according to a complaint filed in June 2011 by digital rights group Free Press. The FCC approved the net neutrality conditions as part of a spectrum auction completed in early 2008.

Verizon denied blocking third-party tethering apps in a statement released Tuesday.

“Verizon Wireless has always allowed its customers to use the lawful applications of their choice on its networks, and it did not block its customers from using third-party tethering applications,” the company said in the statement. “This consent decree puts behind us concerns related to an employee’s communication with an app store operator about tethering applications, and allows us to focus on serving our customers.”

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A top Apple security guru Thursday presented an in-depth view into the security architecture for iOS, the basis of iPhones and iPad tablets, underscoring the complex certificate-based encryption framework Apple has adopted.

“Our attitude is security is an architecture,” said Apple platform security manager Dallas De Atley, adding, “It’s not something you sprinkle over your code when its done.”

In a description of how secure boot processes work, De Atley pointed out that firmware in each iOS device is digitally signed by Apple as part of the manufacturing process. But that’s just the start of a certificate encryption-based system Apple uses to try and prevent its products from becoming exploited if vulnerabilities are discovered and need to be remedied. Encryption is also embedded to enable users to take advantage of classes of encryption on their devices, according to De Atley.

By hitting a lock button, users can ensure their mail messages are encrypted at rest on the device, said De Attley. Files can also be automatically encrypted and not opened until a user enters a passcode.

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Cisco plans to add code to its wireless LAN controllers to make Apples Bonjour-based technologies like AirPlay and AirPrint better behaved on enterprise networks.

The code will turn the controller into a Bonjour gateway, and couple this with policy-based end user privileges. For users, this will mean that Apple clients will be able to find and access network-attached AirPrint printers, Apple TVs and the like on different subnets, so everything will “just work” as it does on their own home networks.

A second expected result will be a big decrease in the amount of Bonjour-based discovery traffic that today is putting a heavy load on enterprise nets teeming with Apple’s MacBook laptops, iPhones, iPads and more.

Cisco is hosting a Webcast seminar and demonstration of its still-in-development Bonjour Gateway Tuesday at 10 a.m. Pacific (1 p.m. Eastern).

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Samsung Electronics accused Apple of refusing to enter into negotiations to license essential 3G patents included in the iPhone and iPad during the first day of their patent trial on Monday in Federal Court in Sydney.

In Australia, Apple filed suit against Samsung in July 2011, alleging that the company’s Galaxy tablet infringed on patents related to touchscreen technology. Samsung subsequently filed a cross-claim against Apple, claiming violation of three 3G data transmission patents in Apple’s iPhone 4 and 4S models and second iPad model.

Monday’s hearing focused on two of the three patents—Australian patents No. 2005202512 and No. 2006241621—that Samsung alleges Apple has violated. The two patents deal with power control and the format of packet headers used for 3G data transmissions. The court will address patent No. 2005239657, which deals with rate matching patterns used in data transmission, in August.

Apple’s relationship with Samsung broke down after Apple filed a lawsuit in California in April 2011 against Samsung related to the Galaxy tablet, Samsung’s attorney Neil Young said. Samsung had offered to negotiate with Apple to license the patents on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.

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The Wi-Fi Direct standard may get a much-needed boost next year from work by the Wi-Fi Alliance to make it easier to use for both consumers and developers.

The specification for peer-to-peer links among devices debuted in 2010 and has been delivered in some products, including the Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone. (The AirDrop feature in OS X Lion relies on Wi-Fi Direct.) But it has yet to become a major platform for new uses of Wi-Fi across a wide range of devices.

The Alliance’s Wi-Fi Direct Services task group, formed last month, plans to develop new software mechanisms to help devices and applications determine how they can work together, Wi-Fi Alliance Executive Director Edgar Figueroa said in an interview on Wednesday. Those efforts are on a fast track and should be completed within 12 to 18 months, he said. He spoke at a daylong event on “The Power and Potential of the Unlicensed Economy” at Stanford University, saying Wi-Fi is expanding beyond the home and office wireless LAN technology most familiar to consumers.

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Cisco Systems has taken a step back from its Cisco Connect Cloud service, removing it as the default setting for management of its Linksys EA Series Wi-Fi routers after a firestorm of complaints from customers about automatic firmware updates and the service’s terms of service.

The default method for managing the high-end Linksys routers has been changed to traditional setup and management over the local network, Cisco said in a blog entry posted on Thursday. When the company brought Cisco Connect Cloud online last week, it made the Internet-based administration service into the default tool for the routers.

Now, users who want the features of Cisco Connect Cloud will have to choose on their own to use it. This is a major step back from a service that the company had promoted as part of its vision of the future of home Wi-Fi routers. In a previous response to complaints, Cisco had stepped in to help users return to the older management system if they wanted, but the latest move makes users actively choose the new service. In the blog post announcing the change, Cisco also apologized twice and repeatedly sought to extinguish customers’ concerns about privacy and automatic firmware updates.

“We believe lack of clarity in our own terms of service has contributed to many of our customers’ concerns, and we apologize for the confusion and inconvenience this has caused,” wrote Brett Wingo, vice president and general manager of Cisco Home Networking.

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Apple bids adieu to its vice president of numbers, the story of how RIM failed to hit AT&T’s softball pitch, and Google is crashing your MacBook. The remainders for Friday, June 29, 2012 are all mixed up inside.

Apple Corporate Controller Betsy Rafael to Retire (The Mac Observer)

Awww, Betsy, we hardly knew you. No, seriously: Even as the company’s principal accounting officer since 2003, your name didn’t really come up very much. But we appreciate everything you’ve done for Apple; now go enjoy a mojito on the beach somewhere, and say hi to Big Bob Mansfield for us.

Multiple Missteps Led to RIM’s Fall (The Wall Street Journal)

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A while back I showed you how to remotely access your Mac’s screen, but what if you need to retrieve a file off that remote machine? There are a couple of options, but many of them rely on having a specific type of hardware or software already installed. Here’s how to turn your Mac into a SFTP server that you can access from pretty much any computer or platform.

Download Macworld Video #192

• Format: MPEG-4/H.264

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Cisco’s Linksys brand of home wireless networking routers today joined other vendors in coming out with 802.11ac equipment, as well as enabling a cloud-based platform for configuration and control of its “Smart Wi-Fi Routers.”

The Linksys Smart Wi-Fi Router with AC (model EA6500) is a dual-band wireless router—the 802.11ac wireless will be on the 5-GHz band, while the 2.4-GHz band remains 802.11n. The router will be backwards compatible with 802.11n adapters, as well as 802.11b/g on the 2.4-GHz band. The unit will include two USB ports (for shared storage and printers), and will have four Gigabit ethernet ports for wired clients. Cisco says the router will be available in early August at major retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, New Egg, Target and Walmart.

On the adapter side, Cisco announced the Linksys Universal Media Connector with AC (model WUMC710), a wireless bridge that includes 4 Gigabit ethernet ports that can connect wirelessly to the 802.11ac router. The unit is aimed to provide a wired-to-wireless bridge for devices like TVs, game consoles, etc., but could also be used to provide Internet connectivity for notebooks and desktops. The UMC will be available in September, Cisco says. Pricing on both units was not made available.

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Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA unveiled a high-profile spectrum deal on Monday, but the odd couple also joined together earlier this month on a lesser known proposal for FCC rules on cellular signal boosters.

The two carriers were the largest players that signed on to a detailed set of specifications for boosters, which are two-way radios that amplify cellular coverage in a building or vehicle. The devices are largely unregulated today, but the proposed rules could introduce new requirements for users.

The specifications emerged from a lengthy rulemaking process launched last year and from technical work to narrow down the proposals, said Joe Banos, chief operating officer of Wilson Electronics, which makes boosters and has been pushing for Federal Communications Commission rules on them for years. He thinks there is a good chance the FCC will approve the rules, with little or no modification, within 90 days.

“I think we’re close to the end of the road,” Banos said on Monday. After the commission’s vote, the industry would have to settle on procedures for compliance testing, which might take six months, he said. At some point after that, products would be tested and boosters that didn’t comply would have to be removed from sale.

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Verizon Wireless is adding 46 U.S. cities to its 4G LTE network on Thursday, for a total of 304 markets.

The carrier first began deploying LTE in late 2010. While the number of locations has increased, Verizon is also pushing out coverage within existing areas, and today said it will also expand its existing LTE in 22 markets where it had been available.

Verizon states that it offers 5 Mbps to 12 Mbps on LTE downlinks on average and between 2 Mbps and 5 Mbps on the uplink.

AT&T is also deploying 4G LTE, and Sprint has plans to start such a network this summer.

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AT&T plans to extend its dual-personality software for mobile devices, called Toggle, to provide a walled-off and encrypted work environment within PCs and Macs as well as mobile devices.

That new capability is still under development for an unspecified date on AT&T’s road map. But, along with other enhancements announced on Wednesday with Version 2.0 of Toggle, it could make the service into a broader platform for remote work. Toggle 1.0 was announced last October for Android devices. Now it is set to ship for Apple iOS in the next few weeks and for BlackBerry and Windows Phone by the end of the year.

Toggle combines a service for enterprises with an app for downloading to consumers’ own phones, tablets and other clients. The app divides a mobile device into a personal mode for the usual consumer apps and a secure, encrypted “work mode” just for apps and content approved by an enterprise. Employees can switch to the work mode while on the job and go back when the day is done. It’s designed to help companies implement BYOD (bring-your-own-device) policies while protecting themselves.

The new version transforms Toggle from a system built around pushing corporate resources out to employees’ devices to one that lets users go to a customized site and download approved apps and content. AT&T even went to a different mobile-device-management software partner, OpenPeak, to develop the new version. Its Toggle 1.0 technology, which the carrier developed with Enterproid, is still available and supported.

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Families with a number of data intensive devices may be able to get a break on monthly charges beginning later this month, as Verizon has officially announced shared data plans. The company will roll out its new Share Everything plan on June 28.

The new plan features unlimited minutes and unlimited texting, with differing charges mainly based on the amount of data shared between devices. You can have up to 10 devices on a single account, from any mix of basic (read: non-smart) phones, smartphones, tablets, and other devices, such as USB modems.

You’ll still have to pay a flat Monthly Line Access fee per device, with the exact amount depending on the nature of the device: $40 for smartphones, $30 for basic phones, $10 for tablets, and $20 for non-tablet devices.

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As if new MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs weren't enough, Apple has gone and updated another piece of hardware: its venerable AirPort Express. Apple has also released an update to iOS's AirPort Utility that supports configuration of the new device as well as support for IPv6.

Though its name was never spoken and its visage never revealed at Monday's WWDC keynote, Apple’s silent AirPort Express update did get a brief acknowledgment via an on-screen Twitter notification, as noticed by Tilde engineer Patrick Gibson.

The little Wi-Fi access point hadn’t been updated since 2008; Monday’s revision refines it both inside and out. The Express's exterior now makes it look like a white Apple TV; instead of an HDMI port, however, its sports ethernet WAN and LAN connectors, a USB port, and an analog/optical audio jack.

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The much-hyped World IPv6 Launch Day event on Wednesday resulted in a rise in IPv6 traffic—including Web and email—to a new peak as expected. But ISPs said the bigger story was the steady increase in IPv6 traffic that occurred in the months leading up to the event, which they anticipate will continue for the rest of 2012.

Coordinated by the Internet Society, World IPv6 Launch Day was a kick-off event for more than 50 access network providers such as AT&T, Comcast and Time Warner Cable and 3,000 websites—including Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Bing—to begin permanently supporting IPv6 for their customers.

Several carriers, including Comcast and Hurricane Electric, reported that IPv6 traffic rose between 20 percent and 25 percent on their networks during the first few hours of World IPv6 Launch Day.

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