Apple, being the innovative corporation that it is, applies for patents many times per year. While many of these items may never make it to market, the company is proactive in making sure that possible patents are filed as soon as possible in order to protect the intellectual property that's been developed.

One such filing from last year describes a fascinating cloud-based, cross-platform sync service referred to as "Grab & Go." The filing showed up earlier this week and demonstrates how synchronization of data over multiple devices could be simplified. Grab & Go creates pre-defined data sets with categories like family, entertainment, or business that a user could literally "grab" and move to a device. The patent document shows how sharing files between devices (whether the device is a smartphone, computer, tablet, or even a game console) could be made easier.

The software is flexible enough to adapt to different connection types (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, to name a few) and can provide different levels of encryption and security. The filing even discusses a possible requirement of having two or more devices within a certain distance of each other in order for synchronization to begin.

If you're up for a long, but interesting read over the weekend, head on over to the US Patent & Trademark Office and check out the details of Grab & Go. It could be a foretaste of things to come, or just another long legal document.

[via AppleInsider and Engadget]

You know by now that once Apple announces a new piece of hardware, it's only a matter of time before someone gets their hands on one only to rip it up and tear every little piece out to see what's in there. And that's exactly what iFixit did with the brand new iMac -- most of us would kill to get one and keep it, and they got one and killed it (Update: Apparently they didn't kill it -- they ended up putting it all back together again). But at least we can learn from their destruction: the LCD panel is the same horizontal resolution as the 30" Cinema display, and the screen itself weighs 11 lbs. The hard drive sits right in the center of the machine, right behind the screen. And there's probably more heat dissipation methods in there than you'd expect: six temp sensors, three fans, two heat sinks, and even a partridge in a pear tree. We're not sure how that last one helps.

Overall, it's a beauty. And the last twist is probably the most interesting -- other than showing off your Mac-itude and lighting the area behind your screen, the Apple logo is apparently wrapped with an Airport antenna. Because the whole thing is encased in aluminum, that's the only place to get a signal, and so that's where they stuck it. Now when people complain that you're just being trendy by showing off the Apple logo, you can tell them you're actually just trying to help out the Wi-Fi reception.

[via Engadget]

If there's one thing that I've wanted to be able to do for years, it's to set up a direct Wi-Fi connection to another device without having to actually be near a Wi-Fi base station, or going to the trouble of getting an ad-hoc network set up on both devices. This type of peer-to-peer networking is nothing new; back in the Newton MessagePad days we could beam address cards and data between devices through an IrDA connection.

Now the Wi-Fi Alliance has announced that this will be possible next year through the use of Wi-Fi Direct. Wi-Fi Direct will come built into many new devices and can be implemented in existing devices through software updates. Wi-Fi Direct competes directly with Bluetooth, and will provide much faster data transfer speeds (using more power, unfortunately). According to the Wi-Fi Alliance,

"The specification, previously code-named 'Wi-Fi peer-to-peer,' can be implemented in any Wi-Fi device, from mobile phones, cameras, printers, and notebook computers, to human interface devices such as keyboards and headphones. Significantly, devices that have been certified to the new specification will also be able to create connections with hundreds of millions of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED legacy devices already in use. Devices will be able to make a one-to-one connection, or a group of several devices can connect simultaneously."

I can imagine that at some point in 2010, we'll be able to sync our iPhones using Wi-Fi Direct, directly send address book information to other iPhone-toting people, and enjoy high-speed multi-player gaming fun. Apple is a sponsor corporation for the Wi-Fi Alliance, so adoption of Wi-Fi Direct on Macs, iPhones, and future Apple equipment will hopefully be swift and widespread.

[via MacRumors]

For the last couple of weeks, I've been testing the Verizon MiFi portable WiFi hotspot. After writing about the MiFi, a few months back, I was placed on a waiting list to receive a test unit. Could the MiFi enhance the iPod touch experience to bring it into the realm of the iPhone? A unit finally came free and I finally got my hands-on experience to discover whether my assumptions would be proved right or wrong.

The MiFi, which is a portable EV-DO router, provides a 3G connection through an absolutely tiny unit. All plastic, it's about as thick as an iPhone and about two-thirds as large as its front face. The MiFi's entire user interface is its single button (seen at the bottom right of the image here). When pressed, the button switches on and glows green. Pressed again and held, the unit turns off and the green glow disappears. Sprint offers a near-identical unit, except it's finished in brushed metal instead of black.

Read on to discover how my MiFi testing went...

It's been a stealth feature of modern Macs for years: the ability of a sleeping machine to respond to a 'magic packet' delivered over Ethernet and wake up on command, either triggered by a specialized app or by Apple Remote Desktop. Handy, especially for administrators who might need to access remote and sleeping workstations, but as the world has moved more toward wireless networking the Wake-On-LAN capability became gradually less relevant.

Now, as Macworld explains, the ability to wake sleeping Macs remotely has been extended in two vital ways with Snow Leopard as a new feature called Wake on Demand. First, the new OS allows sleeping machines to hand off Bonjour broadcast tasks (advertising services like printer sharing, web sharing, iPhoto & iTunes libraries, etc.) to an Airport Extreme base station or Time Capsule, letting the machine's services appear always-on even if the actual Mac is asleep; the Mac will wake remotely when needed by a client. This alone will allow multi-Mac homes to sleep their machines more often, saving energy and aggravation.

The second feature requires that you pair your recent-vintage Airport with a recent Mac model (all 2009 versions, and possibly some 2008 models as well): you can wake the machine over Wi-Fi, rather than just over Ethernet. If you go to System Profiler, to the Network section and the Airport data sheet -- look for a line that says "Wake on Wireless." If it's there, you've got the capability. Your mileage may vary but it's certainly fun to try waking up your machine remotely over the WLAN -- or, for fun, your spouse's machine, just to watch them jump.

Two reports from Friday indicate that the iPhone will soon make it to market in China, although the Communist government wants to make sure that users aren't free to use their newly-acquired Apple goodness to criticize official policies.

Gizmodo published an unconfirmed report that China Unicom may have a deal with Apple to sell iPhones with Wi-Fi blocked. Some of our readers might comment that China Unicom could just sell customers devices that have been upgraded to iPhone OS 3.0, since Wi-Fi doesn't appear to be working properly on many of those iPhones, but the Chinese government wants assurance that Wi-Fi is blocked on any iPhones sold in the country.

Why? To quote Gizmodo, "it's harder to sniff local packets than ones drifting through a wide-area network." What they're referring to here is the Golden Shield Project, known to many as the "Great Firewall of China." That's the Internet censorship and surveillance project run by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.

The Gizmodo post is in turn based on a story by Business Week, which is reporting that Apple applied yesterday (July 10th) to the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for a Network Access License to sell the iPhone in the country. Business Week notes that Apple may receive permission to officially sell iPhones in The Middle Kingdom by the time of the Spring Festival in 2010, which occurs in January.

TUAW reader Troy sent an email the other day stating that he'd found one of our posts from last August to be very helpful. In Using your iPhone on a cruise ship we talked about Cellular At Sea and getting your iPhone to send and receive pricey calls from many cruise ships. How expensive are they? Last year, they were running about US$0.79 per minute. This year, they cost about the same.

Troy's email got me thinking about how to make cheaper phone calls on cruises, since I'll be on two cruise ships next year. Since last August, we've seen Skype for iPhone / iPod touch [App Store] appear, and for US$2.95 a month you can make unlimited calls to the USA and Canada over a Wi-Fi connection. That's great, but you're going to need to pay anywhere from $0.30 to $0.75 per minute for that Wi-Fi! And another big dead fly is floating in that soup -- the bandwidth on cruise ships is so incredibly low that your calls may not even go through using Skype or another VoIP app.

Unfortunately, things haven't improved much in this realm since last year. My recommendation? Buy the biggest onboard Wi-Fi account you can afford (more minutes = cheaper per minute) and use it with your iPhone or iPod touch for emails, Tweeting your friends, using IM, and checking TUAW. If you want to send voice messages to your pals, record them in the new iPhone OS 3.0 voice memos app or (if you have a 3GS) with video, and then email the messages over Wi-Fi. Your friends can respond the same way.

If you absolutely must have a two-way conversation, your cheapest alternative is going to be to wait until you're in a port, then use one of AT&T's international calling plans (or another carrier's plan if you're not in the US) or see if you can use Skype at a portside bar with free Wi-Fi. You probably don't want to use the ship's on-board satellite phone service at the US$6.99 to US$10.99 per minute rate!

Do you have any other hints for cheap communications afloat, other than sending postcards from ports? Let us know in the comments.

Thanks to Troy for reminding us about cruise ships and iPhones

This is a painful review to write, because the SlingPlayer for iPhone had so much potential before AT&T decided to cripple it. One can understand the terror at the thought of a million SlingPlayers draining network bandwidth dry, but in fact, AT&T seems to be violating its own Terms of Service by allowing other smartphones to run SlingPlayer without interference.

OK, so how does the SlingPlayer [App Store link] for iPhone/iPod touch work on a WiFi network? Pretty well. The video can be a bit choppy, but it is quite watchable, and basically gives you a full-featured television receiver (or DVD player if you are set up that way) wherever you have an accessible network.

Set up is pretty easy and does not require a manual. The only pain point is inputting your unique Sling ID which requires typing long strings of upper case letters followed by numbers. This can be skipped if you have a Sling account configured in advance.

In my case I have a SlingBox Pro, connected to a DirecTV HD receiver. The remote worked fine, and it is a transparent overlay so the video shows through. Entering a command results in a 4-5 second wait for it to be executed, but that is understandable considering what is going on behind the scenes. Entering pretty much any command to the remote pauses the video and audio, which again, is understandable but not desirable.

If you have a DVR, the SlingPlayer app will control it, which is a real benefit to users who are away from home and want to catch a program, or play it back remotely.

The loss of 3G functionality is sad. In the old days I used the SlingPlayer on a Motorola smartphone. When traveling, it was easy to catch a newscast or get some ball scores from any location. Now, you have to have a Wi-Fi connection, which seriously limits your options.

Finally, there is the matter of price. It is hard to endorse paying $30.00US for an app that has lost a major feature. Sling charges the same price for versions of the app that do run on 3G. It seems unfair given all that has happened to this app.

It is certainly true that Sling Media is not to blame for the business decisions of AT&T, but the company certainly controls the pricing of the app.

I think there will be a lot of people who want to buy and use SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone. On the other hand, many people have had their enthusiasm severely dampened by the current situation. Unfortunately, no matter how clever the app, and it IS clever, AT&T, Apple and Sling Media have all been damaged by this drama.

Nothing is forever, and policies can change. All concerned will have to figure out if the decisions made so far with this app are worth the damage to reputations and corporate image.

Note: The Sling web site is running pretty slowly as I write this, and I was surprised to see that the iPhone version of the app is not listed in the support options.

Here are some screen shots of the app in operation:

A few months ago, Mark/Space delivered Fliq for iPhone, a free utility for sending contacts and photos to other iPhones and iPod touches that are also running Fliq. Later, they shipped Fliq for Mac, a US$19.95 application goes beyond the capabilities of the iPhone app by providing an easy way to move photos, contacts and notes from your Mac to any Mac or iPhone on your Wi-Fi network.

There are several free or low-cost utilities that perform similar tasks, most particularly 10base-t interactive's DropCopy and Mobile DropCopy. The latter is a new iPhone app that, like Fiiq and Fliq for Mac, facilitates transfer of non-DRM data between iPhones and Macs. Since news of both of these apps appeared in my inbox on the same day, I decided that a faceoff was in order. So how do these apps compare, or am I comparing Apples and oranges? I think you'll find that they're similar in operation, but different in what they mean to accomplish.

Read on to see how they fare in a TUAW faceoff!

How would you like to be able to shoot photos on your iPhone, and then immediately print them on your HP printer?

HP has a new product called iPrint Photo (click opens iTunes) available in the App Store that makes it very simple to print your iPhone pictures. The free download opens to a list of photo albums that looks very similar to the list in the Photos app on the iPhone. Tapping on a photo brings up a Print Photo page with a large Print button on it (see photo at right). If you only have one networked printer available, just tapping the Print button sends a 4x6 inch (10x15 cm) print job to that printer.

If more than one HP inkjet printer is on your local Wi-Fi network, tapping on a printer search icon brings up a Chooser-like list of printers that you can select one from. This is an excellent free app -- it took no setup and I was able to print a picture immediately after downloading the software from the app store.

Between this software and HP's announcement of their Mac-compatible media server, it looks like HP is starting to play nice with Apple!

Check out the gallery below for a few more photos of this app in use.

Good news for travelers or anyone who is frequently on the go: Boingo has just released Boingo Mobile [iTunes link] for the iPhone and iPod touch. Boingo Mobile is actually a pretty handy service, especially for the frequent traveler. For $7.95 a month (5.95 EUR, 3.95 GBP), you get unlimited data and VOiP access to all Boingo Mobile hotspot locations throughout the world. This includes practically every major airport, US Starbucks and McDonalds locations and an insane number of hotels.

I use the Boingo Unlimited service when working away from home (it's about the same price as adding HotSpot access to my cell phone and I get access to more networks) and Boingo Mobile is a great compliment to the service.

I played with Boingo Mobile at Starbucks today and what really stood out was the login process. You only have to authenticate once per Wi-Fi provider. So if you are at Starbucks, which is provided by AT&T, you select your hotspot from within the iPhone or iPod touch, login with Boingo Mobile and you're online.

If you go to another Starbucks or another AT&T provided hotspot, you will be automatically connected and authenticated. Although there are many thousands of hotspots, most are powered by a handful of providers -- authenticating once makes the login process that much more seamless.

For iPhone owners who want to use VOiP but don't want to run the risk of inciting AT&T's contract police, consider trying Boingo Mobile's 30-day free trial. Boingo Mobile is a free app and is available from the App Store [link]; Boingo Mobile accounts are $7.95 a month US and are separate from Boingo Unlimited plans.

Not to be outdone by Qik, Flixwagon started offering their live streaming client for the iPhone 3G/2G this week. Flixwagon offers streaming video over WiFi or over the cellular data connection. In addition, the application offers 12 frames-per-second video. The company claims that they have very fast signup right from the iPhone, and the ability to change titles/details while broadcasting.

The last time we mentioned Flixwagon, it was still in beta, but they have finally opened up the service to anyone who has a jailbroken iPhone with either Cydia or Installer 4. The application weighs in at only 98 KB. For more information about this video streaming service, visit the Flixwagon blog.

If you've been looking for a way to turn that 16GB iPhone into a wireless flash drive, there's a new solution available for you in the App Store: DataCase for iPhone (link opens iTunes). The developers, Veiosoft, missed their original release date of July 28th thanks to Apple's annoying application approval process, but you can now buy DataCase in the App Store for US$6.99. Unlike FileMagnet, DataCase doesn't require that an app be installed on the Mac, and it can also be used with a PC or Linux machine.

Read after the break for more information about DataCase for iPhone.

One feature of many other handheld devices is the ability to use the device as a portable flash drive to move data between a couple of computers. The iPhone doesn't have that ability now, but will on July 28, 2008.

That's the day that DataCase will be available in the iTunes App Store for $6.99. From Veiosoft, DataCase works with Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) and Bonjour to allow any Mac on the same network as your phone to transfer files to and from it.

Your iPhone appears as a Mac volume, so you just drag-and-drop data you want to take with you. If you're a Windows or Linux user, DataCase gives you the same capabilities from your iPhone using HTTP and FTP.

In case you want to view those files you've moved to your iPhone, DataCase lets you read Microsoft Office, PDF, and text files. You can create up to 16 different volumes on your iPhone, each of which can be set up with read/write/browse permissions. Volumes can be made invisible to protect data from unauthorized people or iPhone snatchers.

This is an innovative app that I think a lot of iPhone owners are going to buy come July 28th.

Boingo Wireless, the global market leader in Wi-Fi hotspots, has just released a new version of its GoBoingo! client for Intel-based Macs running Tiger or Leopard (Powerbook users can use the client in Tiger). The GoBoingo! client makes it super easy to connect to any of the more than 100,000 Boingo partnered hotspots throughout the world. Boingo powers hotspots in bookstores, airports, hotels, retail stores and restaurants. They have access plans available in daily or monthly increments that provide unlimited access to all Boingo hotspots (in either North America or internationally).

The GoBoingo! client is cool because not only can it automatically connect you to a Boingo hotspot (meaning you don't have to go to the login page and enter in some really long username and password), but it also gives you access to tons of Boingo-partnered hotspots that would be otherwise be inaccessible from Boingo.com.

For instance, if you are at the airport and you buy a Boingo Connect Day pass (which is $7.95 for US & Canadian access, $9.99 for international access) and then later that day, go to a McDonald's with Wi-Fi, you don't have to pay a separate fee at McDonald's, because they have a roaming agreement with Boingo. Boingo has a romaing agreement with AT&T as well, meaning that you can soon use your Boingo account at Starbucks.

The client is designed to be lightweight (the download is less than 1 MB) and it runs in the background, only popping up when it detects a Boingo network. After you have entered your account information once, you just have to click "connect" to login. I tested the client out at a few places in my neighborhood today, one that I knew was a Boingo-powered hotspot (because it always brings me to the Boingo login screen) and two that were Boingo roaming-partners and I was able to connect to all three easily and without any excess typing (or even better, money).

The GoBoingo! client is available now.