What's up dock?  Apple to shrink connector for iPhone 5  —  (Reuters) - Apple Inc's new iPhone will drop the wide dock connector used in the company's gadgets for the best part of a decade in favor of a smaller one, a change likely to annoy the Apple faithful but which could be a boon for accessory makers.

Amazon's mobile ambitions grow  —  (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) plans to expand its mobile platform and broaden its offering of devices beyond e-readers and the Kindle Fire tablet, analysts, developers and retail partners said ahead of results next week from the world's largest Internet retailer.

Exclusive: Apple, Samsung chiefs disagree on patent values - source  —  (Reuters) - Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook and top Samsung Electronic Co Ltd executives disagreed last week on the value of each other's patents at a settlement conference ahead of a high profile U.S. trial, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Marissa Mayer Has a Secret Weapon  —  Everyone agrees that one of Marissa Mayer's most urgent tasks at Yahoo will be hiring great managers and product people.  Yahoo's talent pool has been reduced to puddles, as the best techies have gone elsewhere and promising newcomers have come down with colorblindness when it comes to purple.

New In iOS 6: App Store Doesn't Require A Password To Download Free Apps  —  Shortly after iOS 6 beta 1 made its debut in early June, Cult of Mac reported that users are no longer required to enter their iTunes password when downloading updates or previous purchases from the App Store.

Justice Department slams Apple, refuses to modify e-book settlement  —  The Justice Department released a document today that characterized criticism by Apple and publishers of a controversial price-fixing settlement as “self-serving” and ill-founded.  The Department also pointed to recent ventures …

VMware buys Nicira for $1.05 billion  —  VMware said Monday that it will buy Nicira in a deal valued at $1.05 billion in cash.  Nicira specializes in open source software for network virtualization.  VMware will also assume $210 million in unvested equity awards.  The deal is expected to close in the second half of the year.

Former Yahoo chief Scott Thompson appointed new CEO of ShopRunner  —  After a turbulent few months as Yahoo's CEO, where he was removed from its board and management for lying on his resume, former PayPal president Scott Thompson has found a new employer, joining ShopRunner as its new chief executive.

Why does the IT industry continue to listen to Gartner?  —  Summary: Another day, another provocative research report from Gartner, which has a long track record of spectacularly wrong predictions.  I've collected some of their greatest hits.  Er, misses.  —  Follow @edbott

Cisco Cuts 2 Percent of Work Force As Part of Ongoing Restructuring  —  Networking giant Cisco Systems is cutting about 1,300 jobs or about 2 percent of its headcount as part of a the fluid restructuring plan that CEO John Chambers has said would never quite be complete.

In It to Win It: Asana Raises $28M Series B, Peter Thiel Joins the Board  —  Asana is not merely a “Facebook for the enterprise.”  But it's crammed full of Facebook DNA, including its co-founders Dustin Moskovitz and Justin Rosenstein.  There's also board member Adam D'Angelo- Quora co-founder and former Facebook CTO.

NTP settles e-mail patent suit with Google, Apple, Microsoft and others  —  The company holding the keys to using e-mail over wireless has signed an agreement with the world's top cell phone makers and wireless network carriers.  —  Follow @DonnaYTam  —  NTP, which some say held …

OS X Mountain Lion seeded to AppleCare reps ahead of launch  —  In the latest sign of OS X Mountain Lion's imminent release to the public, Apple has seeded the next-generation Mac operating system to its AppleCare representatives.  AppleCare representatives have been testing OS X Mountain Lion …

As sales surge, Google debuts its first Nexus 7 commercial  —  On the back of a warm reception and promising sales, Google has stepped up promotion of its Nexus 7 tablet after the search giant published its first video advert — ‘Nexus 7: Camping’ - which features a father and son venturing …

Hacker Will Expose Potential Security Flaw In Four Million Hotel Room Keycard Locks  —  Brocious demonstrating his unlocking tool on an Onity lock in a New York City hotel.  —  The next time you stay in a hotel room, run your fingers under the keycard lock outside your door.

Referly Gets More Social, Launches API: Now Any Site Can Have A Referral Program  —  Some more developments for Referly, the Y-Combinator/500 Startups company co-founded by Twilio's ex-head of marketing, Danielle Morrill.  In what may be a hat-tip to the adept use of APIs at her former employer Twilio …

TaskRabbit Gets $13M From Founders Fund And Others To “Revolutionize The World's Labor Force.”  —  Collaborative consumption startup TaskRabbit is today announcing a $13 million C-round of funding, led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund.  The C-round will bring the company's total funding to $38 million.

Developer says piracy forced Dead Trigger Android game to go free  —  ‘Unbelievably high’ level of unpaid-for downloads despite game's $0.99 price  —  With 400m activated devices and another 1m added every day, Android is on a roll.  So why are many games developers still wary of porting their iOS titles to Google's platform?

The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?  —  Soon after Steve Jobs returned to Apple as CEO in 1997, he decided that a shipping company wasn't delivering spare parts fast enough.  The shipper said it couldn't do better, and it didn't have to: Apple had signed a contract granting it the business at the current pace.

Apple heads into choppy waters as new iPhone awaited  —  (Reuters) - Apple Inc faces an unusual phenomenon when reporting earnings this time around: low expectations.  —  Few are expecting the world's most valuable technology company — which surpasses Wall Street expectations with near regularity …