Apple ‘AirPlay Direct’ planned for September launch  —  Hifi manufacturers are preparing for Apple to launch ‘AirPlay Direct’ technology that allows wireless music playback without the need for a WiFi network.  —  Apple's Steve Jobs launched AirPlay in 2010

Judge Koh Sets December 6 Hearing on Apple's Request to Ban Several Samsung Phones  —  Though the verdict is in, the paperwork continues in the patent dispute between Apple and Samsung.  —  Aiming to put some limits on things, Judge Lucy Koh on Tuesday established a schedule for posttrial filings …

Apple Geniuses: Now help you online in UK  —  Apple has announced a new feature to its Online store in the UK.  Apple Geniuses to help you pick the right iPhone.  —  “Now there's a whole new way to shop for an iPad or iPhone at the Apple Online Store,” says Apple.

OnLive lost: how the paradise of streaming games was undone by one man's ego  —  “I'm the one that brought you here.  I'm the one that ultimately made decisions, and I'm the one that ultimately takes responsibility.  So I am sorry, and it didn't end up exactly as we'd hoped.”

Uh Oh!  Amazon Researchers Say Pinterest Doesn't Generate A Lot Of Sales  —  Zappos Labs, the research arm of the Zappos online apparel site, has been experimenting with Pinterest—and the results are not encouraging.  —  Will Young, director of Zappos Labs, told Bloomberg that Pinterest users …

TiVo Stream Gets Viewers Off the Couch  —  With my time limited, I'm continuously working to chip away at the ever-growing list of programs and movies on my TiVo.  —  For the past week, I've been testing a device that solves a lot of my problems: TiVo Stream.

How To Be a Genius: This Is Apple's Secret Employee Training Manual  —  We recently showed you just how badly some of Apple's retail elite behave when no one's watching, but surely they were taught better, right?  You bet they were: Apple tells its new recruits exactly what what to think and say.

Big Brother on a budget: How Internet surveillance got so cheap  —  The surveillance powers of CCTV are coming to a network near you, thanks to deep packet inspection and big data analytics.  —  ogglog  —  When Libyan rebels finally wrested control of the country last year away …

Google Reinstates Controversial Music-Streaming App Grooveshark  —  More than a year after Google Inc. removed the controversial Grooveshark music-streaming service from its app store for Android smartphones, the app was quietly reinstated Tuesday afternoon, despite ongoing copyright infringement lawsuits against the company.

The Talented Ms. Hornstein: How @Shirls Fooled The Valley  —  Silicon Valley is full of hustlers, and that's often a good thing.  But there's a difference between hustling and flat-out lying, and when people deceive company after company, it's time to call them out.

AMD CTO reveals first Steamroller details  —  Bulldozer's getting some sweet new treads  —  Ever since the relatively disappointing debut of AMD's Bulldozer microarchitecture, we've been curious to find out what happens next.  New architectures sometimes have their share of troubles …

New York Times leading group defense in patent suit over mobile texts containing Web links  —  The New York Times Co. is girding for a legal battle that many larger organizations have avoided.  —  The Times is leading the defense of a diverse group of companies that use technology they assumed was free …

Google lands patent for automatic object recognition in videos, leaves no stone untagged  —  Google has already been working on patents that could pick out faces and song melodies in our YouTube clips.  Now, it might just have the ultimate tool: the technique in a just-granted patent could pick …

New quad-core Intel Atom SoCs target PCs, servers, and tablets  —  Enlarge / The Bay Trail platform will be available for just about any application you can think of.  —  Intel via Baidu  —  Leaked Intel documents have revealed details of the company's next-generation Atom platform.

Second accused LulzSec hacker arrested in Sony Pictures breach  —  (Reuters) - A second suspected member of the clandestine hacking group LulzSec was arrested on Tuesday on charges he took part in an extensive computer breach of Sony Pictures Entertainment, the FBI said.

Google.com starts displaying birthday reminders before you start searching for things  —  Before you perform your next overly-complicated Google search, you might be met with the reminder of a special someone's birthday.  As part of the Google+ platform, the company has rolled out birthday reminders …

Motorola's Intel phone set for September launch  —  Motorola's invite suggests there will be at least one handset reveal using Intel's technology  —  Google's Motorola unit has confirmed plans to release its first smartphone powered by an Intel chip.  —  The firm will unveil the device in London on 18 September.

KKR in talks to invest $1.27 billion in Japan's Renesas: sources  —  (Reuters) - Private equity firm KKR is in talks to invest about 100 billion yen ($1.27 billion) in Japan's Renesas Electronics Corp, sources said on Wednesday, in a deal that would provide a much needed boost to the struggling chipmaker.

Exclusive: Zynga's Chief Creative Officer Mike Verdu Exits to Start a New Company  —  Mike Verdu confirmed to AllThingsD that he is leaving Zynga to start his own game company in which Zynga will be an investor.  —  As Chief Creative Officer at Zynga, Verdu oversaw a number of the company's game studios …

How I cracked my neighbor's WiFi password without breaking a sweat  —  The four-way handshake, in which a wireless device (STA) validates itself to a WiFi access point and vice versa.  —  Last week's feature explaining why passwords are under assault like never before touched a nerve with many Ars readers, and with good reason.

The Andreessen Horowitz Effect  —  In the three short years since Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz set up shop as venture capitalists on Sand Hill Road, they've already established Andreessen Horowitz as one of the top VC firms in Silicon Valley, right up there with Accel, Benchmark, Greylock, Kleiner, and Sequoia.

Apple Unsuccessfully Tried to Purchase Exclusive Access to TSMC Chip Production for iOS Devices  —  Bloomberg reports that Apple and Qualcomm each put forth investment bids topping $1 billion in attempting to secure exclusive access to chip supplies from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company …

LG Optimus L9 announced with 4.7-inch display, language translation app and custom keyboard  —  There will soon be a new Optimus L-Series smartphone on the prowl, as LG has just announced the Optimus L9 as a followup to its Optimus L3, L5 and L7 handsets.  This series is viewed by LG …