Apple has announced that it is considering the expansion of AirPlay licensing to allow for more video streaming. The move might allow you to stream flicks from your iPhone directly to your TV with no box by licensing the tech to TV makers.

Microsoft is embracing the iPhone with a new tool called the System Center Configuration Manager 2012. The software will launch later this year and will manage Windows, Windows Phone, iPad, iPhone, and lots more devices.

Apparently, the design of the Starbucks mobile payment app is not that great and the barcode generated for payment is always the same. That means that all a hacker needs to do is take a picture of your barcode and they can pay for drinks using your account. Fail.

The Mophie juice pack air battery for the Verizon iPhone 4 is up for pre-order. The case will ship in march for about $80 and will fit the AT&T iPhone 4 as well.

It seems that now, the access to the WiFi is included with iPhone plans. That is about as official as it can get, and in light of this, it is most likely you will not see AT&T disable it again. It is still not known if AT&T will deploy extra security measures, as anyone with a little know how can get free WiFi on there laptop using this offering.

The service is available at all of the 17,000 AT&T hot spots in the U.S. To use the service, all you have to do is connect to the hot spot using your iPhone. You will be presented with a screen that will ask you for your phone number. The number must be linked to a valid AT&T account, that has an iPhone active on it. This means that people with a jailbroken iPhone can not use the service. That is unless of course they have a buddy with an iPhone on AT&T.

[Via Mac Rumors]

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While the above screen, minus the ‘no circle’, greeted iPhone subscribers in Starbucks locations just two days ago, it is gone now. When signing in now, users must enter a password. As of now, no one has came forward with the password. As such, we must assume only AT&T knows it. I wish I could say the service will be back soon, but unfortunately, only AT&T knows that as well.

The service could have been disabled so AT&T could figure out a better way to secure it. All it took to access it was an AT&T iPhone number, and an iPhone user agent string. A user agent is easy to fake, and I am sure most people have a buddy with an iPhone on AT&T. Realizing this, AT&T could have taken away access for now. All we can do it cross our fingers that this is all temporary.

[Via Gear Diary]

When you connect to an AT&T wireless hot spot from your iPhone, you will be taken to a special screen only accessible from an iPhone (unless you fake the user agent string). You will then be prompted to enter in your phone number on the page. The number is then validated against AT&T’s records, and if it checks out to be an iPhone, then viola you are now using free AT&T WiFi.

There is of course some things that need to be noted. First off, this is not an iPhone thing, it is an AT&T thing. Meaning that unlocked iPhone in your pocket is not going to be able to do this. However, if you do have the iPhone on another carrier and have your buddies iPhone number on AT&T, then you are in. On that note, if you know a valid AT&T iPhone number, you can fake the user agent on a laptop, and access the WiFi as well, but obviously iPhone Buzz don’t condone “stealing” WiFi.

[Via MacRumors]

Frankly, I’ve never been a big Starbucks fan, so I’ve never gotten the addiction to their coffees that so many others have. However, there are plenty that can’t get enough of Starbucks and anything that makes the lines shorter and the customers less tempermental is a great idea.

I’m sure any cashier would agree, the less people you have to take care of during a rush the better. No matter how complicated your coffee you can pick and choose if you want milk and all kinds of other additions you like in your coffee. You can also save your favorite style of coffee and just select it and pay for it right then on your iPhone or iPod Touch. However, this is just an artists rendering as to what it could be like. Keep in mind there is nothing all that official about this, just a great possibility to hope for.

[via newlaunches]

And so he did, he says that once he connected to the Starbucks’ WiFi and opened the iTunes WiFi Store app, the buttons at the bottom slid over for a Starbucks button. When touched, he could see the song now playing, as well as a few “carefully marketed” playlists, probably for the pseudo hippies and anti-establishment people who are paying $4 for a coffee after the Boston Tea party.

He said there also seemed to be a direct feed from the Starbucks XM channel that was on at the time. Sure enough, there was the promised “Recently Played” list that showed the last 10 songs played too. He noted that an attempt to open Safari using the WiFi connection brought him to a T-Mobile login prompt, so only the iTunes WiFi store is free.

“starbucks button” now active in NYC/Seattle [via apple-touch]

Next they will also have iTunes Digital Release Cards which not only allows you to download music, but think of it like an enhanced CD, you can also download extras like music videos and booklets from different artists, including Eddie Vedder and KT Tunstall (the chick who sang at the last US Apple event). Those cards require in-store activation before they can be used.

They will also be selling rechargeable Starbucks coffee cards called Starbucks Card Plus Two which get you the value of the card in Starbucks products, and two free iTunes tracks. That’s pretty much it on the promotions front.

However, while we are on the subject, let us not forget that the Wi-Fi iTunes Store has yet to show up on the iPhones, so since the program launch date is October 2nd, I wouldn’t expect it till at best a day or two before then. Another reminder, the deal with Starbucks doesn’t get you unlimited Wi-Fi access for free in the Starbucks stores, just access to the Wi-Fi iTunes Store, you will still be charged for access to everything else.

Starbucks to distribute iTunes “Song of the day” cards [via tuaw]