Tim Cook may have laughed at Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White’s “iRing” prediction, but someone at Microsoft was clearly scratching their chin, intrigued at the idea.

That’s based on a recently published patent application from Microsoft showing how the company has investigated a finger ring as a possible future wearable device. Microsoft’s impressive-sounding wireless ring could be used as an input device either to control a cursor on a mobile device such as a tablet, smartphone, or even a head-up display like Google Glass.

Apple is investigating touch-sensitive holographic displays for future Macs and iOS devices, according to a new patent published today.

As described, the patent would emulate the current touch-based interface for iPhones and tablets, only using near-field proximity in place of physical touch.

Google chairman Eric Schmidt claims that Samsung had the iPhone 6’s technology one year ago, in a new interview for Bloomberg TV.

Sitting down with Google’s former Senior Vice President Jonathan Rosenberg to promote their new book How Google Works, Schmidt fended questions about the Android vs. iOS competition from “Market Makers” hosts Stephanie Ruhle and Erik Schatzker.

At one point in the interview, Ruhle asks Schmidt how he feels seeing people lined up around the block to pick up the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, which sold a massive 10 million+ units in their first weekend on sale.

“Even though way more people carry Android phones how does Apple have that desire factor?” Ruhle says.

“I’ll tell you what I think,” Schmidt answers. “Samsung had these products a year ago.”

“Will it bend?” has become the hottest question in tech this week as some iPhone 6 owners have discovered that the laws of physics still apply to the aluminum frame of the new Apple phones … even when neglected in a back pocket.

We pointed out yesterday that any smartphone made of metal will bend when subjected to pressure, but the Internet has jumped on the BendGate controversy like a joyful Steve Wozniak pounding through the polo fields on his mighty Segway.

#BendGate, #BentGate and #BendGhazi started trending on Twitter within the last 24 hours, and while Apple’s PR machine remains silent, the Internet has given its hilarious opinion on the controversy.

Here are some of the funniest BendGate reactions:

Apple has been steadily working to improve its Apple Maps service since its disastrous debut a couple of years ago, and a new patent application published Thursday further cements that.

According to the application, filed in March last year, future iOS devices may scour through your data to warn you of traffic congestion on routes you are predicted to be likely to travel.

These journeys could be learned by your iPhone or Apple Watch by way of a smart artificial intelligence “machine-learning engine,” based on the frequency of previous destinations (say, regular appointments), location of events in a user’s calendar, location of events which users hold electronic tickets for, and addresses gathered by analyzing messages in the form of texts or emails.

Call alerts are all well and good but — even on the Apple Watch, when they’re being delivered directly to your wrist — it’s likely that there will be situations when users won’t be aware of them, and could miss important calls or alerts as a result.

Apple’s trying to crack that problem with a new patent published Tuesday, describing a “Self adapting alert device” that would vary the volume or style of user notifications to your iPhone or Apple Watch depending on where you are at the time.

Apple put mobile wallet payment platforms like Google Wallet, Square and PayPal on notice this week with the reveal of Pay, but before Cupertino decided to launch its answer to the wallet, sources tell TechCrunch the company was eyeing an acquisition of Square.

Square’s simplistic payments platform seems like it would have been the perfect fit for Apple and would have added “Next Steve Jobs Nominee” Jack Dorsey to its loaded executive ranks, but after Apple executives failed to put enough cash on the table, Square walked away from negotiations.

While the rest of us were celebrating the unveiling of Apple’s much-anticipated smart watch on Tuesday, Apple’s European legal team was busy rushing to file six trademark applications for the name “Apple Watch.”

Of these applications, four featured the Apple logo in front of the word “Watch,” while the other two referred to the two words “Apple Watch.”

Apple’s legal firm filed the trademarks under a total of 11 International Classes for protection and clarification, covering areas including financial transactions, fitness and wellness sensors, and more.

Apple might be a hardware first company which creates software only to drive sales of its physical devices, but that doesn’t mean it can’t earn a bit of money from its services, right?

According to a new Bloomberg report, Apple will earn a fee every time its newly-announced Apple Pay service is used to make a purchase.

The deals were reportedly brokered by Apple with each bank individually and will give Apple a sizeable share of the $40 billion generated by banks each year from so-called swipe fees for credit card payments. JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup have not yet disclosed the terms of the deal.

Today, in what is being described as a “historic” event, Apple will take the stage in Cupertino and unveil at least three new products: the 4.7-inch iPhone 6, the 5.5-inch iPhone 6+, and (quite possibly) the iWatch, Apple’s revolutionary wearable.

But imagine if Apple had even more in store for us. Like what? Oh, say, this Apple patent for an Occulus Rift style virtual reality headset!