The distinctive startup chime that greets every Mac owner when they start up their machine in the morning? That sound of a synthesizer playing a “slightly flat, by about thirty cents, G flat/F sharp chord” that tells you everything’s all okay and right with your Mac? Apple now owns a registered trademark for that sound. Hoorah!
Source: Patently Apple
Google is gearing up to offload Motorola’s set-top box business as it looks to concentrate its efforts on competing with Apple’s iPhone. The company has been trying to sell Motorola Home Business, which supplies set-top boxes to cable television providers, for around $2 billion, and it has reportedly received multiple offers already. Once it’s gone, Google will focus on high-end smartphones.
At the end of Chris Nolan’s 2008 movie The Dark Knight there's a scene in which Batman uses Lucius Fox’s sonar concept to turn every cellphone in Gotham City into a huge sonar-based live map in order to find The Joker. Back in 2012 it was rumored that Apple was interested in applying that same technology to its then-a-gleam-in-Apple’s-eye iPhone 6 handset. The tech would allow Apple to integrate audio sensors into its displays, which could detect the proximity of objects to your iPhone: interrupting your podcast app to alert you that a fast-moving large object is approaching you, for example.
Now obviously it’s a bit difficult to disprove this report given that the iPhone 6 itself is still technically a rumor. This one was also based on an Apple patent, which shows that someone in Cupertino at least took it seriously enough to file the necessary paperwork. However, we’ve heard nothing about it since, while more and more details of the iPhone 6 have been leaking on what seems like a daily basis. Maybe one to chalk up for the unsubstantiated rumor pile!
Which is a real shame because if Apple could’ve figured out a way to license Morgan “Lucius Fox” Freeman’s voice for a next generation Siri the combo could have been a total crowd pleaser.
The iPhone 6 probably isn’t going to come out for another 18 months or so, but seems how it’s so far away, now seems like a great time to fantasize about possible features Apple might throw into the device based on patent filings. It’s Friday. I’m tired. So screw it, let’s talk crazy.
Yesterday the US Patent and Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that showed Apple is considering adding hidden audio sensors into the displays of the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and maybe even the iTV if they get around to it. What wasn’t detailed was how Apple plans to use those sensors, but one crazy idea is that Apple might use them to create sonar-maps kind of like in the movie The Dark Knight.
On Tuesday I went to a party at San Francisco’s Cafe Du Nord to celebrate the launch of Fuze For Mac, a nifty cloud-based videoconferencing tool from FuzeBox.
I heard several interesting things about Steve Jobs and some intriguing Apple TV rumors. One of the rumors made me think that Tim Cook’s new Mac — the one that is going to be made in the U.S.A. — might actually be a big-screen Apple TV.
Here’s what I heard:
Now, I’m the first to admit that not all of this adds up. I got it from Jeff Cavins, FuzeBox’s CEO, who told a good tale, especially after I’d had a couple of pints. While I was fascinated and entertained, it didn’t get to pin him down on details. The party was loud and crowded, and we were constantly interrupted. So mostly for entertainment purposes, this is what he said:
NBC Rock Center just aired its exclusive interview with Brian Williams and Apple CEO Tim Cook. In his first real TV interview, Cook was candid about his CEO role at Apple, the failure of iOS 6’s Maps, the future of the Apple TV, and more.
Here’s the full transcript of tonight’s Rock Center segment with Tim Cook:
As Google pushes more and more into the smartphone and tablet market with its Android operating system, it’s a no brainer to figure out that the company previously mostly known for its search business will come into conflict with the other gorilla in the mobile operating space, Apple. The media frenzy that results from these expected differences can be deafening in its fervor at times.
The press, however, has it all wrong, said Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt, speaking to the Wall Street Journal. His take? That businesses must be run more like countries, with diplomatic meetings and the like. He said that “the adult way to run a business is to run it more like a country. They have disputes, yet they’ve actually been able to have huge trade with each other. They’re not sending bombs at each other.”
There are all kinds of services out there that will paint your iPhone into a crazy colored mess, most notably Colorware. But what about taking it to the next level? When each iPhone is made and assembled in a factory, Apple uses a process called anodization to color the device. A new startup called Anostyle will anodize your iOS devices into another color of your choosing, thereby making you infinitely cooler than all your boring black-and-white-iPhone-using friends.
Although using a company like Colorware works fine, it’s often way too expensive and the paint finish is susceptible to cracking and chipping. Not so with Anostyle. The dye is literally charged and fused into your iPhone for all of eternity.
When a company like Apple is getting sued every other week, there’s no telling what they will and won’t try to patent and trademark in an attempt to protect their intellectual property. Apple already holds a patent on rectangles with rounded corners, and their latest trademark gives Apple exclusive use of the word “Retina.”
On December 4, 2012, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Apple two Registered Trademarks. One trademark covers the word “Retina” while the second trademark covers Apple’s Game Center icon.
When Samsung lost this summer’s $1.05 billion trial against Apple, we knew Samsung would try any means within their power to get the ruling overturned. And who can blame them for wanting to keep a billion dollars in their bank account?
Since the verdict was read, Samsung has learned that the jury foreman, Velvin Hogan, withheld key facts, like how he was sued by Seagate Technology and went bankrupt because of it. Seagate is partly owned by Samsung, so it could have been that Hogan had an axe to grind against them. Samsung thinks Apple knew all about Hogan, so Apple had to disclose everything they know about Hogan and when they knew it.
Some of Apple’s lawsuits in Europe haven’t been going that well, but they’ve still been dominating Samsung in the Netherlands. A new ruling from the Dutch court has banned the sales of a few Samsung Galaxy devices after the court ruled that Samsung infringed on Apple’s patents.
Apple’s patent for scrolling through a photo gallery on a touchscreen was able to sink Samsung’s Galaxy devices, but then the court added more pain to the ruling by demanding Samsung pay Apple $129,000 per day.