Apple has filed a patent application to add always-on status indicators to the iPhone. The innovation would address a common task for cell phones but a headache for owners of the touch-screen handset.
In most flip-phones and even other touch-screen devices, users can instantly know when they’ve missed a call or received a voice-mail message. However, for iPhone users, it requires turning on the phone and going into settings to retrieve the information.
Apple has filed a patent application detailing a method of “pairing a sensor and an authorised garment”, such as “running shoes, shirts or slacks” in hopes of deterring what the company has determined is a disturbing trend toward people “[taking] it upon themselves to remove the sensor from the special pocket of the [iPod-linked] Nike+ shoe and place it at inappropriate locations (shoelaces, for example) or place it on non-Nike+ model shoes.”
Apple sells the Nike+ iPod Sport Kit as a tool for storing data about your workout on your iPod, allowing you to track and analyze your progress toward fitness perfection. As one commenter on Slashdot said about the $30 sensor, “you can also share your workout stats with others, help build community, etc – sort of the antithesis of the “isolated runner with headphones on” kind of thing. Very Web 2.0.”
Under the patent Apple has applied for, companies like Nike could authorise their garments by burying an RFID chip inside it, requiring that chip to activate the sensor. No longer would you be able to use the sensor you paid for with any shoe of your choosing.
Via Slashdot
Image via AppleInsider
Touch-screen desktops may not arrive in time for holiday shopping, but an Apple patent filed last year and published Thursday makes clear the company’s direction for UI development, according to AppleInsider.
Filed near the public debut of the iPhone last June, the patent “makes clear that Apple is devising methods to control its entire Mac operating system through multi-touch rather than a mouse and keyboard,” writes blogger Aidan Malley, who adds the patent is more evidence Apple is “developing a tablet-like device in between the iPhone and full Macs that would require more advanced multi-touch controls.”
Can’t you just see the ads now, with music from Tommy? See me, feel me…I get excitement…
Apple will bring multitouch technology from the iPhone to the mainstream Mac OS X. That much is a foregone conclusion. The technology is too powerful to restrict to just mobile platforms. The only question becomes what multitouch might look like on a full-size computer compared to on an iPhone.
One initial possibility is shown in a patent filing uncovered yesterday for a backlit trackpad that would light up differently based on how many fingers the user applies to the device. In a lot of ways, this is no more than an enhancement to current MacBook and MB Pro trackpads, which are capable of two-finger scrolling, but by highlighting this functionality, Apple could start to drive adoption of the technology. The more people get used to the idea that they should be ready to deliver a variety of interactions, the more ready they’ll be for a wholesale replacement of the mouse or traditional trackpads.
This is an interesting concept, but I would guess this won’t actually come to market exactly as depicted. Patents usually trail implementation a bit these days, and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a product based directly on one of these patents ship after the patent approval. Typically, it’s at best a good way to learn about the thinking behind a technology after it ships.
Either way, hope for true multitouch on a laptop is keeping me from upgrading right now. This just sustains my hopes.
Via MacRumors.
While the Apple Vision Pro is one of the best spatial computers money can buy, touch is one sense it can’t fake. But a newly granted Apple patent hints at a new stylus that can simulate the texture of virtual surfaces on your hand.
The Apple Vision Pro is capable of showing virtual surfaces with great clarity, but it lacks haptic feedback. But the new sort of Apple Pencil could close that gap and make the headset’s XR experiences physical for the first time.
Apple is building its long-anticipated folding iPhone around a liquid metal hinge, and the device has now actually reached mobile carriers around the world for compatibility testing, a prominent Apple supply chain leaker said Tuesday.
Ferrari officially pulled the wraps off the Luce, its first-ever all-electric vehicle, on Monday — and for Apple fans, this one’s personal. The car’s exterior and interior took design cues from LoveFrom, the creative collective founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and longtime collaborator Marc Newson.
The Ferrari Luce is the highest-profile project the duo has taken on since leaving Cupertino, and it’s already dividing opinions. Plus, it’s the closest we’ll ever get to an Apple car.
After years of iterative upgrades, rumors indicate Apple Watch Series 12 might bring real advancements that make the upcoming model hard to ignore. We could see a much faster chip, smarter Apple Intelligence features and maybe even Touch ID.
Here’s what to expect from Apple Watch Series 12, which should arrive this fall alongside the iPhone 18 Pro.
April 22, 2013: The world gets its first Apple car. Well, kind of. In reality, the iBeetle is a collaboration with German automaker Volkswagen that offers a car “stylistically linked” to Apple.
This means Apple-inspired colors, a built-in docking station for your iPhone, and a special app that lets you control the car’s features.
April 13, 2005: The tech world gets excited when a sketchy rumor suggests Apple is building a tablet computer.
The Chinese-language report claims Quanta will build a 15-inch touchscreen tablet PC with a detachable keyboard. Apple will supposedly ship the device in the first quarter of 2006. Things don’t turn out quite like that, but the rumor offers the first hint about Apple’s secret iPad project.
