Currently, drivers only have the rearview and side mirrors of a car to let them know what’s going on behind them. But a new Apple invention describes an upgrade — that may eliminate blind spots by projecting mirrored images of the surrounding environment onto the window or windshield.
This could give the driver more contextual information about their surroundings, depending on where they are.
Apple engineers dreamed up an iPhone case that’s also a stand and a handle. And maybe a keyboard. It’s surprisingly simple, but also a dramatic departure from typical cases.
And it’s possible the designers see this as more than an add on. They seem to be proposing that handsets and tablets have this case built in.
Imagine being able to touch your iPad or iPhone screen and feeling like you’re touching metal, wood, or fur — despite the fact it’s just a flat glass display. Impossible, surely? Not if a new haptic feedback patent Apple has filed comes to pass.
This haptic feedback technology could complete the sensory AR experience Apple is aiming for. Slap on some AirPods and summon up some ARKit visuals, and you’d have truly immersive augmented reality.
A next-generation Apple Pencil could have a built-in touchscreen. And it’s apparently an actual improvement, not just something bolted on to make it cost more. The display would let the user know what color they’re about to draw with.
Apple engineers put considerable thought into a “wearable electronic ring computing device” small enough to put on a finger.
The proposed smart ring would have a touchscreen and work closely with another computer, often acting as an input device for it.
Apple was granted the equivalent of almost six patents per day in 2018, racking up more than 2,000 over the year.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ranks Apple No. 11 on a list of companies awarded the greatest number of patents. So, who beat Apple at the patent game in 2018?
3oogle is taking the folding phone concept to the extreme. It dreamed up a concept design reminiscent of a book with several pages, each of which is a flexible display.
Microsoft proposes combining two very different peripherals. It dreamed up a tablet stylus that when not in use wraps around the user’s ear to become a wireless headset.
Is there a point to such a stylus? It’s debatable.
Future iPhones and Apple Watches could pack “smell recognition capabilities,” based on some new patent filings submitted by Apple.
The iPhone-maker has been researching ways to detect air pollution and other dangerous chemicals with tiny sensors that could be integrated into its products. In the new patents, Apple describes how it could use multiple sensors to detect things like spoiled food, body odor and maybe even blood sugar levels.
Crowding a group of people into a selfie can be challenging. Seems someone always ends up halfway out of the picture. Apple has a solution: it’s developing a way to automatically combine multiple images into a group selfie.
This could become a part of iOS 13 this fall, perhaps as a new feature in the iPhone XI.
