If the patent drawing above is anything to go by, Apple is working on a new social experience for the iPhone that will allow irradiated, cycloptic mutants to find out what they have in common with one another even in the post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Based on the actual wording of the patent, though, it should work for everyone, allowing you to use your iPhone to find the most interesting person in the room, every time.
You can’t say Lodsys weren’t warned that Apple was prepared to fight: less than two weeks after the notorious patent troll sued indie iOS developers for using Apple’s own in-app purchasing mechanism in their apps, Cupertino has asked a judge to be allowed into the ring to kick Lodsys’ ass.
Steve Jobs has unambiguously said that Apple does not see a place for an iMac or MacBook with a multitouch display in their line-up of Macs. Citing the problem of gorilla arm, Jobs says that touch needs to be something that can be done in your lap, not accomplished reaching across the table. Trackpads and multitouch mice are the future of Macs.
Seems pretty unambiguous, doesn’t it? Then again, this is the same guy who just a year ago said that Apple was “pretty skeptical” about the cloud, when they were already working on iCloud. So guess what? Despite what Steve Jobs says, Apple’s also working on multitouch iMacs.
With iOS 5’s new Wireless Syncing functionality, the umbilical cord of your iPhone or iPad has finally dried up and fallen off… except when it needs power, when you have to plug it in to a wall socket.
But Apple’s serious about cutting the cord. Future iOS devices might be truly wireless, sucking in power as wirelessly as they will sync.
Patent troll Lodsys’ attacks upon indie iOS developers for using Apple’s in-app purchasing mechanism is a hot topic at WWDC 2011, so this news couldn’t be better timed: a Michigan law firm representing some unlikely companies with deep pockets has just attacked the validity of Lodsys’ patents.
Have you ever been invited to a meeting but you have no idea where it’s located or how long it will take you to get there? Well, in the future your iPhone may be able to tell you through dynamic calendar alerts.
Lodsys originally gave indie iOS devs utilizing Apple’s own in-app purchasing mechanism twenty one days to either license their patents or get sued, but never trust a patent troll’s promises: days earlier than scheduled, Lodsys has already filed lawsuits against iOS devs who didn’t yield to their threats.
We knew this was going to happen. Stung by a judge’s recent decision to allow Apple to look through Samsung’s upcoming phones to look for IP violations, Samsung has just asked a judge in their own patent infringement case against Apple to make Cupertino fork over the prototypes of the iPhone 5 and iPad 3.
That ugly patent troll who has recently been causing a disturbance for indie iOS developers has now turned its attentions to those building apps for Android, right after Apple slapped it on the wrist and sent it packing. Lodsys has photocopied another batch of its intimidating letters and sent them out to a number of Android developers… but will it earn any pocket money this time?
If you’ve ever tried to use your iPad while wearing a pair of Ray Bans, you know the drill: you can barely see the display. Counter-intutively, it’s not an issue of brightness: rather, polarized sun-glasses work by only letting in light that vibrates vertically, and the light coming from LCDs vibrates the wrong way.
Your next iPhone or iPad, though? It might change all that.
Apple has finally responded to Lodsys’ patent troll attempts to extort indie iOS devs for using iOS’s In-App Purchasing Mechanism: developers don’t owe Lodsys anything for offering in-app purchases, and if Lodsys cares to press the issue, Apple will be more than happy to step in on behalf of their devs… and wipe the floor with Lodsys.
The latest Apple patent to surface from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office details another of company’s ingenious little inventions, and suggests future devices could boast privacy screens that prevent curious eyes from gazing upon your tawdry activities while you ride the bus.
The professional photographer’s dream of using Aperture on the run with his iPad may finally be within reach.
With all the deals getting inked and all the right hires in place, Apple is increasingly ready to jump iTunes into the cloud… possibly as early as next month’s WWDC. But how exactly will it work?
Lodsys seems to be hell-bent on ruining things not just for application developers but for Apple as well, and it seems owing to its new-found skill in patent trolling for the odd buck, the App Store’s approval process for in-app purchases has now been frozen.
Apple’s mission to trademark and patent pretty much everything it can like an overactive canine marking its territory continues, with a new trademark filing that reveals the Cupertino company has protected the word ‘Noteworthy’, classifying it under the category of computer software.
Apple’s had patents float through the USPTO, hinting that they were working on a new technology that could let you just swipe a future iPhone’s display over a document to scan it and translate it into OCR text. Now a new patent has emerged, and it fits another piece into the puzzle.
Despite Apple being their number one customer, Samsung’s done a healthy trade in ripping-off Cupertino’s gadgets and selling their own, often patent infringing doppelgangers… and with their new Series 9 ultraportable, Samsung now has the MacBook Air square in their sights.
Patent troll Lodsys — the company who threatened to sue multiple iOS indie devs on Friday for using Apple’s own in-app purchasing mechanism — has responded to the widespread furor over their actions in a series of Q&A posts. And guess what? It turns out we were all wrong about them being dicks. In fact, they’re the real victims here! Boo hoo!
Just a couple of days ago, we saw a leaked case for the iPod nano that seemed to confirm that Apple intends on ditching the sports clip and integrating a 1.3 megapixel camera instead. At the time, we wondered just why Apple would do such a thing.
Now it looks like we know: it’s so the Nano can look out into the world and see just where it’s being used, then adapt itself like a chamelon accordingly.
A new patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office reveals that Apple is working on a ‘smart’ keyboard that provides users with tactile feedback using proximity sensors and air vents on individual keys. It could radically change the way we do everything with our keyboard, from sensing a letter being pressed before it’s typed to allowing us to ‘feel’ a video game through our finger tips.
If you’re read this expecting to see Linus Torvalds and Steve Jobs exchange body blows in court, read the headline again: that homophone can be confusing, the ‘e’ matters and the company we’re talking about here is Linex, a Florida company that licenses wireless technology.
Even so, Linex and Apple are revving up to go to court, and if Linex has its way, the import of all MacBooks will be banned, along with Apple’s Airport Extreme and Time Capsule products.
See that? It’s a just-awarded patent for an iPad boasting a landscape-oriented dock connector port in addition to the regular port-oriented one.
I’m sure there’s at least a few of you guys out there who are looking at that line-drawing and clawing strips of flesh out of your face in frustration: “ARGH… WHY DIDN’T APPLE RELEASE THAT?” Sorry, guys. The Department of Redundancy Department called, and they wanted their port back.
Apple applied for a broad patent on location tracking services back in September 2009 — the kind of location tracking that is now causing a storm of controversy.
The patent application, entitled “Location Histories for Location Aware Devices,” throws some light on the iPhone tracking issue, which is soon to be the subject of a Senate hearing.
A new patent discovered by Patently Apple reveals that Apple is working on its own fitness center application for the iPhone.
The patent titled “Systems and Methods for Accessing Personalized Fitness Services Using a Portable Electronic Device” was originally filed in October, 2009, and describes an app that can benefit its users by helping them with their diet; suggesting when they should go to the gym and what exercises they should do; and allowing them to compete with friends and be ranked on their performance.
Services are broken down into four categories: New Customers, Getting There, In the Gym, and Post Workout; which will help users find their nearest fitness center and motivate them to actively attend, encourage them to workout and suggest different exercises, and provide post-workout motivation and fitness tracking features.
