The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 13 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. The notables within this group include design wins relating to Apple's entry level MacBook, another for their hot selling iPod touch and lastly one relating to the iPhone's "Notes" application. Additionally, Apple has been granted patents for an improved version of their MagSafe connector and an important OS X feature, Expose.
Basically, most consumers really don't care about how the sexy new iPhone is made; they just want to be able to enjoy buying this stunningly crafted device called the iPhone 4 and get out there and start flashing it in the face of their friends who are sad owners of the thick-brick Android or even the butt ugly Android. They don't really care about the shape of the iPhone's gasket or that the manufacturing process utilizes liquid metal so as to avoid gaps or spaces between the glass and metal members – or that Apple uses alloys with liquid atomic structures. Yet to future engineers and possibly those that will be the next generation of Crazy Ones in Cupertino, it definitely matters. Today's brief report points you to one of many Patents that are behind the coolest iPhone ever – with a few pointers along the way.
On June 11, 2010, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple's latest trademark application for "FaceTime" under application 85056816. Apple has filed their trademark under three distinct International Classes which covers subject matter such as handheld computers, video cameras, telecommunication services and being an Application Service Provider (ASP). Apple's CEO Steve Jobs stated in their June 7, 2010 press release that "FaceTime video calling sets a new standard for mobile communication." Learn more about FaceTime here.
On June 11, 2010, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple's latest trademark application for "Retina" under applications85056807 and85056810. Apple has filed their trademark under two distinct International Classes covering such matters as electronic hand-held game units and cell phones. Apple's CEO Steve Jobs stated in their June 7, 2010 press release that "Apple's stunning 3.5 inch Retina display has 960 x 640 pixels—four times as many pixels as the iPhone 3GS and 78 percent of the pixels on an iPad. The resulting 326 pixels per inch is so dense that the human eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels when the phone is held at a normal distance, making text, images and video look sharper, smoother and more realistic than ever before on an electronic display." Learn more about Retina here.
A new Apple patent published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office today reveals that Apple will be adding easy to use subtitle and closed captioning features to their iPhone and other media players such as Apple TV. The system will also provide users with the ability to control the look of on-screen subtitles by choosing font styles, colors, sizes and even the style of box the text will be presented in. Apple's last feature takes advantage of ambient noise technology so that closed captioning could be triggered automatically when a mobile user is watching a movie or TV show in a noisy environment such a subway, bus, park or gym.
At yesterday's WWDC keynote, Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone 4. And while the design turned out to offer little in terms of surprise, Jobs was still able to deliver a historical first: Video calling on a cell phone - in North America. What was once only a fantasy of science fiction is now available on the iPhone 4. In a word: Wow! In today's special patent report we'll be briefly covering some of the patents behind the three areas of technology that were introduced with the iPhone 4 which were mainly video calling, the 3-Axis Gyroscope with Pitch, Roll and Yaw and finally video editing. It's also granted patent day, so we've also listed the eight patents and two design wins that Apple gained today.
Anyone who had taken the time to tune into the Steve Jobs interview with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at this year's D8 Conference, likely walked away with that one special quote that stood out from all the rest. For me it occurred at the 7:05 mark when Mossberg asked Steve Jobs if he thought that the tablet would succeed the laptop. Jobs replied "The transformation of PC to new form factors like the tablet is going to make some people uneasy because the PC has taken us a long ways. The PC is brilliant…and we like to talk about the post-PC era, but it's uncomfortable." Yeeesss, more changes are in the wind and in fact, we're likely on the cusp of the next OS Revolution - and I'm talking about the OS X revolution here! This report will present you with some of the great innovations that are on the drawing board at Apple and elsewhere in the industry. Before Apple's WWDC gets under way next week, why not take a look at what could be coming our way in 2011 - because it's going to be wild!
On February 6, 2007, Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc., published an open letter entitled "Thoughts on Music" calling on the "big four" music companies to sell their music without DRM. Apple's iTunes Store went DRM Free two years later. Yet DRM is still with us in other media, be it movies, video games and perhaps iBooks for the iPad and beyond. According to Wikipedia, "DRM has never and will never be perfect. Hackers will always find a method to break DRM." Perhaps that's true, but Apple seems to think that they could out-gun hackers with their latest DRM authentication-centric Particle Gun. While only time will tell if this pans out as planned, for now, FairPlay or not, Apple is ready to gun down hackers in an effort to appease content creators.
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 33 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today of which 11 were designated Industrial design patents. The notables within the other lot includes three core patents covering Apple's MacBook Multi-Touch Trackpad, Apple's embedded iSight camera with privacy filter and lastly a key patent covering proximity and light sensors used in Apple's iPod touch, iPad and iPhone.
One of Apple's more interesting patents kicking off 2010 revealed their aspirations of engineering solar powered media players. In Apple's second patent on this very subject we get to peek at more of the detailing behind their engineering vision. Yet it boils down to two main points. Firstly we see that Apple envisions utilizing solar cell technology right across the board from iPod to iPad. Secondly and perhaps most intriguingly, we see Apple detailing how they'll be able to integrate cell panels beneath their multi-touch surface as opposed to it being applied to the top surface of their media players as previously thought. This revelation ensures us that Apple won't be sacrificing design for function. The reason that it's intriguing is that it supports the design shift that Apple's iPhone prototype took. By switching the iPhone's backside substrate to a non-metal surface would clearly open the door for Apple to implement a double-sided solar panel design. This would double the amount of power that the cells would be able to draw in order for them to power the media player longer. While this technology won't be ready for primetime in 2010 to be sure, we could seriously see this power assisted technology make its debut sooner than most skeptics think.
On date, 2010, the US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 11 newly granted design patents for Apple Inc. today. The notables within this group include the fifth generation iPod nano, the sixth generation iPod Classic, Apple's wired keyboard and most importantly, Apple's sleek MacBook Air.
