On October 30, 2009, the US Patent and Trademark Office published Apple's latest trademark application for Magic Mouse under application 77852610. Apple has filed their trademark under the sole International Classification 009: computer mice. Apple asserts a claim of priority based on Trinidad and Tobago application number 41113 filed 06/25/2009.

When Apple launched their new iMac line-up for the Christmas Season last Tuesday, I was certainly pleased to see that their higher end iMac's are now earmarked to sport Intel's i5 and i7 Nehalem processors by November. Equally fun was the news that Apple's iMacs would have LED backlighting, something that was forecasted in a March 2009 patent report. Upon closer scrutiny of Apple's new line-up, it is now clear that Apple's new multi-touch mouse, rebranded as the Magic Mouse, was equally forecasted in yet another patent report posted in June 2008 which was appropriately titled "Apple's Mighty Mouse to Incorporate Touch Pad." In that patent, Apple pointed to several advantages of a multi-touch mouse: One being that "it requires no obvious button to actuate a GUI movement. Buttons break the surface of the housing and are therefore less aesthetically pleasing." Secondly, the patent stated that "the user can manipulate his or her finger side to side for horizontal scrolling."  Yet according to that same patent, Apple's new mouse may still have more Magic Tricks up its sleeve for the future.

Apple may have dropped their Bluetooth headset in March, but according to a patent application revealed today, they may have done so in an attempt to actually reinvent or repurpose the design and technology into a next generation iPod Shuffle. Apple clarifies their intent in the conclusion of their patent by stating: "Thus it is seen that a wireless headset with integrated media player and/or recorder has been provided." We know that Apple's iPhone 3.0 supports A2DP Stereo Bluetooth connectivity and so this type of unit was bound to resurface in one way or another. The new unit is shown to offer an easy to use USB connector for recharging, a mini LCD screen to view basic iTune information and includes an integrated earbud with options of expanding that to a full stereo headset.

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of six newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. The notables within this group include patents for Final Cut Pro, GarageBand and the OS X layout engine. Other interesting patents cover a flash memory system that relates to Apple's iPhone and iPod touch and finally one relating to enhancing Intel x86 instruction sets.

The US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple today that reveals various concepts behind a newly advanced service in development that entails subsidizing an incredible array of hardware from Apple. The hardware ranges from their sizzling hot iPhone to Apple TV - the set top box - to an actual television, notebook, iPod touch and more. The subsidization could also cover software from Apple or third party developers. What's the catch? You'll have to endure a very complicated and savvy advertising scheme that makes sure that you're paying attention. If not, the system can freeze the user out until compliance is met. This isn't for everyone, especially if ads in your face are something you want to avoid at all costs. But for the mass market, this is a whole new ballgame! Steve Jobs is noted in Apple's credits for this patent and we could be assured that his name all but tells us that this program isn't a fantasy of an Apple engineer.  The implications of such a marketing move could rock the industry.

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of five newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. The most crucial patent within this group covers Apple's iPhone Encryption technology. During Apple's WWDC 2009, Phil Schiller stated that businesses had asked for hardware encryption and that all iPhone 3G-S models would have this security feature. Other notable patents published today include one relating to WebObjects, another to UI elements relating to drag and drop operations and a second design win for Apple's iPod touch 2G.  

The US Patent & Trademark Office has published a patent application from Apple today that reveals one of the next chapters for Apple's MobileMe. Generally speaking, Apple's patent relates to synchronizing media state across multiple devices. Specifically, the patent provides us with a scenario whereby you'll be able to partially view television or any video content on your iPhone, say during your lunch hour, and then switch to Apple TV when you get home and continue viewing that content from exactly where you left off at lunch without having to manually reposition playback of the content.

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of ten newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. The notables within this group include major design wins for both Apple's iPhone 3G and iPod touch media players. In conjunction,  Apple has been granted a vital patent for their soft keyboard which is available on both their iPhone and iPod touch. One of the many key strengths of the iPhone software keyboard is that it's adaptable, allowing users to switch between more than 40 international layouts.

 
Intel's forthcoming Sandybridge microprocessor architecture will introduce us all to on-chip AVX instructions,  a technology which will advance things like 3D graphics and broadcasting capabilities on the consumer side while advancing commercial applications that need compute-intensive performance to support timely decisions such as financial services where nano seconds can make a difference. It will advance capabilities for resource and manufacturing industries that construct and model software solutions across multiple dimensions of space and time. Yet the most interesting twist to this technology is that it may in fact, open the door to what Intel calls 3D Internet.   

On October 8, 2009, the US Patent & Trademark Office published four iPhone centric patent applications. The applications cover such matters as how the iPhone is certified for use with their carriers like AT&T, how the iPhone controls the execution of software code using cryptography methodologies and finally an application which covers the iPhone's built-in processor for enhancing audio.  The patent figure noted above relates to network certification (click to enlarge).

Apple marketing has strategically yet quietly updated and extended their App Store trademark coverage - just as new products for 2010 are being tabled.  One such upgrade could translate into seeing an extended line of App Store Specific Gift Cards for this or next Christmas as "prepaid purchase cards and gift cards" are now covered in this upgrade under international class 016. Considering that Apple has surpassed two billion downloads, it would almost seem natural to see App Store specific gift cards roll out in the coming years. The second and perhaps most important classification coverage upgrade that Apple has made in this round, is adding International Class 009 which covers printed material. Under this classification we find "downloadable e-books" that in effect would cover e-versions of "printed publications; periodicals; books; magazines; newsletters; brochures; booklets; pamphlets; manuals; journals; music books; music instruction manuals," and "music magazines." The electronic versions of these materials will play a huge roll in Apple's 2010 Media Pad/Tablet roll out. A new segment supporting e-books is widely expected to be found at the iTunes Store in concert with the new tablet's debut. The added coverage for the App Store trademark at this time is a sure tell-tale sign that Apple's marketing machine is ramping up for this product launch.  

 
One of the eight granted patents posted today for Apple Inc. by the US Patent & Trademark Office illustrates a mysterious design for a future iPhone or yes, the long rumored Apple tablet. The design carries absolutely no physical buttons and was only filed for this February. Other notable granted patents include Apple's MacBook Air SuperDrive and Apple TV design patents and an important power switching apparatus and method for portables like the iPhone or iPod touch.

Well before IDF 2009 even began, Intel was on the road selling a new message to selective audiences in front of and behind the cameras. We began hearing about Intel's vision for television at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show during Paul Otellini's keynote, where he discussed topics such as WiMAX, HDTV and their upcoming SoC called Canmore. Fast forwarding to February 2008 and we see that Intel's mission of promoting the next wave of television and entertainment services went into higher gear behind the scenes where they began promoting the notion that they were on the very cusp of a whole new industry. This report takes a quick peek back at that key 2008 event and then flashes forward to cover two current Intel keynotes that take a peek at the future of television. In the end, we go full circle in order to try and give some meaning to what being on the cusp of a whole new industry actually means.