It was another banner year for Apple patents in 2010. The Crazy Ones of Cupertino were shown to be working on an incredible line up of ideas and projects in areas ranging from sports to Near Field Communications to next generation 3D user interfaces and devices and even green technologies. Yet at the end of the day, there were ten patents that rose to the top; Ten patents that the Mac Community clearly chose as their favorites. The Mac Community celebrates Apple's spirit of invention as it empowers and inspires us throughout the year. Will one of your favorites be on this list? Well, let the top-ten countdown for 2010 begin!   

 
Do you think that you have the right stuff to become a great product reviewer for Apple's New Mac App Store? Well, it appears that Apple wants to upgrade their app reviewing process to provide a real community-based predictive ranking system for products that small business owners and productive consumers could come to rely on for rich reviews beyond just paid hype. However it's a double-edged sword because the public reviewers will also be compensated for their work in a number of ways. Apple's system could be interesting over time, as this system is based on the number of accurate reviews over time. This is a complicated system but one that marketers and commissioned salespeople could understand. But if you think you're cut out for this, then it may be worth investigating.  

 
Some think that patents never get fulfilled. How Silly. Every major Apple hardware and software upgrade as well as every new-to-market product that Apple introduces is heavily patented on several fronts. Sneakily, today's patent application is technically a fulfilled patent. It's the patent that covers Apple's all-new 2010 touch-centric iPod nano. And, the patent may actually foretell of a new touch control being considered. For you patent sleuths, dig in!    

 
On December 30, 2010, the last patent application session for 2010, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals the next chapter for their social networking app related to shopping. The patent details how shoppers will be able to communicate with their friends about items that they seek feedback on. Users will be able to send their friend's photos or videos of items to view so that their feedback could be specific. Additionally, some consumers will be able to communicate with the salespeople of their favorite stores so as to ensure that the items that they're seeking to purchase are firstly in stock and secondly available to put aside in a dressing room ready for them to try out at a specific date and time.   

 
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 20 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our second patent report of the day, we cover Apple being granted patents for their photo-centric Aperture application and a key on-chip decompression engine likely related to their A4 processor. Yet the main patent within this group goes to one that covers new integrated touch screen technology that was only filed for in March. It's nice to see that Apple keeps pushing their high-end multi-touch screen technology to new heights.  

 
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 20 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our first patent report of the day, we cover Apple winning design patents for their iPod Classic, the nano and for an iPhone with a strange square Home Button. Yet the winner in this group today, without a doubt, is finding the Great Faked-Out iPod rotary iPhone patent that was used during Steve Jobs keynote of 2007. Yes, The Great One actually has a sense of humor.  

 
While Apple was undergoing their "Antennagate" moment earlier this year, Apple's engineers were long at work on a new kind of antenna which Apple dubs the "logo antenna." This new antenna is to hide behind the famous Apple logo thereby allowing it to gain a stronger signal without intervening metal or other conductive housing walls interfering. It's interesting to note that this is Apple's third telephonic Macbook related patent in the second half of 2010 and would all but confirm this is a definite trend Apple is focused on. And lastly, it should be noted that Apple foresees the logo antenna working itself down into miniatures and wearables such as wrist watches and pendants. It appears that Apple may have another winning invention on their hands.  

 
A new patent application of Apple's surfaced this morning that generally relates to display devices and, more specifically, is focused on providing developers with a means of pre-testing a fully functional software package for a new display standard before the hardware is introduced to market. If Apple is going through all this trouble of assisting developers test for a new display standard, wouldn't that mean that there's a new display standard is in the works?   

 
On December 22, 2010, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple's latest trademark applications for "Express Lane" and "VoicePass." The six Apple Support Service related trademark filings were submitted under the International Classes 37, 41 and 42 which are detailed in this report. Technically, a quick check at the US Trademark Office shows that neither trademark has been taken thus far despite some companies having used these marks in the past.  

 
A company by the name of Hybrid Audio LLC has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple, HTC, Exedea and Dell in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas. The lawsuit claims that Apple's iPod Nano, iPhone 4, iPad, MacBook Pro and the iTunes service are in violation of Hybrid Audio's patent which is supposedly related to the MP3 standard.  

 
Yesterday, The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 12 newly granted patents for Apple, and one of them caught my curiosity. The patent is for updatable menu items. It's a sleeper feature that packs a lot of punch. Whether this patent's potential is ever unlocked is in the air at the moment. It could very well remain a mundane feature or Apple could decide to unplug it. I'm hoping for the latter.  

 
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 12 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. Some of the minor patents issued today covered Time Machine, which may come in handy in Apple's current patent infringement case, and a design patent which relates to Apple's Mail app. Yet the notables within today's group of granted patents include strategically important iPhone/Multi-Touch patents which will definitely add to Apple's smartphone war chest.