Apple's Patent Springs to Life: Photo Booth for iPad 2

I've never seen a patent leap to life this quickly but who's complaining? Part one of this patent came to life this morning as Apple revealed Photo Booth is coming to the iPad 2 and it's pretty clear that it'll work its way into the iPhone and other iOS devices over time; hopefully this year.

The good news is that this is only the beginning for Photo Booth on iOS devices. Our patent report that was just published last Wednesday lays out many of the new features that Apple is working on to advance Photo Booth even further. Some of them include all new ways of taking advantage of motion, location and it even crosses over to adopting audio effects. The patent even points to how photos will have an option to be presented using a "Spiral" effect and a new interesting "Shake" feature that will allow you to change your photos on Photo Booth from say X-Ray to Squeeze with just a shake of the iPhone or iPad.

While it's not a deal breaker, it could be a lot of fun for the younger crowd who love all things goofy. The bottom line is that Apple has only touched the surface as to where Photo Booth is going and the best is yet to come.

Apple's Design Patent: iPad's FaceTime Camera Foretold

On September 25, 2010 an Apple design Patent surfaced in China that showed us that the iPad would be gaining a Face Side FaceTime Camera. A lot of skeptics were adamant that the camera shown in the patent was nothing more than an ambient sensor. We banged the table in defiance and our report proves that out. At the end of the day, it was in fact a FaceTime camera as was presented today at Apple's special "iPad 2" event.

The New iPad 2 offers Two Cameras

Of course, Apple left one thing out of their Patent design; the fact that the next iPad would sport dual cameras! That's Apple for you: Surprise, surprise, surprise.

The iPad 2: An Excellent Upgrade

At the end of the day, Apple has once again captured the spirit of invention by advancing the iPad 2 in multiple ways. Apple introduced us to the iPad Smart Cover which is rather a stunningly simple concept and yet so ingenious. It's that "something" you could only expect from Apple's design team lead by Jonathan Ive.

Next up, Apple dramatically reduced the size of the iPad by a whopping 33% while retaining its classy aluminum finish. And if that wasn't enough, they introduced their new Duo-Core A5 processor that packs 9X the graphics power for better gaming, faster multitasking and 1080p video quality.

Of course Apple thinks of the entire product and ensures that there's new software like FaceTime, GarageBand, Photo Booth and iMovie editing to show off the power of the A5 processor. And boy does it shine! Imagine what it's going to be like playing Id's Rage on the iPad 2 sometime this fall – Rock'n Roll!

Although we've yet to see all of the patents associated with the iPad 2's many advances presented today, you could be rest assured that we will in the coming months ahead. Apple's new Digital AV Adapter and new iPad 2 Dock will of course be protected by patents as will a host of others. That's a guarantee.

Of course there's only so much innovation that could be presented at any one event for a single product release, but there's more than enough to keep the competition working triple overtime to copy this round of innovations. Of course once they've nearly finished that round, if they're lucky, Apple will bombard them with yet another round of great innovations. Perhaps we'll see their smart bezel and iWallet features surface and drive the wannabes absolutely batty! I mean - Why not right? I know that there's competition gunning for Apple and that they'll definitely challenge Apple over time. But for now, that's all theoretical. For now, Apple's the ten ton gorilla in the room – Bitch! Okay, that last line was for my friend Mark Zuckerberg.

Of course there's room for some tweaks this fall like the leap to 4G from Verizon (and others) and hopefully a wireless charging system like HP's coming Touchstone. Those are two of the features that are on my short wish list. My old-world clunker of a phone and contract ends this fall and finally I'll be able to join in all the fun that you guys are having! A rumor tells me that's there's an iPad with my name on it in Santa's factory at this very moment. Good news travels fast these days.

All in all it was a great upgrade day for the iPad 2. If you have a moment, send in your comments below and tell us what you liked and what you think Apple missed today. We'd love to hear from you. Cheers!