The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 40 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover Apple's invention relating to iOS Devices gaining projectors and five design patents covering the MacBook Pro, Magic Mouse and more.

In April we reported that "Apple's new Fingerprint Sensor may be the Culprit Holding back the iPhone 5S." Today, DigiTimes is reporting that poor yields of fingerprint-recognition chips and LCD driver ICs will likely force Apple to reduce shipments of the rumored iPhone 5S, which is slated for launch in September 2013, according to industry sources.

Samsung: Apple loves me, they love me not; they love me, but not too much. Rumors are sometimes useless, sometimes factual and sometimes they're politically motivated to counter a rumor that has been notably damaging to a company's reputation. For instance, last week we posted a report titled "Samsung is about to Experience the Apple Tsunami!" Today, DigiTimes supports that position of Samsung losing Apple's chip business and that Samsung is scrambling to find new clients. At the very same time a contradictory rumor has surfaced claiming that all is well with Apple and Samsung and that Samsung will resume their chip business with Apple in 2015.

Two stories that caught our eye this week that we didn't cover was the rumble over Apple and Google talks and new camera trends, specifically the hybrid high end camera smartphones. What could Apple and Google be talking about and will Apple join the new camera trends in 2014? If these topics interest you, then join in the conversation.

At the beginning of the month, HP's Asian Pacific senior director of consumer PC and media tablets stated that HP is looking to re-enter the smartphone race and is working on launching a new device which will offer a "differentiated experience" to consumers. While we're not privy to what "differentiated experience" their smartphone will bring, their engineering team have indeed provided us with a clue about a possible associated product that has a powerful twist. If HP could pull it off just right, their smartphone project could be an interesting entry into the market when it arrives.

The Verge rated Apple's latest iMac a 9 out of 10 and thought that the new thinner design was rather sexy. Companies like Dell have been trying to copy it for years and their latest comes awfully close, right down to changing their traditional clunky keyboards to be more like Apple's. While the saying is that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it's still nice to know that Apple's new design has received three new design patents today by the IP Office in Hong Kong. It's a little insurance if the designs get too close for comfort.

Terra Motors Corp, a Japan-based venture firm that develops electric motorcycles, announced an electric motorcycle called the A4000i that could be equipped with Apple Inc's iPhone smartphone and functions together as of yesterday. The price starts at roughly $4500 US.

In June we posted a report titled "Apple Takes the Lead in the Next Battlefront: Advanced Eyes-Free Services for the Car." Apparently the news of Apple's big push into this new arena has woken up some industry analysts. Today, a new ABI Research report forecasts that the number of MirrorLink and GENIVI car connected automotive infotainment systems may increase from around 10,000 at the end of 2012 to 27.9 million in North America, Western Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region by the end of 2018. But there's one threat on the horizon for these standing leaders. In a word: Apple.

Samsung was found guilty in a patent infringement case with Apple in August of 2012. Samsung still feels the sting from that one, even though they're trying to overturn that ruling and/or challenge ever patent in the case. So I couldn't believe my eyes this morning when I read about silly Samsung arguing with LG over a marketing term that they think they own. These guys have flipped.

Today, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a series of 15 original Apple patent applications. Our first report covered a wild concept that involves a unibody magnetic coating for MacBooks and/or the iPad and our second report covered inertial sensors for future MacBooks and/or Apple's Magic Mouse. In this report we mainly cover a new image sensor assembly for future iDevice cameras and a patent filing that provides us with a lot more detail about the makeup of Apple's new lighting connector that debuted with the iPhone 5.

In 2010 Apple revealed that they were experimenting with new features for a future iteration of their magic mouse that would include gesture profiles such as tilt, tap, nudge, scoop and slide. The invention also covered force sensors and more. Again in 2012 Apple tweaked their invention so that a future version of the Magic Mouse could process combinations of kinematical inputs such as force and velocity. Today, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals yet further tweaks have been added to a future version of their Magic Mouse which includes inertial sensors. The hybrid sensor system could also apply to future MacBooks.

On July 11, 2013, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals their invention that generally relates to alternative coatings for rare earth magnets and more specifically the plating of rare earth magnets with aluminum. The invention covers a magnet surface coating which can be adapted to match the overall look, shape, and feel of the device to which it is attached. The wild twist is that Apple is considering this magnetic coating for the back lid of a future MacBook application. Updated 4:30 AM MST

A new report just in from IDC states that Worldwide PC shipments totaled 75.6 million units in the second quarter of 2013 (2Q13), down -11.4% compared to the same quarter in 2012 but slightly better than expected. Apple's US sales were steady.

A little web analytics company called StatCounter claims that Samsung has "leapfrogged" Apple in global web usage. Sounds like a staggering revelation, right? Well, not so fast.

Say bye-bye to Apple's metallic iCloud icon/logo. On July 10, 2013, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple's latest trademark application for the new "iCloud" logo/icon that's consistent with Apple's new iOS 7 flat design. The new application under number 86003195 was first filed in Jamaica. Our report presents you with Apple's jumbo iCloud icon/logo along with another new black and white iOS 7 icon that we found in the Canadian IP Office's database today.

Yesterday, a surprising Samsung design patent surfaced at the US Patent and Trademark Office that could be pointing to a new direction for Samsung's future smartphones. The new design offers an all-new from the ground-up form factor. The twist in the design is that it will be dockable with a future Samsung tablet for charging. Whether this is a future Galaxy or Note smartphone replacement is unknown at this time. You could view the patent's design figures in our Patent Bolt report.

In a decision that could reshape how books are sold on the Internet, a federal judge ruled that Apple conspired to raise the retail prices of e-books in violation of antitrust law, and called for a trial on damages.

According to a new report from Asia today, an "Apple tsunami" is impacting on Samsung's logic chip division, cornering top management to implement contingency plans to find new clients as Apple moves to other sources.

According to a new report today from Korea's IT News, Apple will expand the adoption of IGZO displays in order to lessen mobile devices' energy consumption. Apple is now reportedly in serious talks with Sharp and LG.

Apple filed for the App Store trademark back in July 2008. Apple kept updating their trademark application to add new coverage like ibooks but never received a registered certificate for it. Many companies over the years had officially opposed Apple's trademark application including Microsoft, Nokia and Amazon. In January of this year we posted a report titled "Judge Orders Apple & Amazon to Settle App Store Case." Today, the drama ends as Apple and Amazon have officially ended their lawsuit over who has the right to use the "app store" name, clearing the way for both companies to use it.

Even though Samsung is supposedly the number one smartphone company in the world, both Korean smartphone companies and their media have often sounded obsessed about beating Apple. To make a point, LG is holding an Apple-like special product event in New York in August just so as to be ahead of Apple's next iPhone announcements in September. They want to introduce their new smartphone earlier than usual just so they can say that they've beaten Apple to market with a fingerprint scanner.

According to a new report filed by Business Insider, Apple released an update to iOS 7 Beta late yesterday that adopts Helvetica Neue and dumps Neue light as noted in the cover graphic above.

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 36 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. Apple's key patent of the day covers in-vehicle instrumentation and telematics which directly supports Apple's iOS in the Car project coming to market in the second half of 2014. Other patents cover advanced touch technologies, laser processing of display components and design patents which include Apple's Smart Case and more. Our report concludes by presenting you with a list of the remaining patents that were granted to Apple today.

Square Enix has announced today that their hot new video game "Deus Ex: The Fall" – is going to debut this Thursday as an iOS exclusive. Deus Ex is a dark action-RPG focused on story.

According to a new study published late yesterday, the three month period ending May 2013 had Android continuing its lead in smartphone sales at 52%. Apple's iOS was close behind with 41.9% of sales. While Android statistics remained relatively flat, Apple's iOS gained 3.5% during the same time frame. The increase appears to have come via new distribution from T-Mobile. In other Apple news, rumor has it that a new minor tweak may be coming to the iPad mini this fall.

On Monday an avalanche of revised iOS 7 icons surfaced at the US Patent and Trademark Office followed by another big round on Tuesday. To end off the week just right, USPTO published two more of Apple's iOS 7 Icons trademark filings for Photos and Game Center. In between times, the Canadian IP Office published five more black and white iOS 7 icons that many Apple fans really liked. And lastly, Hong Kong's IP Office granted Apple a new MacBook Pro related design patent.

In April of this year we loudly questioned Samsung's wild claims about the success of their new Galaxy S4 and were the only news site to do so. Our report titled "Is Samsung's Galaxy S4 Really Selling Off-the-Chart or are they Just Playing a Marketing Game?" – Reflected our deep skepticism. Today, the truth finally emerged with Samsung missing an already modest forecast, deepening worries that its smartphone business may have peaked.

Japan's daily newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun is reporting today that NTT DoCoMo's President and CEO, Kaoru Kato, has told them that they "are discussing with Apple the launch of iPhones via NTT DoCoMo, but find it hard to narrow our differences with Apple." If NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile phone company by subscribers, ever launches the iPhone,  "Samsung Electronics and Sony are likely to take a knock," states the report. 

Apple has filed a patent application with the US Patent and Trademark Office for a hybrid USB/SD port which combines a USB port with SD card slot to save space to make notebooks slimmer. Ultrabook vendors are concerned because they are worried that if Apple obtains the patent, it will gain the upper hand in competition for slim notebooks, according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers.

On this July Fourth holiday we cover two distinct patent applications published by the US Patent & Trademark Office today. The first relates to new flexible battery pack designs that will support next generation device form factors such as a possible flex-screen iPhone or some form of wearable computer such as information band or wristwatch. The second invention relates to a few minor upgrade features that may be introduced in a future Maps app upgrade.

On this holiday July fourth, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals a method of restricting user interaction with a touchscreen. The invention could be used by teachers, parents or caregivers that require the ability to restrict access to specific functions of a device for a variety of reasons.

On this holiday July fourth, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals a new speaker design aimed primarily for iDevices such the iPad and iPhone. This is Apple's third attempt at trying to find the right design for an advanced sound system for smaller computers. Apple's first design surfaced in May 2012 which was followed by a more elaborate design in March of this year. All three designs are aimed at delivering much richer audio for music, video and as an iPhone speakerphone.

It's a big day for Apple design patents, as the Hong Kong IP Office has just officially granted Apple sixteen of them with fifteen dedicated to the iPhone 5 alone. The oddball design patent belongs to Apple's EarPods with Remote and Mic. The "Remote" aspect of that design which holds the volume controls won the patent. Apple's iPhone 5 designs cover their white and black models, an overview generic design and various others that cover individual parts of the iPhone 5.

In April, the EE Times examined whether Samsung could be about to control the equipment output of Apple by putting the Cupertino company on a rationed supply of NAND flash as the non-volatile memory goes into short supply in 2013. The analysis argues that Apple may need to put down billions of dollars of cash to fund a guaranteed NAND flash supply plan, something that Samsung did in the middle of the last decade." But news out of Japan today shows that one of Apple's suppliers are building a new NAND Flash memory factory to handle 2D and 3D variants.This could be music to Apple's ears.

A new patent infringement case against Apple officially began yesterday in Shanghai, China. A company by the name of Shanghai Zhizhen Network Technology Co., is a developer of a voice technology called Xiao i Robot. The company alleges that Apple's Siri software found on the iPhone and iPad infringes on its patent.

Korea's Yonhap News Agency is reporting today that a new survey has shown that more than a third of current iPhone users in Korea won't be buying another iPhone.

The Trustees of Boston University have filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple alleging that they're using a thin film semiconductor device found in such products as the iPhone 5, iPad and MacBook Air that was invented by the University.

Samsung Electronics has reportedly decided to diversify its smartphone model line-up per different regional markets in the second half of the year so as to supplement the lackluster sales of their Galaxy S4 in the first half. However the market is now concerned that such strategy may erode the core capacity of Samsung Electronics, their production competitiveness.

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 29 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our summary report we cover a series of patents which include multitouch, 3D gaming, the first Lightning related patent and a cooling system for the iPhone but to name a few. And to close out our report we also cover two design patent wins for Apple and a full list of the remaining patents issued to Apple today. Maybe it's just me, but I thought that the quality of Apple's patent wins today were excellent.

Apple's new iOS 7 icon trademark applications began to roll out of the US Patent and Trademark Office late last Friday beginning with FaceTime. On Monday, an avalanche of new iOS 7 icons rolled out of the US Patent Office and Trademark Office (USPTO) with 6 new jumbo color icons along with 17 new black and white icons coming out of Canada's IP Office. Today, USPTO published yet another round of 10 jumbo colored iOS icons. The majority of Apple's new icon designs have been generally applauded by the Apple community with several exceptions being booed in the hopes of getting Jony Ive's attention. Many are hoping that Apple will further refine some of the icon designs before iOS 7 rolls out this fall.