Patently Apple

SightSound Technologies Aims at iTunes and iPhone in new Lawsuit

Sight Sound Technologies, whose parent company is General Electric, is suing Apple for patent infringement. After winning cases against the likes of N2K, Inc., CDNow, Inc., CDNow Online, Roxio and Napster with three specific patents, Sight Sound Technologies is now focusing their sights on Apple.  

Samsung Holds Patents that Could Challenge Apple's new iPhone 4S

According to a Danish report filed last week, Samsung now possesses several patents that will be able to challenge Apple's new iPhone 4S. They also note that Apple's press release claims that the "iPhone 4S is the first phone to intelligently switch between two antennas to send and receive" may not hold water.  

Apple Wins Patents for Multi-Touch & MacBook Camera Latch with a Twist

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 15 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. The two patents that easily stood out from the pack this morning include another Multi-Touch patent for Apple's legal war chest and a unique illuminable MacBook camera latch patent that reveals a twist that could definitely play out at some point in the future. We conclude our report with a real heartbreaking moment caught on film at this year's WWDC with Steve Jobs.  

Apple Thinks of Enhancing the Mobile Clubbing Scene with iTunes

Yesterday we mourned with the rest of the world as we learned of Steve Jobs passing on Wednesday evening. Today we move forward with a heavy heart - but remain focused on what we do best: Report on the insanely great inventions inspired by Steve Jobs and his team. During Apple's special event held earlier this week in Cupertino, Tim Cook spent a lot of time talking about how Apple still loved music and the iPod that started the mobile revolution. In a patent published by the USPTO on Thursday, we learned that Apple is working on a fresh new music sharing app that is uniquely designed for those who love the mobile clubbing scene. The app is described as tying in with the iOS notification system as well as with Twitter and Facebook social networking sites. And finally, our report covers the newly released iOS 5 split keyboard patent and more.    

Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

 
Steve Jobs, one of the most inspirational leaders of my generation has died at the age of 56. The one that always reached for the Next Great Thing and inspired us all to Think Different will never be forgotten. Patently Apple will not be reporting as usual tomorrow out of respect for Steve. Our comment system will remain open without moderation for the first time in our history in order to allow anyone in or outside of the community to pay their respect until Friday morning. And one more thing:  I've added Apple's Think Different Campaign video as narrated by the Great One himself. It's the first time that I've ever heard this version of it before and it'll always be the way I remember Steve: As one of the Crazy Ones who thought they could change the world, and did. Updated 

Apple's iPhone 4S Fulfills a Series of Camera Patents & More

Today, Apple introduced their next generation iPhone called the iPhone 4S. While the iPhone 5 is scheduled to be released in 2012 with likely enhancements such as LTE and/or NFC, there were still a few interesting technologies added to the new iPhone 4S that were worth noting. Apple introduced video stabilization for those that like to shoot videos on-the-go, a face detection feature and contextual voice commands via Siri to name but a few. Today's report focuses on a few of the features that fulfilled and/or touched on Apple's published patents.  Updated

Apple Wins Patents Relating to Multi-Touch Sensors and Surfaces

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 17 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. This morning's report highlights a series of patents covering a wide swath of technologies including multipass video encoding to a service provider activation policy to a backlight and ambient light sensor system and a Cover Flow related patent. Yet the two key patent wins of the day definitely go to those relating to Multi-Touch Sensors and Surfaces; patents that will provide current and future iOS devices with ongoing protection. Most of today's patents are considered patents fulfilled. 

Part One: Intel, Haswell and Microsoft's "Think Different" Moment

In 2009 Intel introduced a theme called a continuum of computing and spoke about the three vectors of innovation. In April 2011 they spoke about the rise of tablets and the new mobile device form factors that are on the way. Then in June of this year Intel spoke about the transformation of the PC. They confidentially assured their developers that the turmoil being experienced today in the market, due to tablets, was simply the PC undergoing its third transformation since the mid-ninety's: No more, no less. Otellini described how the growth in computing over the next few years will dwarf what's been accomplished over the past 3 decades. This was about Intel's vision of a future accelerated. And while IDF had its interesting moments, make no mistake about it – the only thing on Intel's mind is their next generation processor called Haswell. This is the processor that they believe will usher in next phase of the mobile device revolution.  

Part Two: Intel, Haswell and Microsoft's "Think Different" Moment

While Intel's IDF San Francisco conference was mildly interesting, the real energy behind the next mobile revolution surprisingly came from Microsoft. The energy that they generated at their developer conference dwarfed Intel's IDF. Unlike the noise that came with the introduction of Vista and/or Windows 7, Windows 8 came in like lightning as they presented their next generational Metro interface. We'll definitely look back in a few years and realize that this was Microsoft's "Think Different Moment." In part two of our report, we take a look at some of the highlights from one of Microsoft's developer conference segments titled the "8 traits of great Metro Style apps," while taking a peek at some of the features behind one of Samsung's 2012 tablets.  Updated Oct 5, 2011.