On January 15, 2015, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that discusses how GarageBand, Logic Pro or combination of these apps can create unique and customized drumming loops for various music genres. Apple's patent application was originally filed in July 2013 and published for the public viewing today.

On December 11, 2014 the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals the next generation feature for Passbook that was released with iOS 8; the feature that automatically displays a virtual ticket, coupon, and gift card as you near the related venue.

On December 11, 2014, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals future iDevices with a novel content redaction engine and tool. The content redaction engine of some embodiments determines whether to redact content for output based on whether a user is biometrically verified. If they are, the redaction is removed as noted in our cover graphic.

According to a New York Times report published this week, a particularly nasty mobile malware campaign targeting Android users has hit between four million and 4.5 million Americans since January of 2013. In a mid-January security report published by Cisco, they claimed that ninety-nine percent of all mobile malware targeted Android devices. And while security firms have tried to sully Apple's iOS reputation for not having malware with reports about the recent Masque attack, Apple responded quickly. They also noted that they "…designed OS X and iOS with built-in security safeguards to help protect customers and warn them before installing potentially malicious software." This week the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals systems and methods for a security measure that prevents unauthorized calls from being made to protected functions of software. Apple describes embedding secrets to each function that can't be hacked.

On November 20, 2014, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals a new invention that generally relates to using networked electronic devices like Apple iDevices and Macs as smoke detectors for your home. As part of a smart home system, Apple illustrates how future iDevices will act as smoke detectors and be able to automatically call 911 for emergency assistance. The system will be able to supply emergency services with information about how many occupants are currently in the home and in which rooms they're located in due to motion sensors embeded in Apple's mobile and stationary devices. Apple's HomeKit will be able to work with future third party dedicated forms of Fire Detectors as well so as to work in conjunction with Apple's new system. Interestingly Apple illustrates that the new system could actually be integrated into their upcoming Apple Watch or at least a future generation of it.

On November 6, 2014, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals a possible new user interface mainly designed for future iDevice applications. A special aspect of this new UI design is that it involves the use of dynamic, moveable interface elements. As example's Apple points us to photo, map and mathematical applications that could use this new user interface though technically it could apply to any future application. The new UI is designed to include built-in tutorial and/or a quick help system to guide users in how to use a particular feature of a new application that they're not familiar with. This could easily be seen as something that Apple's developers will also be able to tap into in the future. In the end, it looks as though this is something that we could definitely see Apple bring to market in the future.

The US Patent & Trademark Office published two patent applications from Apple today that reveal their ongoing work regarding advanced haptics and new iOS interface elements and metaphors for consumers and the enterprise. At a basic level, Apple's advanced haptics invention may have played a role in Apple's new Apple Watch.