The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office yesterday published a patent application Apple made way back in 2008 for “Pushing a User Interface to a Remote Device.” So, then…Smart Remotes. Cool!
MacRumor’s Eric Slivka reports that the patent’s lead inventor is William Bull, now Yahoo’s Senior Director of Mobile User Experience, but once upon a time Apple’s [...]
Apple apparently isn’t exclusively devoted to the idea of finger-based multi-touch input on all its devices, a recent patent applications shows. The patent application, found by Apple Insider, describes the use of a pen-like stylus to operate an “ink information” input system, and references tablet computing applications for the new tech by name.
“Ink information” refers [...]
Halloween has come early this year, and I’m not talking about today’s release of Windows 7. Engadget reports (and I find it difficult to share this with you, dear readers, because I know it will cause you discomfort), in April last year, Apple filed a patent application for (shudder) an ad-supported operating system. That’s right. [...]
It just wouldn’t feel right getting through a month without another lawsuit. Apple is in the firing line this time from Online News Link, which claims Apple infringed on patent No. 7,508,789. Ah yes, good old 7,508,789: “the transmission of digital information through a broadcast channel and bi-directional channel.” Or something.
The complaint from California-based Online [...]
As if the raging fire that is the Apple tablet rumor mill needed any more fuel, AppleInsider recently dug up a patent application from Cupertino for two-handed multitouch interactivity for its devices. The system would be able to distinguish between palms and fingers for full touch typing, gestures and more.
The input system appears to be [...]
Never rains, but it pours, eh? As if Apple doesn’t have enough on its plate with the FCC, the latest patent infringement accusations are in, this time courtesy of BTG International.
BTG claims some of Samsung’s flash chips violate patents it owns on multilevel NAND Flash memory, according to Macworld. While BTG isn’t directly accusing Apple [...]
AppleInsider’s Kasper Jade today reports that Apple has new plans for its workhorse laptop, the MacBook. This will be the first time since the product’s launch in 2006 that the company’s entry-level Mac has received a complete design update.
The MacBook is the best-selling computer in the history of the company. It introduced many of the [...]
Remember how in 2006, Apple tried to stop Podcast Ready, Inc. from using the word “podcast” because it infringed on their trademarks? For a brief time, there was talk of Apple cracking-down on anyone who dared use the term in their products or services.
Apple’s lawyers finally relaxed (or perhaps they were distracted by 2007’s struggles [...]
When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone at the 2007 Worldwide Developer’s Conference, he made a point of letting the world know how seriously Apple would protect its intellectual property. Of course, he did it in inimitable Steve Jobs style, quipping “…and boy have we patented it!”
Of the more-than 200 features for which Apple applied for [...]
A patent application published today for a “mutli-dimensional scroll wheel” suggests Apple may be evolving the venerable iPod click wheel, rather than replacing it with a pure multitouch interface, like the iPhone.
Originally filed on September 5, 2008, the patent application describes a “plurality of circumferentially arranged sensor elements” ordered around “the mechanical push button.” Such [...]
One of the original “wow”-inspiring iPhone apps, music recognition software Shazam, is now responsible for some legal trouble for Apple. Tune Hunter, a company that claims to hold the patent on the technology that Shazam uses, filed suit against the app’s developers, as well as Apple, Gracenote, Napster, Amazon.com and Samsung, among others. It’s actually [...]
I wrote about the patent Apple received for this, but I’d like to comment further in light of all the discussion going on about the relative usefulness of this patent.
A lot of the discussion seems to stem from these sources:
A Gizmodo article using a “professor of patents law” as a source.
An analyst report that claims [...]
So Apple is finally awarded their multi-touch patent, and the hue and cry from the Apple Bashers is pretty loud. But not only Apple Bashers are worried, Daring Fireball had this to say:
Very broad language – taken at face value, Apple effectively owns the IP rights to multi-touch in the U.S. This sucks.
DF’s major beef [...]
It could certainly be argued that the iPhone has sparked a new revolution of multi-touch capable mobiles phones and handheld devices. iPhone-esque phones seem to be rearing their heads every day, all sharing one common problem; they don’t recognize a tap from a gloved finger.
For many users in warm climates this simply isn’t a problem, [...]
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