Yesterday Apple was granted 14 new US patents. Four of them covered the designs for the MacBook Air, Apple TV Remote, iPhone 3G/3GS models, and their battery charger.
The first patent was for the newly refreshed MacBook Air, which could mean bad news for Asus their newly-released UX21 laptop that strongly resembled Apple's thinnest notebook...
The legal team over at Lodsys doesn't seem to have been phased at all by Apple's cease and desist letter, or attempt to intervene in the patent dispute. Not only is the company not backing down, they've actually upped the ante.
FOSSPatents reported yesterday that Lodsys has amended its patent complaint and modified the list of defendants. 5 new companies were added to Lodsys' infringement case, including Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, Atari, Square Enix and Rovio- the makers of Angry Birds...
We've been hearing a lot of rumors lately about the possibility of Apple unveiling a 3G-capable iPod Touch this Fall. The move would actually make a lot of sense, considering it would enable the devices to download more applications and other iTunes media while out and about.
Apparently, Apple has been working on a software solution to the iPod Touch's Wi-Fi-only dilemma. 9to5Mac uncovered an interesting patent application in which engineers from Cupertino company describe a new method for making offline purchases...
While the Lodsys saga with Apple and its developers drudges on, another company has decided to join in the patent troll party. This time, it's an Indian-based company by the name of Kootol, and this time, they're not just going after the little guys.
FOSSPatents is reporting that Kootol has distributed a press release announcing that it has sent "notices" to a long list of companies (large and small) regarding their use of Kootol's Intellectual Property. The IP in question involves social "feeds" like you'd find in Twitter or Facebook...
A recent Apple patent has been uncovered that outlines possible features in iOS that are made specifically for the aspiring journalist. If you're at all familiar with CNN's "iReport" idea for civilian journalism, then you'll get the main gist of this patent.
What if the iPhone could automatically switch between the front and rear facing camera during an interview over FaceTime? "Report" and "Interview" are two proposed iOS features that detail this experience...
Apple is looking to block sales of HTC smartphones in the US. Like the ongoing copycat lawsuit with Samsung, Apple claims that HTC infringes on several of its iPhone patents.
HTC has seen impressive growth in the last year, and the company is responsible for many of the most popular Android devices on the market right now. Apple feels that HTC owes a little respect (and by "respect" we mean money) for the allegedly infringed patents...
A few days ago, we mentioned that The Wall Street Journal and other publications were noting that Apple was working on a new way to charge iDevices. From the details, it sounded like some form of inductive method, similar to Palm's Touchstone charger.
However, MacRumors has discovered something interesting in a recently-revealed patent application that suggests the Cupertino company might be going a different route. Have you ever heard of WiTricity?
Apple is known for registering patents for everything they think of, just in case it becomes useful, or indeed feasible, at a later date.
A new patent to come out of Cupertuno suggests the company is working on a new way of sharing files between devices, similar to the way HP's new TouchPad and accompanying smartphones do.
The HP way involves touching the two devices together in order to initiate the connection and subsequent transfer of files and data. If that sounds familiar, it's because the whole process is very similar to contact sharing app, Bump.
What Apple's patent suggests, is a more metaphorical way of establishing the connection...
Nortel just sold a shed-load of its patents at auction for a whopping $4.5 billion. The winning bidder? A consortium of six tech companies that includes Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, RIM and Sony.
There were 6,000 patents and patent applications sold in total, according to the press release, spanning wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice, internet, service provider, semiconductors, and more...
It seems like the Daily Tech report that we covered a few days ago has sparked quite a flurry of Apple TV speculation. Though no one can agree on exactly when we'll see a TV set from the Cupertino company, most folks concur it's in the works.
One must wonder though, what could Apple be cooking up for their first entry into the TV market? Patently Apple just discovered this filing from Cupertino company, that may just give us some insight on that very question...
An interesting tidbit has been discovered in Apple's recently awarded iPhone patent. It looks as though Apple will indeed allow for the development of third party widgets in iOS 5.
For the past few weeks, jailbreak developers have been creating widgets for the iOS 5 Notification Center because Apple has yet to introduce an approved method for developing and distributing third party widgets.
According to the above patent, Apple will eventually allow for the creation of third party widgets on their platform.
Apple has been awarded a patent filed in 2007 regarding the iPhone's multi-touch user interface. As reported by PCMag, this patent is so broad that it could give Apple unprecedented ability to pressure other smartphone makers in the U.S.
This patent outlines the multi-touch technology Apple employs in iOS. Theoretically, this patent gives Apple the rights to almost all of the multi-touch gestures and interface designs that currently exist in other devices on the market.