Apple granted touchscreen, voicemail, and several other patents

Patently Apple reports that Apple has been granted almost 20 patents covering various software and hardware implementations. The site has singled out three of these patents as the most intriguing of the bunch.

The first patent, Integrated Touch Screen, "relates to touch sensing circuitry integrated into the display pixel stackup (i.e., the stacked material layers forming the display pixels) of a display, such as an LCD display," according to Apple's description. The upshot of this patent is thinner and brighter displays that require less power to drive them; additionally, the displays will require fewer parts and manufacturing steps, potentially bringing down both their cost and the difficulty of manufacture.

It's unclear if the technology described in this patent has been implemented in Apple's products already or not. The iPhone 4's touchscreen is remarkably brighter, thinner, and more "integrated" than that on the iPhone 3GS, so it's possible Apple has already started using the technology described in this patent. Of interest, diagrams from the patent show a touchscreen implementation on a notebook computer, indicating that Apple has at least explored the possibility of a touchscreen Mac.

The second granted patent, Voicemail Manager for Portable Multifunction Device, essentially describes the iPhone's Visual Voicemail feature. As Patently Apple points out, this function which iPhone users take for granted today replaces the cumbersome hierarchical menu-style interfaces of preceding phones, which often made checking voicemail a frustrating experience. Apple filed for this patent over four years ago, almost at the same time as the original iPhone's launch.

The third patent, Component Retention Mechanism for a Tower Computer, sounds awfully similar to the modular hard drive bays in the Mac Pro. The patent expands upon this modularity by describing retention mechanisms for PCI cards. Most Macs aren't well-known for being easily customized, but the Mac Pro is definitely an exception to that rule.

The remaining recently-granted patents are far more esoteric than the three described above, but if you can wrap your head around them, Patently Apple has handy links to all of them.

Apple granted touchscreen, voicemail, and several other patents originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 09 Aug 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2011/08/09/apple-granted-touchscreen-voicemail-and-several-other-patents/

mac rumor apple news conference mac mini news apple store

Cablevision iOS app now available for iPhone, iPod touch

Cablevision has now extended the availability of its Optimum iPad app to the iPod touch and iPhone. The app (free, App Store) lets Cablevision cable subscribers watch live TV and video-on-demand titles on their portable iOS devices as well as act as a remote control for compatible Cablevision set-top boxes. Just like with the iPad app, however, users can't access content from outside of their home....

Source: http://feeds.macnn.com/click.phdo?i=4407dcd4491c2d98b6add4b4af3b192d

macintosh apple store uk iwork 09 mac store refurbished

FBI releases its first iPhone app: Child ID

The FBI has released it first iPhone app called Child ID. As the name suggests, Child ID works as a kind of digital passport for information about your children. With it you can store their photos along with physical identifiers such as height and weight. The app has several intended uses, the first a which is as something you can quickly show a security official to help identify your child if they go missing, say at an airport or a theme park. The app also has allows you to call 911 with the tap of a button and also call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. You can also choose to email your child's information to authorities.

For those of you worried over privacy concerns, the FBI states on its website that the app does not collect or store any photos or information you enter into the phone. Everything resides locally on your iPhone until you choose to send that information to the authorities. Child ID is a great start, but one issue I had with the app is that there is no way to set a passcode on it. If you're storing information that could identify your children, it would be nice to lock the app should it fall into the wrong hands.

Child ID is a free download for the iPhone, and the FBI says it will be coming to other mobile devices in the future.

FBI releases its first iPhone app: Child ID originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 07 Aug 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2011/08/07/fbi-releases-its-first-iphone-app-child-id/

mac genius bar macintosh apple store uk iwork 09

Skype 5.3 for Mac brings HD video calling, Lion support

Skype put Mac users more on parity Monday with the launch of Skype 5.3. The new update brings HD video calling to the Mac for the first time. Those with a FaceTime HD camera in a 2011 iMac or MacBook Pro, as well as those with higher-resolution add-on webcams, can get a major boost to resolution in two-way conversations. Both sides need about 1.5Mbps of bandwidth to keep a smooth connection....

Source: http://feeds.macnn.com/click.phdo?i=cbbf49c0bbe4e931ee1b748e775e2248

mc news latest mac news applecare warranty itouch apps store

Apple said bricking devices with sold iOS 5 beta slots [U]

(Update: one possible explanation) Apple may be actively trying to curb the use of iOS 5 betas by non-developers. Allegations Friday maintain that Apple has been identifying those with developer accounts who sold off their beta device slots and closing down their accounts. Apple has flagged the UDID hardware identifiers for these devices, KarthikK says, and forces them into an initial setup mode they can't escape, bricking the hardware....

Source: http://feeds.macnn.com/click.phdo?i=e8a3032ef84178e25a50d984840d0e99

refurbished mac store apple shop uk app store search latest apple news