An Apple patent (number 20100201692) for user interface for controlling animation of an object has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. The patent relates generally to computer animation and, more specifically, to animating an object using behaviors. It may point to new software or planned tweaks to the Final Cut products.

Per the patent, user can control the animation of an object via an interface that includes a control area and a user-manipulable control element. In one embodiment, the control area includes an ellipse, and the user-manipulable control element includes an arrow. In yet another embodiment, the control area includes an ellipse, and the user-manipulable control element includes two points on the circumference of the ellipse.

In yet another embodiment, the control area includes a first rectangle, and the user-manipulable control element includes a second rectangle. In yet another embodiment, the user-manipulable control element includes...

By Greg Mills

I was shocked, as were many other Apple observers that an Apple patent application sported an obvious rip-off of the user interface of an iOS app on the Apple App Store called "Where To?"  Apple files hundreds of patent applications on everything they do.  

Playing the tech "that is covered by our patent" game in federal court requires all the legal ammunition possible, so they try to protect all their ideas. A recent Apple patent app that was published by the US Patent Office included an illustration, in line drawing form, that was clearly an illustration of an existing iOS App owned by someone else. This gaff was no doubt embarrassing to the legal staff at Apple and I bet someone got their butt in a sling over it.

Apple has a sort of "white knight aura" about it on intellectual property issues. Apple often the target of patent trolling artists hoping to cash in on Apple's success. While certainly, in a competitive market with a...

By Greg Mills

I got an inquiry this morning from an aspiring author who wondered what the threshold amounts are for Apple to cut her a check. That would seem to be an easy question to answer, but little is available either by Googling the key words or by checking the Apple web site.  

All I found was this quote from the contract authors must approve to upload their eBooks. I pasted it into this article, and it seems to say that after Apple's cut is taken out and any taxes that might be due are removed the balance due the author is paid when the check is $150 or more.   

From Apple's: EBOOK AGENCY/COMMISSIONAIRE DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT, Section 5: Commission; Tax; and Reporting, paragraph (c) "After deducting Apple’s commission, and any taxes collected by Apple under Section 5(f) hereof, from eBook Proceeds, Apple shall either remit to Publisher, or issue a credit in Publisher’s favor, subject to Apple’s standard business practices, including...

Apple has has been granted patents for the ornamental design of a computer display (D621,414, for Mac OS X), a keyboard (D631,402), computing device (D621,409, the MacBook Pro), packaging (D621,256) and an electronic device (D621,397, the Mac mini).

The inventors listed on these patents are Andre K. Bartley, Daniel J. Coster, Daniele De Iuliis, Richard P. Howarth, Jonathan P. Ive, Steve Jobs, Duncan Robert Kerr, Shin Nishibori, Matthew Dean Rohrbach, Peter Russell-Clarke, Douglas B. Satzger, Calvin Q. Seid, Christopher J. Stringer, Eugene Antony Whang and Rico Zorkendorfer. Also, several Apple patents have appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Here's a summary of each.

Patent number 7,773,139 is for an image sensor with photosensitive thin film transistors. It involves an image sensor array includes image sensors having photo TFTs to generate photocurrent in response to received images. The photo TFTs each have their respective gate...

By Greg Mills

A lot of what the empowerment of the Internet is all about is allowing everyone to do what has been hard to do in the past. Streamlining and enablement create a sort of democratization of information.

That is what computers and the giant data bases create, as the Internet seeks out the remote pockets of people who have obtained access. Publishing a book used to be a game authors played with hard copy publishers, who had the power to make or break an author.  The  only other alternative was self publishing a book, which was expensive and likely a money loser as the hard copy book publishers also control the literary market place.  

Then the notion of on line e-publishing came along. That changed everything. The process of publishing that book that is sitting on your computer in a word processor file suddenly is becoming easy to do with any Intel Mac and a bit of software.  The process is likely to be streamlined soon.

I...

Notwithstanding the economic downturn, the smartphone market is on an upswing, with consumers increasingly seeking devices that are well designed with innovative features and applications such as touch screen technology, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) and location-based service (LBS), according to notes Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/). And that, of course, is good news for Apple.

These devices continue to be status symbols in the consumer and enterprise markets, says Research and Markets. In the next couple of years, software is expected to play a major role in the mobile handset market, along with more standardized hardware design, adds the research group. And, again, Apple has a leg up on the competition in this arena.

Mobile operators are likely to partner with significant participants from the Internet community, the media and the entertainment...

Earlier this week I asked if perhaps Apple was planning on replacing IDVD with cloud storage (something I'm personally against). But "MacNews" reader Wayne Folta has an idea that would make it more acceptable to folks like me who like having physical media.

"What if Apple would host your videos in their cloud, and then you could choose 'Make DVD' and assemble a DVD of your chosen videos and have a nicely-printed disc mailed to your chosen recipient?" he asks. "They already do this with iPhoto (get a photo book printed), so it might make sense. More convenient for mom and pop, who won't have to worry about burning a coaster, or trying to figure out how to get their DVD to look 'professional,' with a nice photo printed onto the top side."


Good idea, Wayne. Apple, are you listening?

-- Dennis Sellers

An Apple patent (number 20100198626) involving systems and methods for accessing shopping center services using a portable electronic device has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. It's directed to systems and methods for enhancing a user's experience at a shopping center. In particular, it's directed to providing a "heat map" to indicate popular areas of or products in a mall.

In some embodiments, an integrated application available on an electronic device can provide information for promotional and available sales of goods and services, allow a user to browse and search through available content providers of the shopping center, such as parking, restaurants, and clothing stores, to purchase content based on the personal needs of a user. In some embodiments, an application available on an electronic device can check for the availability of particular items and show ratings or reviews for stores carrying the items. In some embodiments, In particular, the...

An Apple patent (number 20100199266) involving software fingerprinting has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. It relates generally to analyzing software performance, and more particularly, to a system, method, and program for graphically presenting code execution data in order to quickly identify of areas of code which may represent opportunities for optimization.

A system, method, and computer program for analyzing code execution and software performance characteristics are disclosed. Samples of executing code may be taken based on any of a number of various triggers. For example, samples may be triggered based on function calls, such as malloc calls. Alternatively, samples may be triggered based on occurrence of a specified event. Code execution is graphically displayed such that certain patterns may be easily identified. Multiple redundant function calls and areas of code having excessively deep function calls can be readily spotted. Such areas represent...

I'll never quit harping on this until I get Blu-ray playback support on the Mac (which probably means I have a lifetime of disappointment ahead of me). But it still chafes me that I could buy an US$1,000 Dell and get a feature that I can't get on a Mac at any price.

And Blu-ray continues to gain ground and advantages. Sharp Corp. plans to introduce the VR-100BR1 triple-layer Blu-ray Disc media (write-once) that conforms to the BDXL‚Ñ¢ format specification, the new multi-layer recordable Blu-ray Disc format, a world first. These new Blu-ray Discs will be available in Japan any day now.

This disc media product conforms to the new BDXL format specification that extends the storage capacity of Blu-ray Discs to 100GB, twice the 50GB storage capacity of existing dual-layer discs. This new format enables recording approximately 12 hours of terrestrial digital TV broadcasts approximately 8.6 hours of BS digital TV broadcasts. It expands the range of applications for Blu-ray...

By Greg Mills

Remember the early days of the Apple iTunes store? There were a few brave music companies who posted their music, since the industry was reeling from rampant piracy. It was a free for all with music being stolen left and right.  

Napster and other web sites facilitated the "trading" or downright stealing of copyrighted music. It was such a problem the industry was convinced the Internet was going to kill them off financially. The Internet created a mentality that everything online was free for the downloading.  Copyright laws are still violated, despite serious laws and penalties. Sometimes some a poor miserable pirate is hung high with fines of thousands of dollars per stolen song, but the truth is you are more likely to win the lottery than get caught stealing copyrighted material and being fined for it.

Apple saw that intellectual property rights, patents, copyrights and trademarks had to be respected for a viable on-line...

Another reason why I think we'll see 3D Macs at some point in the not-too-distant future (say, within four years, tops): the DisplaySearch research group (http://www.displaysearch.com) forecasts 3.4 million 3D TVs to be shipped in 2010, with the market expected to reach 42.9 million in 2014.

Based on this forecast, 3D TV market penetration is expected to grow from a 5% share of total flat panel TVs in 2010 to 37% in 2014. Despite the forecasted growth for 3D TVs, the consumer electronics industry is running ahead of content availability, as 3D content for TV remains limited to a small number of movies, plus some sports events on pay TV, which are dependent on cable providers.

Blockbuster movies in 3D, such as "Avatar," won't be available for 3D TV in 2010. In addition, the low penetration of Blu-ray players, and especially HD broadcasts, outside of North America and Japan affects...

Pretty soon you may be able to dress yourself online in a Virtual Closet if Apple has its way. The company has filed two patents at the US Patent & Trademark Office for such a venture.


Patent number 20100191770 is for a system and methods for providing a Virtual Fashion closet. Fashion items can be added to the Virtual Closet. Outfits may then be created by combining two or more of the fashion items. In some embodiments, the Virtual Closet system can create recommended outfits based on weather, season, or the user's calendar.

The Virtual Closet system can allow a vendor to send recommended fashion items that may complete an outfit to a user for potential purchasing. In some embodiments, a social networking Virtual Closet can be provided. The social networking Virtual Closet can allow friends to see each other's Virtual Closets, recommend outfits to one another, recommend fashion items to buy, recommend fashion items to get rid of, recommend outfits to wear at a...

Several Apple patents involving the accelerometer and other deterministic methods of navigation of the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad have appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office.

Patent number 20100188331 is for methods and apparatuses for operating a portable device based on an accelerometer. According to one embodiment of the invention, a movement of a portable device is detected using an accelerometer attached to the portable device. An orientation of the portable device after the movement is determined based on movement data provided by the accelerometer. It is determined whether the portable device is held by a user after the movement based on the movement data provided by the accelerometer. Locations of the hands of the user for holding the portable device are determined based on the orientation of the portable device. At least one interface that is not within the predicted locations of the hands of the user is activated. The inventors are Paul...

Apple is always looking for ways to make its Macs run cooler. Now a company patent (number 7,764,493) for systems and methods for cooling electronic devices using airflow dividers has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office.

An electronic device can be provided with a heat-generating component and a cooling module for dissipating heat. In some embodiments, the cooling component may include a fan configured to produce an outflow of air, and a divider configured not only to direct a first portion of the outflow between a first surface of the divider and the heat-generating component, but also to direct a second portion of the outflow along a second surface of the divider. In other embodiments, the cooling component may include a divider and a pressure clip. A first portion of the pressure clip may be configured to exert a pressure on a first surface of the divider such that the pressure may hold a portion of a second surface of the divider in contact with the heat-...

By Greg Mills

It is just coming out in the inquest over the largest oil spill in US history that the accident might have to do with a PC which was monitoring and controlling the drilling rig suffering a blue screen of death freeze.   

While it has not come out yet which operating system crashed, I don't recall ever having a blue screen of death event in my 25 years of using over a dozen various Macs . Hmmm, I wonder what operating system it might have been ....

The steady increase in business adoption of things Apple has a lot to do with overhead in the long term. How much time will be lost due to OS crashes? How many IP guys will it take to keep the servers up? What is the learning curve on the OS and the company computers in general? The old refrain, "Macs are great, but there just isn't software to do what we need to do that is available on Apple computers" is not really so relevant any more.

Smart phones are going the same way. As...

Well, maybe I won't have to update to the newest iMac, after all. I was expecting a wham-bam, gotta-have update to the all-in-one desktop, but found the latest rev a bit underwhelming.

Sure, all new iMac models come standard with Intel Core processors built on a new architecture. Based on Intel’s 32-nanometer process technology, these processors set new benchmarks for iMac performance. And the the ATI Radeon HD 5670 with 512MB of memory is an option. But my iMac has a quad-core Core i7 running at 2.8GHz and an ATI Radeon 4850 with 512MB of VRAM. So how much of a performance boost would I honesty see?

I like the idea of the Magic Trackpad and the Apple Battery Charger. But they're US$69 and $29 options, respectively, so I can get them for my current iMac.

My present system was the top-of-the-line iMac when I bought it last October. So, unless I'm missing something, guess I'll save my moolah for an iMac update that offers some really must-have additions -- at...

Got your back-up? The Spy has. Indeed, he is as much a back-up as a security paranoiac (refuses to connect to any network without interposing a firewall, for instance). He does not use the Documents folder on the boot partition.

Instead, his machines at work and at home each have a partition called "Files" where all working documents and email is stored (generally on a separate physical drive from the one with the boot partition). He carries about in his pocket a portable multi-interface drive, two of whose partitions are named FilesWork.bak and FilesHome.bak. The routine goes like this:

In the morning before leaving for the university, he backs up the Files partition at home to Files.bak. Upon reaching the ivory basement, he restores the latter to the Files partition on the machine there. When the day's work is done, he backs up to FilesWork.bak, and on reaching home, restores to the Files partition there.

A workable strategy? Yes, he rarely loses any files...

By Greg Mills

There is a story in the international press today that tells how the government of India is touting an Internet connecting touch screen pad that runs Linux, with a browser, has PDF display capabilities, WiFi, 2GBs of memory and potentially email and other features.  

India has 250,000 villages that need to be dragged into age of the Internet. The prototyped device, called "Nano" is designed to offer communications for the government to interface with all the little villages and support educational programs, as well.

The second major stab at an affordable computer for the world's poor, the new pad has promise.  It's set to launch in early 2011. The XO "One Laptop per Child" program has not been able to meet its goal of selling their units under $100, as hoped. The rock bottom, no frills devices are hardly comparable to anything we would use in the US, but they do fill a crying need.  

The bill of materials alone, before...

An Apple patent (number 20100182159) for a contactless plug detect mechanism has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. This is directed to systems and methods for detecting the insertion of a plug in a device port without physically contacting the plug.

For example, systems and methods are provided for detecting the insertion of an audio plug into an audio jack without using physical contacts placed in the periphery of the audio jack. In some embodiments, an electrically conductive element (e.g., a circuit board trace) can be provided on a surface of the port or within the port wall. When a metallic or conductive plug is inserted into the port, the plug can interact with the conductive element and cause a change in capacitance or induction detected by appropriate circuitry coupled to the conductive element.

In some embodiments, an optical sensor can be used to detect a plug placed in a port. In some embodiments, the electronic device can detect...

And here's another reason I think Apple should seriously consider adding Blu-ray playback to the Mac: worldwide Blu-ray player shipments are expected to more than double between 2009 and the end of 2010, and the numbers from ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com) forecast continued growth next year, for a total of more than 62.5 million shipments in 2011.

In North America standalone Blu-ray players are expected to reach almost 18% penetration among TV-owning households, up from just over 7% in 2009. As interesting as this estimate is, it's just part of a larger picture.

"The solid growth in Blu-ray player shipments highlights a trend within the wider consumer electronics market," says industry analyst Mike Inouye. "Larger, fixed-location devices such as Blu-ray players and flat panel TVs are enjoying rapid adoption relative to many classes of small, portable devices. Specifically, portable...

An Apple patent (number 7,760,187) for a visual expander has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. It seems to concern an upcoming feature for the iOS -- and perhaps Mac OS X.

A computer implemented method for a touchscreen display is disclosed. The method includes presenting graphical information on the touchscreen display. The method further includes detecting a touch over the touchscreen display. The method also includes expanding an area of the touch screen display proximate the location of the touch. The inventor is Peter Kennedy.

Here's Apple's background and summary of the invention: "There exist today many styles of input devices for performing operations in a computer system. The operations generally correspond to moving a cursor and/or making selections on a display screen. By way of example, the input devices may include buttons or keys, mice, trackballs, touch pads, joy sticks, touch screens and the like. Each of these devices has advantages...

Apple will announce its third quarter fiscal results today at 2 pm (Pacific). Here's what the Sellers Research Firm (that's me) is predicting.

I expect Apple to report net income of $2.9 billion, up from $1.8 billion during the year-ago quarter.

Apple will have sold 3.52 million Macs, compared to 2.6 million from the same period a year ago.

Apple will have sold 10 million iPhones during the quarter, compared to 5.2 million from the same period a year ago.

Apple will have sold 10.1 million iPods during the quarter, compared to 10.2 for the same period a year ago.

Apple will have sold 3.5 million iPads during the quarter.

We'll be covering the financial announcements, of course, so check back today to see how the Sellers Research firm did.

-- Dennis Sellers

I suspect we'll see new iMacs introduced in the September/October timeframe in time for the back-to-school shopping season). Here's what I expect to see -- as well as some things I hope to see.

The next iMac will probably include USB 3.0 and HDMI ports. Naturally, it will include speed boosts; I suspect we'll see a high-end six-core model running Intel's 3.2GHz Core i7-970 processor. Or perhaps even the 3.33GHz Core i7-980X Extreme Edition, Both feature Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost features and support 1066MHz DDR3 memory.

Or perhaps -- though less likely -- the next iMacs will sport "Sandy Bridge" processors. The difference between the Nehalem-based chips of today and Sandy Bridge is that the latter's architecture takes everything down to 32nm -- including the graphics processor and memory controller -- while keeping it all within the same enclosure. (Intel plans to eventually transition to a 22nm process.)

Intel claims that Sandy Bridge will increase...