• more about #patent more comments →
    TemplaPublius: The opposite is true--the QWERTY layout was designed to minimize mechanical jams, which is obviously a design to speed up typing as much as possible. ... more »
    Pope John Peeps II: Since the keys are always in the same relative position to your fingers, you will always have a physical point of reference Actually the patent menti... more »
    RainyDayInterns: Hard to believe that we have not improved upon the keyboard after 100 years of typing. Seriously? Where is my neuro-interface? more »
    Entaum: Great idea, too bad you'll need gorilla hands to be able to hit backspace.. more »
    craig_16: I don't see this working. There is still no real feedback, so your hands would start to wander almost straight away. more »
    Bokusatsu_Tenshi: Nice idea... might need some getting used to, but what wouldn't? I'm still waiting for someone to make this happen though: [xspblog.com] more »
    witeowl: On top of no G, two Bs, and a mis-shifted bottom left row... the right hand is not in proper home position. I love the idea, but seriously, how could ... more »
    ryno365: What I want: an entire multitouch desk computer that also has a retractable display in addition to the desk surface which is also a multitouch display. more »
    Evan, How Dare you Sir!: Even though the keyboard is referenced with your hand, will it take into account "how" you type (if you have short fingers, long fingers, where your f... more »
    FriarNurgle: Can I patent technology that will have the browser go into private mode when only one hand is typing? more »
  • #multitouch

    Microsoft Getting Cleverer and Cleverer With New Multitouch Screen Keyboard

    Oh, those smart rascals at Microsoft are on a roll. I love their Courier tablet concept, and now they may have found the way to make on-screen multitouch keyboards actually work great—even for touch typists like me. More »
  • #ibm

    IBM Files Patent For Tweeting TV Remote

    Good lord, this is all we need. A TV remote that allows users to easily ramble on about the shows they watch via their blog or twitter account. For better or worse, IBM appears to be working on this technology. More »
  • #patents

    Sony PS3 Laugh Detector Patent Has Very Juvenile Sense of Humor

    Come on, Sony. A repeating boot-to-the-butt wheel? Everyone knows the only surefire kick-based humor must involve the crotch. More »
  • #weather

    Bill Gates Patent Could Save Us From Another Hurricane Katrina

    Not content with being the world's richest man, Bill Gates is planning on extending his power to control the weather. More specifically, he has filed a patent for a system that he hopes will prevent the next Katrina. More »
  • #vizio

    Vizio Import Ban Overturned, Free To Ship TVs To US

    US customs has cleared Vizio in an ongoing patent dispute with Funai, meaning that they will be allowed to freely ship their HDTVs into the US once more.
  • #mockups

    Samsung's New Smartphone QWERTY Idea: Keep Trying, Guys

    Samsung filed a patent for this avian-looking smartphone concept: Two spring-loaded half-keyboards burst from the sides of the phone, which in theory provides both a larger keyboard and more screen space, since hands are out of the way. In theory. More »
  • #patent

    Apple's Future iPhone Patents Show Fingerprint ID For Different Gestures, Plus More

    MacRumors found three interesting patents that point to various new interaction techniques. The most interesting is the fingerprint ID directly on the screen so that the iPhone can see which finger you're using and accept gestures appropriately. More »
  • #apple

    iPhone Patents Promise to Automate Our Relationships at Last

    Unwired View uncovered three new iPhone patents that promise to turn everything from calling grandma on her birthday to turning off your phone in a movie theater into gloriously mindless activities. More »
  • #beer

    Bill Gates Applies for Patent on High Tech Keg

    The cerveza mogul himself Señor Bill Gates is listed on a new patent for a "thermally sealed container." And yes, one of its potential functions is to hold beer. More »
  • #windows

    Microsoft Wins Patent for Crippling Your Computer Until You Pay Up

    Oh ho ho. Microsoft just got a patent for crippling your computer until you pay them dammit. More »
  • #patents

    Apple Patent Hints at iTunes Kiosks

    A recent Apple patent application hints at the creation of iTunes kiosks for local and remote media downloading in public areas, such as airports, malls, hotels and even public transportation. More »
  • #apple

    New Apple Patent Points at Next-Gen iPhone Video Chat Again

    A new Apple patent on a motion-aware iPhone user interface points again at the possibility of a front-facing video camera for video chat in next generation iPhones. One that won't require the 3G videoconferencing kit. More »
  • #patents

    Apple Patent Implies iPod to Get a Unibody

    Last October, Apple started using unibody designs in their MacBook and MacBook Pro. A newly uncovered patent suggests that the next product to incorporate this aluminum case may be the iPod. More »
  • #patent

    Apple's Patent Hints at iChat AV Video Answering Machine Message

    This patent for automatically sending an audio or video reply to an iChat call has us excited, because it could point to automated replies not just on computers, but via the iPhone as well. More »
  • #patents

    Apple Patents Movement Gestures for the iPhone

    Apple recently applied for a patent for "movement-based interfaces for personal media devices," which means a more advanced accelerometer and movement gestures for the iPhone. More »
  • #apple

    Shot of Jailbroken iPhone Sneaks Into Apple Patent Application

    Looks like somebody over at the Apple legal department has been enjoying a little Jailbreak action, because a sketch in a recent patent application includes some features a stock iPhone just doesn't have. Update: More »
  • #apple

    Apple's Ideas for Seamless Biometric Security on iPhone and MacBook

    To me, the biometric readers you see on most laptops are obnoxious blemishes—they really can't make them more discrete? Apple feels the same way, so I like their ideas for seamless biometric security.
  • #apple

    Apple Tablet Likely Described in Patent

    Hidden within the usual litany of claims in a patent awarded this January-titled "Display Housing for Computing Device", which covers their current portable displays-Apple describes a tablet display, with the display housing the computer device. More »
  • #iphone

    Apple Patent Would Automatically Adjust iPhone, Mac Volume

    A newly published Apple patent reveals that the company has worked out a system that would auto-adjust the volume of the iPhone or MacBook speakers based on the levels of ambient noise. More »
  • #frivolouslawsuits

    Tiny Company Sues Apple, Microsoft, and Google, Has Balls the Size of Texas

    Cygnus Systems Inc, a small Michigan company, was recently awarded a patent for thumbnail previews of a file, and celebrated by immediately suing the biggest names in town. More »
  • #apple

    Apple Patents For Liquid-Cooled Portables Surface

    While us normal folk were gorging on turkey and fixings, the tireless US Patent Office was busy filing an interesting Apple patent detailing a mobile liquid cooling system—something that looks like it could be used in a future portable device.
  • #lawsuits

    Apple Hit With Bizarre, Poorly Scanned iPhone Browsing Patent Suit

    Granted, there aren't that many original ways to sue Apple anymore, but this one is just peculiar. Elliot Gottfurcht, a successful commercial real estate developer, is suing the company because he claims to hold a patent for "the way the iPhone navigates the Internet." He was indeed granted an internet-ish patent in late October, but it's hard to see how exactly it relates to Apple, or how this isn't just another example of Hail Mary patent extortion plot. UPDATE:It looks like the crux of Gottfurcht's claim against Apple is buried in the middle of the patent, and regards a number of methods for navigating web content. More »
  • #rfeverywhere

    Apple Patent Forsees Gadget RF Connectivity Everywhere, From Shirts to Cars

    Apple's just filed a patent titled "Personal area network systems and devices and methods for use thereof" which is speculative, but basically offers us a sniff of how the future of gadget interconnectivity might be. Apple imagines small, intelligent and efficient RF transmitter-receivers that can handshake and pass data between gadgets and which are embedded everywhere, literally from your socks upwards. More »
  • #tivo

    Tivo and Echostar DVR Patent Saga Ends With $104 Million Payout to Tivo

    After getting resoundly swatted in court by Tivo time and again for walking all over its patent for a "multimedia time warping system" (cool retro-future speak for a DVR), Echostar (now just Dish) is finally admitting defeat once and for all. Following its loss to TiVo in a US Appeals court earlier this year, Echostar appealed to the Supreme Court, which just decided not to hear the case, leaving Echostar nowhere else to turn. More »
  • #patents

    Automatic Cameraphone Zoom Shows Up In Sony Ericsson Patent App

    I guess the complicated combination of accelerometers and proximity sensors isn't trivial technology, but this one really should have been done by now: automatic zoom based on camera movement. In a new patent application, Sony Ericsson has detailed technology that judges your intention to zoom by measuring the camera's distance from your body, zooming in as it moves further away. The patent is just for cameraphones at the moment, but there's no reason that it couldn't (or shouldn't) crop up in the next generation of point and shoots as well. [UnwiredView via Engadget]
  • #cellphones

    Google 'Instant Bid' Wireless Patent Could Threaten Cellular, Wi-Fi Providers

    If Android sputters out and fades away, Google might have another plan to shake up the phone industry. In a patent filed and 2007 and published this week, Google details plans for an "Instant Bid" system for dealing with wireless connections. The concept is pretty straightforward: devices broadcast their request for service, and available networks automatically return a list of price offers for that service. The system makes perfect sense for locations with competing Wi-Fi hotspots, but the application specifically talks about telecommunication devices. That's where things get interesting. More »
  • #drmabsurdities

    Apple Patents DRM For Pairing Only Official Nike Shoes With Nike+ Sensor

    Everyone knows joggers can make the worst criminals—look at them, all smug with their fitness, rubbing it in your face on the sidewalk in front of your house as they make a quick and effortless getaway from whatever malfeasance they've just hoisted on an innocent and unsuspecting car-preferring public. And the intellectual property violations? Boy, don't get me started. But now those degenerates may be getting what's been coming—the days of pairing Nike+ with shoes other than those made by Nike may be numbered, if a recent Apple patent has anything to say about it. More »
  • #creative

    Creative Patent Looks Like an Internet Tablet, Digital Camera and More!

    This newly discovered patent by Creative, whether actually in production or not, looks like a pretty neat device. Because from what we can make out from the diagrams, it appears to be much more than just a another media player. Internet tablet seems to make sense, with that right oval on the side being a logical (OK, remotely possible) indication of a Wi-Fi antenna. But we've seen stuff like this before. Flip it around to the backside, however, and surprise! There's a camera. More »
  • #mactablet

    Leaked Apple Patent Filing is Full of New Multitouch Tech For a Mac Tablet

    Appleinsider has gotten their hands on a large patent filing from Apple that we haven't seen before, and it's loaded with plans for how a multitouch interface would work on a tablet Mac running full-blown OS X. It covers how small interface buttons will be handled, iPhone-like scrolling through lists, details on a full multi-touch keyboard, and a nifty pop-up scroll wheel. And on top of all that, it seems like it'll even work if you have freaky alien fingers! Let's take a closer look. More »
  • #multitouch

    Apple's Multi-Touch Gesture Patent Has So Many Combinations It's a Shocker

    You can already do a handful of gestures on the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro's trackpad, but Apple's going in and patenting a whole bunch more. Not only are there gestures in this application that involve a thumb and three fingers—something casual users will probably never use—but there's even a sample of how this would work for games like Tetris (shown after the jump) or Final Fantasy. Each "chord" would correspond to a character or movement or attack or something, which is definitely not simple like the Firefox/Opera mouse gestures we've gotten used to. Still, more gestures are always good, and we're sure the end product won't be ridiculous like these. [Unwired View via Crunchgear] More »
  • #iphone3g

    Patent Shows Apple Researching Advanced iPhone Sensor Use, iChat Integration

    Over at Mac Rumors they've unearthed a recent patent that shows Apple is researching cleverer use of the iPhone's many sensors. More nifty than turning the screen off when you put it to your ear, the new uses may include things like working out it's in your pocket (by temperature, proximity and ambient light) and then auto-switching to vibrate mode. Intriguingly, there's a hint that by detecting you've docked the phone, it may pass an ongoing phone call to a VoIP call over iChat. This all makes sense: making best use of those sensors and the iPhone's power... but like all Apple patents, we may never see these ideas in a real-life software update. [MacRumors]
  • #retromodo

    Retromodo: Microsoft Takes a Few Steps Back With "The Veda" Computing System

    While The Veda concept is a fairly new idea out of Microsoft's R&D labs, the design itself looks as though it was picked out of a time capsule sealed in the mid '90's. Apparently, the Veda can be used as a phone when the screen is closed, as a multimedia player when the screen is open, and as a normal portable PC by opening the screen and extracting the keyboard. It also looks about the same size as a library dictionary. More »
  • #appleiphonepatent

    Full Apple Patent Shows iPhone Future Possibilities

    The US Patent and Trademark Office has published today a 372-page document detailing every known and unknown aspect of the iPhone. As you can imagine, the most interesting bits of patent 20080122796 are the features never detailed before—like video conference, GPS, widget creator, multimedia messaging, and video recording. Apple secrecy often pushes USPTO patent publication to just mere days before the release of the actual product, to avoid the disclosure of new products or features. Could this mean that we will see some—if not all—of these new listed features in the upcoming iPhone 2.0? We don't know for sure, but here's the complete list for you to judge. More »
  • #questionoftheday

    Cellphone Call Quality Warning System: Useful or Redundant?

    We were talking today in Campfire—Giz's virtual office—about Apple's newly uncovered patent on a system that warns you about bad quality or dropping cellular or Wi-Fi connections "ahead of time." Jason thought it could be useful to know that, so you could just avoid making the call. I thought that it wouldn't be useful at all, because if I needed to call, I would call anyway—and if the connection dropped, I would call again. Are we missing something? Do you really want to know the quality of a call beforehand, especially if you are traveling, and said quality is constantly changing as you move? And don't cellphones already warn you about dropping calls? More »
  • #apple

    Apple Files Patent To Put Solar Cells on Portable Devices

    Is Apple planning on giving their MacBooks, iPods and possibly the iPhone a solar powered boost of energy? Doubtful—but we know they have thought about it thanks to a recently published patent for "solar cells on portable devices." According to the patent, Apple would completely cover a device in a thin layer of solar cells—including the display to maximize the amount of power that the device could harness from the sun. More »
  • #law

    Nintendo Billed $21 Million For Patent Infringement

    A federal jury has ordered Nintendo to pay Anascape $21 million for infringing on patents, and almost ironically, all of this has nothing to do with the Wiimote. Instead, their violations were for the GameCube, WaveBird and Wii Classic controllers. The news doesn't come as any huge surprise, as during the last generation of consoles all three of the big manufacturers found themselves in hot coffee water for various controller patent issues—Microsoft just settled with Anascape for an undisclosed amount earlier this month. Nintendo is expected to seek an appeal using the argument, "It'sa not-ta me, Mario!" [Yahoo News]
  • #philips

    High-Pressure Tooth Spray Cleans Teeth With Water, Not Bristles

    Toothbrush-like contraptions that spray water into your teeth holes have been around for years, but Philips' new patent has several innovations that makes sure you don't blast your gums into submission. The spray head has probes that can detect how far away it is from your teeth, ensuring optimum distance. More »
  • #dslrs

    New Nikon Patent Brings In-Viewfinder Display To DSLRs

    A newly published patent application from Nikon has revealed plans for a new viewfinder technology involving a small display screen that can be viewed within the optical viewfinder. The photographer could switch between the optical image and digital display for a number of reasons, the most notable being the ability to enable a wide viewing angle when zoomed in on a subject. More »
  • #apple

    Is Apple Developing a Wiimote-Inspired Controller For Apple TV?

    A newly published patent filing has revealed that Apple is considering a 3D remote control system that combines features found in the Wiimote and their own multi-touch technology. According to the filing, the system could detect the position of the remote control and be used to manipulate objects as well as "zoom into and out of an image or a portion thereof based on the absolute position of the remote control in the third axis"—features that Appleinsider believes could be destined for Apple TV. More »
  • #iphonepatent

    iPhone Instant Message Patent Points to Upcoming MMS, Background IMs, GPS Module

    Apple's filed a patent on their upcoming iPhone instant messaging app, detailing exactly what it's going to look like and how it's going to behave. While most of the images show an iChat-esque (and current SMS-like) interface, there are some interesting tidbits we picked up from the text. One, there's mention of "graphics, photos, audio files, video files and/or other attachments as are supported in a MMS and/or Enhanced Message Service," which points to possible MMS support in the future. At the very least, it might mean that their IM app will be able to transfer files. Two, there's also a reference to the user receiving "an instant message while the user of the device is in another application," alleviating fears that we wouldn't be able to IM in the background. Both these snippets are after the jump. More »