patents - Gizmodo

posts about #patents more →
Apple's New Patent Application For Pen-Based Tablet Input
Nokia Patent Gives Another Glimpse Into World's Touchy-Feely Future
Apple Tablet May Have Two-Handed Multitouch Input
Oh My Lord: Banana Injector Fills a Banana with Ice Cream
Sony PS3 Laugh Detector Patent Has Very Juvenile Sense of Humor
Ill-Fated Input Devices: Wonderfully Strange, But Tragically Flawed
RIM Patents Hybrid Capacitive-Resistive Screen
Back in the Day, Patents Actually Meant Something
Tsera Sues Apple, Microsoft... Everyone Else For Touchpad Tech
Nokia Trademarks "C-Series" of Devices

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Odin
11/12/09

In reply to Apple's New Patent Application For Pen-Based Tablet Input
Finger input is fine for smaller devices such as the iPhone where using a stylus is just cumbersome. With decent enough real estate though it's nicer and more precise to use a stylus.

Either way until the Apple tablet gains some substance I've got much more interest in Microsofts courier device. #appledigitalinkpenpatent
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mmmiles
11/12/09

@Odin: Well, some of the time. A stylus is irritating for casual use: fiddly, doesn't let you use it one handed, and one more thing to lose.

When I want to get some work done, however, a stylus is a nice addition. Plus, think of stylus + multi touch, and what kind of weird interactions you could have. Precise pointing with multi-touch gestures to modify objects (?). #appledigitalinkpenpatent
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Odin
11/12/09

@mmmiles:
Well as I said, often whether a stylus is appropriate or not depends on the design of the device. Small devices like the iPhone don't benefit as much because of some of the reasons you mentioned. On a tablet scale device though you're unlikely to be using it one handed in the same way you would an iPhone. The screens too big to get the sort of reach with a thumb while holding it one handed and if you're using it on a flat surface you can still use it one handed with the stylus. Plus increased size means a good likelyhood there'll be a storage compartment for the stylus which alleviates some of the risk of losing it.

As for multi touch it's still quite feasible with a stylus. I know I could perform pinch/spread gestures with my index finger and thumb without having to put a stylus down. #appledigitalinkpenpatent
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mmmiles
11/12/09

@Odin: I meant with your other hand, but that's a neat idea too. Too bad years of computer use and no training my art skills has left me with completely useless handwriting and pen skills.

Personally, I would expect them to borrow a lot from the iphone, especially in terms of one handed use, to help it appeal to a broader market (say, reading your newspaper or blogs in the morning, for presentations or any kind of casual reading). Just a hope, though. #appledigitalinkpenpatent
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Odin
11/12/09

@mmmiles:
It's never going to be one handed use in the same sense as the iPhone though. Because of its size you're always going to need one hand to hold it and one hand to use it effectively. While on the iPhone you can reach a large percentage of the screen with a thumb while holding it. That percentage area is significantly reduced on a tablet sized device so you're going to be able to access a less effective area. #appledigitalinkpenpatent
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Nelson
11/12/09

@Odin: agreed. I'm gonna throw out some blasphemy right here:

J. Allard is the next Steve Jobs. #appledigitalinkpenpatent
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k-napped
11/12/09

In reply to Apple's New Patent Application For Pen-Based Tablet Input
If they had a Wacom style pressure sensitive pen I would just install Photoshop and Corel Painter on this thing and disable everything else. I'd be so cool to digitally paint on the fly. So many drawing applications, so little time. #appledigitalinkpenpatent
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medopal
11/12/09

In reply to Apple's New Patent Application For Pen-Based Tablet Input
huh!! i thought Steve Jobs said "who needs a stylus, yuuuuk" Macworld 2007 #appledigitalinkpenpatent
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outeast
11/12/09

In reply to Apple's New Patent Application For Pen-Based Tablet Input
OK, so how does multitouch work with a stylus? Dual-input? Having the option of a stylus would be nice, but styus-only would be a dealbreaker for me. #appledigitalinkpenpatent
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tande04 promoted this comment outeast was starred outeast was unstarred

tande04
11/12/09

@outeast: Don't see why it would have to sacrifice one for the other. You can use a stylus on the iPhone. #appledigitalinkpenpatent
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outeast
11/12/09

@tande04: ? Only styluses (styli?) I know of for the iPhone are those weird Pogo ones and equivalents. My impression has been that capacitative touch really doesn't lend itself to stylus input. But I'm probably wrong, I generally am:) #appledigitalinkpenpatent
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tande04
11/12/09

@outeast: You're not wrong really. Its just that are ways of making it work.

The way that the capacitive screen works doesn't work like the old screen stylus combination but they did come up with a new way of working with it. I've never used one but they're apparently good enough for apple since they're using them on the new iPod touch POS. #appledigitalinkpenpatent
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outeast
11/13/09

@tande04: I Did Not Know That. #appledigitalinkpenpatent
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zaghy2zy
11/12/09

In reply to Apple's New Patent Application For Pen-Based Tablet Input
Why does Apple have to patent everything? Like every small thing that they think is their own original should be patented to them? I know why their doing the patents, but why do they have to do it for almost everything? #appledigitalinkpenpatent
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Jim Topoleski
11/12/09

@zaghy2zy: because EVERYONE has to.

Just because Gizmodo tends to post every single patent Apple posts, doesnt mean the other companies dont do it either.

And patents are how you protect the look and abilities of your device and keep it from being ripped off. #appledigitalinkpenpatent
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Kaiser-Machead
11/12/09

@Jim Topoleski: And from being sued by other companies or people claiming to have come up with it first. #appledigitalinkpenpatent
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92BuickLeSabre
10/25/09

In reply to Nokia Patent Gives Another Glimpse Into World's Touchy-Feely Future
I used to think we would have touchscreens all over the house.

Now I'm realizing we will have one little touchscreen computer that will work as the remote for everything from our car to our office door to our to paying for coffee to brewing coffee at home. #touchscreens
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TheLostVikings R.O.A.C.H.
10/25/09

In reply to Nokia Patent Gives Another Glimpse Into World's Touchy-Feely Future
Looks like the touchscreen lies on top of a pressure sensor, so it's a lot like those screens that try to simulate pushing buttons by using haptic feedback. I guess having the pressure sensitive layer underneath the screen helps preserve the image quality. #touchscreens
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Biscuitcleaver
10/02/09

In reply to Apple Tablet May Have Two-Handed Multitouch Input
I'm guessing if the tablet were to come out next year, they would have filed patents a looong time ago.
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OCEntertainment
10/02/09

@Biscuitcleaver: That's what I'm thinking. These patents tend to be filed years in advance. If this mess is gonna be in a tablet that is supposed to come out nine months from now (this time), somebody's been sitting on their hands for a while.

As with every one of these dang Tablet rumors....I'll see it when I believe it.
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Sir Gibler
10/02/09

@Biscuitcleaver: from my understanding patents take about 7 years to get filed.
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heisthejordan
10/02/09

In reply to Apple Tablet May Have Two-Handed Multitouch Input
why is it that all these patent filings look like they were drawn in a 7th grade art class? couldnt those engineers hire an actual artist to draw those hands? its not like apple doesnt have the money.
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D.E.P.C.
10/02/09

@heisthejordan: Proof they don't need an artist: you knew they were hands.

If I drew them, we'd be saying; "what are those meatballs on sticks typing on that tablet for?"
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BucksterMcgee
10/02/09

In reply to Apple Tablet May Have Two-Handed Multitouch Input
Ugh, look this is proof of how Microsoft is stealing from Apple yet again. This time Microsoft has gone too far though, I mean to actually time travel to the future, steal Apple's ideas and then travel back and release a patent of their own weeks before Apple puts on one for their own touch applications, it's all just sicking. I wish for once M$ would just come up with something on their own, and before Apple releases something.

I mean, before you know it M$ is going to try to start saying that they've been doing "tablet pcs" for years and years, that their old CEO and founder has talked about nothing else for as long as anyone can remember. They'll go so far to say that they even had software called "Windows XP tablet pc edition" or something crazy like that. I mean how desperate can Microsoft get? If something like that existed, then explain why there's an one sitting on my desk right now, that I can physically touch, yeah explain that one you stupid M$ fanbois.... wait, a minute....
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Dr. Evil Genius
08/25/09

In reply to Oh My Lord: Banana Injector Fills a Banana with Ice Cream
Banhammer.

Meet hhumbert.
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Curves
08/25/09

@Dr. Evil Genius: It COULD have been a mistake, as the rest of his comments dont really appear ban worthy. Lets give him the benefit of the doubt of tech issues this time. (If he does it again we will know for sure and can have a public hanging.)
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anexanhume
08/25/09

@Dr. Evil Genius: Don't sell his accomplishments short. Wait, what am I saying?
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Dr. Evil Genius
08/25/09

@Curves: Yeah... That was a 4-minute mistake... Maybe his computer is in the Twilight Zone...
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Dr. Evil Genius
08/25/09

@anexanhume: Everything will be okay.
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fuchikoma
08/25/09

In reply to Oh My Lord: Banana Injector Fills a Banana with Ice Cream
That was invented before Panama Disease basically wiped out the population of Gros Michel bananas, leaving the public eating Cavendish from the '60s onward instead... I wonder what the size difference was between them, and what a good size would be to inject a Cavendish...
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Edited by fuchikoma at 08/25/09 1:04 PM fuchikoma was starred fuchikoma was unstarred

anexanhume
08/25/09

In reply to Oh My Lord: Banana Injector Fills a Banana with Ice Cream
This is vastly superior to the infidels at hostess, who inject the cream in 3 spots along the shaft of the treat.
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jmeltzer
08/25/09

In reply to Oh My Lord: Banana Injector Fills a Banana with Ice Cream

Usually, when i eat a banana split sunday, i eat around the banana. It's just empty vitamins.
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SantaBarbaraWahoo
08/25/09

In reply to Oh My Lord: Banana Injector Fills a Banana with Ice Cream
There's always money in the banana stand...
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jmeltzer
08/25/09

@SantaBarbaraWahoo: Yeah, like the guy in the six thousand dollar suit is going to eat a banana filled with ice-cream! Come'on!
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