patent application

A new patent application from Apple describes tech that combines current 3D simulation for handheld devices with eye-tracking techniques for a new kind of interface.

Imagine this: an onscreen recovery application saves your day when you lose your password, without the need of a brain racking.

The Apple Blog has uncovered a patent application detailed by Apple for allowing your power adapter to become a security key for your password recovery process.

The high-speed Thunderbolt I/O could be headed to iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad in the future. A new patent application for cables suggests Apple has been working on it.

Apple has been garnering quite a reputation for itself as a patent bully, for example using patents around the world in an attempt to stop Samsung competing in the tablet market, and

Companies these days are doing all that they can to make gaming a more immersive experience for players. The days of hopping into a quick game of Super Mario Bros for 10 minutes by sitting down on the couch with a bag of Doritos and then shutting it off to do something else are over; nowadays you need to make it to a save point, capture an objective, or win the match before you can get on with your day.

But are these techniques actually making the games immersive enough to keep players engaged?

Sony doesn’t think so.

Apple has won a patent for the coveted pinch-to-zoom feature. The patent application was filed in December of 2006 (patent #7,812,826).

However, the patent issued does not give Apple complete control over the pinch-to-zoom functionality, which now exists on just about every current-generation platform.

Here's the section of the patent that...

It's always fun to see patent system defenders in our comments insist that the patent system rarely makes mistakes in issuing patents, and how really bad patents get pushed out upon review.

And yet... then we hear stories like the following one. Four guys, back in 2001 filed for a patent (6,519,629) on a "system for creating a community for users with common interests to interact in." Seriously.

Apple has filed a patent for the sharing of location-based data between devices and plotting your friends’ location o

YouTube is the world’s online video portal, but if a recent patent application filed by Google is any indication, it may be looking to became an interactive gaming portal as well.

The long speculated upon (but still unconfirmed) Apple Tablet might be still under