According to Mac News Network, Apple's recent patent application clued in a couple of images detailing the Mac OS X Dashboard and its ability to be manipulated in a 3D fashion. In addition to being able to flip the Dashboard to reveal several other faces of multiple Dashboards, each new face will sport different assortments of widgets as defined by the user of the system.

While it's a novel idea, the concept looks just as similar to Beryl, a breath-taking interface modification for users of supported flavors of Linux. In a similar fashion, Beryl allows Linux users to flip their entire desktop to reveal other different faces of the cube, and each new face also sports a different assortment of windows as set by the user.

Mere "coinkidink"? We'd like to say yes, but then the Apple patent doesn't rip off the concept of "Vista-killer" desktop interface to level against Microsoft's Aero interface. You can hop to the article in MacNN through the "Read" link below, but before you do, check out a demo of just what Beryl does and judge for yourself. Thanks to w00styl3 for the video.