Even after implementing the option to set maximum volume limits on their iPods, Apple has patented another application in an attempt to save the iPod-listening population's hearing. According to the patent, this feature will automatically turn down the volume once it determines that the user is exposed to potentially damaging noise levels. More details in the full article.

Apple's patent for a touch surface keyboard was recently revealed and it describes quite a few innovative features that should please Apple fans. In the document, Apple discusses a very unique and novel approach to the device and how they plan on dealing with the problems that most touch surface keyboards weren't able to address.

For those who aren't familiar with this concept, it is essentially a keyboard which can also double as a touchpad. While this will undoubtedly save some desk space, the use of one surface for typing and as a touchpad is tough to develop.

If the device were to be completely flat like a touchpad, it would be hard to type since most users are used to finding ridges to denote keys. However, if they do decide to add ridges to the surface, it interrupts the smooth movement of users' fingers while using the device as a touchpad.

To solve this problem, Apple has proposed to use a flexible material which lays on top of a layer of keys. When a user wants to use the device for typing, the keys rise up and forms bumps on the surface of the device thus giving users the tactile response they would expect from a keyboard.

So far, Apple has not released an official statement regarding this device. If Apple does decide to continue developing this device we might see future Macs packaged with this new peripheral.

Nintendo is having tremendous success with its handheld console, the DS, despite the fact that Sony's PlayStation Portable has been providing intense opposition. Given Nintendo's recent moves, it seems that the company is planning to delve deeper into the casual games arena, engaging Apple in the process.

Accordingly, Nintendo recently filed a patent that will bring the Wii's motion-sensing features to the handheld platform hinting that a new DS SKU is coming soon. More interestingly, analysts have said that a motion-sensitive DS is similar to Apple's motion-based accelerometer-enabled iPhone.

  

Apple has reportedly been preparing its library of games for the iPhone. Engadget.com Editorial Director Peter Rojas commented that "Apple is expected to make a gaming announcement soon by Macworld in January at the latest". AppleInsider.com Editor-In-Chief Kasper Jade added, "I was told that a major game developer was seeded with iPhone [technology] quite some time ago".

Some of you may comment that iPhone is not really a contender because it lacks buttons. But technology expert Seth Porges already has an answer to that, "If people could get over the lack of real buttons, the fact that the screen is multi-touch could be ideal for light gaming".

If all of these turn out to be true, then all we can say is that we are all in for a great war between titans Nintendo and Apple and we hope that the consumers will benefit from this in the end.

It seems like lawsuits are flying everywhere nowadays. Apple has once again received a lawsuit over one of iPhone's basic utilities, the virtual keyboard. Apple reportedly infringed on a patent that was issued to SP Technologies LLC.

Part of the patent awarded to SP Technologies in 2004 goes is as follows: "...method and medium for computer readable keyboard display incapable of user termination." If we are not mistaken, this translates to any virtual keyboard that cannot be turned off by the user.

The lawsuit was filed on August 2 in a federal court in Tyler, Texas. SP Technologies LLC wants Apple to pay reasonable royalties for the use of the patent for each iPhone sold, aside from seeking permanent injunction preventing Apple from further use of the reported patent. If found guilty, Apple will be forced to pay damages equal to three times the economic loss SP Technologies have allegedly suffered.

We have to consider though, that virtual keyboards are already being used in other devices for sometime now. We do hope, however, that this lawsuit can be put to an end in a peaceful manner.

Here's a radically simple way to discourage people from stealing your iPod: prevent them from being able to charge it. Yep, that's the new concept that Apple has filed as patent.

You know how the iTunes in your computer instantly recognizes if that iPod is the one it's matched with? Well that's the little trick that Apple wants to employ in the new anti-theft concept. If the iTunes in your computer fails to recognize the iPod as the one matched to it, it sends out a command to the iPod so that it will not allow further charging.

The concept would work for any device with a rechargeable battery because the device recognizes the charger. All it needs is a little modification to commit "recharge harakiri" on command. Here's how Apple describes it in their filing:
 

For devices that are mainly powered by a rechargeable-power-supply (eg. music-players, phones, Personal Digital Assistants), disabling the recharger effectively renders the device inoperable when the power of the main power-supply has run out. As such, disabling the recharger should serve as a deterrent to theft.

How about an iPod taser? That'll be a real effective deterrent to theft.

 

The iPod, despite its already booming success, just keeps getting better and better. Apple just filed a patent application for a Karaoke function for the iPod (and quite possibly the iPhone by extension), with a diagram pictured above.

The patent is focused on integrating the text files of the lyrics into the song media file, proposing a way to let the text scroll in tune to the music. However, nowhere in the patent application states a way to mute the voice from the song - which is important, because nobody wants to compete with Alisha Keys while belting it out.

Sure, there's already the iSing, and there are also other gadgets in the market that feature a Karaoke function, but the idea of being able to do karaoke on the go with everybody's beloved iPod is nothing short of awesome.

Click on the Read link to read the patent in full. (Image courtesy of Unwired View.)

With the iPhone picking up quite nicely for both fans and non-fans, what's Apple got in store for us in the near future? A recently filed document at the United States Patent Application office indicates that the company may be taking another look at its laptop lines. The patent in question is for a back-lit touch pad.

The list reproduced below enumerates the first three claims of Apple's new patent:

1. An illuminated input device, the illuminated input device comprising: an object sensing mechanism capable of sensing a user input over an input surface; and a visual feedback system configured to illuminate the input surface in association with a user input.
2. The input device as recited in claim 1 further including a controller that is operatively coupled to the object sensing mechanism and the visual feedback system, the controller monitoring signals generated at the object sensing mechanism, the controller selectively controlling the illumination provided by the visual feedback system
3. The input device as recited in claim 1 wherein the object sensing mechanism includes a touch panel capable of sensing touches in localized areas of the input surface, and wherein the visual feedback system includes a light panel capable of emitting light in localized areas of the input surface.
   

If we're reading this properly, the back-light system is designed to react according to the user's input - line 3 further implies that the lights will only be isolated to the portion of the pad being touched by the user. Better yet, perhaps even leaving an illuminated trail of where your finger's been on the pad.

Of course, this is speculation on our part, but it does hint at what possible new innovations Apple has planned in the upcoming months. Stay tuned in case we pick up more info.

Shortly after JP Morgan analyst Kevin Chang submitted a report about an iPhone Nano in the works, another analyst from JP Morgan motioned to have the said report retracted, saying that the release of a low-end iPhone shortly after the iPhone's launch "would be unusual, and highly risky."

JP Morgan's Bill Shope explains that Apple is now in the process of testing the waters in the mobile phone market, and a premature entry of a lower-end phone unit would affect its credibility and dominance over the MP3 player industry. He further expounds that the current Nano units are doing very well in the market, and there is no need to risk it.

Shope also mentioned that he and his colleagues tried to confirm the channel checks that Kevin Chang cited in his report, but to no avail. However, they found that the speculations regarding a late 2007 release of the iPhone Nano was merely based around a public patent that contained a description of a device equipped with a circular touch control device similar to the iPod Nano.

Well, it does seem that it's too soon for Apple to release another version of the iPhone this year. But those who are waiting for a more affordable version of the iPhone can be very well assured that there's one coming their way, what with the iPhone doing very well since its launch date.

Seems like the Photoshopped pictures of an iPhone nano might become a reality in the last quarter of this year, if a JP Morgan report turns out to be true. According to this report, Apple filed a patent for a handheld device eerily similar to the iPod nano, even sporting the same circular touch pad control.

To add credibility to his report, JP Morgan analyst Kevin Chang cited people from an unnamed supply channel as well as the smoking gun: an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office for his report.

Indeed, the launching of a more affordable version of the iPhone will bring both Apple and the consumers into a win-win situation. For Apple, such a move will boost iPhone sales, which initially expects only a meager 1% of the entire cell phone market shares. For the consumers (who usually spare about US$ 100 for getting mobile phones), a release of a budget iPhone will make owning one much more ideal.

Chang said in his report that should Apple go through with the possible iPhone remodeling, attaining sales as high as 30 million to 40 million will become an achievable goal in 2008. Also, with a lot of people turning up to get themselves a piece of the hot iPhone, getting - or even exceeding - that sales mark can be a very sure thing.

To view the U.S. patent application, you can click on the Read link.

By way of the US Patent & Trademark Office, we've picked up some interesting info on a prototype Apple gadget that the company has just filed a patent for. The new patent is for what appears to be a "Mouse with optical sensing surface":

A configurable mouse with an extended sensing surface, which provides the mouse a customizable, programmable or adaptable way of generating inputs, the mouse including an arbitrarily shaped grippable member having a 3D shape, a position detection mechanism that detects the movement of the mouse along a surface, a multi-point touch detection mechanism that detects one or more objects that are contacting or in close proximity to a substantially large portion of the grippable member, and a controller for processing signals generated by the position detection mechanism and multi-point touch detection mechanism.

In layman's terms, this means we're looking at a possible multi-touch mouse in the near future. Not much else is said about this new design patent - we'll just have to wait it out until Apple decides to provide more details for this news. A most timely patent announcement, given that Microsoft recently released information on their very own touch table...