LED backlit notebooks are the new fad for notebook manufacturers, the forerunners being Sony, Toshiba, Fujitsu, and Asustek. Now Apple and Hewlett Packard (HP) are going to release their models with the said technology in Q2 2007.

Even when big notebook makers are using LEDs, Taiwan LED manufacturers are unlikely to profit from the innovation, according to DigiTimes.com

The use of LED backlights has become more popular, but LED manufacturers in Taiwan would unlikely supply the demand since their LEDs simply don't cut it. The specifications of a backlit notebook is 1,680 nits, and Taiwan LED makers have yet to reach that brightness level. Patent restraints would also be a hurdle since notebook makers consider that better than cost competitiveness.

However, they will continue making the LEDs for handsets though they are constantly under pressure to be cost competitive.

There's an old engineers' saying that goes "If it ain't broke...it doesn't have enough upgrades." And if we're reading this news  right, Apple's got the same idea. We've heard that they've been granted another patent for a "hybrid low power computer mouse," which looks like an upgrade to their wireless Mighty Mouse.

According to the patent (publication number 7,154,477) granted to Apple by the US Patent & Trademark Office, this new mouse design is slated to fix one recurring problem - short battery life. In an effort to stretch the Mighty Mouse's two-month battery change intervals, and to forego making a rechargeable system, Apple's new mouse patent called for a two-part tracking system. The ever-present optical tracking system, and a new low-consumption tracking system running on an accelerometer - the same device that runs a Wiimote.

The design's under development by Steve Hotelling, Joshua Strickon, Brian Huppi and Christoph Krah, and we're not too sure how these two tracking systems will interact to make for a low-consumption device. But for now, we invite you to read up on the full details on the patent, available on the read link.

The US Patent and Trademark Office recently published the latest of Apple's seemingly never-ending stream of patents. Nope, it ain't as revolutionary as a new iPod, an ultra-portable Tablet Mac, a world without buttons, or whatever they'll call the used-to-be-iPhone now. It's something as prosaic and ho-hum as... a guard system for a notebook's disk drive slots, says Apple patent watcher and decrypter MacNN.

Wait... maybe it's not so prosaic at all. Apple does have a point when it says in its patent abstract that "Unquestionably, portable computers are subjected to a host of insults." Insults? What Apple meant is that often, when transporting a notebook, people often get careless and either dump the laptop in a bag full of odds and ends, or dump odds and ends into their laptop carrying case - right with the laptop. Eventually, something harmful's gonna stick itself through a floppy's slot (or even an open-slot CD/DVD drive), and play havoc with some sensitive tech innards inside. Things like paper clips, chewing-gum, toothpicks, guitar picks, show tickets, business cards, and so forth.

The Apple patent, which incidentally was filed last year but only saw the light of blog today, hinges on an "actuated guard" that swings across the slot of a floppy disk or optical disc drive when not in use. This blocks off access to the port when it's not in use. No other details were provided in MacNN, so we cannot draw a better picture of how this will work. The best we can do is simply say that it's really as prosaic as giving the disk drive a stronger door to keep the unwanted out, but that's Apple patents for you.

If it weren't for that click wheel, the iPod would probably be less symbolic. Consider, for example, navigating the iPod via the touchscreen. Or, finding barely visible buttons on the frame of the display. Apple has apparently been experimenting with this type of navigation control for quite some time now, but the patent only got published last Thursday. From the looks of it, we'd soon be watching more videos from our iPods and playing songs less often.

It isn't really a black or white concept. Apple's been looking into a hybrid, just to appease you guys who've fallen so faithfully for the click wheel. If this hybrid sees the light of day, we'll be seeing a virtual wheel in the touch screen and a bunch of other navigation controls in the display's frame as well.

And if it does see the light of day, expect something more freakish features in the iPod versions of the future. In the patent diagram, Apple showed that the iPod would have a sensor that will detect whether you're lying down or standing up. The text, display images, and touchscreen controls would change horizontally or vertically and adapt to your spatial orientation. Neat!

Apple didn't confirm, however, whether the new features will be included in all the iPods or in the latest video-playing versions only.

So there's this Sirius-Apple partnership rumor that's been spreading. What's it based on? Well, perhaps this is the probable reason for that rumor to er... "break." - Apple has recently filed a patent application for a method of saving media from various sources for later purchase. It's actually a pretty innovative method for grabbing snippets of audio, identifying the song/track and allowing the user to purchase that song.

The site Orbitcast, claims that the patent is the most solid information to date that Apple might be considering integration with satellite radio. They add that this is not an exclusive relationship with satellite radio, but rather a method for Apple to get around the Â?song discoveryÂ? roadblock that is inherent with the iPod.

This technology can allow a listener to tune into a wireless signal, say FM radio, or digital radio, using either a wireless card or an accessory that the iPod can recognize.

Apple specifically stated in the document that we've sourced below that the wireless signal could be Â?AM/FM radio, satellite radio, WiFi.Â?

This tech could prove to be a boon to the iPod as it allows the iPod user to Â?discoverÂ? music while in a car. Something that AM/FM radios have been providing to users for decades now.

What makes satellite radio shine compared to AM/FM? Well, satellite radio allows not only provides the audio for the iPod to "consume" - but also the associated metadata is already encoded in - making it easier to identify the song and give the listener a  purchase option. The capability to buy songs the moment you hear them? Nice.

"Home on iPod," a feature that allows a Mac computer to store files, folders and apps on an iPod which can be accessed via any supported Mac, has been granted a patent after going MIA for three years. The technology was set to make its appearance in 2003 on the Mac OS X 10.3 but never made the final cut of the said OS for some unknown reason.

The patent application for "Home on iPod" described it as:

"A user account created at a multi-user computer can be stored to an external, portable data store, and thus the user account becomes portable. The multi-user computer system, through its operating system, locates user accounts on not only in local storage of the multi-user computer system, but also in any removable data storage attached to the multi-user computer system."

So you mean like the U3 flash drives for the PC?

Despite its patent approval, the fate of the "Home on iPod" remains a mystery.

The Us Patent and Trademark Office just recently published the patent that Apple filed Last March. The patent titled "Multi-functional hand held device" gives us potential sneak peaks at what Apple just might have in store for us during their September 12 "Showtime" media event.

Let's get into the requisite techie nitty-gritty. Beware, jargon follows. The Patent notes:

"The selection can come in a variety of forms. For example, the selection may be made via a main menu that includes soft buttons or icons that, when selected, activate the device functionality associated with the soft button. During activation, the GUI for that particular device is brought into view on the display and the software associated with the device is installed, loaded or activated. From that point on, the multi-functional device operates like the selected device."

From what we understand, the unit referred to in the patent has the potential to feature customizable, interchangeable User Interfaces. Ooh, that's something to watch out for.

If you want to see a list of the amazing topics covered by the patent like "3d spatial gestures" and "Touch-sensitive Housings" read more and see what tricks Apple might have in store for us after the jump!

 

The glass-made Apple Store located on 5th Avenue in Manhattan has been aptly dubbed as "The Cube" because of its structure. The pet name might have stucked very well to the mind of Apple higher ups and brought back memories.

Why? Because there are talks and speculations that Apple Cube is being resurrected. Not that site in Manhattan, take note but the real Apple Cube Power Mac G4. Based from these purported patent images, the new design addressed several issues its predecessor faced. It will have two removable sides for the easy access and upgrade of components such as hard drive, memory and PC cards.

The overheating problem was also not forgotten, ergo, the innovative heat sink mechanism. Here, you can opt to insert a separate cooling fan but you can also work without it in some cases.

Apple Cube was originally released in July 2000 and sold only around 150, 000 units.

 

What you're seeing on the right is the scan of one of the patent pictures submitted by Apple to the U.S. Trademark Website. Ask anyone and they will say this unmistakably is an iPod. And judging from the looks of it, it seems as though it is the rumored touch sensitive iPod model.

The reports on this started circulating because of the increasing tablet PC popularity. With that in mind, a touch sensitive iPod could not very far in mind. Push the mind a little bit further and we are left thinking if Apple will come up with a full screen iPod or an Apple tablet instead. Or maybe, even a combination of both.

Aside from the picture displayed herein, the possibility really seems plausible as depicted by the video attached below. Look at the picture carefully and watch the video a couple of times. You be the judge.

Download: [Possiblity of Touch Sensitive iPod]

Apple and Creative have finally come to a settlement after their long legal battle over Creative patents being present in Apple's iPod that has become the world's icon for MP3 players. Apple will pay Creative $100 million for a paid-up license to use Creative's recently-awarded patent in all Apple products but may be able to recoup some of this settlement money if Creative decides to license this patent to other companies.

Yet Creative still has a lot to say. In light of recent events and with Apple and Creative becoming 'friends' again, Creative is announcing its own iPod accessory products later this year. Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, said, "This settlement resolves all of our differences with Creative, including the five lawsuits currently pending between the companies, and removes the uncertainty and distraction of prolonged litigation."

I'm sure Creative are glad that this long legal battle is over too, with $100 million worth of reparations and the ability to safely launch 'Made for iPod' products. After all, Creative may be competing with Apple in the MP3 player market, but with such a large fanbase, how can you afford not to make iPod accessories?