Apple files patent for laptop with integrated camera

Sorry guys, but Sony may have prior art, but someone else was a LOT earlier. I remember back in the mid 90's (94 perhaps) where IBM was selling a PowerPC laptop with a camera built into the lid that could be rotated 180% or more. Very nice machine as I recall, but ran at about $20k.

I wrote an article about this very topic.

Yeah but did Sony put theirs in the LOCK? I agree with 18. Sony has prior art, but how is THEIR patent worded? Perhaps it has similarly strange restrictive clauses. I would like to see this in a tablet, with stereo mics, And what if the camera, in the lock, doubled as a fingerprint scanner, to 1) open a laptop 2) log in user? I could see education and business finding this very enticing.

I think this will be great for those of us who attend conferences and lectures. We can record the entire session with the built-in video camera. No need to take notes!

1. yes sony has prior art on incorporation of the camera into a computer. 2. yes, sony made it with the 505 3. no, the sony patent is not part of locking mechanism 4. in patents you broadly word it to include as much as possible. evidently, sony didnt use the concept of incorporating it into a lock i really want an incorporated camera on a large standalone display from apple, however. with some sort of extendable arm of lense and correcting software that allows you to look at the screen and still have it appear that you are looking at the camera. so that during video conf you dont appear to be always looking down.

1. yes sony has prior art on incorporation of the camera into a computer. 2. yes, sony made it with the 505 3. no, the sony patent is not part of locking mechanism 4. in patents you broadly word it to include as much as possible. evidently, sony didnt use the concept of incorporating it into a lock i really want an incorporated camera on a large standalone display from apple, however. with some sort of extendable arm of lense and correcting software that allows you to look at the screen and still have it appear that you are looking at the camera. so that during video conf you dont appear to be always looking down.

Maybe this has to do something with Sony designing their new PowerBooks, since Sony had a design similar to it.

Maybe it's a holigraphic laser. iLaser 3d video phone. Nah! It's just a security device. "Please step away from the ibook" "Warning this device is protected by iLaser, Please step away or risk being engraved with a windows logo tattoo!"

Perhaps it is to be used a facial recognition lock or an iris scanner. It locks the notebook shut unless the proper biometric ID is presented. :P

This merging technology may prove to be inevitable for portable computing, however. How many people resisted smartphones, and then camera phones, and then video phones, and then... As computers are still being purchased by first time owners, the pool of veteran users have a plane of demands which is expanding before our eyes... Look at how the internet has changed... Can we really expect that our bloody laptops will not evolve into something greater? The future is here and technology is gaining momentum again. This will happen and we'll grow to love it... I'm waiting for the day when laptops are just peripherals of our desktops... accessories if you will. Sorry... I just saw Final Cut...