Filed under: Rumors
Roundup of Apple Patents Hints at an Apple Origami UMPC
Staska at the
UMPC News blog has a nice roundup of many of Apple's recent patent filings and argues convincingly that Apple is developing its
own UMPC (ultra mobile PC).The patents hint at features like a virtual on-screen keyboard and the ability to manipulate (for instance, rotate) onscreen objects with your fingers.
I actually had a dream recently about my Newton 2100 running Mac OS X. Yes, I have dreams about obsolete Apple hardware. Don't you?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brent said 5:34PM on 4-20-2006
Yeah, I have nightmares about the Mac Mini I bought 10 months ago...
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Brendan said 5:48PM on 4-20-2006
We already knew all this shit! Come on apple I'm running out of patience here!!!
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s'fen said 5:52PM on 4-20-2006
I like how the hand is labeled, its placement must be patented.
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Adam Rice said 6:06PM on 4-20-2006
It's also quite possible these patents are "defensive." Meaning that Apple has no current plans to develop something like this, but if they ever do, they don't want to be stuck paying royalties to someone else.
Sure, I think a handheld would be neat, but the existence of patents does always not imply the existence of plans to capitalize on them.
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kevin said 6:30PM on 4-20-2006
this will happen. its all a matter of "when"
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mr cooper said 6:39PM on 4-20-2006
eMate 3000 every day!
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Andrew said 10:06PM on 4-20-2006
Origami refers ONLY to the Windows version Microsoft developed for UMPC.
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Hee Haw said 10:35PM on 4-20-2006
I seriously have no use for a computer w/o a keyboard.
I can surf interweb tidbits on my cell phone and watch movies on my iPod if I want.
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TonyAndrewMeyer said 1:42AM on 4-21-2006
Aren't the control-by-gestures components part of the semi-mythical all-screen iPod that everyone keeps theorising?
The 'keyboard' could be too - with the screen that size, you could conceivably pull it up to have a more complete interface (getting to a song by name, entering meta-data, entering a password for a WiFi network...)
Applying these to a new iPod seems much more likely than an origami-style device from Apple.
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minty95 said 2:10AM on 4-21-2006
So it's not just me having strange dreams about B&W G3 towers set up as a home media server, then... It's a good idea, though, must look for one on eBay one of these days.
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splinx001 said 4:25AM on 4-21-2006
im guessing it will utilize this technology...
http://mrl.nyu.edu/~jhan/ftirtouch/
...damn its tasty!
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Joe said 7:39AM on 4-21-2006
"UMPC" is a USN - Ultra Stupid Name - Please don't ever use it again, especially in reference to anything that comes from Apple.
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