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Apple Patent Application a Tablet Hint?

Brian Proffit — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:44:24 -0600

Unwiredview.com added more fuel to the Apple tablet rumor mill today with their report that Apple has filed a patent application for improved digital ink recognition techniques. The patent covers techniques for improving the recognition and interpretation of digital ink phrases. You know, the kind that are longer and more meaningful than the digital ink recognition needed for small, handheld devices. In the application, Apple themselves referred to it as a “pen-based input tablet.”

Obviously Apple tablet rumors are proliferating, but it’s certain that Apple doesn’t need better digital ink recognition for the Nano. ZDNet says the patent application was filed on July 17, 2009, and published today in the US Patent & Trademark Office.

The application lends credence to the suspicion that the upcoming product will have more in common with a MacBook Air than an overgrown iPod Touch. Still, when announcing the iPhone in January 2007, Steve Jobs went out of his way to say nobody needed a stylus when we had ten of the best pointing devices in the world on our hands. That’s the same time that Apple’s Inkwell handwriting technology disappeared from Apple’s website. Still, Ink Services is actually still available in Mac OS if you connect an external graphics tablet.

Jason D. O’Grady thinks that Apple is patent-spamming to throw us off the scent. One thing’s for sure; all this speculation gives them free buzz.

Apple Engineer Visiting China More. Wonder Why?

J Keirn-Swanson — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:30:19 -0500

I guess if I were working for a company manufacturing some kind of long-awaited killer new product, and if I were an engineer, I'd probably be on a lot of plane flights to where the manufacturers are.

Hmmm...now where are Apple products made again?

Source: Gizmodo

Oh, that's right. All the manufacturers mentioned in conjunction with the mythical (possible/likely?) Apple tablet are all based in Asia. And according to Alaska Miller at The Business Insider, a source tells them that a friend of his working for Apple as a system integration engineer keeps making all these trips to China.

What's more, apparently, this friend doesn't even get to count on the Christmas holiday season without a vacation to the Pacific rim for a couple of weeks. That does sound important, now doesn't it?

If this is legit, it sounds like Apple's got something close to completion they'd like to roll out relatively early in the new year. Why am I somehow doubting it's a retooled line of iMacs?

Podcast #113: Apple's Holiday Proclamation and Another Round of Tablet News

Mac|Life Staff — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:01:16 -0500

Phil Schiller told Gizmodo that there wouldn't be anymore Apple products released this year. That wasn't good enough for Apple, they called and clarified, "The holiday lineup is set." Uh okay.

Another set of Apple tablet news items appear. Now it's the Slate according to the executive editor of the New York Times, Bill Keller.

We also announce the latest DonorsChoose prize pack for the week. This week we're getting you ready for traveling while you help the kids.

Got a question, but you're afraid to leave a voice message because of Witness Relocation Dept. rules? Drop us a question via Twitter twitter.com/maclife.

This week's Battlestar Applactica picks:

OneArm Battle - $1.99

Simplenote - $1.99

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Mac Tablet Rumors: More Puzzle Pieces

J Keirn-Swanson — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:57:41 -0500

The latest two snippets could be filed under not actually related or speculative wishful thinking. The first takes harping obsessively over the tiniest of new hardware and hyping it into something it may or may not be. Images turning up on Engadget purport to be the SIM card tray for the iPhone 4 and the mythical tablet. The new trays feature thicker edges, a metal frame, and a few adjustments made to the size of the extraction hole.

It's nothing spectacular in and of itself, though as remarked by article author Thomas Ricker, the SIM tray's hardier nature could point toward a larger device. Then again, as also noted, the tray could also be used almost anywhere else.

But nothing gets a crowd worked up better than a member of the media elite letting slip with a tidbit, someone supposed to be in the know on such things, the kind of person who meets privately with Steve Jobs at Davos. Tablet rumor element number two comes in to play here in a speech given by the executive editor of the New York Times, Bill Keller.

Bill Keller speaks to the digital group at The New York Times from Nieman Journalism Lab on Vimeo.

Ostensibly at private "all-hands" address about the digital future of the Times delivered on October 16th, Keller dropped this knowing quote:

"[W]e need to figure out the right journalistic product to deliver to mobile platforms and devices. I'm hoping we can get the newsroom more actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form of Times Reader, iPhone apps, WAP, or the impending Apple slate, or whatever comes after that."

The crowd didn't burst into furious whispers, but the Internet did when the video was published on Vimeo. Was Keller talking about something he knew about first hand? After all, reports had surfaced months ago that Apple and the Times had been in talks about delivering the news org's content on a "new device." And Steve Jobs had called the New York Times the best newspaper in existence.

Or was it, as some cynics suggested, that Keller was just aping conventional wisdom and taking it for granted a tablet was in the works because of the media echo chamber? Watch the above video at around the 8:15 mark and judge for yourself. We think Keller sounds fairly blase about the matter, which could be taken as evidence in either direction.

And, as we find ourselves thinking after yet another news story about the tablet, only time will tell.

Will the Fabled Apple Tablet Be Your New Comic-Book Reader?

Liam Widman — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:54:47 -0500

In his latest column for the Chicago Sun-Times, Andy Ihnatko profiled a company called LongBox, which plans a Kindle/iTunes style marketplace for buying and viewing comics. LongBox's marketplace would be unique in that it would offer up new comics for purchase. Currently, only older comics are available for viewing and you have to be online to read the comics. LongBox would allow you to purchase and download a comic for offline viewing.

The service is set to debut in November, but the interesting aspect about the company, and how it pertains to the mythical Apple tablet, is Ihnatko's speculation that the company could be in cahoots with Apple.

Inhatko’s speculation is based on the fact that Longbox CEO said that the company’s partner is an unannounced manufacturer who has received high-profile coverage of hardware on many technology Websites. He said that the company would give Longbox “a multinational launch with literally millions of installed users,” which Ihnatko figures could be the iTunes store.

If true, it will be another sign that Apple’s tablet device, expected to be revealed first quarter of 2010, will serve as a sort of color e-reader. In September, Gizmodo reported that Apple was reaching out to print publications about putting their products on a new Apple device.

Some people are already publicly planning for Apple’s still-unannounced tablet. The only digital comic that is available so far is "Tyrese Gibson's Mayhem." It costs $1.99, and features three comics, an exclusive song, a 45-minute "making of" video, storyboards, alternate covers, concept art, desktop wallpapers and more.

Foxconn to Manufacture Tablet for Q1 2010 Launch?

Liam Widman — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:13:34 -0500

According to DigiTimes, Foxconn Electronics has been declared Apple’s manufacturing partner for the much-anticipated tablet, which is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2010. The device is said tohave a 10.6-inch display, which almost matches recent rumors of it having a 10.7-inch display. There was speculation that Innolux may provide the screens for the new device, but recent reports said that Wintek, Apple’s current iPhone screen manufacturer, will provide the displays.

The tablet is said to place an emphasis on e-Book functionality, echoing claims that Apple is aiming to redefine print media with the device. Apple's extended-life battery technology, such as that found in recent MacBook Pro revisions, Internet connectivity, and Apple’s usual attentionto user detail, are all expected to be in the new device.

Use Both Hands - Touchscreen Patent Emerges

J Keirn-Swanson — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:50:12 -0500

You've got tech vendors and unnamed sources leaking like mad various tidbits about the hardware and software specs, while publishers and content providers suggest a whole new market share for Apple to conquer. Then you've got this.

In a recently revealed patent application, we learn that Apple is seeking protection for touchscreen technologies that contain "unprecedented integration of typing, resting, pointing, scrolling, 3D manipulation, and handwriting into a versatile, ergonomic computer input device." The level of detail and particularity involved in what the patent envisions goes beyond theoretical, in our opinion, and walks right up to the door of tech specs.

For instance, note the level of specificity in the accompanying flow chart below:

Source: AppleInsider

The document makes pretty clear that Apple envisions a device that not only allows for the same kind of touchscreen interaction as the iPhone, but an expanded and far more complex touch response architecture. Are two fingers touching at the same time? What about more than two fingers? Are the multiple fingers moving as part of a multi-finger command or is it simply all the fingers moving at once in sync, as in pulling your hands away from the screen or picking up the tablet with all fingers touching it? Are the hand gestures decelerating, and if so does that indicate a cancellation of the original command request?

While many reports have suggested that the rumored tablet might not be designed to compete in the netbook market, Apple clearly envisions a device that integrates a touch screen keyboard, the patent showing hands in clear typing position. Likewise, much of the documentation is specifically about typing. The document also goes in to detail about the touchscreen's adaptability to hand gesture commands, addressing the lack of need for a stylus or a mouse or really any kind of peripheral device for on-screen controls.

While the patent application gives partial credit to Fingerworks, a company Apple bought up during the quest to deliver the iPhone, the essential two-handedness of the patent points to newer, larger technologies than the iPhone's screen real estate would allow. Two-handed typing on-screen also rules out the previously mentioned 7" screen, as such a size would involve crowding the users' hands together in what can only be considered a non-ergonomic fashion. A 10.7-inch touch screen is only fractionally smaller than the space necessary for the standard iMac keyboard.

As far as smoking guns go, we'd have to rank this pretty high up there.

Tablet Rumors Getting Pretty Specific

J Keirn-Swanson — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:44:38 -0500

Fatigued of tablet rumors yet? Some of us are. Then something comes along that really jazzes us up.

At first these whispers started out rather vague, with conflicting sizes and hardware specs, but as the year closes out specifics are starting to coalesce. Is it a secret too big to keep or is it the bandwagon of rumor-mongering? Only time will tell. While we wait, let's follow along.

Image Source: Gizmodo

To start with, according to a source with a track record for reliability, iLounge is reporting that the 7" screen is out and the 10.7" version is in. This confirms what others have been reporting for the last month or so and corresponds to Apple's past history of making multiple iterations of a product during development, deselecting versions with time and testing.

The idea that the tablet might be a large scale iPod touch is also bolstered by this source who claims that the machines will run a modified iPhone OS, will appear in 3G and non-3G models, and will resemble the iPhone in design details even down to the curved back.

Where the rumors from iLounge get interesting is when the source claims the tablet is NOT designed to compete with netbooks, but is instead a "a slate-like replacement for books and magazines." Add this to sources at Gizmodo and an idea is beginning to coalesce as to what this machine is envisioned to be.

According to Brian Lam, two people "related to the NY Times" have spoken to him about contacts between Apple and the news org for delivery of their print and media content through iTunes. Stir in his contact, a "VP in textbook publishing" who claims that McGraw-Hill and Oberlin Press are working with Apple to move textbooks over to iTunes. Toss in a story about several magazine publishers visiting Cupertino to discuss the future of magazines, replete with some interactive mockups of titles. Add Andy Ihnatko's report of rumors that "trucks loaded with books would arrive at a loading dock on the Apple campus, and offload big, big, big, big, huge load of books, and then the trucks would leave empty."

Now we're getting somewhere. Not only have the rumors begun to solidify into definitive hardware ideas, but also a marketing plan appears to be shaping up that make the tablet not only viable but a game changer. Apple wants to have titles ready to roll out the moment the tablet hits the street, but there has to be something new to bring to the table rather than just larger screen viewing of media content. Too large to serve as just a phone and mp3 player, the tablet essentially melds the best aspects of the Kindle, its size and book catalog, with the best aspects of the iPhone, basically everything.

One can easily see Apple shaking up the entire print industry, much in the way its upended the music industry. Textbooks with additional multimedia content, newspapers and magazine subscriptions through iTunes, and, best of all, full-color comics not delivered panel by panel or scrunched down into a format requiring a day's worth of pinch resizing.

Last thing: rumors seem to be settling down on 2010 as the release date with an announcement in the second half of January. Most sources suggest January 19th as an announcement date with a summer release. We can hardly wait.