News tagged ‘touchscreen’

According to Nextgov, the U.S. Air Force's Air Mobility Command recently put out a notice that it plans to buy as many as 18,000 of Apple's iPad for use on cargo aircraft. Such order could be the largest single federal order for the iPad 2.  The Air Mobility Command revealed on Federal Business Opportunities that it plans to buy a "minimum of 63 and a maximum of 18,000 iPad 2" units or "equal devices."

Though the iPad was the only tablet named specifically in the listing, Glen Roberts, AMC public affairs director, said the command seeks "a tablet device" but "not necessarily an iPad." The Air Force seeks proposals from tablet makers and seeks to obtain them at the lowest possible fixed price. A move to tablets, iPad or otherwise, would allow the Air Mobility Command to adopt an electronic flight publication system to save time and money, as well as boost efficiency.

First iPad was brought to the U.S. Air Force by the Federal Aviation Administration which started using Apple's touchscreen tablet as an electronic flight bag last July. Previously, commercial and charter airlines relied on cumbersome 40-pound paper manuals.

Using iPhone outdoors presents some problems for people living in cold climate. One of the solutions is wearing conductive touchscreen gloves.  A Dutch company has released new touchscreen gloves called Mujjo, which contain nylon fibers coated with silver in its fabric. The silver in the gloves makes them touchscreen compatible.

This touchscreen gloves are available only in two sizes, but they stretch to fit the largest of hands. You can purchase them for about $33 on the Mujjo's website.

Citing component makers in Taiwan, DigiTimes reported on Friday that the so-called "iPad 3" will launch in March with a high-resolution Retina Display, while an "iPad 4" will arrive in October of this year to counter a rumored Google-branded tablet as well as touchscreen devices running Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system.

Apple will ship the so-called "iPad 3" with a full HD display in March and then "iPad 4" - named so by its component suppliers - with killer applications in October, according to industry sources in Taiwan. [...]

But a true battle for market share will arrive in the second half of the year when Apple ships its iPad 4 in October, about the time when Microsoft releases its Window 8 and Intel unveils its Clover Trail-W platform, the sources commented.

The 9.7-inch iPad 4 is expected to come with much upgraded hardware specifications and integrated applications so as to compete with an array of Android-, Wintel- or WoA (Windows on ARM)-based tablet PCs to be released in the fourth quarter, said the sources.

Finally, Digitimes suggests that Apple will continue to sell the current iPad 2, but will drop its price to $399, much like Apple currently does with older iPhone models, to counter lower priced tablets that are available, such as the Kindle Fire for $199.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted Apple an original iPhone patent for editing lists by using touch gestures. Such technology gives an opportunity for inventions regarding use of the handset as a portable hard drive and a filing for the company's now defunct Bluetooth headset.

The original touchscreen patent, first filed for in June 2007, covers a method for displaying and managing lists on a portable multifunction device, and details a simple computer user interface controlled by finger gestures rather than a sequence of button presses and stylus touches. What the abstract describes is the basic list management system found on current iOS devices.

Included in the patent background is a look at the state of portable devices at the time, which Apple claimed "resorted to adding more pushbuttons, increasing the density of push buttons, overloading the functions of pushbuttons, or using complex menu systems to allow a user to access, store and manipulate data." A far cry from what the company eventually released in the original one-button iPhone.

The company explains that devices which rely on physical pushbuttons are inherently limited in their configurability, and that a conventional user may find it frustrating to operate such an inflexible interface.

Because such devices are designed to read the precise pinpoint contact of the stylus (when a user makes a selection on the touch screen with the stylus), making selections on the touch screen of the device without a stylus, for example, with a user's finger, can prove to be somewhat difficult.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office published on Tuesday that Apple won a core multitouch patent that describes how touch events are recognized by a touchscreen device. The patent blog Patently Apple also noted that this patent was one of the "200+ Patents for new inventions" Jobs lauded when the iPhone first debuted in 2007.

The newly granted patent focuses on the oscillator signal and circuit of a touchscreen-equipped device, an integral invention directly related to how users interact with their multitouch products.

Apple states in the filing: "In general, multi-touch panels may be able to detect multiple touches (touch events or contact points) that occur at or about the same time, and identify and track their locations."

One way to record multiple touches is to generate an oscillating signal circuit that can power and clock inputs over a substrate as in a capacitive touchscreen display. But it is difficult to create a precise circuit-based oscillator. According to Apple's patent, the solution to capacitive touchscreen problem is to calibration logic circuitry which compares the signal oscillation against a reference signal and tunes the clock frequency accordingly. The invention provides for an accurate capacitive display that can not only sense multiple touches, but also detect hover or near touches which are also recognized as "touch events."

The Paradox iPod nano watch kit

Nick Bilton from The New York Times, who in October wrote that large parts of rumoured Apple’s television sets appeared in the company's supple chain, now reports that Apple may be researching and even prototyping new wearable devices.

Read the rest of this entry »

During the last several days, there have been many reports on the findings of Trevor Eckhart revealing that logging software is present on many BlackBerry, Nokia and Android phones. The software called "IQRD"  was developed by the company Carrier IQ. The PCWorld summarized the video showing the scope of logging.

Read the rest of this entry »

New Galaxy Tab 10.1N (top) vs. Galaxy Tab 10.1 (bottom)

Samsung tries to bypass patent infringement from Apple, modifying the design of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 touchscreen tablet in order to re-launch it in Germany. Moreover, Samsung decided to rename the device. The new product is known as the Galaxy Tab 10.1N. The most obvious difference from the front of the device is that the metal frame around the edges of the device now wraps around slightly toward the front along two of the edges. We are not sure that such device will definitely steer clear of infringement. Anyway, it’s up for the Court to decide.

"But without a doubt, Samsung has upped the ante fro Apple and its lawyers in case they wish to request a new injunction or allege that this constitutes an infringement of the existing one."

Germany seems to be a really important battleground in the fight between Samsung and Apple. Last week, Samsung filed a new complaint against Apple in the country. And it’s obvious that the company decided to redesign its device because of permanent ban from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany.

The Federal Court in Australia has issued a preliminary ban on sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the country. The Justice believed that Apple had presented sufficient evidence conforming violation two of its touchscreen- and multitouch-related patents by Samsung. Previously the Korean company had agreed to delay launch of their new tablet in Australia, waiting for the Court’s decision. Samsung even offered Apple a compromise deal that would allow the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to launch with minor concessions. But Apple was not accepted that offer.

In September Apple won the proceedings in Germany, where the Galaxy Tab 10.1’ sales were also preliminary banned. The legal battle between the companies has grown increasingly fierce since it began in April of this year, when Apple accused Samsung of copying the look and feel of the iPhone and iPad. Apple reported that they had tried to solve the problem not suing to the Court, but negotiations were not successful.

According to TUAW, Apple is about discontinuing the iPod classic and iPod shuffle as a part of “product transition”  this year.

It seems that the "product transition" Apple mentioned on the last earnings call could very well be within the iPod line. Specifically, if you want to buy an iPod shuffle or iPod classic from Apple, you should do it sooner rather than later. We've heard those two iPods are getting the axe this year.

The iPods now only make up for 8% of Apple’s total revenue. As the below graph shows, iPod sales have been falling over the last few quarters and although Apple doesn’t break these figures down model by model, its believed the iPod touch is what has held iPod sales up. The iPod nano also appears to be safe for the time being. The last official word about the iPod Classic came from Steve Jobs over a year ago. He said that they had no plans on discontinuing the iPod Classic at that time. Now, it seems they have changed their plans.

Read the rest of this entry »

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has denied an Apple’s application for a trademark on the term Multi-Touch, applied by the company on January 9, 2007, the day the iPhone was introduced. Receiving deny, Apple appealed to the Appeal Board. The board also refused to grant the trademark, noting that the term "multitouch" has taken on generic meaning, being used by a wide variety of publications to describe the touchscreen technology on Android phones, tablets, and notebooks.

Thus, from the foregoing, we find that “multi-touch” not only identifies the technology, but also describes how a user of the goods operates the device. Based on the evidence discussed above, as well as other evidence in the record, we agree with the examining attorney that MULTI-TOUCH indeed is highly descriptive of a feature of the identified goods. We now consider whether applicant has submitted sufficient evidence to establish acquired distinctiveness of this highly descriptive term.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sources close to Apple’s supply and manufacturing chain (via DigiTimes) say that Apple and other companies from “non-Apple camp” are preparing to manufacture devices with curved glass, mainly touchscreens, in the beginning of 2012.

Read the rest of this entry »

Advertising firm Millennial Media just issued its 50th Mobile Intelligence Report regarding trends on the mobile phone market on the basis of ad impressions. The report suggests some interesting conclusions about the general trends in the industry.

Read the rest of this entry »

Is there a future development of notebooks with MacBook Air? One Wall Street analyst believes that notebooks stage a comeback with tablets losing its popularity.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bill Buxton, Microsoft Research scientist, has been collecting gadgets that influenced today’s technology. A large number of them seem to have directly inspired many of Apple’s most iconic products and innovations. For example, the Dieter Rahms-design transistor radio, which inspired the first four generations of the venerable iPod, upon the success of which Apple built almost all of its modern fortunes.

Read the rest of this entry »