News tagged ‘Office’

United States Patent and Trademark Office published a series of patents (via PatentlyApple) suggesting that Apple is attemting to possess as many Thunderbolt related patents and trademarks as possible despite the widespread impression that technology is a result of collaboration between Apple and Intel.

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Yesterday startup CloudOn launched a free iPad app WorkSpace aimed at bringing the Microsoft Office’s functionality to the iPad. This app actually works as an interface for the cloud-based app operated on CloudOn’s servers, so it requires connection to the Internet. The app provides the functional implementation of Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint and Word as well as full integration with syncing and file storage through Dropbox.

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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."

As The New York Post reports, on the last week the New York Police Department conducted a sting targeting merchants that were suspected of trading in stolen iPhones. The NYPD spokeperson Paul Browne said that undecover police officers sold iPhone 4S and iPad 2 at more than 600 locations asking from $50 to $200 after stating that these devices were stolen.

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The US Patent & Trademark Office published (via PatentlyApple) an Apple patent application describing a new way of interacting with content on iOS devices. The concept is called “Persistent Overlay” and it aims to provide users with quick access to songs, files, photos and other data through an always persistent, accessible UI.

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Last week the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office opened an exhibition devoted to Steve Jobs. The exhibition honoring Apple’s co-founder includes 30 giant iPhone-like display panels that demonstrate the front pages from over 300 patents that bear Jobs' name as inventor or co-inventor.

“This exhibit commemorates the far-reaching impact of Steve Jobs’ entrepreneurship and innovation on our daily lives,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO David Kappos. “His patents and trademarks provide a striking example of the importance intellectual property plays in the global marketplace.”

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According to rumors from Apple’s back office, the company is developing a larger iPhone display and a smaller display for iPad. An insider said to The Korea Times that Apple is engineering a shrunken version of the 9.7-inch iPad. According to the IDG, which translated the publication from Korean, a new iPad called iPad mini will feature a 7.35-inch display.

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A large number of Apple senior executives have left the company this year. And Apple’s vice president of global security John Theriault is one of them. We’ve heard that the reason for his departure could be the lost iPhone 4S prototype, while the official reason is retirement.

In July, an Apple employee lost a prototype of the new iPhone at the Cava22 bar in San Francisco. Following the loss of the prototype device, Apple security personnel being escorted by San Francisco police visited a home to where the device had been traced. Apple security officials reportedly posed as police officers in their search of this prototype iPhone. Apple and the SFPD may face a lawsuit over the matter, as the resident claims that he was threatened by the police and was not informed that Apple's security officials were not actually officers.

Theriault, a former FBI agent and Pfizer vice president, joined Apple in 2007. Theriault was responsible for all of the Apple’s security operations and led an anti-counterfeit team in 2008 in a fight against China’s growing counterfeit product market.

Yesterday US Patent & Trademark Office published (via PatentlyApple) an Apple’s patent application detailing how a future iPhone could use a virtual SIM card which based on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.

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SmartOffice reports that Samsung is requesting Apple to provide them with the source code for the iPhone 4S firmware. Samsung doesn’t abandon their attempt to ban the device in Australia, trying to find any loophole to achieve success. Moreover, Samsung wants to know details of subsidy agreements with all Australian carriers.

“It goes to show that since the iPhone 3G was made available in Australia in July 2008, the impact on the market for every iPhone product has been significant, and has lead to a substantial increase … in market share by revenue. If subsidies are given for the iPhone 4S, there are less to go around for my client’s products,” - Samsung counsel Cynthia Cochrane told the federal court.

As for the source code Apple denies any infringement. The Company claims that Samsung agreed to license the three wireless 3G-related patents in question under FRAND agreements. Samsung thinks that agreement doesn’t cover Apple in Australia and claims Apple denied previous attempts to extend the license internationally. But it seems that all Samsung’s attempts will be unsuccessful, because the case will be handled by Justice Annabelle Bennett, who handed out the injunction against Samsung’s Tab 10.1.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung Chief Operating Officer Lee Jae-yong are said to have discussed their long-term component supply relationships during a two-hour meeting that took place earlier this week.

Lee Jae-yong, chief operating officer (COO) of Samsung Electronics said Wednesday he had discussed long-term parts cooperation arrangements with Apple Inc.'s chief Tim Cook.

The meeting took place Monday after Lee attended a memorial service for Steve Jobs, Apple's late co-founder, and as Samsung and Apple remain locked in fierce legal disputes to control the global smartphone and tablet computer markets.

Lee noted that the companies made agreement for 2012 and would like to prolong their cooperation for 2013-2014. Apple has been keen to make long-term supply agreements with component suppliers, sometimes prepaying billions of dollars in advance to secure massive supplies looking over several years and overcoming or better to say excelling its competitors.

When choosing the perfect instant messaging it is worth considering Verbs app. It is an instant messaging client that is now available for both iPad and iPhone. This app includes support for MobileMe, Facebook, AIM, and Google Talk. Instant messaging with Verbs is really sleek and direct. Also the app has WebOS card-like capability that allows easy switching across chats.

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According to Reuters, five persons were arrested in Shanghai for manufacturing and selling fake iPhones. As police said, these people were from an organized gang that assembled iPhone from genuine components for the Apple’s smartphones. Police found about 200 fake Apple’s smartphones during the raid.

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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.

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One of the customers, who emailed Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO to express dismay over discontinuation of same MobileMe features, claims that the service is transitioned to iCloud and then Tim Cook called him noting that Apple is “open” to return some features as customers support their return.

"Specifically, I bemoaned the loss of sync services (syncing application preferences, keychain, etc.) and the loss of iDisk," the reader said of his initial email to Cook . "I was pleasantly surprised to get a call from his office just now.

According to Cook's people, while there are no plans to add those particular services to iCloud at this time, "Apple is open to it if there's enough feedback on the subject."