Hasta La Gadget!

Never say the USPTO doesn’t have impeccable timing: on the eve of Apple’s tablet launch (and on the very day we finally realized that we’ve been looking at the same set of Apple patent images in loosely-related filings since 2004), the Patent Office has granted Apple some 13 patents, including #7,653,883 for a proximity-sensing multitouch screen. That’s right, granted — as in, Apple can file a lawsuit if others infringe these ideas now. (Usually we just look at patent applications, which have no legal weight.) The proximity-sensing screen is obviously the most interesting of the bunch, since it’s actually related to those same Apple multitouch patents we’ve been seeing forever — it describes a touchscreen that can detect when an object (like a finger or a stylus) is close to the screen but not touching it, and then offer up context-dependent controls based on what it detects. Imagine seeing window controls when your hand gets close to the top of the window — it solves the problem of your finger covering the display. Of course, we have no way of knowing whether it’ll be in whatever device is announced tomorrow — but it’s certainly interesting. There’s also a fun little design patent granted on the external design of the third-gen iPod nano, and then 11 other patents covering things like color management, bandwidth detection, and, uh, “Method and Apparatus for Selectively Switching IC Ports to Card Slots Through the use of Three Switches per Switch Group.” Riveting, we know. Check the full breakdown at the read link.

Apple granted patent for a proximity-sensing touchscreen originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 07:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After months of rumors and speculation about a slate-like device, Apple will have its say on Wednesday. We’ll be bringing you live coverage from the high-profile press event. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-10440943-260.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Circuit Breaker/a/p

A last minute tip from a Gadget Lab reader might be the first actual photo of The Tablet, the savior of the print industry and curer of leprosy and typhoid (but – ironically – not consumption).

Not only are the pictures crisp and clear, they also show the name at last. Behold, the iThing.

These leaked photos, from either Kyle ‘The Yellow Dart’ Smith or Travis Fantina, depending on which end of the email you believe, come with the following testimonial as to their legitimacy:

I may, or may not work for Apple or I may or may not know somebody who does, however I have gotten my hands on 3 Tablet photos which I’m sure you will be able to verify are not fake after careful image analysis. Apparently the tablet will be called the iThing.

So there we have it. Conclusive proof of the iThing, a screen and frame that is just one pixel thick. More pictures below.

Follow our live coverage of the real Apple even here on Gadget Lab.

Your favorite ill-defined smartphone accessory is back, this time teasing us with talk of external speaker support (via mini audio jack) and wireless audio transmission. We did wonder why the Nexus One dock would have a Bluetooth connection when the phone already has one one of its own, and the trick seems to be that the dock will act as the conduit through which the Nexus will transmit music wirelessly to your nearest set of banging sound thumpers. Simple, yes, but also rather liberating for your Eclair-sporting device. Makes that $45 price seem all the more reasonable, no?

Nexus One Dock to support external speakers, make use of that Bluetooth radio? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 06:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This article was written on June 22, 2006 by CyberNet.

Tutorial Thursday

Some people go crazy with Firefox extensions and install them left and right. Extensions help to drive Firefox’s popularity but they can also start to clutter up your toolbars:

I limit myself to just one toolbar and the tab-bar. I say “if it isn’t something that you use each day then you don’t need it on a toolbar.” Now let’s get started on customizing Firefox’s toolbars.

You can move items, like the bookmarks found on your Bookmarks Toolbar, from one toolbar to another toolbar:

1. Install the Tiny Menu Firefox extension so that the Menu Toolbar takes up very little room (you can customize which Menu items are hidden and which ones are shown).
2. Right-click on a toolbar in Firefox.
3. Select Customize….
4. From the drop-down list on the Customize screen select “Icons.” Also check the box that says “Use Small Icons.”
    
5. Now start dragging items from one toolbar to another.
   • I drag all of my navigation buttons, search box, and address box up to the Menu Toolbar. Once I have those items on the Menu bar I can eliminate the Navigation Toolbar.
   • Next I target the Bookmarks Toolbar. Your bookmarks that are found on the Bookmarks Toolbar will show up as “Bookmarks Toolbar Items.” If you don’t have a lot of bookmarks on the toolbar then you can move this up to the Menu Toolbar as well. I only have two bookmarks that I use on the toolbar: GMail and Google Calendar. You don’t have to supply a name for your bookmarks and not supplying a name will save you a lot of room on your toolbar. It will only show the icon for the page and no text, much like how the Home button doesn’t say “Home” next to the icon.
      
   • NOTE: If you want to remove something from a toolbar you just have to left-click on the item and drag it into the Customize window. Items can always be added by dragging them from the Customize windows onto a toolbar.

Now that we have finished all of the customizations why don’t we see what kind of improvements we have made:

Before:

After:

There are two things that still might differ from my toolbars compared to yours. I am running Firefox 2.0 Alpha 3 which has a different search box. It is still about the same size as the one in Firefox 1.5 but does look a little different. Also, instead of using the built-in Firefox Bookmarks manager I have started using Google Bookmarks. I don’t use the Google Bookmarks because it is a space-saver, instead I use it because of the portability and privacy it gives my bookmarks.

I hope this has either helped you or has given you some ideas on how you can reclaim your toolbar space.

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