Hasta La Gadget!

Apple has been denied the trademark for its iPad Mini devices in the U.S. The United States Patent and Trademark Office denied Apple’s application because it says that the word “Mini” is “merely descriptive” of Apple’s iPad. The reviewer of the application stated, “the applied-for mark merely describes a feature or characteristic of the applicant’s goods.” Apple is able to appeal the decision, however, and will most likely be granted the trademark as long as it addresses all of the reasons why the application was denied.

The rejection letter was sent to Apple back in January 24th. The reviewer stated that the term Mini just described “something that is distinctively smaller than other members of its type or class.” The reviewer referred to other products with the term Mini slapped onto their descriptions as well, and stated that the word is so common, and that Apple’s use of it only describes “a small sized handheld tablet computer.

Apple needs to find a better way to distinguish the iPad Mini from the regular iPad in order to obtain the trademark. Alongside these grounds for refusal, the reviewer also stated that Apple is not allowed to submit images from its product webpages in its trademark applications. Something strange about that refusal is that it’s actually common for Apple to use images from its product webpages, and that this is the first time that USPTO has had a problem with it.

Apple has until July 24th to appeal its trademark application with the appropriate amendments, but Apple should already be well on its way to solving the issue. Apple’s iPad Mini has gained a lot of popularity in the past 6 months, with consumer interest in the device almost doubling from what it was before. You can check out our iPad Mini review in order to see if its a tablet you should get.

[via Apple Insider]

Apple gets denied the iPad Mini trademark is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

I’ve long believed that touchscreens leave a certain something to be desired when it comes to playing games, and if a new (and very curious) report holds true, Apple may feel the same way. According to PocketGamer.biz’s Jon Jordan, Apple has been meeting with developers on-site at this year’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco to talk about a forthcoming Apple game controller.

Jordan’s multiple developer sources claim that the Cupertino company has booked a meeting room under an assumed name to talk about the game-centric device, though they weren’t able to shed any light on what the thing will look like or when it will actually see the light of day. That said, Apple is expected to hold an iPad-centric event in April so it’s possible that this controller may be officially unveiled in just a few weeks.

At first glance, the prospect of Apple churning out a game controller of all things seems downright silly, but after chewing on it for a while the notion doesn’t seem quite as outlandish. You’d be hard-pressed to think of OS X as prominent a platform for gaming as Windows is (though some big-league developers are working to change that), but iOS plays home to a staggering number of games and it’s not inconceivable to think that Apple would want to enhance the sorts of gaming experiences available to iPhone, iPod and iPad users. As such, a game controller seems like the sort of thing that Apple would agonize over getting right, and it appears that Apple may have been doing just that.

In the site’s 2012 review of the 3rd generation iPad, AnandTech’s Anand Lal Shimpi and Vivek Gowri let slip a tantalizing tidbit when discussing the iPad’s faculty as a gaming machine: ”I know of an internal Apple project to bring a physical controller to market, but whether or not it will ever see the light of day remains to be seen,” the review reads.

What’s more Apple has been seen bulking itself up with patents that relate to a potential gaming push for at least a few years now. This patent from 2008 describes an accessory that wraps around a portable electronic device with touchscreen (sound familiar?) and includes a standard D-Pad and button, while this one spotted in 2012 takes a slightly different approach. Either way, these patents plus the AnandTech comments make it rather clear that Apple has been mulling over a physical game controller (or something like it) and it may be time for those ambitions to come to fruition.

I’ve reached out to Apple, but the company has declined to comment.

(Also, here’s hoping it looks nothing like the Pippin controller pictured above.)

We’ve seen a number of iOS 7 concepts over the past week, and even though Apple has yet to discuss anything that could be considered official news regarding its upcoming version of its iOS, that hasn’t stopped the jailbreak community from looking into the future.

Well-known jail breaker Joshua Hill tweeted out a series of messages in regards to a future jailbreak:

Well, so far it looks like the next jailbreak might be created entirely by me. Evad3rs haven’t gone anywhere, I’ve just discovered all the needed exploits on my own over the past few months

With its release of iOS 6.1.3, Apple closed an exploit that made it possible for the jailbreak to function. Considering iOS 7 is expected to be unveiled this summer, we think a jailbreak for iOS 6.1.3 would be a waste of time, especially since that version of iOS already has its own set of problems. On the other hand, how Hill would gain access to an unannounced version of iOS makes us a bit skeptical as to the possibility of it being a jailbreak for iOS 7. Either way, we’ll have to wait to see what exactly Hill discovered whenever he decides to reveal it.

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If you are a fan of the Iron Man series of movies, chances are you probably can’t wait to catch Iron Man 3 upon its release. For those who consider themselves more hardcore fans, the folks at Gameloft have announced the Iron Man 3 game will be making its way onto iOS and Android devices on the 25^th of April. From what we can see in the trailer video, it does not look too bad and could even be pretty fun, although I still have a bit of skepticism and see this more as a promotional tool rather than an actual proper game. Then again I could be wrong but in any case, for those interested, the 25^th of April is a date you’ll want to mark on your calendars, and in the meantime feel free to check out the trailer in the video above to get an idea of what you might be able to expect.

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Sure, there may already be a veritable cornucopia of dictionaries, thesauruses, and other word reference apps out there, but Thesaurus Rex is the thesaurus app to end all thesaurus apps. Packed with more information than you could ever hope to know and fast to boot, this will become the last word reference software you’ll need. More »