May 24
Apple, who recently settled their ongoing dispute with Motorola and Google amicably, has no intent on following that up. Previous reports that suggested the Cupertino firm and Samsung would play … Continue reading
Apr 22
We know that texting while driving is bad and should be avoided at all costs. There are countless reports about the dangers of tapping away on your smartphone behind the wheel that it really shouldn’t be necessary to hammer this point home every time. Unfortunately there are still a lot of drivers out there that put their lives and the lives of others at risk. There are a lot of apps available that can stop users from texting while driving, and today the USTPO published an Apple patent about technology that can block users from doing just that.
The obvious advantage of this technology would be the fact that it would most likely be baked into iOS. So all compatible devices will get this feature without users having to pay for it. Titled “Driver handheld computing device lock-out” the patent explains a system that can “intelligently” determine whether the user is driving, and when it does, the system shuts off the function.
Apple lists two methods through which the lock-out system can determine if a user is driving. First would rely upon on-board sensors on the device to find out if a user is trying to text behind the wheel. The other method would utilize blocking signals being transmitted from the car to the iOS device.
The existing CarPlay feature can be leveraged to provide blocking signals to the iOS device. This way users won’t be able to access distracting functions like SMS messaging when they’re driving. Hopefully this will make roads safer around the world. Apple hasn’t confirmed as yet if it intends to add this feature in the upcoming major iOS update.
Apple Patents Tech That Can Block Users From Texting While Driving , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Apple, Cellphones, patents, texting,
Apr 22
This week Samsung has gone on the offensive with their suggestion that Apple’s FaceTime is a patent infringer. Samsung’s own patent for compression of video before transmission is being held … Continue reading
Apr 16
Google’s big Glass free-for-all has come and gone, but whether or not anyone actually bought the damn thing
Apr 14
Earlier this year, Google introduced its smart contact lenses, which function as a wearable glucose sensor that could one day aid diabetics with monitoring sugar levels. The tech giant’s ambitions … Continue reading
Apr 13
The second Apple vs Samsung trial is well underway. In its defence the first witness Samsung called was Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google vice president of Android. The Korean juggernaut argues that many of the features that Apple alleges them of copying were first developed by Google. Taking jurors through the early development of Mountain View’s mobile operating system, Lockheimer said that engineers actually tried making Android very different from iOS,
Google Executive Says No iPhone Features Were Copied For Android original content from Ubergizmo.
Mar 31
Not too many of us are willing to admit it, but it most likely has happened to you. You are walking along and you get a text that you need to reply to. Do you stop, step out of everyone’s way and then reply? Most likely you continue walking, your eyes focused on the phone in your hands and not on the inevitable light pole just ahead. We all know what happens next, we have all seen the youtube videos and think that it could never happen to you.
Well, walking into harms way while texting might be more common than many people think and has actually spawned some laws in some cities. To this, Apple has just filed for a patent to start working on the technology for “transparent texting“. This technology will enable you to text and see through your phone as to what is coming ahead by basically utilizing the rear facing video camera and displaying it behind your texting interface. The rumor is that this feature will be available for iOS 8, but Apple has not officially made any announcement as of yet.
Mar 27
Dell and Microsoft have announced a joint agreement between the two for patent licensing of various technologies. Says Microsoft, this furthers its already extensive 30-year relationship, and allows both companies … Continue reading
Mar 27
Microsoft Paid Up To $150M To Buy Wearable Computing IP From The Osterhout Design Group
Posted in: Today's ChiliEarlier this week, Facebook announced that it had acquired Oculus VR for $2 billion, and it turns out that this isn’t the only recent piece of M&A in the category of head-mounted wearable computing. Microsoft, we have discovered, has paid up to $150 million to buy IP assets related to augmented reality, head-borne computers, and related items from the Osterhout Design Group, a low-profile… Read More
Mar 18
Many problems with the patent system—from the explosion in patent trolling to the wasteful smartphone wars—can be traced to the flood of software patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO).
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