HTC‘s flagship phone, the HTC One, will have a successor by February or March of 2014, a UK patent judge has revealed in a court document. The name of that successor is the cleverly named “HTC One Two,” according to the BBC. No photos or specs were revealed. HTC can’t be pleased with this little […]
Google has filed a patent that would alert you to important updates from friends on multiple social networks and give you the option to send them a canned response. “I got my dream job!” could be replied to with a canned “Congratulations!” with a click, for example. The patent, which was filed last week, could […]
Apple was just awarded a patent for a "plenoptic" or light-field camera, much like the one that Lytro started selling a couple of years ago. This is the type of technology that enables you to refocus photos after you’ve taken them. It would also seriously take iPhone photography to the next level.
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If you felt like the Apple Touch ID sensor in the iPhone 5s wasn’t enough, that you’d like so much security in your Apple products that it’s easier to get locked out than get in, you’re in luck. There’s a set of patent applications out there this week that show how Apple’s Touch ID system […]
Sony’s engineers have filed a patent for a new form of wearable tech, only this one differs from the watches and glasses currently doing the rounds. Sony’s come up with the idea of a smart wig, with embedded rumble tech to tap the wearer on the scalp when they get a message.
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From the front it looks a bit like a catfish. From the top it looks like a water strider. From the side it looks like a great white shark. This odd-looking flying car is under development at a technology company near the Google X research facility–although so far it looks like Google is not involved […]
The magic behind Apple’s Touch ID technology has received an unveiling in the form of the company’s latest pair of patent applications. One of the patents describes the various parts of the button itself and how it senses and reads a finger touching it. The other patent discusses how the fingerprint data and verification are […]
A federal jury ordered that Samsung must pay Apple $290 million for copying iPhone features. This is far less than the original ruling by a judge for $1.05 billion but probably won’t be the final figure as Samsung is expected to appeal. Again.
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Most large tech companies are either making wearable devices, or at least showing an interest in them. Sony’s got a smartwatch, sure, but it’s bored of such “in-the-box” thinking. Either that, or someone at Sony’s been hitting the pipe, as the company’s trying to patent what it calls a “SmartWig” (yeah, seriously). The application describes a standard wig that could “be made from horse hair, human hair, wool, feathers, yak hair or any kind of synthetic material,” with a circuit board hidden among those luscious locks. That board can talk to a “second computing device” wirelessly — such as a phone or even a pair of smartglasses — and actuators embedded in the hairpiece could “provide tactile feedback to the user.” In other words, the wig could vibrate when you receive emails and the like. The wig-chip could also include GPS and an ultrasound transducer, with different regions buzzing to give navigation cues. If all that doesn’t sound ludicrous enough, how about an integrated camera? Or, get this, a laser pointer.
The filing goes on to claim a wig is the perfect hiding place for delicate electronics, as humans tend to “instinctively protect their heads more than other body parts.” While its potential utility for guiding the blind is mentioned, Sony’s apparently tested the SmartWig in a far less meaningful scenario: giving presentations. Switching slides by “touching side burns” is expected to be of some merit, as is an ability to sense facial gestures like the raising of eyebrows. It may be the wearable device Doctor Evil has been dreaming of, but for some reason, we doubt SmartWig could ever make it mainstream.
Source: USPTO
Last week, Bloomberg reported that Samsung has plans to produce a phone with a curved OLED screen which wraps around three of its sides
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