Hasta La Gadget!

A new patent granted to Apple today (via AppleInsider) introduces a concept that shows how it might go about introducing touch-based input to its notebook line. The patent describes a special notebook display that has two sides, as well as photovoltaic cells for charging, and touch input sensors on its outward shell.

The design is quite different from anything Apple currently puts out, and has an almost sci-fi style top surface that features glass which can be triggered via electrical sensor to appear either solid and opaque or transparent. Solar charging cells are built into the surface so that when it’s transparent it can use ambient light to charge the notebook’s battery. There are also provisions for either an embedded Apple logo to be included beneath the glass surface, a small secondary LCD display or a series of touch sensors.

The secondary display could thus be optionally hidden away from view entirely when not in use. And it sounds like the secondary display could provide vital information when needed, or at-a-glance access to notifications and updates even when the device is closed or in sleep mode.

Touch sensors on the shell could trigger mechanical lock or software locks, according to the patent, as well as allow a user to input pass codes, or control media playback on the device. Other types of input could be accommodated as needed, according to the patent, so you can imagine it serving as supplementary for a number of applications, or as a potential trackpad replacement if the laptop is being used in closed mode with an external monitor.

The patent was originally filed in 2010, so this may be relegated to the R&D labs, but it would make for a very interesting and novel Apple notebook design. The solar-powered element alone would do wonders for all-day usability and possibly alleviate space requirements for batteries within the case, so it could be an area of continued study for Apple engineers.

Apple has been granted two patents relating to ways it might look to extend/augment the built in camera lenses on its mobile devices in future (via AppleInsider).

The two patents, granted to Cupertino by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, are: Patent No. 8,638,369 (pictured above) for a “Back panel for a portable electronic device with different camera lens options” and Patent No. 8,639,106 for a “Magnetic add-on lenses with alignment ridge” (pictured below).

The back panel patent was filed in December 2010, and credits Richard Tsai, now a senior camera engingeer at Apple, as its inventor.

The magnetic add-on lens patent was filed in December 2012, and credits Jeffrey Nathan Gleason and Misha Scepanovic as inventors — the latter now an optical engineer at Apple, according to LinkedIn.

The back panel patent describes a system for extending the camera on a portable electronic device by supporting replaceable lenses — using an imaging subsystem and a removable panel containing optical components.

So, in other words, a swappable back plate that lets the user choose a different type of hardware lens — such as a wide-angle lens — or to support image stablisation and zoom. The patent even talks about the possibility for adding a mechanical shutter or stroboscopic flash via the hardware add-on.

From the patent summary:

A portable electronic device includes a digital imaging subsystem with a lens having an optical axis. A case encloses and supports the digital imaging subsystem in a first defined positional relationship to the case. A removable panel is coupled to the case and held in a second defined positional relationship to the case that covers the digital imaging subsystem without the removable panel being directly connected to the digital imaging subsystem. An optical component is supported by the removable panel such that the optical component is aligned with the optical axis and alters optical characteristics of the digital imaging subsystem. The device may include a power supply and an electronic control system coupled to the digital imaging subsystem and the power supply enclosed in and supported by the case. Electrical connectors may couple the power supply and the electronic control system to an electrical component on the removable panel.

The second, more recent patent, also describes a way to extend the camera performance of a thin “multifunctional” portable electronics device (which, once again, in the patent drawings resembles an iPhone) via optical hardware add-ons — but this time utilising magnets as the mechanism for attaching and detaching additional speciality lenses.

Discussing the rational for extending the camera in this way, the patent notes:

The optics for providing a telephoto lens and other specialty lenses require a certain length for their optical path, which often is unavailable within a small device. Further, users generally want to use a specialty lens intermittently. Therefore it is desirable to be able to change the lenses that are in the optical path to provide specialty optics when desired.

Apple is not the first mobile maker to look at hardware add-ons for extending smartphone camera optics. Last fall Sony announced the QX10 and QX100 camera lenses, for instance, for clipping onto a smartphone so you can take higher quality pictures — which is exactly the sort of scenario this patent envisages. As better cameraphone optics have steadily eroded the need for the average person to carry a separate point and shoot camera, so the next wave of mobiles looks set on getting seriously pro — and attacking the USP of DLSR devices. So this looks like more bad news for camera makers.

Apple’s 106 patent includes several drawings mocking up potential add-on lenses — including a telephoto lens in a horizontally-configured arrangement to save space, and multi-lens configuration additions which could include moveable elements such as the one pictured below:

As for the magnetic angle, Apple is a long-standing fan of magnetic fixture, having used magnets to ease the plugging and unplugging of power cords on its portable laptops for years, for instance, and also using magnets on the iPad as an anchor for its smart cover cases.

The newly granted patent notes:

A plurality of magnets are arranged on the camera module adjacent to the alignment feature to retain a detachable lens on the housing and engage the alignment feature to align the detachable lens with the optical axis. The plurality of magnets may be further arranged to minimize interference with the voice coil motor and movement of the moveable element of the lens assembly.

On today’s Q1 earnings call, Apple’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer bragged that “nearly all NFL teams use iPads as playbooks.”

This wouldn’t necessarily be interesting, except for the fact that Microsoft has a multi-year contract with the NFL to provide players, coaches and other personnel with a Surface tablet.

Of course, NFL teams have been using the iPad for years.

In 2011, a number of NFL teams had figured out how to transfer their playbooks over to iPad, as well as view and edit game film on the fly. By fall 2012, the number of NFL teams using iPads as playbooks had grown from 2 to 14.

In 2013, though, Microsoft signed a multi-year deal with the NFL that had a number of stipulations. As the official sideline technology partner of the NFL, Microsoft Surface and Windows would be “the official tablet and PC operating system of the NFL.”

This is made clear when you watch the NFL on Fox, as all the sports announcers sport kickstand-equipped Surface tablets on-air.

However, it seems that coaches and players prefer iProducts, according to Oppenheimer’s statements on today’s call. And it wouldn’t be the first time something like this has happened.

Last year, erstwhile BlackBerry spokesperson Alicia Keys was caught tweeting and Instagramming from her iPhone despite promising herself to the BlackBerry Z10.

The iPad has been a major tool across a number of enterprise businesses. Originally, health companies and car companies began using the iPad for sales purposes. Inevitably, the iPad became a sales tool across many verticals in the enterprise. More recently, industries are looking to replace paper manuals, as is the case with airlines and flight manuals.

In fact, American Airlines will save $1 million in fuel costs because of the weight decrease on flights.

Police in Roswell, NM are now using 3D scanners to virtually map crime scenes, allowing investigators, jurors, judges, and lawyers to inspect the environment from any angle with a 3D, panoramic image.

The Roswell Police Department is just one of many police departments currently using Faro Technology‘s 3D imaging hardware to analyze crime scenes. In other words, you’ll probably see this kind of crime scene scanning on one of your favorite TV shows very soon.

This could play a significant role in solving crimes, as well as prosecuting crimes in the court room. The ability to see the crime scene from any perspective gives jurors more insight into the case than any 2D picture could.

Roswell’s police department has been requesting this equipment since 2008, and has finally achieved their goal in a capital outlay program that cost $86,000.

Faro Technology offers a device that uses a laser and various touchpoint markers to measure every cubic inch of the scene. It’s called the Focus3D, and it is equipped with a touchscreen, GPS, and a height sensor. The handheld device connects to computers via a WLan connection.

The final is a lot like using Apple Maps or Google Maps in 3D mode, but with far more detail on a smaller area.

[via Vice]

Soon enough you’ll be able to walk into a hotel, straight past the front desk and have your door open automatically for you without any extra effort required, thanks to a new pilot project by Starwood Hotels (via WSJ). Two hotels are debuting keyless entry via smartphones that have a companion app installed and can communicate via Bluetooth 4.0, one in Harlem and one in Cupertino, with both set to go live before the end of the first quarter of this year.

Notably, the tech doesn’t use NFC, but rather opts for low-energy Bluetooth, which is available on Apple’s latest iPhone models as well as on most contemporary high-end Android smartphones. The implementation by Starwood would deploy virtual keys via their smartphone app to hotel guests, which would allow the guests to then open their hotel room door simply by tapping or gesturing with their device once they arrive.

Starwood is bullish on the potential of the tech: CEO Frits van Paasschen told the WSJ that it believes this will be the “new standard” for hotel access, once it gets past the novelty stage. Of course, it has some potential limitations, like how to easily provision multiple keys for guests and their kids, as well as making sure that the tech is secure enough that patrons are comfortable with it. Plus, unforeseen parts of the check-in experience like arriving hours early are things often dealt with on the fly by the people manning the desk, so there will probably be a learning curve during the pilot process where this stuff is worked out.

Fixing check-ins is a priority for hotels because the check-in process, especially during times when a hotel is busy, causes a bottleneck, and is responsible for unpleasant experiences for both employees and customers. Introducing self check-ins and virtual keys alleviates those bottlenecks, and in the short-term at least, won’t replace the traditional check-in methods altogether. There’s the possibility that the whole thing becomes automated down the road (I’d argue inevitably, too) but for now it would work in tandem with real human staff.

Starwood wants to roll the system out at all of its W and Aloft locations by the end of 2015, so it’ll be interesting to see how this pilot goes. If any hotel chain can make it work, it’s Starwood, with its trendy, tech-loving demographic appeal, but it’s still very early days for this kind of tech. Others like Nymi envision a time when this kind of automatic entry is also tied to your heart rate, but first we’ll see if people like the idea of their phones giving them instant access to a clean bed and warm room after a day of travel. As with most new tech undertakings, it’ll probably depend entirely on how frustration free the experience is from the start.