Tatum and Denim blog

Filed under: Robots

It looks like Robot FX has run into a bigger obstacle than it’s bargained for, with the company now facing not one but two lawsuits from iRobot over alleged patent infringement. Apparently, iRobot thinks that Robot FX’s “Negotiator” robot is a little too similar to iRobot’s popular Packbot, and it’s asking for a permanent injunction to prevent Robot FX from selling any more of the bots, along with the usual damages. Adding further to the intrigue is the fact that Robot FX was founded by a former iRobot employee, who is specifically named in the second lawsuit claiming misappropriation and misuse of confidential information relating to the Packbot. Sadly, it seems that the whole matter will have to be settled in court, and not in a winner-take-all robot death match as we would have hoped.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: CES

Believe it or not, we’ve seen something like this before — out of Japan, naturally — so we’re a bit surprised to see a patent app roll in from Samsung for a phone capable of tracking a woman’s fertile periods. The idea is to keep the user updated on her “baby” and “no baby” times of the month when she places a call by measuring distance to the eardrum (using either ultrasonic or laser sensors) combined with infrared to get a temperature reading. This corresponds to a woman’s basal body temperature cycle, which in turn maps to her menstrual cycle. In Japan, the concept was intended to boost birth rates by keeping couples in the know on exactly when they might have success — but elsewhere we imagine the intent might be just the opposite. We’ll leave it to our readers’ active imaginations to decide just when and how the user should be kept abreast of said information.

[Via Unwired View]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Granted, we’ve come across hordes of patent applications that were far from practical, but if it’s the premise that counts, we suppose this one works out alright. The app calls for a “probe” which could then be inserted into a drink, and an indicator connected to a database that would enlighten you if your drink has indeed been injected with a noxious solution while you weren’t paying attention. The process would also require that a blast of electricity be sent through the probe, and though it’s not directly stated, it also entails that the user be sober enough to understand it and willing to bust it out whilst partying. We have our doubts about the last two ever truly working out.

[Via MedLaunches, image courtesy of BBC]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Laptops

Apple is up to its old tricks again: filing crazy patent requests for wild devices like the process is going out of style. This time, the boys and girls in Cupertino have really delivered a doozy: a wide touchpad for a portable computer. Okay, honestly, it does seem to be just a very large trackpad with some “multi-touch” capabilities. The pad would take up some of the space where you typically rest your hands when typing, though according to the patent documents, the system would be smart enough to distinguish between desired input and accidental movement. Clearly, this kind of technology puts Apple one step closer to its ultimate goal of really, really huge touchpads.

Update - While this is a continuation of an older Apple patent, this is a new application filing, just in case there was any confusion.

[Via PC Joint]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones

It may be a little slow out of the gate, but Florida-based SP Technologies is now taking aim at Apple over the iPhone’s touchscreen keyboard, claiming that it infringes on a patent it has held since 2004. According to MacNN, that patent describes a “method and medium for computer readable keyboard display incapable of user termination,” and the company is saying that Apple was “willful and deliberate” in its alleged infringement of it. As a result, SP Technologies is demanding that Apple pay “reasonable royalties” for each iPhone already sold, along with an injunction to prevent any further use of the allegedly offending intellectual property by Apple. No word on a next move but, as with most of these lawsuits, it’ll be up to a federal court in Texas to sort things out.

[Via TUAW]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

The unstoppable Apple patent machine has struck again. This time, the Cupertino-cash-cow has applied for a patent on a new multi-touch “dictionary” which would establish gestures, or “chords” in multi-touch systems. The dictionary would not only provide a guide and somewhat-programmable system of movements, but would also function as an application which runs either on its own or in the background during other applications, allowing gestures to be recognized. It would seem that based on other recent patent requests, Apple is keenly interested in not only defining a new system of input, but owning that system as well, which likely means that the future of the company is going to look a lot lighter in the “key” department — and really, isn’t that what Jobs is after to begin with?

[Via PC Joint]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Gaming

Oh boy, another patent lawsuit filed in that litigious folly called the Texas court system. This time, the suit pits Parallel Processing Corporation of Newport Beach, California against that legal whipping boy, Sony. PPC alleges that Sony’s Cell processor — the horsepower inside the PS3 — violates a patent for “synchronized parallel processing with shared memory.” Filed on July 26th, the five-page complaint by PPC states that Sony’s actions are causing “irreparable harm and monetary damage” to the company and are therefore seeking the usual: compensation for damages (with interest) as well as the impounding and destruction of all Sony products infringing on the patent. Good times.

[Via gi]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Arguments have surely ensued over the iPhone’s polarizing touchscreen keyboard, and while you just knew it was lurking out there somewhere, the patent application describing the aforementioned device has finally surfaced. Dubbed “Keyboards for Portable Electronic Devices,” the documents outlines an adaptive board with multi-symbol icons, and aside from using it solely on the iPhone, it looks like the technology could be implemented on nearly any handheld gizmo. Of course, the verbiage does mention handset mainstays such as word recommendations and predictive text entry, so it’s hard to believe that all of this stuff is completely Apple’s creation. Regardless, who needs license agreements when you can just hack one for your own good? [Warning: PDF read link]

[Via UnwiredView]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Not that getting all up in our proverbial grills in order to provide specialized advertising is a new concept or anything, but Microsoft in particular has been on the warpath of late in this very realm. On the heels of a similar ad-based patent application comes documentation that reveals plans to use “biometric sensors, cameras, remote controls, or other accessories” to detect and identify an individual before doling out targeted plugs. Yes, this certainly does insinuate that your television would be watching you just as often as you viewed it, but unless it becomes lawful to stuff monitoring devices into our homes for the benefit of marketers, we’ll consider ourselves safe — for the time being.

[Via TechDirt]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Displays

LG Philips, known for its nearly constant pursuit of new flexible display solutions, has recently applied for a patent on a bendable OLED screen technology which would use oil and water to produce images. Apparently, current flexible OLED displays are hampered by the fact that the OLEDs get hotter than the plastic substrate, making manufacture difficult and expensive. The new process that the company is developing would circumvent those problems by making pixels out of oil and water connected to plastic electrodes. The opaque oil would float on the water and obscure a colored surface beneath — when an electric charge was applied to the field it would reveal the surface and change the color of the pixel. The process is cheap and simple, which hopefully means a future of reading a completely digital morning paper for all of us.

[Via NewScientist, thanks Alan]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Laptops

The bickering that boiled over into a patent dispute earlier this year between 3M and Sony has finally ceased, but it seems like Lenovo and friends may actually still be fighting their own battles with the innovative giant. Nevertheless, Sony Corporation and Sony Electronics are now “licensed sources of batteries containing 3M’s cathode technology,” and while specific terms of the settlement shall remain confidential, we’re sure it was no small sum that Sony was asked required to pay out. One down, several to go.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Hey, it’s no shocker that Apple’s iPod is a coveted item even for those who acquire their wares in less than legal manners, but a recent patent application from Apple shows that someone at Cupertino cares about you rightful owners out there. Essentially, the technology would invoke a “guardian” recharge circuit, which would disable any further charging if the computer (or “other recharger”) it was paired with was of the unauthorized variety. According to Apple, this type of limitation would “serve as a deterrent to theft,” and while we can only assume that it would be applied first to the iPhone and iPod, the application does insinuate that other handheld, rechargeable devices could eventually benefit from the invention.

[Via Slashdot]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

So the PSP “lite” didn’t exactly usher in a golden age of dual analog stick gaming that many Sony fans have been pining for, but it looks like a stop-gap savior might be in the works all the same. Sony has applied for a patent to hitch its DualShock or SIXAXIS controllers to the PSP as a sort of dock, allowing for wired or even wireless control of the PSP. Of course, dual analog control won’t be much help on most PSP games, but gamers will be able to enjoy that downloadable PSX content as it was originally intended. That is, of course, if this harebrained scheme ever makes it to market.

[Via PSP Fanboy]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Kodak, a name pretty much synonymous with the word “camera” in the past, and “crap” more recently, sued Japanese manufacturer Masushita (primary owner of Panasonic, amongst others), alleging the company infringed upon its digital camera patents. In documents filed in Texas, Kodak claims that the company violated patents for an “electronic camera utilizing image compression and digital storage,” and “an apparatus and method for previewing motion images using a series of lower resolution still images.” According to a Kodak spokesman, the company has tried to resolved the dispute “for a number of years,” but the results haven‘t been up to snuff for the photography giant. Interestingly, Kodak has all but announced that it plans to bolster its earnings by milking kickbacks from the licensing of its intellectual property during its lengthy transition from a traditional photography company to a digital one. If the past is any indication, Matsushita can just crack the wallet right now.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Talk about tough luck. For the second time in as many month’s, Qualcomm has been flat out denied by the courts as it has attempted to stall a ban on its chips over the Broadcom patent disputes. This time around, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit “dismissed Qualcomm’s request for a stay of the ban, saying that it can’t consider a stay until a presidential review period is over.” Furthermore, this harsh news (for Qualcomm, at least) comes just days after being evaded by Verizon, and if that wasn’t enough, the EU’s stamp of approval on DVB-H could put MediaFlo in a world of hurt. Hang in there Qualcomm, all’s not lost… yet.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio

It looks like Apple is on a roll with its latest round patent applications. Hot on the heels of the recently seen illuminated touchpad and Home on iPod filings, comes two new applications that should have only the fiercest of fanboys excited. First up is a technology which the Cupertino camp calls “Dynamic lyrics display for portable media devices,” or as we would describe it — karaoke on your iPod. Nothing really groundbreaking here: obviously lyrics would be displayed while you belted out your favorite Pat Benatar song, which is pretty unexciting and definitely unoriginal. Patent number two seems a bit more promising, as it addresses the possibility of using your iPod or other “portable media player” as a wireless remote for your PC or media center, thus allowing you easier access to your Best of the 80’s collection. Of course, this would require a wireless iPod, which doesn’t exist, although we understand those new iPhone things have some kind of wireless capability…

[Via Unwired View]

Read — Dynamic lyrics display for portable media devices
Read — Portable media player as a low power remote control and method thereof

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Desktops, Displays, Storage

Apple, a funky little start-up based in Cupertino, has recently filed a couple of patents which will have hairs standing on end and eyebrows rising incredulously across the globe. Patent one describes a technology the company is working on called the “illuminated touchpad” — a kind of input device which could track your movements and provide visual feedback via a lighted surface. The application suggests that the optic effects will be linked to input on the device’s facade, and that the display might be capable of glowing, ambiguous color effects, as well as direct and specific reaction to motion. Patent two is something of a historical filing. With the launch of Panther (10.3, for you youngsters), Apple had plans to turn your iPod into a take-anywhere home folder, one which you could simply boot into using whatever OS X box you happened to have around. Clearly it never happened, but the company has re-filed for a variant of that system, so don’t be surprised if you see this technology rearing its head again — of course, who really knows what The Wizard is doing behind the silicon curtain?

[Via AppleInsider]

Read - Illuminated touchpad
Read - Method and apparatus rendering user accounts portable

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

As if learning about one new aspect of Windows today wasn’t enough, a duo of recent patent applications may lend a hand in discovering a few new, um, features about the Windows of the future. Up first is a dubious filing that details an “advertising services architecture” which actually uses content stored on your hard drive to trigger advertisements when browsing the web, and while we’re no expert on the matter, that sure reeks of adware to our untrained noses. Next, however, is a glimpse at a potentially updated taskbar function dubbed “clipping lists,” which forms clippings of your internet windows, documents, etc. into “peripheral regions of the display.” Of course, this idea is certainly not new, but apparently Redmond has a vision in mind that would deviate somewhat from existing creations. ‘Course, we’re fairly sure you brushed right over that second tidbit as you thought about how violated patent number one would make you feel, no?

[Via InformationWeek, image courtesy of KlondikeConsulting]
Read - Advertising services architecture patent
Read - Clipping lists patent

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming

Making a grab for our adult wallets by aiming for our childlike love of video games, Samsung has recently filed a patent for a clamshell cellphone which can transform into a 2600-style controller. Last time we checked, killing at “Snake” on our phone wasn’t so difficult that we needed to collapse or otherwise totally re-jigger the device to play it, but as mobile games become increasingly complex, using the keypad is starting to feel just a little limiting — and that’s where Samsung’s engineers step in. The basic premise is that the bottom half of your flip-phone would pivot not only open and closed (or backward and forward), but also left and right, thus allowing you to escape from Blinky more quickly, jump over barrels more deftly, and generally get a serious game on.

[Via Unwired View]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

It’s been a week since version 3 of the GPL was released, and the ripple effect is starting to make some pretty big waves: Microsoft — which has been essentially selling Novell’s SUSE Linux since last year — released a terse statement today claiming that neither it nor its customers are parties to any terms of the revised license. Furthermore, “to avoid any doubt or legal debate on this issue,” Microsoft will decline to support any GPL v3 code that might be distributed with SUSE. Microsoft does have a point: since Linux remains under GPL v2 (and probably will for the foreseeable future), there’s very little binding them to the terms of GPL v3 — specifically, the patent protection terms that would essentially undo the major element of the whole MS / Novell agreement. How the inclusion of GPL v3 code with SUSE affects the overall license is another matter entirely — one that will result in a lot of legal chest-pounding until the GPL finally gets tested in an American court.

Disclaimer: While the author of this post is a copyright attorney, its contents are not meant to constitute legal advice or analysis.

[Via CNET]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

The perfect car for Manhattan - or just an extra from the Transformers movie?

Filed under: Peripherals

Ooo la la, what’s this? Apple filed a patent application for a “mouse with optical sensing surface.” That’s right, a multi-touch mouse building upon the touch-sensitive mouse patent app we’ve already seen from Apple. This beast would allow for a buttonless pointing device which could sense the position of your digits for a myriad of gestural and positional control. Whether this is a patent to safeguard a brewing idea or actual product in the pipeilne is anybody’s guess. Surely this filing, along with those for a backside touch interface and touch sensitive bezel give us a clue as to Apple’s product mindset. Multi-touch MacBook touchpads anyone?

[Via PC Joint]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: GPS

We’re not entirely sure what TomTom has up its sleeve here, but the European Patent Office has peeled back a few details on one of the company’s endeavors, revealing a patent application that describes a GPS unit bolstered by live video feeds. As you can see, the system would superimpose directions on top of actual images of your surroundings, which could go a long way to preventing some of the GPS-related incidents we’ve seen over the years. From the looks of it, however, the system would only make use of a camera in your own vehicle, not ones sprawled across the countryside, reducing the potential benefits somewhat but likely making it much closer to reality.

[Via Pocketinfo.nl]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Like so many other hyped patent lawsuits before it, the Netflix / Blockbuster suit ended today with the relatively quiet announcement that both parties have settled out of court for undisclosed terms. You might remember the two rental giants taking each other to court last year — Netflix claimed that Blockbuster had violated its business method patent for online rental services, and Blockbuster claimed that Netflix hadn’t properly disclosed prior art in its patent applications. As always with these settlements, neither party is conceding anything, so it looks like Netflix gets to hold onto those patents, and Blockbuster gets to keep letting people rent movies online. At least the lawyers got something out of it.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones

The beauty of the messaging beast known as the BlackBerry, is, of course, the lovely QWERTY pad layout and giant luscious screen. We have seen a goodly pile of patent applications from RIM in an effort to preserve said keyboard while potentially supplying a new twist on a fairly utilitarian (and a bit long in the tooth) design. This latest application sees your favorite handset fitted with keys in a “garage door” type layout, so if you only need a few keys for watching a video or wandering the interwebs, the extra keys just roll back into the handset’s body. Apparently RIM may already know what Apple could discover next week: on screen keyboards can be pretty weak affairs, albeit much easier to keep clean.

[Via Unwired View]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

If you’ve been a bit disappointed by Nokia’s offerings of late, it’s probably because the firm is shifting out of the cellphone industry and into the legal environment. Okay, so maybe it hasn’t called it quits in the handset game just yet, but this ongoing battle with Qualcomm is beyond ridiculous. Before Qualcomm even had time to swallow the previous counter-suit filed against it, Nokia is firing away again, and this time it’s claiming that its opponent “has illegally used six of its technology patents in its Brew smartphone and MediaFlo mobile TV chipset products.” Additionally, Nokia’s CTO got vocal by stating that this case was just “another example where Qualcomm has effectively copied Nokia’s innovations.” While we’re sure it’s getting difficult to decipher which counter-lawsuit belongs to which original grievance, this particular one apparently links to an April 2nd filing where Qualcomm “claimed that Nokia had infringed three patents.” C’mon folks, why not settle this like they do in the Alabama State Senate? [Warning: Read link requires subscription]

[Via Yahoo]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Displays, Misc. Gadgets

While it’s hardly as big a deal now that Microsoft itself has let its much-anticipated Surface/Project Milan out of the bag, those that prefer to get their information in the form crude sketches and less-than-readable sentences can finally get their fix, as the USPTO has now revealed Microsoft’s patent application for the device. Filed way back in November of 2005, the application describes a “function-oriented user interface,” and lays out many of the features that we saw first-hand last week, including resizing pictures using two fingers, and dragging one element to another in order to initiate an activity. So, not a lot of new information, but if you’re looking for something more to tide you over until you can get your hands on a Surface yourself, you can hit up the link below for a glimpse at its origins (and plenty more sketches).

[Via PC Joint, thanks Staksa]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

It seems the love / hate relationship between Microsoft and all things open source is swinging back to the mushy side of the equation, and while this isn’t exactly the retaliation we were expecting after getting blasted by Linus Torvalds, it’s intriguing nonetheless. In an agreement that eerily resembles that drawn up with Novell, Microsoft has reportedly “announced a broad collaboration agreement based on a set of technical, business, marketing, and intellectual property commitments” with Linux platform provider Xandros. The deal seeks to provide customers working in mixed operating system environments with “enhanced interoperability, more effective systems management solutions, and intellectual property assurances,” and the four major focal points include systems management interoperability, server interoperability, office document compatibility, and intellectual property assurance. Interestingly, that also means that Redmond won’t be suing Xandros for so-called patent infringement anytime soon, and the partnership even suggests that Microsoft will be “endorsing Xandros Server and Desktop as a preferred Linux distribution.” So while we may never know Microsoft’s true feelings towards the passionate open source community, there should be a whole lotta love spread to Xandros customers over the next five years.

[Via InformationWeek]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Microsoft has been sued by a group of interactive television patent holders who claim that Microsoft duped them into granting a royalty-free license on the grounds that the company was not planning to release its own DVR system. Only weeks after negotiations took place between the group of patent holders — operating under the name Intellivision, unrelated to the 80s game console — and Microsoft, the corporation launched and started advertising for its Ultimate TV DVR product. The negotiations apparently took place way back in 2001, so it’s slightly odd that the inventors waited until January of this year to file their claim to revoke the original licensing deal (and gain unspecified damages, naturally). Microsoft hasn’t yet responded to the case other than to file a purely procedural motion, so we’ll have to wait to see how this one plays out.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras, Gaming, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Oh Samsung, you’re not going to be happy about this one. Sony Ericsson is attempting to patent a device all too similar to the i7 PMP you launched in January 2007. Filed on November 14th, 2006, the SE application ambiguously dubbed “Mobile information terminal apparatus and method of controlling the same” seems to have the gaming / cellphone combination as its primary focus yet extends to cover multimedia as well. They are also attempting to patent the rotary support mechanism: rotate the display by 90-degree increments to automatically switch between game, camera, TV or video, and phone modes. Of course, the i7 PMP only offers three modes depending upon the angle of rotation: camera, PMP, and MP3 player. Still, we imagine Samsung’s patent application is just as ambiguously worded. We’ll see how the new, tougher USPTO rules on something which appears to be an obvious improvement to existing technology.

[Via Unwired View]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals

Just days after hearing that Steve Jobs was indeed looking into the possibility of letting third party applications play nice with his precious iPhone, along comes a suitable patent application that further proves his hesitance to let it happen. Jobs didn’t shy away from suggesting that non-native apps aren’t usually cellphone-friendly, and a new filing from Cupertino’s lair details an “accessory detector” that would “detect whether an external accessory coupled to the connector may interfere with wireless communication with the handheld device.” Of course, no direct mention of the iPhone is given, but it sounds like this here invention would alert the user via on-screen messages and flurries of frightening noises if the inserted / installed accessory did not match up with an internally stored “list” of okayed devices. Additionally, the handset would be able to adjust itself on the fly if the add-on did indeed “interfere” with operations, and while no verbiage mentioned any kinds of shut downs or undercover dial-ups to Apple HQ for unauthorized use, there’s always the possibility that this type of scrutiny could lead to an easier implementation of a “Made for iPhone” type royalty program.

[Via UnwiredView]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Peripherals

Xerox, the same outfit looking to extract information from your web browsing excursions, has now churned out a swank anti-counterfeiting procedure that purportedly allows a vanilla digital printer to “create personalized fluorescent marks on documents.” Of course, these fluorescent signatures are commonly used to authenticate currency, and Xerox is hoping that people warm up to the idea of slapping the same level of security onto documents ranging from licenses, certificates, or even personal checks. The method utilizes the “dry ink” found in xerographic printers to create the secure imprint, and curious users can spot the tell-tale sign when exposing the document to ultraviolet light. Of course, you should still be wary of that dubious looking bizhub crammed over in the corner office, but if you’re interested in Xerox’s latest counterfeit squashing technology, you can snag it as part of the FreeFlow Variable Information Suite 5.0 software.

[Via Gizmag]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Wireless

Looks like the pockets of Qualcomm are going to be about $19.6 million lighter real soon, as a federal jury in Santa Ana, California returned verdicts that found “certain Qualcomm products” infringing on three patents owned by Broadcom Corporation. The lawsuit was originally filed way back in May of 2005 and alleged that five of its patents had been violated, but during the course of the trials, Broadcom ditched one of the claims while the court stayed the case with respect to a second. Notably, none of the patents that were infringed upon were “developed specifically in connection with cellular technology or standards,” but the seemingly willful wrongdoing will indeed cost Qualcomm just shy of $20 million — that is, until a trial judge mulls this thing over and determines if the firm should face any additional financial punishment “based on the finding of willfulness.”

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Hey, we can’t fault anyone for taking advantage of mass paranoia, and it seems that Colorado Springs-based JRP Enterprises, Inc. is about to cash in on the growing threat of identity theft. The Self-Service Shredder will be built, distributed, and marketed by RealTime Shredding, and thanks to a recent patent grant, it looks like it’ll have exclusive rights to do so. The kiosk sports a 2.5-horsepower motor, LCD display, and has the ability to chew through paper (200 pages per minute, no less), cardboard, credit cards, paper clips, staples, CDs, DVDs, and floppy disks. Current installations include banks, offices, malls, military bases, and schools, and while we’re not quite sure how much it’ll take to get one in your place of work, those $1 per two minute shredding sessions could really add up.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Household

We’ve seen more than our share of both high tech home appliances and docks for MP3 players. However, the marriage of a washing machine with speakers and audio dock, well… that’s a new one. Still, that’s exactly what LG’s patent application for this “Home appliance with MP3 player” is asking for. Of course, we have to question the sanity of integrating audio playback into a device we prefer to tuck away from sight due its excessive noise and mess. However, sanity and USPTO patent applications are seldom synonymous. As such, we’ll take it that LG is just hedging their future bets on this one. You know, just in case they need a dubious source of revenue in tough financial times.

[Via Unwired View]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

As if Sony’s legal team hasn’t dealt with enough this year already, they’re getting dialed up yet again for alleged patent infringement, and this time the California-based Target Technology Company is the one pointing the finger. Apparently, the firm is suing several segments of Sony for “deliberately and willfully” infringing on a patent that Target was granted in 2006. The plaintiff claims that products “marketed under the Blu-ray name infringed on a patent for reflective layer materials in optical discs,” and more explicitly, “specific types of silver-based alloys with the advantages (but not the price) of gold.” The suit was actually filed as an “intellectual property” matter rather than one of chemical imbalances, and while Target Technology is purportedly seeking a “permanent injunction preventing Sony from violating its patent rights in the future, as well as damages with interest,” we won’t be surprised if a sizable check from Sony’s wallet makes this all disappear.

[Via GameSpot, thanks Evan]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio

Hearing Microsoft’s name and “in-car stereo” in the same sentence should elicit any forms of surprise, as we’ve long since known that Redmond was looking to up the ante of automotive entertainment in a bevy of Ford vehicles later this year. A recent patent was granted to the firm that details a “car stereo including a docking station into which an off-the-shelf handheld computer can be docked,” and additionally, it insinuates that a multitude of devices will be supported. Of course, we already knew the iPod would play nice with Sync, and while it doesn’t specify if each individual DAP that you cram in this thing will have its own interface to display ID3 tags and the like, it sure seems that the major ones will. Another tidbit is the inclusion of a memory system that will “maintain a record its current state when it is undocked from a particular type of appliance,” meaning that when you return and re-dock your handheld, everything should resume without any hassle. Best of all, however, is the insinuation that it won’t be limited to just DAPs and PMPs, as “another interface form may allow the user to select from resources such as GPS, internet, a printer over USB, etc.”

[Via InformationWeek]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Household, Portable Audio, Transportation

While finding hidden speakers tucked neatly away in one’s headrest, rocking chair, or gaming seat isn’t exactly surprising, Bose is hoping to integrate the technology one step further by getting “surround sound” into practically every seat imaginable. According to a patent application filed by the company, it’s hoping to develop an audio system that includes an “electroacoustical transducer mounted in the back of a seat” so that surround sound is radiated and focused around the ears of the listener. Obviously, said technology could be placed into cars, recliners, office chairs, and beach loungers with relative ease, and while musical entertainment is clearly the primary candidate for use in such a system, the filing also mentions possible telephone integration. Unsurprisingly, Bose didn’t mention any details surrounding RMS ratings, frequency ranges, or driver sizes.

[Via Wired]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Media PCs

Aw snap. Just when you thought the Microsoft / open-source relationship was getting bad, it’s now getting even worse, as yet another turn has been taken in the on-again, off-again love affair between the two. Soon after Microsoft’s General Counsel claimed that free and open-source software (FOSS) — a bundle of which related to Linux — violated precisely 235 of its patents, Linus Torvalds decided to fire back on behalf of the little guy. In an interview with InformationWeek, Mr. Torvalds retorted by suggesting that it is actually “a lot more likely that Microsoft violates patents than Linux does,” and even noted that if “the source code for Windows could be subjected to the same critical review that Linux has been, Microsoft would find itself in violation of patents held by other companies.” Of course, he backed his statements by stating that the “fundamental stuff was done about half a century ago and has long, long since lost any patent protection,” and closed things up by insinuating that Redmond should put its cards on the table so that Linux users prove ‘em wrong, or better yet, “code around whatever silly things they claim.” As if you couldn’t tell, them’s fightin’ words, folks.

[Via IDM, image courtesy of TACTechnology]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Here in lawsuit-crazy America there’s only one thing to do if you don’t like a lawsuit: file another suit, claiming that the basis for the original claim was illegitimate. That’s the case with a recent filed class action lawsuit against Netflix, which argues that the company’s lawsuit against Blockbuster violates antitrust law because the company fraudulently concealed prior art related to patents used to sue Blockbuster. Techdirt points out that this new lawsuit highlights prior art that Netflix knew about, but failed to include in its original patent applications, something it was required to do. Yeah, that’s right, the whole affair hinges around the ineffective patenting system, which is the background for dozens of other technology related lawsuits. If this class action is successful, then Netflix will be left regretting ever filing against Blockbuster; if it’s not, then the company’s still got a whole lot of paperwork to do in its case against Blockbuster. As always, there’s one group left lovin’ the whole situation: the lawyers.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!