patents
Games
Sony’s Interactive TV Patent Lets You Throw Tomatoes At Actors
6:20AM Danny Allen | Somehow we missed Sony Computer Entertainment America’s fourth wall-breaking patent application earlier this month, but here’s how the concept would work: Using a PS3, you’d control an on-screen avatar to throw tomatoes at actors and even kick their arse… literally. More »
Design
Gerbil Shirt Basically Guarantees Therapy To Come
1:00AM Mark Wilson | If the Gerbil Shirt ever made it beyond the patent stage, how many of us would be living down that high school yearbook photo? More »
Business
Microsoft’s Pseudo Sudo Patent
3:34AM John Herrman | So, how exactly did Microsoft end up patenting Sudo, a years-old Linux command-line tool, without someone stepping in to stop them? Easy! They didn’t. More »
Computers
Apple’s New Patent Application For Pen-Based Tablet Input
11:29PM Danny Allen | Apple may have shunned the stylus for the iPhone, but its all about pen-based input on tablets. It’s just filed a patent application for tech that improves digital ink-recognition by breaking down strokes and phrases. More »
Business
Microsoft Patents The Sudo Command
4:20PM Rosa Golijan | Microsoft has been granted a patent for the sudo command, because apparently you can patent a command that goes back to the mainframe days as long as you explain that it’s a “personalised version” with a GUI. More »
Music
Apple Wants To Make All iPod Shuffle Users Look Like Idiots
11:11AM Jesus Diaz | Oh Apple patents, you harbingers of coolness. Sometimes, however, you announce potential pain and doom. This iPod-cum-wireless headset is one of them. There’s no way I can look at these images and think that Jon Ive’s powers can save this. More »
Phones
Nokia Patent Gives Another Glimpse Into Touchy-Feely Future
2:00AM Jack Loftus | Gadget patents are a strange lot. Is that dual-handed interface for an iTablet, or something else? Will my remote really Tweet someday? Probably not, but this one from Nokia has me thinking of a touch and, more importantly, pressure-sensitive future: More »
Business
Nokia Suing Apple For 10-Patent iPhone Infringement
2:10AM Mark Wilson | Nokia is suing Apple for infringements on their GSM, UMTS and wireless LAN patents. $US200 million. Update. More »
Software
Apple Applies For Free Ad-Supported OS Patent
1:56AM Danny Allen | Some of Apple’s patents become real products, but many more don’t. So who knows if the “visual or audible” ads described in a newly unearthed 2008 patent application will ever see the light of day. Check out the description: More »
Gadgets
