The iPhone of the future will know you BY YOUR EARS Apple is looking to develop a set of earbuds which will be able to automatically detect and play content for multiple users. The company has filed an application with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on what it calls "earphones with cable orientation sensors." The patent has not yet been awarded and the company has …
crafty, sneaky thats apple, a lot of the patents they have and continue to apply for will never see the light of day, apple just wants to prevent anyone else from patenting a idea, or the full weight of their ' we gonna take you for shed loads of cash legal team ' will be set on them, hypocrites that they are, they are the worst offenders at stealing other people ideas.
even the roman empire collapsed, so too will apple.
Really? This fascination everyone has with hygiene is getting a bit silly. I'm not saying let's stop washing our hands after having a dump or anything, but not sharing things because someone else has Ben using them? Are ears really so unsanitary? Are your ears so much more pristine?
It's getting to the point where we won't be able to shake hands without a squirt of purell!
Anyway, what was the article about, oh yeah Apple earphones, really who uses them anyway they are crud and if Apple start putting beats in the iPhone box it's going to mean one thing.. price increase for the phone or the earphones are "free" which then devalues the beats brand.
"It's getting to the point where we won't be able to shake hands without a squirt of purell!"
You say that as a joke, but it's only in relatively recent years that I've got over my problem with shaking hands; for most of my life I'd try to avoid them (conveniently having my hands full when being introduced to people, etc.) coupled with feeling compelled to wash my hands as soon as possible afterwards when the hand shake is inevitable and unavoidable. (I do still do the latter, but these days I'm less inclined to try to avoid hand shakes to start with - that's the bit I've got over).
"By the toll of a billion deaths, man has bought his birthright of the Earth, and it is his against all comers; it would still be his though the Martians were ten times as mighty as they are. For neither do men live nor die in vain." - H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds
An overbearing obsession with hygiene and eliminating germs leads to a weakened immune system...
"It's not an overbearing obsession with hygiene, though - just with other people's hygiene. :)"
You're a wise man in my opinion, the latest statistics show that 1 in 3 men never wash their hands after taking a dump!! When questioned why, the leading answer was that they 'didn't trust the cleanliness of the washing facilities'!
"There can be difficulties associated with sharing earphones. For example . . ."
. . . multiple people listening to content only one person has paid for.
Well, that's where I see the technology going anyway. We have Microsoft with patents for detecting individual users watching movies and now Apple looking for patents for detecting when multiple users are listening to music.
What are you doing!??!? No - I like my foil hat where it its - give it back!!!!
Great, now my head's all cold and this is starting to sound actually a little useful. Specifically for when you take one earbud out - if the device automatically switched to mono that would be quite handy. If it stays there then great, but hard experience tells us that if a device can be used to monitor/restrict/monetise a user then, eventually, it will be.
I have an idea, It's not just Apple that apply for patent after patent just as lawsuit ammo (although they are the most publicised).
So my idea, it means more work for all involved but here goes. In order to keep a patent, you must show the patent office the research and development you have done in order to get this project off the ground.
For example, I could patent the Flying Car. I could own the patent and do nothing with it, because, quite frankly, I don't know how to build a flying car. If during the year of me owning a patent Ford come along with a prototype, they can wait until my patent expires then swoop in.
This method actually fuels progress, if an idea has merit then it should not be in the hands of an idiot. It should be in the hands of someone that can make it happen.
This ensures that its not just patent to stop anyone else making the product but patent because you have an idea that you genuinely want to get off the ground.
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