Apple combines touch, laser etching for "disappearing" input
Apple has applied for a patent on "invisible" touch input sensors that can be activated and displayed on demand. These input sensors would remain completely invisible until needed, then appear as if by magic—though the invisibility is really an extension of techniques Apple developed for the unibody MacBook Pros.
As described in Apple's patent application "Disappearing button or slider," a touch-based sensor can be embedded underneath the metal frame of a MacBook Pro, illustrated in the areas beneath the keyboard where your palms usually rest. Normally, these sensors would be inactive, but could be activated temporarily to perform some auxiliary function, like controlling iTunes.
To make the sensors "appear" when needed, the area of the MacBook Pro case where the sensors are located would be micro-perforated using lasers in the shape of a button, slider, or even a "click wheel." LEDs beneath the surface would light up, making the control appear to the user. Apple uses this same micro-perforation for the pulsing sleep light on the MacBook Pro, which appears completely hidden unless lit.
The patent suggests that using such "invisible" inputs overcomes the "challenge" that various buttons, dials, and other input types present to aesthetics by "interrupting the continuity of the device housing." You can especially see how Apple has attempted to achieve this seemless aesthetic with the unibody MacBook Pros and the iPad. This patent would allow Apple to add additional input without compromising on this aesthetic principle.
Read the comments on this post
Read More ...
Week in gaming: Blizzard, Halo Reach beta, Infinity Ward
What a busy week! We took a look behind the scenes at Blizzard, found out that Infinity Ward employees are suing Activision for bonus payments, reviewed 3D Dot Game Heroes, and took a look at why video games are speech. We also played with a few new peripherals as well as the demo for Split/Second.
Oh, and we gave away beta keys for Halo Reach... which caused quite the Flood—see what I did there?—of e-mails and Twitter followers. Here's what people were talking about in the world of gaming this past week.
Read the comments on this post
Read More ...
Palin e-mail hacker found guilty
The college student accused of hacking into Sarah Palin's e-mail account in 2008 has been found guilty of obstruction of justice and unauthorized access of a computer. The verdict against 22-year-old David Kernell came down late Friday, with sentencing to follow later.
Kernell made headlines during the 2008 election season by basically being clever. At that time, GOP vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin had been using a Yahoo e-mail account as well as an official government e-mail for her business as Alaska state governor. Kernell was able to use a bit of guesswork to answer her security questions and gain access to the account.
Kernell posted some of the contents online anonymously, though none of it was particularly juicy. The biggest question raised about the whole event was whether it was wise for Palin—or any government official, really—to be using nongovernment (and therefore less secure) e-mail services to conduct business.
Investigators were able to trace his IP back to a Tennessee dorm, eventually resulting in a Grand Jury investigation. A year-and-a-half later, two of the four charges against Kernell resulted in guilty verdicts—according to Reuters, a charge of wire fraud was dropped and the judge declared a mistrial on a charge of identity theft. Still, with one felony and one misdemeanor, Kernell faces up to 20 years in prison.
Palin is pleased with the verdict. "Besides the obvious invasion of privacy and security concerns surrounding this issue, many of us are concerned about the integrity of our country’s political elections," Palin wrote in a post to her Facebook page Friday. "As Watergate taught us, we rightfully reject illegally breaking into candidates’ private communications for political intrigue in an attempt to derail an election."
Read the comments on this post
Read More ...
Applying a hint of scientific rigor to Boobquake
Editor's note: When we attempt to inject a little humor into our science content, sometimes it's overlooked. So be forewarned: humorous, not-entirely-serious science coverage ahead:
On Monday, a mass display of indecency by women who were indignant at a comment made by an Iranian cleric rocked the planet with earthquakes. Or did it? The number of earthquakes on Monday, particularly a 6.5-magnitude quake in Taiwan, might suggest that the tarting-up movement had some effect, but the boobquake founder's data breakdown says different. None of the analyses of the event thus far have met the rigorous statistical standards we require here at Ars, so we'll take a look at the shortcomings and draw up some numbers of our own.
A recent spate of earthquakes prompted an Iranian cleric, Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi, to state that "many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes." In response, Jen McCreight of Blag Hag suggested that women should dress their sluttiest on April 26 to test Segidhi's theory, and christened the event "Boobquake." She also promised to run the numbers on earthquakes that day and see how it compared to the world's normal behavior.
Read the comments on this post
Read More ...
Senators: 'Net privacy law for children in need of overhaul
Speaking before a Senate Commerce Committee hearing, Chair Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) warned that Congress needs to take a "hard look" at whether the nation's privacy law for children on Internet sites "should be updated to cover new kinds of information and new businesses." Rockefeller was referring to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which requires websites to obtain parental approval before gathering or using personal information about kids younger than 13.
Read the comments on this post
Read More ...
HTML5 video in Internet Explorer 9: H.264 and H.264 alone
Microsoft has put its stake in the ground and committed to supporting H.264 in Internet Explorer 9. That the next browser version would support H.264 HTML5 video was no surprise (though the current Platform Preview doesn't include it, it was shown off at MIX10), but this is the first time that Microsoft has provided a rationale for its decision. More significantly, this is the first time the company has confirmed that H.264 will be the only video codec supported.
H.264 certainly has some advantages. It's standardized, resulting in wide support in both software and hardware. This also provies a migration path of sorts from Adobe Flash; the same H.264 video file can be played both in Flash and via the native browser support, which allows site owners to target both HTML5 and Flash users with a single codec. But the biggest advantage cited by Microsoft was intellectual property: the IP behind H.264 can be licensed through a program managed by MPEG LA. Other codecs—the blog post named no names, but Theora is obviously the most widespread alternative for HTML5 video—may have source availability, but they can't offer the same clear IP rights situation.
Read the comments on this post
Read More ...
AT&T wants 3 strikes tribunal, government website blacklist
Pop quiz: what organization recently provided the following quotes on "graduated response" to the White House's Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, Victoria Espinel?
- "Private entities are not created or meant to conduct the law enforcement and judicial balancing act that would be required; they are not charged with sitting in judgment of facts; and they are not empowered to punish alleged criminals without a court order or other government sanction. Indeed, the liability implications of ISPs acting as a quasi-law-enforcement/judicial branch could be enormous."
- "There are instances in which such [infringement] notices [from rightsholders] may be misdirected against non-infringing members of the household, against persons who have valid defenses, or against persons who are victims of unauthorized access to their home networks."
- "It should give the government pause that a third-party allegation, alone, without any sanction by government or order by a court, could cause an entire family to be deprived of communications, access to financial or medical information, the ability to access government services, or even the ability of children to do their school work or interact with their teachers."
Read the comments on this post
Read More ...
No comments:
Post a Comment