Tag: Patent

Back in the day, all the game consoles used cartridges. We had to blow on those things regularly, or dust got in the connectors and things didn’t work correctly. Dutch tech site Techtastic is reporting on a supposed Sony patent application that hints the next console could ditch the discs used for games today and return to the cartridge format.

Jeff Bezos and Amazon want in the worst way possible to get goods into your hands faster. Let’s face it, one of the only reasons many of us don’t buy everything from Amazon already is because either we can’t wait for delivery or we just don’t like to wait.

Great news! The crap games in airplane seatbacks’ days might be numbered. No longer will you have to play crummy knock-offs of Flash games that were popular a few years ago with the bored-homemaker-who-turned-the-cleaning-over-to-a-Roomba demographic. Someday soon, you could be playing classic Nintendo Game Boy games, which would be so much better.

Smartwatches and other wearables are one of the big up and coming product categories. You can bet that most every major consumer electronics company will attempt to offer a smartwatch of some sort. Some will be more popular than others and a new patent application has surfaced that shows Microsoft has been working on its own smartwatch.

Rumors about the potential for an Apple iWatch continue to build, and adding fuel to the fire is a patent filing from Apple discovered by Apple Insider which shows off a curved, touchscreen display which could be worn on the wrist.

OK, so basically, self-replicating robots are a no-no when it comes to robotics, because you don’t want them to start taking over the planet and exterminating humans. I for one, don’t welcome our robotic overlords.  iRobot and Raytheon recently filed a patent which could be the source of something scarily robotic. 

A new patent application from Apple has turned up online that shows an interesting process for making curved glass – and potentially hints at new gadgets with such screens. The process starts with a flat piece of glass like you would find on top of a smartphone or other gadget from Apple.

In the past, we’ve talked about the interesting and odd project from Google called Project Glass. The technology is basically a small wearable augmented reality system with a display embedded into a pair of glasses. A patent application has surfaced from Microsoft that shows the company is at least considering a competing product.

Over the years, we’ve featured some pretty incredible cakes (and cupcakes) here on Technabob, but to date, we’ve never seen one that had projected, interactive images on it. Well, Disney, being Disney, has been working on the idea for a few years now, and recently was awarded a patent for the technology.

Would you whack your phone voluntarily to shut it up? I know I wouldn’t. Just think of all the bumps and scratches whacking might cause to the phone’s exterior. This is just one more reason why I probably won’t be buying any Microsoft phones soon – especially those that incorporate this strange feature.

A new patent application has surfaced from Apple that shows a version of the iPhone with a swappable camera lens. I think that would be a fantastic option on the iPhone and any other smartphones. I would love to be able to snap on a telephoto lens on my phone to take pictures from a distance.

The manual transmission has been slowly falling out of favor with many drivers. In days past, two groups of people opted for manual transmission, the enthusiast and people looking for overall fuel economy. With automatic transmissions often delivering better fuel economy today thanks to more forward speeds, the main supporter of the manual transmission is now the automotive enthusiast.

If you like the idea of having a 3D smartphone to check out videos and games, but the thought of being without your iPhone makes you scared your day is coming – maybe. A new patent app filed by Apple has surfaced that outlines a way that they could get a 3D image and interface on a gadget like the iPhone.

The iPod nano and shuffle both got smaller and received a clip the last time they were redesigned. That little clip allows the user to pin the PMP to their clothing for use on the go.

A Nintendo patent app has surfaced that shows a simple and ingenious way to turn the Wii remote into a touchpad like a notebook computer has. The device appears to be a two-part thing with one section that plugs into the bottom like the Wii Motion Plus did before it was integrated with the controllers.

Let's see. When I was thirteen, I cared about getting good grades, obsessed over whether I should grow my hair out or get a boy cut, and surfed the web with prepaid Internet cards (yes, I used to do that, and it feels like ages ago. Which it sort of really is.)