Apple Patent Filing For a Possible Touchscreen TV Remote
Apple is hard at work filing patents with the most recent one being discovered by AppleInsider entitled “Apparatus and Method to Facilitate Universal Remote Control.” The details of the patent filing indicate that the device would feature a touchscreen and endeavor to replace all of the confusing and overly-complicated, existing universal remote options most folks have sitting around at home.
The patent suggests that this touchscreen interface could be used to control all of the electronic devices in your home, inclusive of televisions, DVD and BluRay players, gaming consoles, stereo equipment, even “smart home” systems that manage your lighting and such. The idea of course is that you only see the buttons for the device currently in use and as a result you are not bothered by the clutter of unnecessary options on the screen. This is great, but it’s also being done with some degree of style and finesse by other...
Macworld 2012: Autodesk Inventor Fusion for Mac Coming
Kim Autodesk was at Macworld showing off a new product for the Mac called Autodesk Inventor Fusion. Autodesk Inventor Fusion is an existing 3D mechanical design software on Windows, but will soon become available for the Mac for the first time. Autodesk made headlines back in 2010 when they returned to the Mac platform after a two decade hiatus. Due to the success they"ve seen with their existing Mac products, the company will be bringing Inventor Fusion to the Mac. In the next few weeks, Autodesk will be releasing a free Technology Preview for the program which will allow Mac users to download an early version and provide feedback. The final release will come at some point later. Inventor Fusion is meant to be an easier to use tool focused on mechanical design which incorporates physical properties of objects.
Autodesk® Inventor® Fusion is 3D modeling software that showcases intuitive direct manipulation capabilities for unrivaled ease of use....
, Steve Jobs kept a letter from Bill Gates by his bed
In a new interview, Microsoft founder Bill Gates reveals he wrote a letter to Steve Jobs before he passed away, and the letter apparently meant so much to Jobs that he kept it at his bedside.
Gates spoke this week with students at a school in South London, where he acknowledged that Jobs had said critical things about him in the past. But according to The Telegraph, Gates said the two were comfortable with one another by the time Jobs became gravely ill late last year.
"There was no peace to make. We were not at war," Gates said. "We made great products, and competition was always a positive thing."
In fact, Gates said he received a phone call from Jobs"s wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, about negative comments her husband had made to biographer Walter Isaacson, in which he called Gates a "basically unimaginative person who "has never invented anything." Gates said Jobs"s wife told him that Isaacson"s book didn"t "paint a picture of the mutual respect" the two...
Simplify Your Daily Tasks with Upcoming iOS App Clear
It’s not like there’s a shortage of to-do apps in the App Store, but it is often hard to find one that does just what you need. In fact, I’m still searching for the perfect to-do app, and until that comes along, there can never be too many choices in the App Store.
One app I’m excited about is Clear, which is being developed by Phill Ryu and David Lanham, who worked on The Heist and Twitterific, respectively. These two are working with Dan Counsell, of Realmac Software, the company behind great Mac titles like Littlesnapper and Courier.
So Clear has this amazing team, and these guys have some good ideas on how a to-do app should work. Mainly, that it should be simple to use, and Clear, by far, has the best interface that I’ve seen in a to-do app.
It’s color coded, and you can open task lists, add new tasks, and delete old tasks with simple swipe gestures. There are no buttons to tap, leaving a straightforward interface that isn’t distracting. I know, that...
T-Mobile to Offer Additional Support for iPhone Users on Its Network
U.S. carrier T-Mobile has decided to offer "additional support" to customers using the iPhone on its network, reports TmoNews. While T-Mobile doesn"t sell the iPhone, it reports that more than 1 million unlocked iPhones are used on its network and the additional support will be useful to T-Mobile"s less tech-savvy iPhone users. T-Mobile will support users who have questions about "common procedures, information about feature and specifications and other basic device questions." Most T-Mobile iPhone users are limited to T-Mobile"s slower EDGE network due to the iPhone"s incompatibility with the 1700/2100 MHz bands used by the carrier for its faster data networks. Late last year, though, some of T-Mobile"s towers were adjusted for its faster HSPA+ network, moving them to the iPhone-accessible 1900MHz band in some "pockets" of the country. Earlier this month, T-Mobile claimed the next iPhone chipset could be capable of...