Archive for April, 2007

Patents issued on April 3, 2007

Tuesday, April 10th, 2007

D539,814 Electronic device (3 pages)
First generation iPod Shuffle.

7,200,836 Menu authoring for automatically performing low-level DVD configuration functions (40 pages)
DVD authoring system.

7,199,805 Method and apparatus for titling (30 pages)
Creating titles and text effects in movies.

Applications published on March 29, 2007

Sunday, April 8th, 2007

20070074118  Graphical user interface and methods of use thereof in a multimedia player    (16 pages)
Relates to the iPod user interface.

20070072443  Magnetic connector for electronic device    (21 pages)
Relates to the MagSafe power connector.

20070072442  Electromagnetic connector for electronic device    (19 pages)
Relates to the MagSafe power connector.

20070070272  Cosmetically uniform reflective border area in a transflective display    (9 pages)
Relates to the iPod display screen and how the border area of the display is the same color as the active area of the display when the display is turned off.

Patents issued on March 27, 2007

Sunday, April 8th, 2007

D539,327  Electronic device support stand    (4 pages)
A design patent for the iSight camera stand.

7,196,690  Input device off table switch    (13 pages)
A method and system to handle mousing while repositioning the mouse during a selection process (i.e., keeping the button pressed to extend a selection while picking up and moving the mouse to continue the selection). Useful when a user reaches the edge of a mousepad or other mouse-tracking surface.

I hate Tiger Woods.

Sunday, April 8th, 2007

There. I said it. In the same vein as those folks who hate the Yankees and Duke mens’ basketball for their success, I hate Tiger Woods. The one thing that I don’t really understand is how golf results have become front page news. With all the other things that are going on in the world and even locally (we do have sports teams here in Philly), it’s still surprising how golf makes it onto the front page of the paper. Anyway, I’m sick of hearing about Tiger Woods. I mean, we’re talking about frickin’ golf. There’s plenty of real sports news to deal with, isn’t there?

Ten years and one day

Wednesday, April 4th, 2007

That would be April 3, 1997, the day I moved away from Colorado and back to the East coast. I figured it would be like Gilligan’s Island, and I’d be gone two or three years, at most. Oops. Looks like life (even with that unplanned alliteration) has a way of changing things.

Britney Spears nude at work!

Wednesday, April 4th, 2007

No, she didn’t show up to my office. Nor was she working. Apparently, the spam filter at work didn’t do such a great job this week, as twice I’ve received a naughty picture of Britney when she was in her pre-rehab, no panty phase. And since the IT department at work has asked us to regularly empty our Junk mail folder (which I do), the picture lingered on-screen for a moment, with Britney’s pooter as clear as day. And wouldn’t you know, just at that moment, someone walked into my office. Good thing it was the male office neighbor who said he had gotten the same e-mail.