It has recently been unearthed that Apple has been granted a patent in Europe for an all-in-one desktop computer that can switch between mouse/keyboard and touch inputs. This patent confirms long standing rumors that Apple is moving towards a touch-based future for the flagship line of lifestyle desktop computer — the iMac.

Reported by the good folks of ‘Patently Apple’, the patent is clearly indicative of the fact that this feature is indeed going to become a part of only the iMac line for the moment. Excitingly enough, the patent also shows a clear image of a MacBook like device having a similar touch based interface.

This patent was granted to Apple in Europe and it outlines the various ways a new system of transitioning between two input modes — mouse/keyboard based and touch-based. The idea is that the computer will be equipped to handle both kinds of input, transitioning smoothly between the two modes without breaking the flow of the work that is going on. Also, touch-based applications are still at the infancy when it comes to development and focus. Apple recognizes this fact in the patent and mentions that while some applications work well with touch input, a lot of applications will still need mouse and keyboard input. right now, it looks like Apple is trying to bridge the gap between the touch and the non-touch world by making sure that the best of both worlds are present in this machine.

The accompanying images in the patent clearly show an iMac like desktop that features rotating joints reminiscent of older iMac models. The rotating joints help the screen to bend and rotate vertically to turn it in to a surface fit for using as a touch-based input. The OS interface will of course have to adapt itself to suit the new form of input and hence there are several ways proposed to make this transition automatic yet customizable.

The first option is to have an accelerometer to  detect a shift in the screen’s orientation. Once the screen is tilted to a more suitable position for touch input, the OS can then automatically change the interface to one that is more suitable for touch-interface. The touch friendly interface will be a low resolution interface in the sense that it will have larger control with more area around each control. Inversely, the mouse/keyboard interface will be a much higher resolution one where there will be more UI elements and will require the precision of a mouse pointer. Even though they are being called high and low resolution interfaces, it does relate to the display resolution in any way. This fact has also been separately mentioned just to avoid a possible confusion.

Another option mentioned in the patent for transitioning between the two interfaces is to have a touch sensor on the display which will be touched by the user when changing the orientation of the screen. This touch will then trigger the transition at the OS level. The manual changing of the position is assumed as one that orients the display to a more book-on-a-table position to make it easier to use touch gestures. And during normal keyboard/mouse operations it is expected that the screen will be at a distance from the user, in an upright position.

One more example of a transition mechanism is having rotation sensors at the joints, probably some kind of potentiometer. The transition will then be based on a calculation of the amount of rotation in degrees.  The user can then adjust the system for a threshold amount, after which the interface will transition.

There’s also talks of the proximity being measured between the user and the machine to determine what kind of input is the best for the situations. It is possible that a combination of these features will be used in the final version to have an accurate and customizable system. The applications clearly shows the touch sensor areas on either sides of screen, so that is probably going to be there in the final version. The patent also talks about how the transitioning would be at the UI level.

In true blue Apple fashion, all the extra high-resolution UI items are going to ‘slide off’ the screen when the transition happens. That would include things like the mouse pointer, directory items, menu bar, dock, etc. that are only useful when there’s a mouse. This purge will leave behind a clean, finger-friendly UI that is low resolution in the sense that it has less controls and each control is larger in size.

The reverse happens when the touch interface gives way to the regular interface. Mac users can relate this to how exposé works on the Mac. And how Apple has already incorporated a lot of touch based gestures into their MacBooks and Magic Trackpads. It seems like taking OS X the touch way has been a longer arching plan for Apple for quite some time now.

In the MacBook-like figure, Apple says that the display of it can also be oriented for a touch-based input. Which means Apple is essentially creating an old school, convertible tablet with their aesthetics and design on it. If this really does come to pass, Apple will soon be operating an all-touch line of computers — from handheld to workstation. The next step for Apple might be to have a Cinema Display that works just like the iMac Touch’s display and then pair it with the Mac Pro. However, that will probably not happen anytime soon because of high costs and low possibilities of application.

Apple developers are definitely going to have to step up their game to take full advantage of this new system. The best part is that this new system can work in tandem with other related devices such as the iPad and the iPhone. That means you can make and receive calls from your system. This raises the suspicion that this new addition to the OS X (soon to be called iOS X?) will have something or the other to do with the iOS running o iPads and iPhones right now. In any case, looks like the future just got a lot more exciting for Mac users and lovers.

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During the Q&A session at the special Apple press conference that was held to talk about the iPhone 4 antenna issue, Steve Jobs let slip something very interesting. When someone from the said that he cannot replicate the death grip at the conference hall, Steve replied that they had very strong signal there. He then added that they had both AT&T and Verizon cells on the campus. More on the other side.

Now that might or might not have been a deliberate slip but it does confirm that they have been using Verizon. But why are they using Verizon if their only phone works only on one network. Are they really testing out a CDMA iPhone that will run on the Verizon network? Looks like the rumors that started some time last year are about to get resurrected.

Given the network problem that AT&T customers face, especially the iPhone customers who are deemed data-hogs by the carrier, a Verizon iPhone has been an exciting idea for many. But so far this is the first direct sign that Apple has anything to do with Verizon at all.

But this slip could not have come at a better time. Verizon’s 4G LTE is fresh on the rumor mill with new documents emerging left right and center to support the rumors of a imminent roll out. With rivals moving on to faster networks, Apple’s iPhone will soon be compared to the 4G speeds and demands to release a 4G iPhone will increase. And since Verizon has the only real 4G network, Apple going to Verizon makes a lot of sense right now.

Also, technically CDMA is better equipped to handle large coverage areas as a CDMA transceiver covers more area than a GSM transceiver. This is what actually gives Verizon the edge over AT&T. And it is the network standard that is developing the fastest mobile data speeds. Hence, with Apple’s fixation to be on the cutting edge, everything does seem to fit right in. Seem to.

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The iPad is out and about. So is the iOS 4 and iPhone 4. Everything that has been really exciting is out. So in case you haven’t noticed, the Apple rumor mill has been a short hiatus of late. Well, not anymore. It is back with a rumor with the only thing on the horizon that falls in with the supercharged mobile industry — the iPod Touch.

The iPod Touch is, according to the rumors being spread, going to come out with a camera and a front-facing camera. Well, it is pretty logical of course. How else will you improve the iPod Touch? I am sure there is the counter-argument of it cannibalizing the iPhone sales but one has to remember that the iPhone 4 is advanced enough right now to not suffer such a problem from a companion device.

The iPod Touch can easily have a normal (no backlit sensor) camera and a secondary camera for Facetime over WiFi. But then FaceTime was built to also work over the cellular network. So that part of the rumor is questionable.  And there are some obvious features that the new iPod Touch can definitely use that the iPhone 4 has.

The iPod Touch is after all marketed as a direct competition to the handheld gaming devices such as the Sony PSP and the DS from Nintendo. The iPhone 4′s six-axis motion detection would actually lend itself very nicely to the different gaming genres. So instead of putting FaceTime on a WiFi only device, putting in a compass, an accelerometer and a gyroscope will be much better for the device. In fact, I will be surprised if Appel doesn’t actually do this do the iPod Touch.

With Nintendo and Sony stepping up their handhelds, Apple has to make sure that the sharp rise in iPod sales maintains the same momentum and gathers more followers. A six-axis motion sensing handheld would be a very cool addition which game-developers would love to exploit.

So over all, I don’t see the FaceTime feature being very useful on the iPodTouch but a camera is almost a certainty. It is one of those dead logical steps that everyone knows Apple has to take but can’t 100% sure till it actually happens. In any case, in the stark lack of exciting rumors in the Mac industry, this morsel will just have to do for now.

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Apps have become very popular in the last years, and especially with the release of Apple’s iPhone and the Android operating system. Developers have options to create free or paid applications. A report published last week by Distimo outlined some interesting differences between iPhone, Android and other app marketplaces.

apps

The company researched the proportion of free vs paid apps in the following marketplaces: Apple Store iPad, iPhone and Universal, Blackberry App World, Google Android Market, Nokia Ovi Store, Palm App Catalog and Windows Marketplace.

The Google Android Market is the only app marketplace with a higher proportion of free applications, 57% versus 43% paid applications followed by the Palm App Catalog with 34% and all other marketplaces between 22% and 28%.

Now, this does not say anything about the absolute numbers of free applications in each marketplace. A marketplace with lots of applications might still offer more apps than a marketplace with a higher proportion but a lower selection of total apps.

What’s the main reason for this large proportion of free apps on Android marketplace? Probably the fact that it is an open platform:

Since Android is an open platform, which anyone can develop for, you see a lot more open source apps, which in general are free. So since you don’t have to pay to develop apps, developers are more willing to give away their apps with Android than with Apple.

The researchers have analysed average app prices as well. Blackberry apps lead that chart with $6.97 on average followed by Windows Marketplace with an average price of $5.96 per app. Android apps average at $3.29, iPhone at $4.01 and iPad at $4.65.

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Apple published an open letter addressing the iPhone 4 reception issues. According to the letter it is not the phones that have a bad antenna or reception problems but the way the signal strength is calculated and shown in the phone. They are basically stating that they have used the wrong formula to calculate the signal strength and will issue a software update to fix the miscalculations and to make it clearer to the user if they are in an area with weak signal quality.

Dear iPhone 4 Users,

The iPhone 4 has been the most successful product launch in Apple’s history. It has been judged by reviewers around the world to be the best smartphone ever, and users have told us that they love it. So we were surprised when we read reports of reception problems, and we immediately began investigating them. Here is what we have learned.

To start with, gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 or more bars. This is true of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, as well as many Droid, Nokia and RIM phones. But some users have reported that iPhone 4 can drop 4 or 5 bars when tightly held in a way which covers the black strip in the lower left corner of the metal band. This is a far bigger drop than normal, and as a result some have accused the iPhone 4 of having a faulty antenna design.

At the same time, we continue to read articles and receive hundreds of emails from users saying that iPhone 4 reception is better than the iPhone 3GS. They are delighted. This matches our own experience and testing. What can explain all of this?

We have discovered the cause of this dramatic drop in bars, and it is both simple and surprising.

Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.

To fix this, we are adopting AT&T’s recently recommended formula for calculating how many bars to display for a given signal strength. The real signal strength remains the same, but the iPhone’s bars will report it far more accurately, providing users a much better indication of the reception they will get in a given area. We are also making bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see.

We will issue a free software update within a few weeks that incorporates the corrected formula. Since this mistake has been present since the original iPhone, this software update will also be available for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G.

We have gone back to our labs and retested everything, and the results are the same— the iPhone 4’s wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. For the vast majority of users who have not been troubled by this issue, this software update will only make your bars more accurate. For those who have had concerns, we apologize for any anxiety we may have caused.

As a reminder, if you are not fully satisfied, you can return your undamaged iPhone to any Apple Retail Store or the online Apple Store within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.

We hope you love the iPhone 4 as much as we do.

Thank you for your patience and support.

In yesterday’s keynote, Steve Jobs announced the renaming of the iPhone OS 4. They are taking away the phone and simply calling the thing iOS 4. The iOS4 Golden Master was released on the day of the announcement. It carries over 1500 new developer API’s and over 100 new user features. Of course we have already  heard about all this at the special iPhone OS 4 event that took place some time back. This WWDC 2010 keynote added some extras to that announcement.

Apple is adding Bing! as the third search engine option on the iOS4, alongside Google and Yahoo! but Google still stays as the default. Clearly, they put user experience above company rivalry. Bing! has been done up in HTML5 and Steve praised Microsoft for doing a good job with it.

Coming to the new hardware, developers now get to use the 6-axis motion sensing courtesy of Gyroscope, GPS and accelerometer. They will have full access to it. So we can look forward to some really great implementations like games and augmented reality.

Highlighting the reach of the platform (and hence the profitability for developers), Apple announced that they will b selling the 100 millionth iOS device this month. That is a pretty big user base to be working on. Also, the user count on the iTunes Store is said to be about 150 million. That’s 150 million credit cards with the sole intent to buy stuff.

Then there’s iBooks for iOS 4. All the controls that you find on the iPad iBooks app, you will be getting on the iPhone as well. So all iOS 4 devices will have the same e-Book reading experience. PDF is also supported and you will have a PDF’s on the bookshelf. PDF’s sent as attachments will be opened in iBooks and will be added to the bookshelf. The iBooks Store is integrated into iBooks just the way it is on the iPad.

They have finally implemented something that people have always loved about the Kindle. You can purchase and download a book anywhere and your purchase will be synced up to all the devices on your account. You will have to buy only once and you can read it on any of the devices that are attached to your iTunes account. Everything syncs up automatically and you can just pick up from where you left off on your iPad and also access all your notes, highlights and bookmarks.

credit: gdgt.com

iAds was the other big announcement for the developers or at least that is how Steve made it look. iAds is the new mobile ads platform from Apple. They handle the advertisers, the matching and the hosting. You tell them where you want the ad and get 60% of the revenue in return. Given that Apple really exerts control over what kind of ads are made on the iOS devices, you can rest assured that they will be of very good quality. Apple also ensures that the ads don’t tear your customers away from the app and plonk them on to the internet.

Instead, the HTML5-based ads have all the richness of rich internet ads that have movie clips, sound bites and interactive areas with mini-games. All accessible within the app and close-able anytime with a tap on the upper right corner. Developers have the ease of plug and forget. Over all, I’d say that Apple is offering a pretty sweet deal to the developers to make more money while maintaining a high quality user experience.

And then comes the companies. Apple already has high profile advertisers that include Nissan, Citi, AT&T (duh!), Chanel, GE, Liberty Mutual, State Farm, Geico, Sears, JCPenny, Target, Best Buy, DirecTV, TBS network, and of course — Disney (Disney’s Toy Story 3 iAd was the first ever demo of the service). Those are pretty big brands to be associating with. And it gets better with the figures.

5 billion apps have been downloaded so far from the App Store and developers have been paid over $1 billion in revenue!. According to Apple, $60 million has already been committed to iAds and that is about 48% of the total US mobile display ads budget for the second half of 2010. That, is quite impressive. It makes iAds that much more lucrative to developers. And setting up iAds is a breeze because the money is sent to the developers through iTunes Connect — the same way they get paid for the app sales. iAds commences from July 1st.

Steve also touched on the app approval process. He said that  95% of apps are approved within 7 days. There are real people coming in to work everyday to approve these. Apple gets about 15 million apps submitted everyday, so I reckon the number of hands on the app approval team is pretty high.

The leading causes of app rejection happen to crashing, using private api’s and not acting as advertised. Private api’s is still a no no because Apple can change these at any moment and then the dependent apps will start acting weirdly or crash. Apple does not want that of course. And somethings only Apple is allowed to do. Plus there was a purge of apps that don’t do much and such things. Basically, the App Store is heavily curated and developers just have to get used to that. Steve emphasizes web apps as the open platform for building HTML5 apps for the iPhone. Anything can be done there and Apple can’t say anything. Of course anything can be done. But it can’t use the built-in features. Not all of them.

There was a “One more thing…” at this event and that was FaceTime. It is a special, iOS 4 to iOS 4 only feature that allows users to do video chat over WiFi. AT&T probably flipped and said no way they can handle that. Also, do note that AT&T changed their plans on the very day of the announcement. So with FaceTime, you can use either of the cameras (back and front) and basically have a very smooth and high quality video  experience. Both portrait and landscape orientations work. Works out of the box. No setup required.

But the best part about it for developers is the fact that it is open. Leaving the developers to do what they like with it. We are so going to see amazing augmented reality and video blogging apps — cutting between the person who’s shooting and the scene in front of him. Great for reporting on the spot. iPhone Journalism, here we come.

Coupled with the iMovie app mentioned in my last post, this phone takes mobile video to a whole new level.

Apple has already gone in depth into the whole multi-asking and background API’s. So I am not going into that. Read all about it here and here.

So over all, the iOS 4 again steps up and ahead of everyone else in what it does. Apple has once again proved that it is pretty darn good at innovating and will always come up with great stuff to keep us hooked.

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Google has decided that it will no longer use Windows-based machines for its operations. Hence, it has begun a purge of everything Windows and the sound of hearts breaking is echoing a long way from Redmond. Google has stated that this decision is based on low security level that such a mass market operating inevitably ends up suffering form. Despite the ongoing feud with Apple, Google has named Mac as one of the replacement platforms. The other is of course Linux, which they have been using for quite some time now.

After Google has finished dumping Windows in favor of Linux and Mac, we might get to hear and see more of the fabled Google flavor Ubuntu that Moutain View is said to run at its HQ. However, they have shattered the myth of Macs being more secure in comparison. This has yet again reminded us that the Macs are less vulnerable to platform specific virus and malware attacks mainly because the market share is really low in comparison to Windows. Lower marektshare translates to lower profitability to malware vendors.

This decision comes as a welcome break to security experts who have been telling enterprises for years about not relying on one single platform for everything or for too long. That is a sure fire recipe for security disaster. By using only one system, you are ensuring that whoever wants to hack into your world, needs only to figure out how to hack through one platform. And if that one platform happens to be something as big and as popular as Windows, you are more or less done for.

In fact, the enterprise habit of not upgrading (and the software vendor habit of over-charging), often ensures that they remain vulnerable to security holes that have already been patched in later updates. But they might have some software that was written a decade ago and only runs on the system that was current back then. In an attempt to save money from the upgrades, they end up opening up the gates for attacks.

Now Google is not part of your general corporate lunkheadedness. They make their money from practically lording over the Internet. So they, of all people, know a thing or two about platforms and security. So they have been on mixed systems for a long time now. However, one recent incident might have triggered off this move to phase out Windows.

Apparently, a Windows machine was a key element to the China hacking attack at Google. A Windows PC was used to gain access to Google internal network and Google has never been the same again (probably). Those of you still stuck to Macs, to realize however that it is stupid to be complacent about security on your platform just because it is at negligible risk right now.

As the market penetration for Macs increase, it might turn out to be the next Windows. In the case of Linux, they very thing that holds it back might actually save it from being an early victim even after a mass adoption — its multiplicity. Linux distributions do share the kernel in common but each system is built differently and uses any combination of the multitude of elements that are available for Linux.

But now matter how secure the platform is or is not, online attack vectors act like a great leveling plane. If you are going to click all suspicious links coming to you on email and if you are going give out your personal information at the drop of a hat, nothing in this world can save you from having your identity stolen and your bank account emptied. Worst still, having kiddy porn downloaded on to your system automatically with a handy notification sent to the Bureau. It has happened once my friend and it will happen again if you are not careful enough.

But a little bit of wariness goes a long way. So do remember to check things like the URL, the encryption lock, etc. And try not to send your sensitive data as clear text. Use some form of encryption. Don’t ever put it down if you don’t have to. Remember, your brain is still hack-proof. At least digitally it still is.

But if you are running any kind of company and need to maintain databases and all, you have to remember that you are now responsible for not only your stupid mistakes but the multiple others who work for you or for the company that you are under. You cannot cure everybody off bad surfing habits but you can make sure that the system is less vulnerable. This is the time to switch to a multi-platform set-up. Just remind yourself of the old “do not put all your eggs in one basket” saying and convince yourself (or your boss) that you need this.

The path to this transition is not going to be smooth but you will at least have peace of mind knowing that your private data is not up for sale on some shady russian forum. Or worst still, you customers’ data might be on sale. I am no PR guy but I am pretty sure it won’t do your reputation in the market a good turn.

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Steve Jobs appeared on News Corp’s D8 conference and answered surprisingly probing questions with relative openness. He talked about burning issues such as flash, app approval, Google’s competition, Siri acquisition, the whole iPhone at the bar incident, AT&T and more. If that topic list doesn’t tell you already, this interview of Steve is definitely one of the most revealing ones of recent times.

Looks like Steve has decided to be more open about what goes on inside the Apple HQ and inside their decision making process. Earlier, he has been known to be really secretive about what they do and why they do it. But off late, he has been shooting off email replies by the dozen and even getting into an email flame war with a Valleywag editor. He also published a long blog post about the why’s of why flash is not allowed on the iPhone OS. And he talked about all of those things in the interview.

Hosted by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, this interview seemed to cover everything on people’s minds about Apple and it started with flash. It is surprising how well Steve handled these questions. They of course usually talk in advance about what is okay to ask about but it seems like Steve was really had to think before answering some questions.

Starting with flash, Steve described the whole process as them selecting which tech horse to ride on. He said that every technology has a life cycle and right now Apple sees flash as on the wane and HTML5 on the rise. He brought back memories of how they were the ones to popularize 3.5″ floppy disks and the first to get rid of it on the first iMac. They were also the ones to adopt USB and so on. So this is just another step that they have taken to be on the cutting edge of things. When Walt said that consumers still want it, Steve simply said that they buy what they like and if they didn’t like Apple’s products, Apple would be out of business (which they are most emphatically not!).

Talk about HTML5, he used it in the interview multiple times to highlight things. He said that they had the best HTML5 support in the world and while there have been promises of smartphones coming out with Flash, none have quite made it yet. When asked about the curation of the app store and the high profile rejections, Steve said that they have two levels when it comes to iPhone apps. One is close and controlled by them — the App Store — and the other is fully open — HTML5. So yes, he is promoting web apps, contrary to a popular opinion that Apple would love to clamp down the whole app scenario to make it App Store exclusive.

Steve was also asked about the iPhone theft and he said some interesting and some expected things. He did not repeat anything we didn’t know but was surprisingly forthcoming about it all. At first he said that it was all very “amazing” and he compared it to a crime thriller (“I am sure there is some sex in there somewhere”).

One of the many quotes that came out of the interview was this one — “Foxconn is not a sweatshop”. He cited the fact that the factory employs over 400,000 workers and the suicide rate was actually lower than the US average (and other suggested that it is also lower than the Chine average). i would side with Steve on this one because the whole suicide thing has been taken out of context and blown out of proportions by media outlets of all kinds.

Steve also admitted that they lost the ‘Platform war’ with Microsoft because they didn’t see the whole thing as a war. Apple was busy improving on what they had already and did not pay much attention to the competition.

The interviewers seemed to be harping a lot on the whole Apple v/s Google issue but Steve handled it rather gracefully. But he did repeat something that we have already ready being attributed to him. He said that Google is the one who chose to compete and not Apple. So they are competing but Steve said that that there was no reason to be “rude” about it. Interpret as you may. He left a lot of room in there. Steve also said that Google will not be removed from the iPhone.

Walt suggested that they had bought a search company, citing Siri. But Steve made it clear that he won’t see it that way and that the company really was an AI company. Which is true. Siri’s whole searching thing is just one thing that the advanced AI behind it can do.

Moving on the iPhone again, Steve confirmed something that we already had heard before as a rumor — the iPhone OS started on a tablet and then got shifted to a phone. He criticized Microsoft’s approach to the tablet, repeating the whole point about how handwriting is just too slow and how they were just trying to translate the PC UI on to a tablet.

The tablet topic also brought up the whole content debate. In this context Steve spoke out loud about the pricing of content and how content providers see the market. He cited historical evidence from when Apple turned the music industry around. The record labels apparently saw the retailers as their target and not the individuals and not the individuals. Apple changed this and according to Steve, their experience dictates that sellers go for aggressive pricing and bulk sales. It has worked for music (oh boy has it ever!) and Apple is confident that it will work for print content as well.

Walt picked up on the fact that this clashes directly with the whole e-Book price wars where Apple was instrumental in raising prices. Steve maneuvered away from this one because clearly it is impossible for him to admit that they did it to lure the publishers away and then slowly getting them to accept a new business model.

Steve actually spoke reams about a lot of different stuff and you should really go and check out the original interview.

This article is based on Engadget’s live coverage of the interview.

The wonderful folks at Patently Apple have done it again — they have uncovered a patent that could very well be seen in the next version of the iPhone that likely to be out in about a month or two from now. This new patent, granted as late as April 1, 2010 (hold those jokes), points towards a level of Facebook integration on the iPhone like never before.It seems like Apple is planning to integrate a kind of automated workflow that can span across various devices. This can mean a host of things and a whole new world of possibilities.  This means that a host of things can be shared, automated and done much more simply than before.

What Apple has patented here is a kind of Workflow scripting that works between two or more devices. Of course, the devices are restricted to Apple devices. But with this kind of low level scripting and understanding between devices, thing such as sharing contact details and going through the whole rigmarole of adding a new person to your haloed online circles — can quit being a pain in the you-know-where.

Apple’s patent covers a lot of use case scarios. I am just going to highlight the key ones to help you understand how this might work when the new iPhone is released.

The most common one is the situation when you have met a person and you want to exchange contact details with him/her. Usually, you would dictate your details to the person while they type it down and vice-versa. You would then perhaps add that person on Facebook. Doing this same boring routine every time you meet someone can get rather boring. Instead, you can now set up your iPhone to do this automatically when taken into close proximity of another iPhone. Yes, we already have apps like Bump to do this but this will be built into the phone and will sync up much more than contact details.

You can sync up your calendar this way, sharing your schedule with a partner or a loved one or both. You can also make it so that every time you go near your workstation with your iPhone, your appointments are automatically synced up, your photos are downloaded, bookmarks shared and browsing history synced. It isn’t clear if this workflow sync will support Macs as well but all iPhone OS devices will definitely have this before too long.

The most exciting thing about the this new feature is the Facebook integration. It seems like the iPhone can now automatically search and befriend new contacts, who will see a notification on their screen as part of the shared workflow. It might also pull images and other details from the Facebook page.

Designing the workflows will take into account a lot of different things — such as the compatibility of the other device to participate in the workflow. If the said device does have a camera (like the first generation iPad), then anything related to the camera will not be executed. Then comes network selection and then the actual sync up.

There will thus be several different workflows like “Adding a contact”, “syncing calendar with office PC”, “auto-downloading new photos to iPhone over WiFi/Bluetooh”, etc. Each of these workflows must thus first look for the right match to know that the device can do everything and then send the workflow over to it.

The device that initiates the workflow, has the control over the entire procedure. However, when there is an action to be performed by the target device/s, the workflow will wait till that action is complete, like the accepting of a friend request.

There’s an interesting tidbit hidden in plain sight within the patent. Within the patent, Apple says that the port over which this connection will happen might be a proprietary cable from Apple Inc. Which means they might not use USB and  are preparing a new port for this new iPhone. It may be the mobile Light Peak that we heard about last year. Or it might be something else. Either way, Apple is keeping its window open for later developments.

Scenario where you meet someone suddenly

The goal that Apple is trying to accomplish is to simplify the things that we often do that are repetitive yet necessary. We are already carrying multiple portable devices when you move around and at the end of the day we end up with a lot of scattered data. Syncing it all up involves a lot of hands on work. Selecting what to transfer and what to not, creating a connection someway (Wireless/Wired), rinse and repeat several times a week. May be even once a day. But if we were given the freedom to setup these workflows once and for all and automate them through some kind of assisted drop down menu driven  — that would be the day.

The Facebook intergration just seems like something that they could do anyway and so they did it. Apple has often been criticized for not focussing enough on socializing. Well, I would say that that idea did not come to anyone’s mind at Apple because they hardly ever get to go out and small the fresh air.

Given the way this works, Facebook might only be an example with the real number of social networks supported at launch, will be revealed during the launch. And Apple could not have timed it better. This year, the iPhone will be everything that popular opinion has wanted it to be — secondary camera (yes, even the patent illustrations show one), multi-tasking and better social network integration.

Google in the meantime is not wasting any time. Before Apple comes out and dazzles us, Google has decided to launch its latest Android OS — Froyo (v2.2). Google has said nothing to this effect but that is not stopping the rumors and leaks about the release from popping up. And a much larger number of phones at Android’s disposal, it is easy to maintain a Market share. But the iPhone is coming out in a new version and with a lot of new features it seems and that might again put Android far behind, struggling to catch up.

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Vietnam is our new source for industrial leakage and I am not talking about the kind that gets agencies like EPA on your back. From that side of the world comes word of a new Macbook along with pictures and videos. It looks like a leak of a new version of the white Macbook that was last updated in October last year. As for the authenticity of the leak — Tinhte (the original source (Google translate link)) has gotten it right before and this time it looks like the real McCoy as well.

The 13″ white MacBook, the only MacBookleft without a ‘Pro’ attached to its name and without the ever beautiful brushed aluminum unibody, is definitely due for an upgrade some time this year but this upgrade seems to be slightly ahead of schedule but then again it is a newly resurrected line which was given a new lease of life last year, so the release schedule might not be all that set right now.

Moving on to the leak, it seems like the new white Macbook will have a stronger 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3 megs of shared L2 cache. The 13.3 panel remains back LED backlit and will have a glossy finish. A new and welcome addition is the presence of a dedicated graphics solution in the form of a NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor, carrying a memory capacity of 256MB DDR3 SDRAM but it is shared with the main memory. It will carry 2GB of memory and with the graphics cards sharing, only 1.75GB will remain available. Storage will be 250GB.

Other than you have the usual — Gigabit ethernet, Mini DisplayPort, Airpot Extreme, etc.

If the configuration reminds you of the current 13″ MacBook Pro, it is because the two are now extremely similar. Of course, it is logical that Apple would do this before upgrading the 13″ MacBook but at the moment the 13″ MacBook does look like it is underperforming for the premium they charge for it. However, the MacBook Pro line is premium, so I guess Apple is justified in charging extra. But that much extra? Well, Apple has always loved large margins. And they need it too. Given the number of projects that go on in the depths of their labs, they need serious cash to fund cutting edge research.

Tinthe has put up an unboxing video, lest you disbelieve them. They also show you that the device identifies itself as Macbook 7,1 — an identifier that does not yet exist in the retail space. Of course, there always remains a chance that all of this is purely made up and is nothing but a gigantic “gotcha!” but we want to believe.

One interesting observation is that the model number stays the same — A1342. I guess you can’t just change a model by bumping the processor speed and the graphics. However, if they do release it like this, they really ought to upgrade the 13″ MacBook Pro really fast.

The release date is unclear at the moment but if the product is at the ready like this, it is possible that an upgrade is coming our way as early as this week.

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