Apple Patents Provide Interesting Insights On How Users Will be able to 'Write' on the Tablet

Apple Tablet is speculated to come with many cool features, but the coolest among them all might well be an "invisible pen"!

A patent filed in the name of Fingerworks, the company Apple acquired in 2005 reveals some interesting information on a new technology that will allow users to write on a touchscreen surface very much like they would on a piece of paper.

In the filing, the inventors write about a writing style where users clench their fists, pinch their thumb and index finger together; very similar to the way they hold a pen and then press their hand down on the touchscreen surface to write in this position. An image provided in the patent application reveals how the touchscreen interprets the various parts of the palm that is in contact with the touchscreen when the user is writing in order to recognize the actual 'pen grip configuration' part.

While this would definitely appear to be a cool additional feature in the Tablet, readers need to take this with a grain of salt because it is purely speculation at this point.

Folks at MobileCrunch also describe another patent filed by Fingerworks that describes a way for the software to understand when a user is actually typing on a screen and distinguish this from other instances when they might simply be holding or resting their fingers on the device. This technology could help the Tablet to respond appropriately to user inputs.

These patents were filed back in 2007 and their discovery has added another dimension to the mystery that has surrounded the Apple Tablet; a device whose existence is yet to be officially confirmed by Apple. While this has helped generate the buzz around the device, it also means a lot of rumors and speculations and sometimes contradicting reports.

One such report comes from Matt Thornton, an analyst with AVI Securities

. According to him, the Apple Tablet is already in "full production" since the beginning of this month. Thornton says Apple's demand for NAND flash chips have seen a marked increase in the recent past which could mean that the production of the Tablet has already begun. However, you might remember earlier reports which claimed that the production shall start only in February and a launch is expected in the second quarter of the year.

Despite these contradictions, things might just start getting clearer as we approach the D-Day. Meanwhile, if you are excited by the buzz, don't forget to check out this interesting article on Apple Insider about the history of the Tablet - the earliest of which was conceptualized way back in the sixties. Tell us what you think in the comments.

[via MobileCrunch, CNET]

Facebook iPhone App 3.1.2 Released: Fixes Bug Causing Incorrect Matches in Address Book Sync & More

Facebook

has announced that its iPhone app version 3.1.2 is now available on the App Store.

This comes just days after the company released a new version that brought push notifications and address book contacts syncing to the iPhone app. But quite a few of our readers had posted comments last week complaining about the mess that the address book syncing had created.

To quote one of our readers Jon:

"Syncing is horribly implemented. There's no feature to manually select which contacts/friends you would like synced. The app itself automatically chooses which facebook user, not friend, is synced to each contact in your iPhone contact list. The reason I say "facebook user" and not "facebook friend" is because it will sync random facebook users to iPhone contacts with the same name; even if you aren't friends with said random facebook user. Sometimes, there doesn't even need to be common name! It synced a phone contact I have listed as "Susie Accident in Alhambra" to someone on Facebook named "Ehl. Edizon" from some Spanish speaking country who I've never met, I'm not even facebook friends withm and don't even have any mutual friends with!"

With the new version, Facebook claims to have fixed a few crashes, rectified the incorrect matching in address book syncing as well as corrected the bug causing incorrect matches for contacts with same name. Users can download the iPhone app by clicking here (iTunes Link).

Please don't forget to tell us if this version fixes the bugs.

App Developer Reveals iPhone OS 4.0 Launch Imminent

Apple's special media event is scheduled just over ten days from now and it is still anybody's guess about the agenda of the meet though speculations are strongly in favor of Apple making an announcement about the Tablet.

However, the rumor mills have also been pointing towards other things and it is believed that the event platform could be used to unveil the next generation iPhone OS as well.

Earlier this month, we had quoted a French website as claiming that the beta version of iPhone OS 4.0 and iPhone SDK for developers could also be launched during the event. According to these sources, the SDK shall come with a simulator that will help iPhone app developers to reformat their applications to fit larger screens.

Now there is further support to the claim. According to a report on CNET, a prominent app developer has apparently revealed that he had submitted an updated app that is compatible with iPhone OS 4.0. The mail received by the CNET staff reads "Just wanted to give you a heads up that we've submitted an updated app for the new iPhone OS 4.0 software."

CNET writes that this could well indicate the truth in earlier rumors that pointed in this direction. However, this is not exactly conclusive since the app developer had apparently retracted his claim later saying he was actually referring to version 4.0 of his iPhone app and not the OS.

We would thus have to take this with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, the launch of an iPhone OS 4.0 appears very likely considering that it has been quite a while since Apple announced an update to their operating system. Earlier this week, an anonymous source had written to the folks at Boy Genius Report claiming that the reason for the delay in a new version launch was because the next generation OS had a lot of code references to the Tablet and Apple would not want to leak the code before unveiling the device itself.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

[via Apple Insider]