Apple Patents 'Chameleon' Computer Case

Dave B writes "The Register has been fishing at the patent office again and found that Apple has a new patent for "a computing device [which] includes a housing having an illuminable portion. The computing device also includes a light device disposed inside the housing. The light device is configured to illuminate the illuminable portion". While this gives us the exciting prospect of an iMac that is all five fruit flavors at once surely the original iMac with its glowing power button, or indeed a-thousand-and-one other electronic gizmos represent prior art?" Update a couple of users noticed this Slashdot Story from 2002 which looks familiar.

Comments

Re:This IS news!

[caitsith01]

Perhaps it just shows how important a mindlessly biased and unquestioning fanbase is.

If Dell did it and not Apple, I would still think it was pretty nifty. But apparently you would turn up your nose and possibly publish a mini-thesis here about how coloured lights are a tacky, show off Windoze thing and no substitute for a nice white egg-shaped thing that can run OS-X.

I imagine a debate about how PC gaming lusers are the only target market for something so stupid would then ensue.

Your comment is quite depressing. Like Apple, don't deify it.

Dear flamebait moderator fucktard

[caitsith01]

Flamebait is not me posting something that you, the moderator, disagree with. It is posting something deliberately designed to attract flaming ... flame... bait. See how that works?

So for example, if I were to say, "you are a fucktard Apple fanboy who thinks that a woman is more interested in the inches of your Powerbook than the inches in your pants", THAT would be '-1 flamebait' territory. On the other hand, if I were to assert that Apple does not deserve mindless adulation and any company that comes up with a good idea should be praised, be they Apple or Dell or whoever, that would be an OPINION THAT DIFFERS FROM YOURS and I should be allowed to express it here.

MODERATION IS NOT DESIGNED TO LET YOU ENFORCE YOUR VIEWS ON OTHERS. It is designed to maintain a decent standard of conversation here. You are contributing to a pathetic cooperative censorship operation by Apple devotees that routinely obliterates any post that does not praise Apple.

Did it occur to you (a) that noone has flamed my post prior to your helpful censoring of its harmful content or (b) that someone else had already modded it up as 'insightful'? Maybe, just maybe, you are wrong. Think about it, please.

Seriously, fuck you.

Re:Dear flamebait moderator fucktard

[CountBrass]

Moderation is exactly to allow the moderators to enforce their views on others, it's naive of you to think otherwise. All moderation is based on their personal opinion.

I thought your previous posting WAS flamebait although it lacked the usual profanity: your second posting was offtopic (as is my post but I have Karma to spare so I burn it often ;-) and yours was also flamebait and contained plenty of profanity as well as personal attacks on some anonymous moderator.

Hope YOU have karma to burn otherwise shortly you'll be posting at a starting -1 ;-)

You people are forgetting Slashdot Rule #1

[callipygian-showsyst]

While this gives us the exciting prospect of an iMac that is all five fruit flavors at once surely the original iMac with its glowing power button, or indeed a-thousand-and-one other electronic gizmos represent prior art

You people are forgetting Slashdot Rule #1:

When Microsoft patents something, it's BAD

When Apple does *anything*, it's GOOD

What are you thinking apple?

[blanks]

Full well knowing that the prior art is there, and the fact that Apple would patent this idea shows that they are not above trying to lock competition out of innovation. My car stereo can do this, change lcd colors, movable animated images on the screen, buttons that can have colors changed from a program. Yes it does include the ability to control it from software, but that still doesn't mean they can not use this patent to control the ability to sell modified cases for Macs. Case mods are popular in the PC world, well now it will be popular for Macs, with Apple being the only person legal to sell the mods. Way to go Apple, what are you going to do to lock your customers, and competitors out of the game next?

I'm probably late to the show with this one but...

[AbRASiON]

Slashdot....

Apple = good
Patent = bad ......??????

Surely this is a logical paradox and this topic should have 0 posts?

or have some posters here got paradox absorbing crumple zones? :)