Slashdot Mirror
Apple's 3D Desktop Patent Filing Examined
phantomfive writes "The patent office has released some patent filings by Apple which indicate that the company is working on a 3D desktop of some sort. They call it a multi-dimensional desktop, according to the patent filing." There's also some commentary at ZDNet; both stories link to a detailed run-down at AppleInsider.
This clearly shows that the patent system is broken. Sun have been working on a 3D Desktop since the early 2000s.
More info: http://www.sun.com/software/looking_glass/
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Well at least there is a ton of prior art like compiz etc.
I remember in the end of the 90's at an oil company i worked for,
we had 3-4 SGI machines that used an array of projectors to create
a 3d world for the engineers to explore the ground. You used a glove
and cloud pull apart the different geological layers and pull down
menus with your hand.
The US patent system is def. screwed if they pass something like this.
So the new Apples will have holographic displays? If not, it isn't 3D, it's perspective .
Free Martian Whores!
That would be impossible. There was no Episode 4 in the 70's, just Star Wars.
Yes, I'm being a dick for amusement rather than actual irritation. If you had called it "A New Hope", then I would have cared a little because it's such a lame title compared with the original.
It was, actually. It was fsn running on Irix (one of the few times something computery wasn't mocked up).
They'll need to solve the motion sickness problem for some people first. I got quite sick at a 3D IMAX production, I think called "Deep Sea" a number of years ago. They had these big polarized goggles that would sit on your head and you would get a 3D effect from looking around. The problem was, as far as I could tell, was that any movement in 3 dimensional space was not accompanies by movement of the inner ear. So my eyes were thinking I was moving along the sea floor, but ears said "no way". I ended up taking them off and watching the movie in 3D. I was OK by the end of the movie.
Second experience was riding on the Aladdin carpet ride at Disney World/EPCOT in Florida. I believe this is the virtual ride developed by Randy Pausch of Carnegie Mellon, the guy that gave that great speech when he got cancer. I got really sick on this one, in fact ended up puking after the ride. It was similar, one part of my brain said that I was moving in space but other parts said "no way". I am a sailor and was training to be a pilot, and hadn't been seasick in years... but this ride made me hot, sweaty and eventually pukey. Nastiest experience I have had in years.
I am assuming that the display, if just used for navigation, won't have a lot of movement that might induce motion sickness. After all, I can look around in space now without a problem, changing focus on things near and far, looking from right to left etc. So maybe it won't be any kind of problem. I can tell you I won't be a first adopter though! Blech!
This post brought to you by your friendly neighborhood MBA.
That sure sounds a lot like Sun's Project Looking Glass.
If you RTFP (Read The F***ing Patent) (TM and Copyright (C) 2008 "coppro"), then you would see that it requires a "viewing surface", limiting the patent to a 2-D desktop environment. Also, my interpretation is that things can't hang in the middle, but I'm not nearly as sure about that (it's patent language, and the diagrams aren't loading).
I think I'll stick with using Compiz Fusion, thank you very much. Free and Versatile ftw! =)
I hate to break it to ya, but your retina is 2d interface. We seem to get along fine with it ina 3d world. :)
I agree with your post for the most part but Apple isn't leading here:
http://bumptop.com/
http://www.sun.com/software/looking_glass/
They may "lead" in bringing something like this to the market quicker (like they did with desktop composition) but they didn't invent this stuff. Certainly not patent worthy.
Good. Cheap. Fast. Pick Two.
It is apparent that you have never actually bothered to use one of the touchpad's in question. The whole pad is one physical button. It can be configured to act as a single button like the one present on all Mac portables, or to behave like the mighty mouse where the Left and Right sides are treated like separate buttons.
It's also obvious that if you've ever used an apple portable, you've never bothered to look at the preference pane for configuring the pointer (trackpad or mouse). Their is a checkbox present that says "Ignore accidental trackpad input" that works flawlessly. There is also a checkbox that says "Ignore trackpad when mouse is present"
Please, if you've never actually used a piece of equipment, don't give your ignorant opinion on it. It'd be like me giving you my opinion of Halo 3. Never played the game so have no worth while input on the topic.
Bureaucracy expands to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.-Oscar Wilde
Dude .. Seriously .. if that shit gets you sick .. DO NOT become a pilot.
Speaking as a CFII ( Flight instructor for instrument ratings ) any maneuvers you do while in clouds ( no visual references ) will make you puke .
even better is when you do a PROPER turn , you will have visual references , but no feel anything. A proper 2 min turn will place 1 g on you directly through the floor. So you will feel as if you are flying straight and level , but be turning.