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Apple Wants To Store Your History In the Cloud

Posted by samzenpus on from the putting-ideas-in-thin-air dept.

bizwriter writes "Most online backup is about keeping the latest and greatest version of what resides on a device, whether a PC, tablet, or smartphone. Three recent patent filings suggest that Apple has a super version of backup on its mind. Someone would be able to go into an application (like iTunes or the App Store), find what material was available at a previous time, and recover any or all of what once was there without having to use a separate recovery program."

6 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. So it's just Time Machine in the cloud? by Gavin+Scott · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well duh, Time Machine already does this for local or NAS storage, so any extension of this into the "cloud" would obviously include the same functionality.

    Inflammatory summary is inflammatory.

    G.

  2. Re:Wait... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Here's a drinking game that will(briefly, before it kills you) make you feel better about the state of the software/business method patent system:

    1. When you see a bullshit 'on the internet' or 'in the cloud' patent, ask yourself "Could I have done exactly the same thing over a leased line somewhere between 1970 and 1985, if I'd had a checkbook big enough for IBM?".

    2. If yes, take a shot.

  3. Re:Google (Chrome) and Firefox can do this already by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why would you want them to? Personally when I delete something, I want it to stay deleted. I'd much rather have every deleted thing gone forever than have everything in the facebook-style limbo of "inactive".

  4. Re:Apple? The same Apple that sells you ONE mp3 co by foniksonik · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Uh that's what this is supposed to fix. The labels dictate the terms. Not Apple. So Apple needs something big enough to justify paying the labels giant surcharges to let us all do it the sensible way. Google is working on the exact same thing BTW.

    --
    A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
  5. Re:Wait... by gig · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Apple is not a patent troll. They have sued over patents only a few times even though they've been widely copied. They obviously have to patent this before they ship to protect themselves against patent trolls.

  6. Re:And this is a new idea how? by gig · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They didn't claim to invent the cloud or versioning. They claim to have an invention that uses the cloud and versioning in a new way, enabling even a non-technical consumer to apply it to all of their documents without training. No, nobody has done that before.

    Steam engine also did not claim to have invented steam.