Think-Dash

Photos of Likely 802.11ac 'Gigabit Wi-Fi' Card From Next-Generation iMac Surface

Photos of Likely 802.11ac 'Gigabit Wi-Fi' Card From Next-Generation iMac Surface: Tonymacx86 points (via 9to5Mac) to recently discovered photos of a Broadcom BCM94360CD Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card that supports the 802.11ac "Gigabit Wi-Fi" standard rumored to be coming to Apple's Mac lineup later this year. While the photos were posted to Chinese site VR-Zone in early March, they are only just now being noticed by those following Apple rumors.

bcm94360_1

While the reports suggest that the new card is intended for the next-generation MacBook Pro or MacBook Air models rumored for launch at next month's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), a commenter on the Tonymacx86 discussion thread points out that the card is actually nearly identical in size, shape, and layout to the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card found in the current iMac.

bcm94360_2

The BCM94360CD card, which is very likely a custom design for Apple, contains Broadcom's BCM4360 802.11ac transceiver chip, offering support for the in-process Wi-Fi standard that allows for triple the speeds of the current 802.11n standard. An apparent date code of "1240" on the part suggests that it was manufactured in early October 2012, several months before Apple was reported to have struck a deal with Broadcom to bring 802.11ac support to its 2013 Macs.

imac_2012_wifi_card

Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card from Late 2012 iMac (Source: iFixit)

Microsoft Unveils Xbox One, an All-In-One Entertainment System with Revamped Kinect and Fully Integrated SmartGlass

Microsoft Unveils Xbox One, an All-In-One Entertainment System with Revamped Kinect and Fully Integrated SmartGlass: Microsoft today released details on its next generation console at an event hosted at its Redmond campus in Washington. Called the Xbox One, the new console is designed to be the ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system with a heavy focus on both gaming and interactive television watching.

The Xbox One recognizes individual users and presents a customized home screen filled with content like TV and movies, games, and music, along with a new Trending section that displays friend activity and a live TV system.

Xbox One utilizes voice commands, motion control via the Kinect, and a new feature called Instant Switching to allow Xbox users to switch from gaming to TV to other types of entertainment with quick commands that work as fast as swapping channels on the TV. Home screen sharing, called Snap Mode, allows users to display multiple items on the television screen. The Xbox One's comprehensive voice commands, such as "Watch CBS" or "Play Game" are what many imagined Siri integration with the Apple TV might look like.

xboxone

The new Xbox sports 8GB of RAM, an 8-core CPU, a 500GB hard drive, USB 3.0 ports, and a slot-loading Blu-ray drive. It also comes equipped with a newly redesigned Kinect sensor that is far more robust for better motion sensing and an updated controller that has an updated d-pad, impulse triggers and a more ergonomic design, in addition to several other improvements.

Xbox's second-screen companion app SmartGlass, which was originally introduced last year, has been improved to allow smartphones and tablets like Apple's iPad and iPhone to connect seamlessly to the Xbox one. According to Marc Whitten, SmartGlass is "fully integrated" into the new console.

SmartGlass in its current form is designed to allow users to interact with the Xbox 360 in a number of ways, namely navigating through menus, controlling video, browsing the internet, and using the keyboard to type on the console.

A number of games were also revealed at the Xbox One event including Madden NFL 25, NBA Live 14, EA Sports UFC, FIFA 12, Forza Motorsport 5, Call of Duty: Ghosts, and Quantum Break, a new game from Remedy that aims to blend television and gaming. 15 new games will be released during the first year that Xbox One is available, with eight of those being new franchises.

Though no exact release date was given, the Xbox One will launch around the world "later this year." More information about the console and its upcoming games will be available at E3 in June.

Reconstructing The Oklahoma Tornado From Start To Finish, In Videos

Reconstructing The Oklahoma Tornado From Start To Finish, In Videos:

The EF-4 Moore, Okla., Tornado, May 20, 2013

This is what real destruction looks like.
The devastation wrought by the mile-wide, EF-4 tornado that ripped through Moore, Okla., and south Oklahoma City yesterday is really difficult to put into words. You could start with the huge path of destruction, more than a mile wide at places, that wiped entire neighborhoods clean off the map like they were never even there. It's more difficult when you get to the two elementary schools--concrete and cinder block buildings that gave way to the truly devastating force of this storm.
It's tough to describe and easier to show. And given the camera-fication of everything these days, there's plenty of footage floating around the web today, enough that one can pretty much reconstruct this twister--which was on the ground for 40 minutes with winds up to 200 miles per hour--from start to finish. Which is exactly what we've done below.
1. In Newcastle, Okla., (just southwest of Moore and due west of Norman), the funnel drops from the sky and starts picking up steam (and debris).

2. By the time this thing reaches Moore, it's a monster. Even seasoned storm chasers can't believe what they are seeing.

3. It doesn't get better. The video below begins with footage shot near South Moore High School but culminates with scenes shot from a devastated neighborhood just minutes after the storm more or less flattened it.

4. Another perspective captured by a storm chaser from the east side of Moore offers a clear view of the massive, swirling debris field gathered by the funnel. At this point the tornado has traveled roughly three-quarters of its total journey and is tearing through the heart of Moore.

5. Just west of Lake Stanley Draper the tornado stops moving and begins to rope out and dissipate.

6. And of course there's the timelapse, which quickly conveys--in a few brief, sped-up clips--just how destructive this storm was as it gathered steam and then slammed into the sprawling suburbia of Moore.

Unknown Mathematician Proves Surprising Property of Prime Numbers

Unknown Mathematician Proves Surprising Property of Prime Numbers:

An unknown mathematician, Yitang Zhang, has revolutionized his field and helped move forward a 2,000-year-old conjecture about prime numbers. His counterintuitive findings show that special pairs of primes, called twin primes, can never be more than 70 million places away ...

F-35A departure testing at Edwards AFB

F-35A departure testing at Edwards AFB:
Lockheed Martin recently released this video of test pilots
at Edwards AFB, California, intentionally departing the F-35A and testing
recovery procedures.

This sort of testing is vital since operational pilots will
find a way to depart the jet no matter how departure resistant the aircraft is.
It happened during operational testing for the F-22 when one of the pilots
managed to get himself into an inverted spiral despite assurances in the
Raptor's dash one manual that the jet could be maneuvered with "reckless
abandon." If it can happen to a veteran Weapons School instructor pilot, it can
and it will, at some point, happen to some brand new B-course graduate--it's
just a matter of time.

Incidentally, the Lockheed pilot in the video is Dave "Doc"
Nelson, who was formerly a F-22 developmental test pilot, and as he points out,
the F-35 really does have excellent high angle of attack (AOA) characteristics.
And if what Lea Haubelt, one of the flight test engineers, says in the video is
true about the high AOA handling characteristics being better than expected,
I'm not sure why the angle of attack limit is set at 50 degrees AOA when they
have gone much higher during flight tests.

It may not be a capability that is used often, but extreme
AOA performance can be useful at times. A good friend once described pulling
more than 63 degrees AOA in the Raptor to escape being from being "shot down"
by a high off-boresight missile-equipped Red air threat. It may have been
useful for only a few moments, but sometimes it's the difference between life
and death.

Newly Discovered Mac Malware Captures and Stores Screenshots

Newly Discovered Mac Malware Captures and Stores Screenshots: New Mac spyware was discovered earlier this week on a computer at the Oslo Freedom Forum, an annual human rights conference. Located by computer security researcher Jacob Appelbaum, the malware, which has been deemed OSX/KitM.A, is currently being investigated by anti-virus company F-Secure, reports CNET.

The malware is a backdoor application called "macs.app," which launches automatically upon login and captures screenshots that it then sends to a MacApp folder in the user's home directory. Two command-and-control servers, located at securitytable.org and docsforum.info, are associated with the malware, but one does not function and the other gives a "public access forbidden" message.

macapp

Interestingly, the malware is signed with an Apple Developer ID, which is designed to prevent the installation of malware. Apps that are unsigned are blocked by default by Apple's Gatekeeper security option.

This bit of malware is somewhat unique in that it is signed with what appears to be a valid Apple Developer ID associated with the name Rajender Kumar. Though not an uncommon name, this may be a reference to the late Bollywood actor of a similar name. Regardless, the use of the ID appears to be an attempt to bypass Apple's Gatekeeper execution prevention technology.

Currently, F-Secure is investigating where the malware originated, and though it does not appear to be widespread, it can be mitigated by removing the macs.app program from the log-in menu. Apple often addresses malware threats quickly, and has the ability to revoke the developer ID to further limit the spread of the software.

Official: Honda returning to F1 as McLaren partner

Official: Honda returning to F1 as McLaren partner:
Filed under: Motorsports, Honda, McLaren

Honda and McLaren announce new F1 efforts by showing three race cars throughout history

McLaren Honda team formation - executives shaking hands

Honda must really love Formula One racing, as evidenced by today's announcement that the Japanese automaker is returning to the world's most popular motorsport for the fifth time in its history. Honda has entered into a team partnership with McLaren to develop and manufacture power systems - the engine and energy recovery system - for the 2015 F1 season. McLaren will be in charge of chassis development and running the day-to-day operations of this newly formed team, which will be called McLaren Honda.

Honda says its decision to reenter F1 racing had to do with new regulations for the 2014 season that require cars to be powered by a 1.6-liter direct-injection turbocharged V6 engine paired with an energy recovery system. Apparently the chance to develop this particular powertrain for F1 racing was too enticing for Honda to pass up, which suggests it has bigger plans for the knowledge learned while developing these systems beyond just winning races.

As mentioned, this is Honda's fifth foray into F1 racing, the first being back in 1964 when it participated as its own team through 1968. Its longest stint came from 1983-1992 as an engine supplier, during which time it partnered with many teams, including McLaren, and won six Constructor Championships. Honda then returned from 2000-2005 as an engine supplier for British American Racing (BAR) before buying that team outright and running it as Honda Racing from 2006-2008. Then the global economic crisis hit. Honda's return to the sport will surely be welcomed by fans as its partnership with McLaren should produce a formidable team. It's a strong signal that the company has returned to health after a few tumultuous years, and hopefully its rediscovered motorsports mojo will help yield more passionately engineered street cars.
Continue reading Honda returning to F1 as McLaren partner

Honda returning to F1 as McLaren partner originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 16 May 2013 09:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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X-47B Heads For Final Tests

X-47B Heads For Final Tests:
The Northrop Grumman X-47B program is expected to perform its first touch-and-go landings -- intentional bolters -- on the carrier George Bush within a few days, following its first at-sea catapult launch on Tuesday. A few first-hand observations:
The X-47B actually clicked through its pre-launch preparations faster than we had been told to expect. It took very little time for the aircraft to maneuver up to the end of the catapult. The remote control unit developed for the tests looks a bit cumbersome:

However, it appears to work, and the team's view seems to be that the gaming industry will generate the technology for a definitive system for Uclass. The team feel that they have proved the principle: that the unmanned aircraft can follow the same commands as a manned aircraft and can maneuver itself on the deck in the same way.
The X-47B looked quite stable on the approach, just rolling a little through the burble on the second pass, which waved off 50 feet from the deck.

A non-planned wave-off can be initiated four ways: automatically by the vehicle; by the mission operator; by Paddles, the landing signal officer; or by Pri-Fly (primary flying control) in the tower. The mission operator "calls the ball" in the same way as the pilot, and lights on the landing gear indicate that the aircraft intends to land.
Navy officers are very clear on a distinction between the Navy and the Air Force, which insists on talking about remotely piloted aircraft: Navy "unmanned air systems" have operators, not pilots. Of course, the Navy hasn't been forced to divert a large number of qualified pilots into UAVs, as the USAF has been (Predators and Reapers are the USAF's second-largest pilot force after the F-16), and will not have to do so for a long time. But the fact remains that flying a UAV with a stick and rudder or any semblance thereof is (to quote an Airbus guy's comment on the Boeing 777's back-driven yoke) like putting a steering wheel on a horse. "Pilot" is a bit of a misnomer.
Speaking of pilots, the Navy's attitude towards adopting the X-47B's automatic landing technology for manned operations is quite positive. The potential benefits -- less wear and tear on airframes and less training time for the air group, along with improved safety -- are substantial.

Who the F*&@ is Lion Air?

Who the F*&@ is Lion Air?:
You may have heard the name Lion Air before, but chances are you’ve never flown the airline, a low cost carrier based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Lion has been known for a few things over its decade-long history; some good and some bad. The bad? Naturally, it’s safety-related. And the good? Well, it’s debatable if it’s good, but Lion Air is known for having the two largest aircraft orders in history. This is one interesting airline.

Operating in Indonesia is no easy task. The frequent stormy tropical weather makes for some challenging flying, especially around the often mountainous terrain. That shouldn’t mean it’s unsafe, but Indonesia has a terrible accident record across most airlines. In fact, all but a handful of Indonesian airlines are on the European Union’s blacklist of airlines you shouldn’t fly for safety reasons. That list includes Lion Air.
Lion Air started flying in 2000, and since that time, it has had 7 accidents, though most avoided fatalities. The most recent was in April when a 2-month old 737 ran off the runway in Bali. Nobody was hurt, but the preliminary report shows some very serious pilot training issues.
The accidents, however, are just the most visible sign of a stressed operation. Lion has struggled with on time performance, only achieving around 65 percent on time in 2011. (I can’t seem to find a more recent report, but hopefully it’s improved by now.) Oh, and there was that whole “pilots with crystal meth” thing.
In other words, this sounds like a lot of Indonesian airlines. You would think this would mean Lion Air was on the ropes, right? Well, we have no idea. It’s a private airline and says nothing about finances, but there are some very public signs that this airline has plenty of cash if it needs it. This is one of the fastest growing airlines in the world. As the airline approaches 100 airplanes in its fleet (including a couple 747s that it uses to fly to Saudi Arabia), it prepares for another… 500+. Yeah, I’m serious.
Last year, Lion Air ordered 230 airplanes from Boeing. That’s an order for 29 more 737-900ERs and 201 737 MAX aircraft. Then this year, it ordered 234 airplanes from Airbus. This time, the order was for 60 A320s, 109 A320neos, and 65 A321neos. This is in addition to the aircraft already on order.
Not quite blown away yet? This airline has its fingers in a million different things. It started a regional airline, Wings Air, back in 2003. This airline is now on track to operate 60 ATR-72s within the next couple years. Last year it said it would launch a private jet company called Space Jet, though I can’t figure out if that actually happened. It’s also said to be working on a pilot training academy.
Just this month, Lion launched a new full service airline called Batik Air in the city of Manado. I’ll admit, I needed a a little help from Google Maps to find Manado. It lies in the northeast of the country, a thousand miles closer to Davao in the Philippines than it is to Jakarta. Manado only has about 400,000 people, but they better be rich for this full service airline to work.
Unfortunately, what’s public is pretty much all we know about Lion Air. The last press release the airline posted on its website was from 2006. And the “Contact Us” link just gives me a server error. This is one strange airline. But in the next few years, it might be one huge, strange airline. There’s no question that Southeast Asia is going to see tremendous growth in air travel, but what role with Lion play? It could be a big player or it could just be a blip on the radar depending upon what happens in the next few years.
[Original photo via Flickr user IMAM HARTOYO/CC 2.0]

NASA’s Planet-Hunting Telescope in Critical Condition After Hardware Failure

NASA’s Planet-Hunting Telescope in Critical Condition After Hardware Failure:

NASA's extraordinary Kepler space telescope, whose job over the last four years has been finding and characterizing planets around other stars, is dead.

Barracuda Networks : Copy "Copies" Google with 15GB of Free Cloud Storage

05/15/2013| 02:12pm US/Eastern

Recommend

Campbell, Calif. (May 15, 2013) - Inspired by this week's news that Google is unifying storage across its products, Barracuda Networks announced a bold new program increasing the amount of free cloud storage for its own Copy users from 5GB to 15GB. Copy is a new online file syncing, sharing and storage service built on the secure Barracuda Cloud. Since its public debut less than 90 days ago, Copy already is approaching half a million users worldwide.

"We think Google's effort here is great, and we are eager to join in by providing current and new Copy users with a matching amount of free space," said Guy Suter, GM Storage, at Barracuda Networks. "We believe people deserve lots of storage to realize the full benefits of using the cloud. They also should be able to control what files count against their capacity. For our part, Copy's free space now at 15GB, our awesome referral program, our incredibly low-paid storage plans, and our 'Fair Storage for All' initiative are all aimed at helping people do more amazing things."

Beyond the now standard 15GB of free storage, Copy users also can benefit from the Copy referral program and the "Fair Storage for All" initiative:

Copy Referral Program - In possibly the most rewarding referral program in cloud storage history, Copy users can earn 5GB of additional free storage for both themselves and the person they introduce to Copy for each referral, with no limit on the total capacity they can earn. The average Copy referrer has earned well over 60GB of free storage, with the largest referrers earning space in the 10s of TBs.
Copy "Fair Storage for All" Initiative - Instead of counting data in shared folders against all members' individual storage quotas so everyone pays for the same data over and over, Copy allows users to "split the bill" and control which files count against their storage capacity. View the 40-second video on the Copy "Fair Storage for All" initiative at http://youtu.be/m36ZMdE-vro.

Copy was created to meet the exceedingly high design demands of today's online and mobile users, and to provide the advanced security and corporate features required for businesses. Additional highlights of the service include:

Multiple device compatibility -Copy works across Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux computers and offers mobile device support for Apple iOS (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad) and Android, with Windows Mobile coming soon.
Easy file sharing without limits - Copy allows users to upload and share files of any size, including 1080p videos and raw photographs, without size limitations often found in email attachments. These shared files and folders can be sent to anyone either publicly or privately and accessed from any location or device.
More security - Copy provides a secure alternative to other cloud storage services. Included data verification inspects data before Copy accepts it into the user's cloud storage. File-level ownership is verified prior to transferring anything to other devices. Copy also allows users to share files privately using Copy's built-in identify verification.
Company control - Copy extends its cloud storage and sharing benefits into corporate environments with user and group management and added controls for proprietary company data.

Pricing and Availability

Copy is available at Copy.com (http://www.copy.com) and by installing the free software (http://www.copy.com/install). Copy also is available as a free app in the Apple App Store (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/copy-for-ios/id546789632) for iOS devices and on Google Play(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.copy) for Android devices.

Individual Copy accounts provide 15GB of cloud storage free of charge, and paid plans start at $9.99USD/month or $99USD/year for up to 250GBs.

Copy for Companies introduces an industry-changing no-per-user-fee approach and plans starting at $399.99USD/year for 100GB.

Additional Resources:

Earn 5GB of additional free cloud storage for each referral brought to Copy: https://copy.com?r=pFcEw6

View the 40-second video about the Copy "Fair Storage for All" initiative:http://youtu.be/m36ZMdE-vro

Follow Copy by Barracuda on Twitter: @copyapp

Like Copy by Barracuda on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/copy

About Barracuda Networks Inc. Protecting users, applications, and data for more than 150,000 organizations worldwide, Barracuda Networks has developed a global reputation as the go-to leader for powerful, easy-to-use, affordable IT solutions. The company's proven customer-centric business model focuses on delivering high-value, subscription-based IT solutions for security and storage.http://www.barracuda.com or follow us on Twitter@barracuda.

‘Copy’ – New Cloud Storage Service With Apt Name, Linux Client

If I said you could have 20 GB of online storage for free, with the option to earn a bit extra by persuading others to sign up; be able to share you files publicly, and could sync files straight from the Ubuntu desktop – what would you say?

‘De ja vu’, probably.

Copy, a relatively new entry into the ‘cloud storage’ service arena, has a very apt name. Aside from supporting Linux out of the box from day dot the rest of its offerings are, sadly, fairly predictable.

Services like Copy are fast becoming to cloud storage what the ‘netbook’ became to the PC sector: great implementations that all look a bit different, but offering little in the way of differentiation where it matters. Same old, same old.

Copy Set Up Screens

That’s not to say that Copy is a bad service – because it isn’t. It does exactly what it claims to. You can:

Sync files and folders from the desktop
Access files online
Share files publicly and privately

Its “social referral” offer – whereby you convince someone else to sign up using a special link – is actually really generous (see chart at bottom of post) in comparison to its rivals. Copy gets points for that.

On the ‘cons’ side the privacy and security policies safeguarding your data aren’t quite as robust as competitors; it can’t auto-sync; and the app gives no indication/notification that a file has completed syncing.

Tl;dr: If you’re already using Dropbox, Ubuntu One or Google Drive you aren’t missing out on much by not switching. At least not yet.

Getting Copy

Copy offers 20GB of storage for free (in return for an e-mail address). Desktop apps are available for Linux, Mac, Windows, Android and iOS.

You can find out more, sign up for an account, and download the Linux app by hitting the button below.

Visit the Copy Website

How does Copy stack up against other Ubuntu-supporting storage services? Let’s take a look…

Also feel free to post your referral link in the comments below; who knows, maybe someone will use it.

BY JOEY-ELIJAH SNEDDON

HTTP://WWW.OMGUBUNTU.CO.UK/2013/04/CLOUD-STORAGE-SERVICE-COPY-FOR-LINUX

Lamborghini Egoista: Sant’Agata’s Aviation-Inspired, Hot Wheels–Like Anniversary Special

Lamborghini Egoista: Sant’Agata’s Aviation-Inspired, Hot Wheels–Like Anniversary Special:

Those who appreciate the wildly styled Lamborghini Veneno are sure to take pleasure in Lamborghini’s next 50th birthday present to itself, the Egoista. As for the rest of us, and as far as the design community is concerned, it seems that the Sant’Agata operation just had its EXP 9 F moment, which is to say, a bit of an “oops.” Launched at a private event on occasion of the brand’s 50th anniversary, this one-seater supercar is nothing less than the automotive equivalent of a Mandelbrot set.
Endowed with more lines, angles, and edges than a fractal design poster hung in a college dorm, the Egoista displays a Formula 1–like nose despite the brand’s lack of recent involvement in the series; an orange-hued canopy worthy of placement in the most ludicrous of Hot Wheels offerings (Lamborghini prefers to invoke the appearance of an Apache helicopter); and a raised posterior with active flaps, positioned above a pair of comically large, rectangular exhaust outlets.

Few audible experiences match a V-10 being amplified through exhaust exits large enough to swallow small children.

There are LED lighting elements front and aft, orange-finished wheels, and electronically controlled air intakes positioned on the Egoista’s rear shoulders. The vehicle is crafted from aluminum and carbon fiber, and powered by a centrally mounted 600-hp, 5.2-liter V-10—the same engine that motivates Lamborghini’s Gallardo and the Audi R8. To keep people from stepping on its precious carbon-fiber elements, the Egoista features “no-walk zones, duly marked like on airliners,” Lamborghini says. But, by all means, feel free to walk all over any part of the car’s exterior that doesn’t explicitly tell you otherwise.
The interior is dominated by a racing seat with a four-point harness and a head-up display. Despite the racing-like restraint system that we would expect to keep the driver pinned to the seat in the unfortunate case of an accident, airbags are included as well. The press release from Sant’Agata describes getting in and out of the Egoista in painstaking detail, and rightfully so considering this process includes removing the steering wheel, popping open the canopy, standing up on the seat, climbing to rest on the car’s bodywork, and slinking to the ground. We must hand it to the brand, however, for focusing on the bright side of the ordeal: “The Lamborghini Egoista requires a pilot more than a driver, a real top gun.”

Described as “chaotic” and “inspired by Lego pieces” by Pforzheim, Germany–based transportation design professor Gernot Bracht, the Egoista’s styling language sends a troubling message about the future of Lamborghini design. It takes the provocative style of the Veneno—described by former Renault chief designer Patrick Le Quément as a “nightmare that I still try to forget” and is generally regarded as a low point in the brand’s history—to another level entirely.

Or is the Egoista, which seems to lack any powertrain innovations, simply intended to reduce the brand’s derailed design language to absurdity? Such a subversive approach would be both liberating and praiseworthy. Whatever the true motivation behind this wild one-seater, it will remain a solitary exercise; chances for an encounter on public roads will be exceedingly low.

You Can Buy the President's Real Air Force One Airplane

You Can Buy the President's Real Air Force One Airplane:

Here's something that you never really run across eBay or Craigslist: the real Air Force One airplane. As in the freaking flying aircraft that has freaking transported freaking Presidents of the freaking United States of America in the freaking air. Let's buy this thing, people!
Read more...

Apple's Lightning Connector Detailed in Newly-Published Patent Applications

Apple's Lightning Connector Detailed in Newly-Published Patent Applications: As noted by AppleInsider, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today published three Apple patent applications related to the company's Lightning connector introduced on its iOS devices late last year.

lightning_connector_patent_1

Perspective view of Lightning connector
The first application describes the hardware itself, while two nearly identical applications outline the adaptive technology used to assign pin functions. The only difference between the latter two applications appears to relate to one describing implementation on an electronic device while the other addresses its use on an accessory.

The present invention generally relates to connectors for connecting two devices. Specifically, certain embodiments of the present invention relate to reversible connectors with configurable contacts. [...]

Embodiments of the present invention provide techniques for dynamically configuring contacts of a host-side connector that is associated with a host system. In one embodiment of the present invention, a contact in the host-side connector is capable of being assigned one of several functions. The function to be assigned to the contact (and other contacts in the connector) may depend on the accessory coupled to the host system and the signals provided/used by the accessory. For example, when an audio only accessory is coupled to the host system, at least one of the contacts on the host-side connector can be configured to carry audio data.

Example pin-out diagram of Lightning connector
As part of the hardware-focused patent, Apple shares several examples of implementations for the Lightning connector, including the Lightning Digital AV adapter, Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader, and even an as yet unreleased Lightning dock of similar design to the company's iPad dock for the first-generation iPad with its 30-pin connector standard.

Apple's three patent applications published today were filed in November and December of last year, but are continuations of similar applications filed on September 7, 2012, five days before the company officially announced the standard as part of the iPhone 5 introduction. The patent applications can, however, be traced back even further to several provisional patent applications filed by Apple in November 2011.

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