Type of Article: MacTech Blog

The desire to share content and to access it on multiple devices will motivate consumers to start storing a third of their digital content in the cloud by 2016, according to Gartner (http://www.gartner.com). The research group says just 7% of consumer content was stored in the cloud in 2011, but this will grow to 36% in 2016.

I’ll be among that number. However, I’m not depending solely on “the cloud” to hold my data.

Ben Kepes has an interesting article at “infosec Island (http://macte.ch/wXvqx) dubbed “The Cloud: It’s Not About the Cost.” The premise of the article is that cloud computing is more about collaboration than cost savings. Apple should take note.

The survey was commissioned by the Cloud Alliance for Google Apps and taken across a range of small and mid-sized businesses. Respondents reported that the ability to collaborate effectively was a stronger driver than the cost issues.

An Apple patent (number 8209637) for unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

Per the patent, a device with a touch-sensitive display may be unlocked via gestures performed on the touch-sensitive display. The device is unlocked if contact with the display corresponds to a predefined gesture for unlocking the device. The device displays one or more unlock images with respect to which the predefined gesture is to be performed in order to unlock the device.

Apple has won a patent (number 8207946) from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office for a light sensitive display. It relates to touch sensitive displays.

As paid video content becomes more available via different distribution channels, tablet and wireless phone-viewing usage has increased, while computer viewing usage has decreased from 2011, according to the J.D. Power and Associates “2012 U.S. Residential Pay-to-View Study” (http://www.jdpower.com/). But the amount of people who watch TV on their Macs or PCs is still impressive — and a good argument for my longed-for iMac with built-in TV features.