Type of Article: MacTech Blog

A new Apple patent (number 20120144297) for slide show navigation has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Per the patent, a slide show, integrated into an email application, displays images such as those included as an attachment to an email message.

Since Apple has approximately 10 bazillion bucks in the bank, much of it allotted for strategic acquisitions, one company it MIGHT (I’ll explain in a moment) make sense for Apple to purchase is Lytro (http:/www.lytro.com). The company has developed a new digital camera technology using sophisticated software algorithms and a special lens that literally allow you to choose the focused point in a picture, after it’s already taken.

Could this have anything to do with the rumored “iTV” (an Apple-branded HDTV)? An Apple patent (number 8194037) for a has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

The late Steve Jobs is listed as one of the inventors of a patent (number 8196043) for an user interface for presenting media information that’s appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

At last week’s “D: All Things Digital” conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook cast some doubt on the future of Ping, the company’s “social network for music.” Good. It’s time Apple killed the failed experiment.

“We tried Ping and the customer voted and said, this isn’t something I want to put a lot of energy into,” Cook said. “Some customers love it, but there’s not a huge number that do, so will we kill it? I don’t know. I’ll look at it.”