Type of Article: MacTech Blog

An Apple patent (number 8180379) for synchronizing mobile and vehicle devices has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

Per the patent, location information is received at a mobile device from the memory of a vehicle device. The mobile device is updated based on the location information. Sensor data is received from at least one sensor measuring movement of the mobile device, and an estimated location of the mobile device is calculated based at least in part on the location information and the sensor data.

An Apple patent (number 8181233) for the pairing of wireless devices using a wired medium has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. It relates to wireless devices and, more particularly, to pairing wireless devices for authorized data exchange.

An Apple patent (number 8180895) for managing podcasts has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Improved techniques that facilitate the use of podcasts are disclosed. The improved techniques can pertain to publishing, hosting, accessing, subscribing, managing, organizing, searching, browsing, transferring, and/or playing podcasts.

A new study underlines what I’ve been saying: the tablet category has yet to quell interest in portable computers. One in three respondents in an ongoing tracking study by ABI Research (http://www.abirsearch.com) said they plan to purchase a laptop in the first half of 2012.

Additionally, 16% of respondents also said they plan to acquire a media tablet. Consumers expressed greater purchase intent in both computing form factors compared to a previous survey.