Remember that Apple patent for biometric and other advanced authentication schemes we mentioned yesterday? Well, Engadget took a closer look and it seems like the artwork used in the patent features none other than a few of everyone's favorite Jailbreak apps, including Installer, SMBPrefs, and the iWood theme.

So is Apple trying to sneak in some Jailbreak patents, or did a crafty draftsman just do it for the lulz?

No, not unlocking the iPhone from AT&T (JAR!), unlocking the iPhone so you can use it. Slide to unlock, passcode unlock, that kind of unlock. Okay, now if you're still reading, Apple Insider has found some patent filings that suggest Apple is exploring things like biometrics (i.e. it reads your fingerprint while you slide to unlock), facial recognition (i.e. uses the camera to analyze who you are/might be) and pattern matching (i.e. choose unique shape combinations as a passcode). But it doesn't stop there:

Apple goes so far as to suggest the possibility of recognizing the user's distinctive voice or even collecting DNA samples to recognize a user's genetic sequence. Biometrics could also be context-sensitive and detect the shape of a user's ear before allowing a call to go through, for example.

Of course, many, many Apple iPhone patents have yet to see the light of day, so there's no telling when, if ever, this functionality will be built into future iPhones. Still, it's always nice to Apple is working on possibilities for those future iPhones.

But we have to admit, some of this is just so sci-fi we kinda want to see if they can really do it...

Patent-mania running wild from Apple is nothing new, though these recent filings do seem a tad focused on enabling new form factors, don't they? To go along with the iFlip and iPhone Nano, and the iSlider, comes a little something that just might allow for an iStylus:

Another interesting possibility raised is the use of both capacitance (finger tip) and resistance (fingernail) to provide secondary functionality in future touch screens. [...] Apple suggests the addition of pressure sensitivity to provide additional functionality. For example, touching an item in a list with your fingertip would select it, while pressing it with your fingernail (or otherwise shielded finger or stylus) could bring up a pop-up menu (see picture above).

It's suggested that the patent could make things like text selection and -- wait for it -- cut and paste much easier to multi-touch, with the resistance input being akin to a right-button action on a mouse. Of course, we all know how much Steve Jobs loves buttons, never mind his audible YUCK! at the concept of a stylus.

However, resistance touch could be a blessing to those with long nails, who have complained that they have trouble getting the fleshy part of their finger to properly make contact with the current capacitance sensors. No matter how outdated (--cough--Treo 600--cough--) the technology is.

But never mind what I think, are you hankering to get your iStylus on? And if so, why so?

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First came the iPod, then came the iPod Nano. Well, okay, there was the intermediary Mini, but that's neither here nor there. Eventually -- and currently -- there was -- and is -- the Nano. So it should come as no surprise that ever since Steve Jobs dropped the iPhone bomb back at Macworld 2007, people (and analysts, who may still technically be people?) have been predicting an iPhone Nano.

And now some Apple patents have been revealed which may just bring it a few technical hurdles closer to being!

In a nutshell, it covers a method for making an iPhone-style touchscreen out of "sensor panel substrate called polyethylene terephthalate (PET)". It's directed towards an iPod Classic style device, although an example phone is also detailed, but in our iPhone world, we're imagining it might also one day find its way into an iPhone Nano as well...

Check the read link for a much more in depth rundown...

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Another day, another Apple patent. This one's a biggie, the whole iPhone enchilada. Current functionality and future potentials (web clips? blogging app?) all rolled into one monstrous document, and all sitting beneath the top-tiered name of Steve Jobs. Yup. According the US Patent Office, El Jobso was the architect of the iPhone. And you know what that means!

[Carrier signal intercept...]

Upon first inspection, while preposterous, it remains equally irrefutable that recent filings, previously unrevealed but now extricated from the plethora of Apple applied patents, demonstrate undeniably, if indefensibly, that no mere hardware engineer, software programmer, or industrial designer envisioned the integral experience of multiple touch-based interface melded to gloss-black glass and immaculate aluminum. No. Only the One, Steven P. Jobs, through systematic application of unparalleled will, was and remains sole and primary architect of the harmonious singularity that is iPhone.

[Signal terminated...]

Hit the read link for the usual diagrams and verbiage.

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Okay, so technically Apple isn't patenting "Spidey Sense" (TM Marvel Comics, of course), but a system to warn users of impending dropped signals, be they cellular or WiFi.

So, by way of example, if I called Steve Jobs to tell him I snapped a pick of the iPhone 3.0 prototype, and Rogers' service began to cut out, I'd get a notification (sound, alert dialog, or vibe) warning me I was going to lose the signal, and on his end, El Jobso would likewise be alerted.

If my device happened to have an accelerometer and GPS (hello, iPhone 3G!), location, velocity, etc. could be weighed into the alert equation. So, if I was driving away from Cupertino at a hurried rate, spy shots in hand, the iPhone could factor that into calculating how long it would be until I lost signal.

In a second filing, Apple is also working on a way to find lost, Blue Tooth equipped devices, from currently equipped gear like headsets, to tiny BT enabled chips placed on anything from your keys to your kids.

Again, using different data sets like signal strength, the iPhone could figure out which direction and at what distance the missing item (or small human) is located, using helpful cues like volume and frequency of alerts to re-create the classic game of "cold... warm... warmer... hot... on FIRE!"

Check the read link for all the official diagrams and verbiage.

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"They could be a great people. They wish to be. They only lack the light to power their devices. For this reason above all, their capacity to consumer data, I have sent them you, my only phone..."

According to a recently unearthed patent filed in late April, Apple is looking into having the iPhone join the Last Son of Krypton in drawing energy directly from the yellow sun.

The patent describes sandwiching a layer of (semi-)transparent photo-sensitive cells below the glass and LCD and above the Flex PCB, and could apply equally to iPods and even MacBooks.

While definitely future-thinking, it could well make removable battery concerns a thing of the past.

[In homage, and with apologies to, Alex Ross, John Williams, Marlon Brando, Richard Donner, and Bryan Singer.]

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