Apple granted patent for handheld that recognizes your hands

You could probably fill a book with Apple patent applications that never amounted to anything, but here's one that's at least been granted -- a "handheld device" that uses capacitive sensors to recognize your identity just by the way you hold it, and subsequently personalize the device's buttons and settings to your hand based on your user profile. That's all that's actually been patented here, but the general idea is a little more grand -- you could theoretically grip a handheld with either hand, and it would automatically generate "button zones" under each finger using sensors baked right into the chassis.

Take a look: http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/25/apple-granted-patent-for-handheld-that-recognizes-your-hands/

You Tube Channel

Bonnie's Fitware Inc now has a channel on YouTube - check it out at http://www.youtube.com/user/bmohnsen

There are already 21 instructional videos!

FileMaker Go update adds PDF creation tools

Just two months after launching mobile versions of its flagship database program, FileMaker has rolled out a significant upgrade to the iPhone and iPad versions of FileMaker Go. The 1.1 update to FileMaker Go brings greater parity between the mobile and desktop versions of the database application.

Read more http://www.macworld.com/article/154264/2010/09/filemakergo.html?lsrc=nl_mwiphone_h_cbstories

* 16 Comments * + 6 Recommendations * digg * ShareThis iWork for iPad adds file transfer, better Office support

Apple on Wednesday released updates to its three iWork apps for the iPad. Version 1.2 of Numbers, Keynote, and Pages feature improvements to file-format support and file transferring, adding the ability to transfer files to and from remote servers and enhancing support for exporting files in Microsoft Office-compatible file formats.

Read more: http://www.macworld.com/article/154285/2010/09/iwork_12.html?lsrc=nl_mwiphone_h_cbstories

Apple updates iOS Remote app to add iPad

With Apple's new Remote application (iTunes link), users will be able to control their Apple TV, as well as iTunes, from anywhere in their home. It also allows users with an iOS device to send music to AirPlay-compatible speakers.

The new Remote application allows control of the new iOS-based Apple TV with simple finger gestures. Users can also enter text with the onscreen keyboard.

"Choose playlists, songs, and albums as if you were right in front of your computer or Apple TV," the official description reads. "From anywhere in your home change a song, pick a playlist or browse through your entire library.

"With a flick of your finger, you can even control every aspect of the Apple TV user interface. Use your device’s QWERTY keyboard to quickly tap out the title instead of clicking letters on the Apple TV screen. Then keep tapping to play, fast forward, rewind, and pause to your finger’s content."

The full list of new features in version 2.0, according to Apple, include:

• Designed for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
  
• Optimized for Retina displays and large screen real estate on iPad
  
• Support for Shared Libraries on iTunes and new Apple TV
  
• Bug fixes and compatibility with iTunes 10 and the new Apple TV

USB 3.0 Hard Drives So Fast and Small

The Worlds Smallest Mobile and Desktop USB 3.0 Hard Drives

September 8, 2010 - LaCie debuts today sleek USB 3.0 hard drives for your desktop or pocket – the LaCie Minimus and LaCie Rikiki USB 3.0. Proving size does matter, LaCie delivers the industry's fastest transfer speeds at 5Gb/s* in its ultra–small Rikiki form factor – perfect for users that refuse to sacrifice performance for mobility; and the LaCie Minimus – for users that enjoy their terabytes as much as desk space.

Complementing their remarkably small sizes, the Rikiki and Minimus hard drives are encased in sturdy brushed aluminum for an elegant aesthetic appeal. The aluminum offers resilience from blunders, improved heat dissipation, and is fully recyclable.

Designed to be simple from the inside out, the Rikiki and Minimus come with LaCie's Software Suite to ensure seamless setup and backup support for Mac or PC. Additionally, each product comes with 10GB of Wuala online storage so you can securely store and share files online.

Read more

Self-repairing solar cells could also fix our energy dependency

It doesn't take much for a photovoltaic cell to not work quite as well as it used to. Sure, a big hail storm or the like will do a number on your megabucks rooftop installation, but the sun itself, the very thing those cells are designed to capture, gradually damages their internals, reducing efficiency. The fix, according to a team at MIT, is self-assembling (and therefore self-repairing) solar cells made up of a synthetic molecular soup containing phospholipids that, when mixed with a solution, attach themselves to a series of carbon nanotubes for alignment. Other molecules that react with light then attach to the phospholipids and, with a little illumination, start firing out electrons like mad. After a few hours of solar pummeling the whole thing can be broken down and automatically re-created, returning efficiency to maximum. Overall efficiency of the system is extremely low currently, thanks to a low concentration of those photon-catching structures, but individually they capture about 40 percent of the light's energy, meaning a higher concentration could make for very hearty soup indeed.

Take a look: http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/07/self-repairing-solar-cells-could-also-fix-our-energy-dependency/