Recently "MacDailyNews" (macdailynews.com) posted an interesting theory: it's time for Apple to consider licensing Mac OS X, an experiment it tried in the past, but which failed. However, it's an idea whose time still hasn't come.

Here's the scenario from "MacDailyNews": "Imagine if Apple then executed a controlled licensing program (Apple approval required) of OS X to interested parties. OS X is now just a fraction of Apple’s revenue stream, yet it is the only serious alternative to Windows. Apple no longer needs OS X exclusivity to survive. By licensing OS X correctly and at this crucial time, Apple cause extensive damage to Microsoft and Windows."

Apple makes most of its money from hardware, not software. iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, etc., are all goodies to entice you to buy OS X and iOS devices. And Macs have hardly reached the status of being a "fraction of Apple's revenue stream."

For example, the current apple of Apple's eye is the iPad. In the last...

Apple has been granted a patent (number 8245924) for techniques and systems for supporting podcasting.

Improved podcasts and techniques that facilitate their use are disclosed. The improved techniques can pertain to creating, publishing, hosting, accessing, subscribing, managing, transferring, and/or playing podcasts. According to one aspect, a client application can subscribe to podcasts and then automatically monitor the podcasts for updates to be downloaded.

In the event that user interest in a podcast becomes inadequate, downloading of further updates can be restricted. According to another aspect, a podcast can be subscribed to through use of a portable subscription file. According to still another aspect, podcast feeds can be enhanced to include segment elements and other metadata.

Here's Apple's summary of the invention:

"The invention pertains to improved podcasts and techniques that facilitate their use. The improved techniques can pertain to...

An Apple patent (number 8249497) for seamless switching between radio and local media has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. As it involves technology that lets users skip unwanted audio and video broadcast segments such as commercials it may hint at features of an upcoming revamp of the Apple TV set-box box or the rumored "iTV."

Per the patent, systems and methods are provided for seamlessly switching media playback between a media broadcast, such as a radio broadcast, and media from a local media library. When an electronic device determines that an upcoming media item in a media broadcast is not of interest to a user, the electronic device can switch playback from the media stream to a media item from the electronic device local library.

The selected local media item can be related to a previously broadcast media item to ensure continuity in the user's listening or viewing experience. The electronic device can switch away from the local media...

Though preferred by Apple, HTML5 will have a minor impact on the apps ecosystem, according to new data from Strategy Analytics (http://www.strategyanalytics.com). I'm not sure I buy it, but the research group says the feature-rich superiority of native apps and the risk HTML5’s open standards creates for existing revenue streams will confine HTML5 to niche status.

Instead, Strategy Analytics predicts that a third type of application, the hybrid, will exhibit strong growth. Already services -- such as PhoneGap, Sencha, Brightcove and Marmalade -- are allowing developers to combine an HTML5 core with native APIs [application programming interfaces] to leverage the best of native and open standards.

"HTML5 is not the future of apps," says Josh Martin, director of Apps Research at Strategy Analytics. "While developers dream of 'write once run everywhere' the fragmented support for and...

An Apple patent (number20120210264) for sticky functionality has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. It relates to graphical user interfaces for computer systems, and more particularly to a user interface which allows easier manipulation of elements of the user interface via a cursor control device such as a mouse.

Per the patent manipulation of elements in a graphical user interface is aided by allowing the graphical user interface to treat certain mouse button actuation and releases as holding the mouse button in an actuated state. When predetermined conditions are satisfied, the graphical user interface will treat a mouse button actuation and release as if the mouse button were held in an actuated state.

A user can then manipulate elements in the graphical user interface as if the user held the mouse button in an actuated state. The types of manipulation can include the moving of a window, the resizing of a window, moving an icon, and the...

Kate MacKenzie of "PixoBebo" (http://macte.ch/PMQYf) thinks Apple's "next insanely great thing" will be a watch.

Wait, you say: Apple already makes a semi-watch in the iPad nano. There are lots of third party "watch bands" that allow you to wear it on your wrist. And the iPad nano comes with digital clock faces range from classic analog looks to your favorite Disney characters including Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse.

My problem with using the nano as an iWatch is that the screen frequently goes dark to save battery power. So you have to “wake up” the nano to see what time it is. I prefer a wristwatch I can simply glance at to check the time. So perhaps there's an opportunity for an Apple watch.

MacKenzie envisions the Apple watch "as not much more than a dumb screen on your wrist that receives signals via Bluetooth from your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or even your Mac." This would allow phone...

An Apple patent (number 20120206471) for systems, methods and computer-readable media for managing layers of graphical object data has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. It hints that Apple may be working on a Photoshop competitor.

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for managing layers of graphical object data are provided. For example, a graphical display system may be configured to implicitly manage various graphical object layers. In some embodiments, any new graphical object of a first type of graphical object may be generated in a current top layer of a stack when the current top layer is associated with the first type of graphical object. However, when the current top layer of the stack is not associated with the first type of graphical object, any new graphical object of the first type of graphical object may be generated in a new top layer of the stack. Moreover, any new graphical object of a second type of graphical object may similarly...

An Apple patent (number 8243041) for multi-touch input discrimination has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. It relates generally to data input methods and devices for electronic equipment and, more particularly, to methods and devices for discriminating between various inputs to a multi-touch touch-surface input device.

Techniques for identifying and discriminating between different types of contacts to a multi-touch touch-screen device are described. Illustrative contact types include fingertips, thumbs, palms and cheeks. By way of example, thumb contacts may be distinguished from fingertip contacts using a patch eccentricity parameter. In addition, by non-linearly deemphasizing pixels in a touch-surface image, a reliable means of distinguishing between large objects (e.g., palms) from smaller objects (e.g., fingertips, thumbs and a stylus) is described.

Here's Apple's background and summary of the invention: "There currently exist many types of...

In a recent note to clients, Barclay analyst Ben Reitzes says the market for consumer desktops could see pressure in the wake of an Apple-branded HDTV (the rumored "iTV") in "much the same way that the overall notebook market's growth slowed after the introduction of the iPad." I beg to differ.

"The reason is that an Apple TV would represent an easy way to check email and the web as well as share photos (and even edit them in the same way as an iPhone/iPad can),"Reitzes.

However, I've continually argued that the iPad and laptop (as well as a desktop) aren't competitors but complementary products. The iPad is great for content consumption, but less capable for content creation than a full-fledged computer.

If you only use your desktop to surf the web, watch videos, check your email, get on Facebook, etc., perhaps you'd be happy with an iTV and no desktop. But for most of us, the iTV would be another Apple device in our home (or office), not a replacement....

An Apple patent (number 8243017) for a menu overlay including a context dependent menu icon has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. It shows that Apple is investigating cable and satellite connectivity for its Apple TV set-top box and may hint at features of the rumored Apple-branded HDTV (the "iTV").

Per the patent, a video device displays video in one of a plurality of contexts in an onscreen display area. In response to the menu command, the video device generates a menu overlay within the onscreen display area while maintaining the video within the menu overlay, and generates within the menu overlay a context icon based on the selected context.

Here's Apple's background and summary of the invention: "Media devices, such as digital video receivers and recorders, can include multiple functions and capabilities, such as recording and replaying stored content, and the like. Often content, browsing and selecting from recorded content and broadcast...

There's no end in sight to the iPad's dominance, it seems. The tablet market will not plateau any time soon, according to the latest research from Strategy Analytics (http://www.strategyanalytics.com). The installed base of tablet computers will continue to grow at a strong pace for the coming years, surpassing 780 million in 2016, predicts the research group.

"Since the introduction of the iPad, the tablet market has shown hyperbolic growth rate," says Matthew McKee, analyst at Strategy Analytics. "Yet, many households remain tablet-less. Price erosion in the premium and high tier segments, as well as the availability of a number of smaller, lower cost tablets, like the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7, will drive further sales."

Peter King, director of Tablets & Touchscreen Strategies (TTS) at Strategy Analytics, adds: "By the end of 2016, the Asia Pacific region will represent one-...

An Apple patent (number 20120200498) for a motion tracking user interface shows that the company is at least considering such technology for Macs and perhaps the rumored "iTV."

The patent involves a method to transition focus of a display corresponding to an object's motion tracked by a video camera or like device is disclosed. In one implementation, the display shows one or more windows or user interfaces on the display. The object's motion can be used to select one of the windows or user interfaces on the display and manipulate content presented in the window or user interface.

In another implementations, the object's motion can manipulate a three-dimensional graphical icon in a three-dimensional display environment, for example, by rotating it. In another implementation, the method further tracks motion of a second object and shifts focus of the display corresponding to the motion of the second object. In another implementation, a second display may be added to...