
Apple Patent Could Bring New Type of File Sharing to iPhone & iPad - tathagatadg
http://mashable.com/2011/07/08/apple-patent-file-sharing/
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raganwald
So, no implementation, just someone dreaming up something that could be done,
maybe, who knows, and patenting it. This is ridiculous. Apple itself has
proven that the devil is in the details, that getting the design right is the
herd part. If thre's something that needs protection, it should be the myriad
of little details involved in making this vague idea workable, not the vague
idea.

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karl_nerd
Can someone please explain this to me – i can fully understand how a technical
solution to do this could be patentable – but how can the very interaction
design part be patentable?

It seems like this is an "idea patent" rather than an "i invented something
and spent a long time developing it and now i need to be able to protect my
investment patent".

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jerryr
The Siftables guys demoed a pouring interface for color mixing, among other
things:
[http://www.ted.com/talks/david_merrill_demos_siftables_the_s...](http://www.ted.com/talks/david_merrill_demos_siftables_the_smart_blocks.html)

Not sure if that feature made it into the commercially available version, but
they definitely still have the proximity features, which are pretty cool:
<https://www.sifteo.com>

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wollw
This reminds me of some of the stuff shown in the Wii U E3 video. Throwing
shurikens and playing golf with the new controller for example.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e3qaPg_keg>

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flipbrad
Not sure I'd want to be editing documents on my iPad on the subway and be
inadvertently flicking / pouring my data to my neighbours every time the train
hits a bump in the rails...

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bradleyland
Don't worry. Apple patent filings are not always a good predictor of future
features or products.

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Derbasti
r/not always/seldomly/

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praptak
While it _could_ bring new way of file sharing to iPhone & iPad, it _will_
prevent it on competing devices. That's what patents do.

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ethank
This just in: Apple protects proprietary IP with a patent and a blog confuses
that for a product roadmap.

