Apple Patents Everything From MagSafe To Icons In Latest Grants

The legal team at Apple's newest round of granted patents include the 3D Camera Direction you'll currently find in Motion, their second generation MagSafe Connectors, the iMac, and the original Thunderbolt display. It really seems like Apple's list of patent applications as captured by Patently Apple never, ever stops, doesn't it? Perhaps most important to this equation is Jonathan Ive appearing on the applications to essentially all of the physical designs here, this along with a host of other creators of course. If only there were a gigantic list of which Apple items had patents and which were yet to be won!

The 3D item you're seeing in the main image here is for Final Cut Pro's Motion Module, this relating to 3D camera direction in a simulated space. You may have seen such effects in videos made by Vincent a few weeks ago in the utterly fancy intro to his own reviews. We've seen similar things in apps with more money and power under the hood – might be time to rethink such features, eh devs? Don't want the mighty Apple coming down on you with a crushing law blow.

Then there's the omnipotent MagSafe – not the original one that broke all the time, the second one – the sweet one I've got plugged into this MacBook Pro right this second. Finally Apple can say they own it, legally, and with a whole lot less exposed wires, too. As far as hardware goes beyond that, they added the Apple Thunderbolt Display to their repertoire, the iMac from seasons past, and a laundry list of smaller items, such as, believe it or not, the iOS calculator icon. Fun stuff!

[via Patently Apple]