Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Proposes New Multifunction Input Ports, Could Merge SD Card Slot and USB Port
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I guess many commenters have forgot that:
#1 The patent has not yet been awarded.
#2 Patent application was for 'combined input port' not for sd+usb port.
(eSATAp is essentailly 'combined input port'.)
Now RAM is soldered to mb and storage is proprietary...
Anyway, right answer would have been, that Apple fans don't know what they are missing. And Apple knows that knowledge increases pain...
#1 The patent has not yet been awarded.
#2 Patent application was for 'combined input port' not for sd+usb port.
(eSATAp is essentailly 'combined input port'.)
Most smart phones do have (µ)sd card slot. Only Apple was bold enough to get more sales by not giving the option for expanding memory. Like usually this became a fashion and fanboys invented lots of reason why this is good thing ("so few people expand their phone's memory, that it shouldn't be allowed for even those few, who'd use the option") In very short time all the other phone companies saw the opportunity also and they could say that this is good thing since "the innovation leader chose this is the right thing".
Are you an average user, if you're using TB?
And when Apple has lost enough iOS device sales that they have to allow expanding memory, you'd call this again "innovation"?
New cameras use wifi to transfer photos. Unless Apple is going to distribute content on sd cards, sd reader will soon disappear from macs. Sd card reader in macs was introduced because Apple wanted to get rid of ec reader. So it was about taking options away, not giving more of them.
"Because Apple fans generally don't customize computers except for RAM and maybe Hard drives."
Now RAM is soldered to mb and storage is proprietary...
Anyway, right answer would have been, that Apple fans don't know what they are missing. And Apple knows that knowledge increases pain...
I'm the same. The only reason I use an SD card is for my photography hobby. I could always plug the camera in with the USB but it's convenient to not have to set the camera on my desk every time I import my photos. I don't think I'd be upset if they removed it, but I enjoy having it.
I'd be curious why you are using the word "luckily". Could you explain that?
And do you seriously think that the abstract idea of combining ports would be prior art for a concrete implementation combining SD Card and USB Ports?
----------
The _idea_ shouldn't be patentable. Making it work - why not. Nobody else seems to have built it before. Since it is obviously useful, it can't be obvious to build or someone would have done it long ago.
And I shouldn't have to tell you, but it is the _official purpose_ of the patent system to have inventions published, so that others can build upon them. If Apple manages to combine two existing inventions in a novel, useful and non-obvious way, that is exactly what the patent system tries to encourage.
----------
The people that I know growing up using Windows PCs are usually too stupid and too disinterested to even upgrade RAM and hard drives. Sometimes it happens that they complain to me how their PC gets slower and slower and I tell them "why don't you upgrade the RAM or hard drive" and they say "can you do that? " and it's me ending up ordering the stuff from dabs or crucial because they are too stupid / lazy / disinterested to even order these things.
Based on the abstractness of Apple's other patents, I'd probably give that one a yes.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but what Apple is doing is a huge improvement. With the invention that you show, if I want to plug an SD card into a laptop that only has a USB slot, I end up with a huge and ugly contraption sticking out. You have an extra item that you have to carry, that you can lose, and that is usually not there when you need it. With Apple's invention, it's all built into the laptop and usable at any time. Obviously you can have more than one invention to achieve the same thing, but with your interpretation the Wright brothers wouldn't have been able to patent the aeroplane because cars that can transport you quickly from A to B were already patented. Ignoring that, an improvement on an existing patent can be patented.
----------
It doesn't really matter, because an MBA 11" with only a USB port could be improved with this invention, and a MBA 11" with USB + SD card port could be improved as well.
----------
Could you have missed the point more than you did? I don't think so. This invention is about a port that allows you to plug in either a totally standard USB cable, or a totally standard SD card.
----------
I was talking about "abstract ideas", which are known to be unpatentable. You are making claims about "abstractness of Apple's patents", which is first totally unrelated, second an argument that you pulled out of thin air.
And the people that I know who have had Apples freeze like a deer in the headlights when they see more than one button on a mouse.
How's that for the battle of "made up" anecdotes?
Thank you.
See? I can read just fine.
Seriously though, mea culpa, I did miss that the patent would be more general than I had thought.
lol. It's all about Apple politely ushering(forcing) you to the 64 Gig version instead of the 32.
Ports on Laptops or desktops are connected to motherboards to communicate with the OS.
----------
It depends on who you knew. Apple has vastly locked down their computers, so it's not even an option anymore if you are growing up only with Apple computers. You can still learn if you use Windows computers. It's not even hard to build a computer.