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Apple Spotlight Patents Hinting at Leopard?

Apple, just do me a favor in the next version and fix the friggin finder that has been broken since OSX was released.
After 3 years it's past time!
 
I really hope that indeed Apple is going to be building more on Spotlight, but one of the things that needs to happen is that the bridge between the user and the system as far as adding metadata absolutely must be gapped. I have a lot of image files on my computer, be it for my design projects, pics that I just like, whatever, and I've resorted to making multiple libraries in iPhoto so that I can tag the pics with the different metadata that I want them to have. There needs to be a way directly in the Finder to, say, mark an image with tags on who created it, the theme of the image, color scheme, etc. (And no, simply using the Spotlight box in Get Info does NOT cut it.)

Then, let users get to all of that metadata directly from the Finder. I want to be able to be in, say, List view, and have my screen look and work just like how iTunes works with music - as many columns of info as I could possibly want, sort by any of them, filter things down precisely, etc.

There is A LOT more that needs to be done to the Finder belong just Spotlight integration, though, so I hope Apple isn't just going to do some nifty things with searching and filtering and then call it a day.

(Hmm... change to shamelessly plug the 10.5 Finder mock-up I made a number of months back.)
 
Something I'd like to see if Apple adds audio analyzing is having iTunes check what kind of music each song/audio file you have in your library and automatically assign the file the correct genre and equalizer setting but allows the user to change it. Built-in Object-character Recognition would be awesome, too. If they do that, maybe I'll get one of those scanner pen things that looks like a pen but you pass it over a piece of paper and it scans the page. And maybe a pair of those sunglasses w/ built-in flash drive. With both, I can start my career in espionage. >:->
 
Something I'd like to see in 10.5 is for it to totally lose support for G3 processors and only support G4s, G5s & Intel. W/ G3 support gone, Apple can make all of Mac OS X be Altivex/SSE accelerated. Also, offload more graphics processing to the graphics card and sound to the sound card. Apple, if you're listening, PLEASE add support for Soundblaster! And awhile ago, I was looking to see what other Open(whatever)Ls there are other than OpenGl and OpenAL and found OpenRL.org. It's like OpenGL where it processes images but whereas OpenGL focuses on making new images, OpenRL focuses on pre-existing images like JPEGs and movie files and helps speed up processing. It's mainly supported by a company calles Aspec Semiconductors (www.aspex-semi.com) which designs these PCI boards to help speed up image processing. It would be cool if Apple partnered w/ Aspex to make some of these boards for Power Mac G5s and future workstations to help speed up Final Cut Pro and other stuff. If Apple Apple includes more offloading and adds these Aspex boards, whatever replaces G5s would scream!
 
If Apple was to do ONE thing with the finder, please allow tree columns that are easy to navigate as is found in... gulp... Windows 98 or later.

Column view blows, and hurts my productivity.
 
Spotlight images are still disturbing, because search parameters always contain AND.

What if I wanted to do a search like the following:

("Tiger Woods" OR "Arnold Palmer") AND NOT JPEG ???

I know it can be done now, but the methodology is anything but simple.
 
hugeipod said:
oh umm wats the patent#? i wanna look this up.
Click to expand...
It's just an application at this point, not a patent. The application number is 11/112422 -- enter that into PAIR to see all the public documents. (The Image File Wrapper and Published Documents tabs usually have the most interesting parts)
 
mkrishnan said:
I never really thought about this, but I guess it would be cool if there were some sort of CoreSound to compliment CoreImage... :)
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I think CoreAudio already fits the bill - a plugin architecture for adding realtime audio effects. ;)
 
whooleytoo said:
I think CoreAudio already fits the bill - a plugin architecture for adding realtime audio effects. ;)
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Eeek, sorry. Shows you what I know. :(

I take it doesn't allow you to divert sound operations to the sound card, though?
 
Kingsly said:
Pleeeeease Apple, DO NOT name it iFinder. Thats just stupid.
Click to expand...

Amen to that. One possibility that occurred to me is that whatever the Finder improvements entail, they could include a tighter integration with the iLife suite. Rather than having to sift through folders to put particular photos in particular places, just drop it in the "Pictures" area of the Finder and iPhoto takes over to organize them for you according to the date (or alphabetically if you want).

On a side note, if such metadata analysis of photos is incorporated, isn't including the ability to create mosaics in iPhoto just a formality? (I'm exaggerating for effect.)
 
Finder Selections From Multiple Windows

Just in case you repeatedly dropped the wrong files into the wrong folders.:( :confused:
 
ajonessn said:
Spotlight doesn't even work most of the time (see Apple's support forums)! I want "piles," and moreover, "smart piles" to clean up my clutter and complement my folders!
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Don't need to check the forums, I can ask someone I trust-- me. Spotlight has been a godsend. I use it rarely, but when I do it solves problems that nothing else could.

Piles would do the opposite of spotlight for me-- it would hide more things.

lonepilgrim said:
I wonder how many people will delete half their files, thinking they are safely tucked away in folders........ :eek:
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Holy cow! You're right-- this could be a huge problem. It's been hard enough to get people to understand folders and directories-- getting them to understand that folders and spotlight are two ways of viewing the same file is going to be tough for some people.

Maybe Leopard adds a Dumpster? Delete to Trash. Empty Trash to Dumpster. Empty Dumpster.

aussie_geek said:
It is sad but this is very true. Now that these features have been openly exposed on the net does anyone see Micro$oft attempting to incorporate these features into Vi$ta as well? :mad:
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That's the role of a patent: you instruct your peers about the invention in exchange for limited exclusivity.

guzhogi said:
automatically assign the file the correct genre and equalizer setting
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Danger! Third Rail!
Stay Back!
 
Analog Kid said:
Piles would do the opposite of spotlight for me-- it would hide more things.
Click to expand...

Well, that's actually one of the problems that the Spotlight here might help solve - Spotlight finds too much, and doesn't provide an easy means to refine the search.
 
whooleytoo said:
Well, that's actually one of the problems that the Spotlight here might help solve - Spotlight finds too much, and doesn't provide an easy means to refine the search.
Click to expand...
That's the key. Not much to do when you get 2500 hits. Searching within results is really what's needed. Even if it just didn't tie up my keyboard while searching so I could add and remove terms more easily.

I think the Spotlight we've seen is the first step (obviously). They got the indexing in place and put a basic interface on it so that it would be helpful to most but not complicated enough to really break. Leopard is when the feature will come into its own...
 
iMeowbot said:
This really seems to be describing Tiger's Spotlight. The examples are things that each application (Apple or third party) can implement.
Click to expand...
You're right. I just looked at the claims on the application and they're all just basic Spotlight claims (indexing notifications, heterogeneous metadata, excluded folders, etc).

That said, there is some chance that the preferred embodiment will get fleshed out a little more. There's an incentive to be as broad as possible in your thinking when filing for a patent though.

Why does the USPTO interface suck so bad? These are all public documents, I should be able to just pull down a full PDF.
 
Spotlight does have the ability to refine searches. Use its Cmd-F interface from the Finder, it's far more powerful than the menu bar tool!
 
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