http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/ Engadget Comments for Apple patents access system for bottom-loading optical drive http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 2:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 2:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/
Worst. Idea. EVER. Absolutely horrible.]]>Jan 26th 2007 2:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 2:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 2:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/
]]>Jan 26th 2007 2:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Thanks Steve.
]]>Jan 26th 2007 3:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/
Just to put this into context: with Apple current slot load drives, there's only one operation to perform: insert disc 'A' into slot 'B'.

This idea they're considering is... There is no adjective to describe how stupid it is.]]>Jan 26th 2007 2:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 2:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 2:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/
The CD drive is in the right direction, only the laptop is upside down!

Tnereffid Kniht!]]>Jan 26th 2007 3:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 3:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/]]>Jan 26th 2007 3:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 3:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/
"Additionally, the patent includes detailed information about accessing the disc drive in ways that won't hinder efficiency while computing..."

In other words, they're going to do it in a way that allows you to eject and insert discs without much hastle. If this ever comes to fruition it won't look anything like the drawing. Whether or not it'll be cool, I can't say; but even though I'm not a fanboy by any means you've got to admit Apple isn't stupid.]]>Jan 26th 2007 3:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/
Years ago ('96?), there were notebooks that had keyboard that lifted up to allow access to a CD drive beneath.]]>Jan 26th 2007 3:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 3:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 4:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 3:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/
You know, if they made the keyboard pop-up and you put this disk in under it, that wouldn't be so bad.]]>Jan 26th 2007 3:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/And that'd be really great in a SideShow laptop... (I'd rather Apple didn't patent that design)
You could just change a music disc and have it play without opening the laptop. Or when you're hooked up to a docking station and want to change discs. Sometimes room to pop out a disc on the side is cramped, ya know?]]>Jan 26th 2007 3:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 3:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/
The easiest way to tell the difference (besides the "United States Patent Application" wording at the top of the page) is that applications are numbered based on year of publication + a serial number, granted patents just have a number (they are in the 7,000,000's now) or have D+number (for design patents). Technically, there are also RE's (re-issues), but the above cover mostly what you'll see. So, US20070019374 is a patent APPLICATION, US7164426 is a PATENT.

Again, these are NOT granted patents. I doubt a patent examiner has even looked at them yet...I wish sites would stop advertising them as such...It's important to note applications as technical directions a company may be pursuing (though it's never definite), especially some of the advanced research stuff, but it's also important to note the difference between a patent and an application. You can't sue anyone until you have a granted patent...
]]>Jan 29th 2007 10:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.dynamism.com/g1/main.shtml While the panasonic w5 has a flip top disk drive under the wrist rest, which you can also find somewhere over at our friends at dynamism. So i still cant figure out how much of an advantage an optical drive on the bottom would be.]]>Jan 26th 2007 3:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 3:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2436
it has a bunch more pictures and a few more details.]]>Jan 26th 2007 5:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/
I don't know how to explain...]]>Jan 26th 2007 4:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/
I love my MacBook but I would like a solid state storage drive and could do without:

Optical drive
usb
firewire
audioports
video ports

The more moving parts and tethers that can be removed the better. this would help me work better (less thought about external machine junk), give me better battery life, and result in a much lighter machine for travel.

Just wifi, a 12 in wide screen, good keyboard and I would be happy. ]]>Jan 26th 2007 4:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 4:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 4:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 4:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 5:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 5:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 5:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 5:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=797545&tstart=0]]>Jan 26th 2007 5:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/
I have no idea what that sentence means.]]>Jan 26th 2007 7:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/
This would be great for tablets but seems rather inconvenient for a notebook.]]>Jan 26th 2007 9:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 9:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 26th 2007 11:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 27th 2007 2:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 27th 2007 6:34AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 27th 2007 12:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/looks cool to me... But will it ever ship in a laptop?
I just remember the patent for the touch-screen iPod, which now turned out to become the famous iPhone.
Cheers,
Jan Dominik Gunkel]]>Jan 27th 2007 7:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/
Well, I guess all this tells us is that the US patent legislation is fairly broken. It should be possible to patent explicit technical innovations but not the general idea of "ODD on the bottom" or "cellphone with touchscreen" or "computer with graphical UI". It should also be legal to reverse-engineer any technical innovation but direct copying of design in a effort to mislead a customer (i.e. the Super Shuffle) should be not be allowed. Example - the Creative vs Apple trial concerning the UI used on the iPod. It should be legal to fully copy the UI's look and feel but the technical solution must be unique, i.e. Apple must hack it together themselves. This would be good for competition, leading to better products for the customers. And a number of silly lawsuits should never be produced, maybe lessen the image of being greedy fools the Americans have acquired during the last century.]]>Jan 27th 2007 8:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/]]>Jan 27th 2007 11:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 27th 2007 9:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/apple-patents-access-system-for-bottom-loading-optical-drive/Jan 28th 2007 11:17AM