We're sure we've seen two intriguing Apple patents in the span of 24-hours before, but following up on Cupertino's modular media center gizmo from earlier today comes a slightly modified mouse design that, above all, still doesn't sport a tried and true right-click. All weeping aside, the newfangled design seems to center around a haptic approach, which curiously does away with the scroll ball currently used on Apple's critters and replaces it with a touch-sensitive casing. Apparently, the device would be "capable of switching between operational modes based on the way a user holds or grips the enclosure," which could simplify (or complicate, depending on dexterity levels) all that panning and resizing you currently do manually. Still, there's plenty of mice out there with oodles of macro-love just waiting to be utilized, and while the pseudo-click on the Mighty Mouse may appease some, we can't say we're blown away.

While Apple's surely enjoying the perks of having a monumental amount of iPods unwrapped just days ago, everything's not exactly kosher in Cupertino. Aside from the mysterious mouse the firm just patented, the company is facing another bevy of off-the-wall lawsuits, all while trying to fish its CEO out of potentially hot water. After the Securities and Exchange Commission found that ole Steve was granted 7.5 million stock options without the proper authorization of Apple's board of directors in 2001, there was widespread speculation that Mr. One More Thing may suffer the same fate as Apple's former CFO Fred Anderson, who resigned after a similar debacle in 2004. It seems, however, that things just might work out okay after all, as Apple finally filed its required forms with SEC, recognizing a "total additional non-cash, stock-based compensation expense of $84 million after tax, including $4 million and $7 million in fiscal years 2006 and 2005, respectively." Aside from taking the lofty charge, the company also stated that while Jobs was "aware of the favorable grant date recommendations, he did not financially benefit from these grants or appreciate the accounting implications." So all those out there holding your breath to see if Macworld would ever be the same if this went south, it looks like we'll be seeing jeans and a black shirt all over again in just a few weeks.

We aren't exactly sure who's getting the shorter end of the stick in Universal Music's "deal" with Microsoft to extract a set fee from every Zune sold, but now its oh-so-mettlesome CEO is thinking of putting the same pressure on ole Steve. While Jobs has certainly had a rather sour relationship with the labels over the years, and has flat our refused to boost music prices (twice) at the iTMS, this predicament could be a fair bit stickier. Doug Morris is reportedly considering asking demanding a royalty fee from every iPod sold now that he's already won the war over at Microsoft, touting Universal's massive music collection on iTMS as something fairly essential to the program's continued success. But things aren't as clear cut as the previous deal, as the Zune Marketplace was (and still is) in a position trying to grab any sliver of market share it possibly can, while Apple's rendition basically owns the digital download realm already. While it's easy to assume that both companies will agree on a ridiculously small fee just to save face, it begs the question of other labels trying to cash in at Jobs' expense if this deal goes down -- but hey, what goes around, comes around, right?

Here's one that doesn't happen very often ever. As bad as we rumor mongers pry and pry to get inside of ole Steve's brain, sneaking a peek behind closed Cupertino doors is all but impossible (even for Mr. Dell). Nevertheless, a clever Mac user got numerous undercover photographs of the inside workings at an Apple authorized repair center (Flextronics International) in Tennessee. Rather than pulling out any MacGyver-based stunts, he simply wrote a script -- dubbed Walking Study -- that instructed his MacBook to snap a photo (and upload it to his Flickr account) with the built-in iSight each time it awoke from sleep. When his dear 'Book got sent out for repair, however, the fully-functional webcam continued to perform perfectly within the secretive confines, giving everyone a glimpse of an incredibly average looking warehouse. Although the stealthy camera didn't snap any shots of (potentially) forthcoming iPhone or widescreen iPod prototypes, we've got to give credit where it's due -- Toby Mckeys got closer to the Apple's core than we've seen in quite some time.

[Via TUAW]

Ah Apple, what will we ever do with you? Leading us on to believe such incredulous things such as a next-to-definite Apple tablet, an almost-certain iPhone, sure-to-be-impending widescreen (and wireless) iPod, forthcoming iSight-ed Cinema Display, and an 802.11n-compatible iTV may actually see the light of day. So, here we are again, and this time it appears that some quick-fingered editor has some explaining to do, as we just so happened to have read the words "All other Notes feature capabilities described in this document are support for iPod models with display screens, beginning with the touch-screen models." while perusing through the October 10th edition of the iPod Notes Feature Guide. While fanboys will surely grasp on to this utterly amazing glimmer of hope, the skeptic in us has to wonder if this isn't just an unfortunate slight of hand, perhaps regarding the term "touch-wheel," referring to 3G+ model iPods. While we sure wouldn't complain if some "unplanned event" happened to unveil a snazzy new media device from the depths of Cupertino, we all know Apple doesn't like to leak anything from within before an official release -- but hey, we don't mind a bit of crow every now and then. [Warning: PDF link]

[Via MacDailyNews]