Jeff Bezos Flies Solo on Phone Patent Application

Most of us are familiar with Jeff Bezos as Amazon's caudillo. It turns out Mr. B. also has a touch of the inventor in him.

A report in geekwire.com noted that Bezos applied for a patent involving smartphones and information sharing via audio signals. The current standard, known as "bumping," would presumably be the target of Bezos' proposed "innovation."

What's remarkable is that the Amazon CEO has enough time on his hands to tinker in the lab. Perhaps that explains why he rarely talks to the media, shareholders, or (heaven help us) Amazon customers.

In case you're wondering, Bezos is the sole inventor listed on the patent application. Well, at least one can't accuse the caudillo of false modesty.

Google Awarded Patent for Self-Driving Car

Google's "driverless car": Photo from Edmunds Inside Line

Just when you thought you've understood Google's drive for innovation, the sly foxes from Mountain View come out with a surprise. Their most recent endeavor involves a self-driving automobile. According to an online BBC report, the US Patent Office has given Google a patent for just such a vehicle. The invention is hardly a bolt from the blue, as Google has been experimenting with this idea for a number of years. "The vehicles," the BBC story notes, "combine artificial intelligence with the firm's Google Street View maps as well as video cameras and a range of sensors."

Google, however, has not yet invented a self-paying vehicle.

Patent Chase Resembles Napoleonic-Era Alliances and Conflict Scale

The Financial Times posted an interesting overview of big-time tech's current, high-stakes bidding for patents. Major players, such as Google, Apple, and Microsoft, recently concluded an auction for a substantial portion Nortel's intellectual property covered under U.S. patent law. To prevent Google from obtaining this rich vein of tech gold, a commercial alliance that resembled a Napoleonic Era-style alliance was formed to outbid the Mountain View, California search monolith. Among the friends of convenience were presumed adversaries Microsoft, Apple, and Research in Motion. Notably, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt complained after the fact about the investment in patent acquisition versus ponying up for (shades of Bill Gates) "innovation."

Why would the alliance be so desperate to stop Google? The FT article provides a startlingly simple answer: Google has a thin patent collection compared to its principal competitors. The financial implications of patent control have escalated as mobile computing and smartphone popularity dramatically increase on an annual basis. Microsoft, for example, is now charging a per-unit fee for each Android-capable unit made by selected handset manufacturers. It's a gold mine for Microsoft, which really doesn't have to do much of anything except litigate and collect. Apple, for its part, a story originally reported by Bloomberg News noted a recent FTC ruling in favor of Steve Jobs' firm against an Android handset maker for patent infringement.

As for these extra costs, expect a product price bump, so that these payments are embedded in the overall retail or wholesale rates.

When Yahoo's Jerry Yang stupidly torpedoed Microsoft's bid to acquire his firm, he opened the door to Google's continued drive to effectively become a search monopoly. We are now at the point where "google" is unthinkingly used as a transitive verb to generically identify online search technique. Once Google entered the smartphone business, its affected major competitors realized they were in for a fight. Ironically, the FT piece characterized the latest Nortel patent battle as Google's "Waterloo." What wasn't said was that it took a grand alliance to take on the Napoleon from Mountain View.

The image at the top of the post is from Ocean Tomo. According to its corporate website, Ocean Tomo "provides financial services and products related to intellectual property...." In April, 2011, an Ocean Tomo press release discussed in some detail the issues involving Google's conjectured bidding on Nortel patents.

New Apple Patent Application Suggests Video Bootleg KO

Apple recently filed a patent application for its iPhone camera which includes some curious product impacts.

Most significantly, the filing includes information noting how an infrared sensor will be paired with the phone's camera. One practical result of this piggybacked gadgetry is that "interested parties" would be able to disable the camera. Among those "interested" would most likely include live performance producers, the motion picture industry, and transportation security officials.

One question that quickly arises is why Apple would put R&D efforts into the infrared sensor. It's not as if retail consumers have been clamoring for the device. How would Apple market this "upgrade"? And to whom?

For more details, the patentlyapple.com story about the Apple patent filing is a useful starting point.

The image shows an anti-piracy sign displayed at an American movie theater.