Ok, this qualifies as beyond cool and thus makes the British that much niftier through their efforts.

Per iMore, Oxford University has modified a Nissan Electric Leaf to become a robotic car controlled by an iPad. The project which it is called “auto drive” enables the car to drive itself for short stretches which could mean a stress free school run for parents or a productive work commute for others.

The system has been developed by the University and uses small cameras and lasers built into the cars bodywork which all link back to a trunk mounted computer. The iPad becomes the front end and is fitted within the car’s dashboard.

The whole user experience is provided by an iPad which quickly guides the user through the few checks that are needed to induce autonomy. When it is safe to do so, the car offers the drive the chance to be driven automatically. At any time the driver can take back control of the car by touching the brake – it’s exactly like cruise control in an existing vehicle – only this time the car sees obstacles, controls speed and steering.

And since video tends to be awesome, here you go:

There are three computers onboard. The iPad, the LLC (Low Level Controller) and the MVC (Main Vehicle Computer). The iPad runs the user interface and demands constant attention from the LLC. If any of these computers disagree the driver will not be able to start autonomous driving. If at any point there is a problem when the car is in control the human driver is prompted to take control, if they fail to do so the car is automatically brought to a stop.

The car is based on a modified Nissan Leaf which is powered solely by electricity. When you run out of fuel you just need to find a suitable power point rather than a gas station.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Sometimes it’s the leaked case specs that give it away.

Per MacRumors, Apple accessory manufacturer MiniSuit has already created a case for the upcoming fifth-generation iPad, based on data and specifications received from what the site claims is a reliable source.

Case manufacturers (in this case, accessory maker MiniSuit) often obtain case specs ahead of product releases to get a jump on manufacturing. Creating a case based on measurements can be a gamble, but an early case release can be financially beneficial.

The iPad 5 case is slimmer than the fourth-generation iPad case, which supports rumors that the next iPad will share design similarities with the iPad mini, most notably featuring smaller side bezels.

The back of the case depicts an extra hole, which is for the microphone. The current fourth-generation iPad’s microphone is located at the top of the device, but Apple has relocated the microphone to the back of the iPad 5, as noted in leaked photos of the rear shell of the device.

In addition to slimmer bezels and a smaller size, the iPad 5 is said to be significantly thinner than the iPad 4, featuring the chamfered edges of the iPad mini, which is apparent in the less angled design of the iPad 5 case.

An iPad 5 with a reduced size would likely necessitate a redesign of the interior of the tablet as well, incorporating smaller chip components and a thinner display panel.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

The Retina display…it will expand to new models.

And that’s not a bad thing.

Per Macotakara, Apple is apparently in the process of preparing suppliers for the launch of a Retina MacBook Air in Q3 of 2013. The report appears to claim that both 11 and 13-inch of the MacBook Air will launch with Retina displays in addition to an upgrade from Intel’s new Haswell platform. Apple supplier Quanta is expected to begin receiving shipments of the new components in the second quarter.

The report goes again recent reports from analysts predicting a next-gen MacBook Air would land in Q2 or Q3 without a Retina display. We heard last year that Apple was working on MacBook Airs with Retina displays but sources indicated the power drawn from the Retina Displays combined with the thin and light form-factor of the MacBook Air may pose challenges for Apple and its product manufacturers.

It’s unclear what this would mean for Apple’s current lineup of MacBook Air notebooks. If today’s report is true, it’s always possible Apple could keep a non-Retina model of the Air around like it did following the launch of the Retina MacBook Pro.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

You know that whole iWatch thing? It could be just the tip of the iceberg where Apple and wearable technologies are concerned.

Per AppleInsider and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the company is secretly developing an entire wearable/attachable computing platform and ecosystem comprised of wireless sensing systems for monitoring not only sports activity, athletic training, medicine, fitness, and wellness in humans, but also for tracking packages and industrial production.

The site initially discovered an 83-page patent filing granted to the company that covered a series of wireless sensing systems aimed at quantifying actions or events that can currently be measured only qualitatively, such as the effectiveness of a karate kick or what exactly happened to a package from FedEx that arrived with its contents broken. Industry watchers could think of the technology as a series of Nike FuelBands for nearly all aspects of motion.

Since then, Apple has continued to refine the provisional filing, and on Tuesday was awarded the rights to a continuation of the now divisional patent application under the title “Personal items network, and associated methods.” It makes references to dozens of earlier filings, including several from the company itself dating back to 2001.

A couple of wireless monitoring devices are critical to Apple’s concept, the first of which is called a movement monitor device, or “MMD.” The company says these tiny transmitters can take the form of an adhesive strip similar to a bandage and include a processor, a detector, communications port, and battery. Alternatively, they could assume the form of a credit card and/or include a magnetic element for adhering to metal objects. In any of the cases, they’d ideally also include a real time clock so that the transmitter can tag “events” with time and date information.

In one aspect, the MMD continuously relays a movement metric by continuous transmission of data from the detector to a RR. In this way, a MMD attached to a person may beneficially track movement, in real time, of that person by recombination of the movement metrics at a remote computer. In one aspect, multiple MMDs attached to a person quantify movement of a plurality of body parts or movements, for example to assist in athletic training (e.g., for boxing or karate).

“In another aspect, multiple MMDs attached to an object quantify movement of a plurality of object parts or movements, for example to monitor or assess different components or sensitive parts of an object. For example, multiple MMDs can be attached to an expensive medical device to monitor various critical components during shipment; when the device arrives at the customer, these MMDs are interrogated to determine whether any of the critical components experienced undesirable conditions–e.g., a high impact or temperature or humidity.”

MMDs could also be capable of measuring temperature, humidity, moisture, altitude and pressure. These environmental metrics would be combined into an MMD with a detector that facilitates the monitoring of movement metrics. And they “can practically attach to almost anything to obtain movement information,” the filing claims.

By way of example, an MMD can be mounted to the helmet or body armor of each football player or motocross competitor to monitor movement and jerk of the athlete. In such applications, data from the MMD preferably transmits event data in real time to a RR in the form of a network, so that MMD data associated with each competitor is available for broadcast to a scoreboard, TV or the Internet. Other advantages should be apparent in the description within.”

Event Monitoring Devices:
The second kind wireless monitoring device Apple describes in its filing is called an Event Monitoring Device, or “EMD,” which can be used to monitor and report humidity, chemicals, heart rate, pulse, pressure, stress, weight, environmental factors and hazardous conditions. Nearly identical in structure, composition, and operation to MMDs, EMDs monitor one or more metrics for “events,” where data is acquired that exceeds some predetermined threshold or value.

In [one] example, the detector and processor collectively monitor stress events, where for example it is determined that the EMD attached to a human senses increased heart rate of over 180 beats per minute (an exemplary “event” threshold). In still another aspect, the detector is a chemical (or pH) detector and the processor and detector collectively determine a change of chemical composition of an object connected with the EMD over some preselected time period.

Apple goes on in the filing to describe how MMDs and EMDs can monitor and enhance activities and live broadcasts of Nascar races, marathons, rodeos, bike races, and extreme sports. They could also be applied to body armor and used for weight monitoring.

Your notebook and iOS device’s wireless system could be getting that much niftier.

Per AppleInsider and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Apple on Tuesday won the patent rights to “microslot antenna” technology that allows micron-wide antenna assets to be integrated into the housing of a portable device, such as an iPhone, making them nearly invisible to the human eye.

As portable electronics become thinner and more compact with each successive generation, internal space is quickly becoming a limiting factor to device designers. Apple’s U.S. Patent No. 8,373,610 for “Microslot antennas for electronic devices,” granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday, could drastically cut down on the size of at least one component needed to create products like the iPhone.

While the patent refers to implementations in a laptop computer, the antenna tech can be used in other portable electronics like smartphones and tablets.

With Apple’s current technology as seen in the iPhone 5, two internal radio antennas dynamically switch between multiple frequency bands, including those carrying fast LTE data. In order to fit the units within the handset’s slim body, Apple had to design a window for radio waves, while keeping the unit small enough to leave room for other important structures like the logic board and battery.

Tuesday’s patent focuses on so-called “microslot antenna” technology, or “dielectric-filled microslots that are formed in a ground plane element.” According to the invention, the ground plane can be a device’s housing as long as it is conductive, meaning the slots would be integrated on the outer hull of a product. The system can also support multiple communications bands, meaning functionality would not be compromised for size enhancements.

As for the size of the microslots, the patent language states that the widths of the slots are usually significantly less than their lengths. For example, widths can range from microns to hundreds of microns, while a microslot’s length can be on the order of millimeters or centimeters.

Filling the slots is a dielectric such as epoxy, plastic, air or other suitable substance that prevents foreign matter from entering. Antenna feeds can be located at or between the functional microslots, and operate on common communication bands that support Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and 3G cellular, among others.

The ’601 property was first filed for in December 2007, less than six months after the original iPhone debuted, and credits Bing Chiang, Gregory Allen Springer, Douglas B. Kough, Enrique Ayala and Matthew Ian McDonald as its inventors.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Because you ALWAYS hope Apple would make a snazzy wristwatch product.

Per the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, Apple is apparently working on developing a smartwatch device. In exploring devices beyond its currently hot-selling iPhone and iPad, Apple is said to have discussed a smartwatch with Hon Hai Precision Industry, also known as by its U.S. trade name Foxconn.

Foxconn is said to be working on multiple technologies that could appear in wearable technologies. The Taipei-based company is looking to lower power-usage and to strip down the chip technologies that would go into such devices. In particular, the report claims that Foxconn is working on the underpinnings of wearable technology for more customers than just Apple. The Journal does not detail for which other companies Foxconn might be developing the components.

Google is known to be working on its own wearable technology, a glasses-mounted heads-up display known as Google Glass. That device is currently in testing with developers, and Google has targeted early 2014 as a consumer release window. Shortly after Google Glass was unveiled, an Apple patent emerged, showing off similar technology aimed at solving issues arising from such displays.

Many industry observers believe that “wearable” computing is a near-inevitable next step for mobile technology. In January, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster predicted such technology would ultimately replace the iPhone, much like the iPhone has replaced the iPod.

Apple is likely to leverage its existing patents on creating curved glass to bring to market a product its competitors could not quickly and easily imitate. Such a device might also intermittently satisfy Wall Street investors, who have pummeled Apple’s stock in recent weeks due to concerns over competition, and possibly plateauing profit growth and innovation.

The Journal was the second major news publication on Sunday to leak details on a possible Apple smartwatch, lending credence to the notion that such a device is in development or at least under consideration. The past months have seen increasing speculation on the existence and capabilities of an “iWatch.”

In December, rumors emerged that Apple was working with Intel on a smartwatch accessory that would feature a 1.5-inch OLED display and low-power Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity. That device was said to work alongside a user’s iPhone, with the ability to access simplified iOS functions.

And just last week, prior to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reports, Bruce Tognazzini opined in long-form on his blog about the possibilities of an iWatch. Tognazzini — creator of Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines — based his predictions on his knowledge of the way Apple operates, saying an iWatch would “fill a gaping hole in the Apple ecosystem” and would complement all of Apple’s other devices.

Apple is notoriously secretive about products in development. Chief Executive Tim Cook, during Apple’s most recently quarterly conference call, would say only that Apple’s product pipeline is “chock full” of “incredible stuff,” but that Apple would only reveal its plans when the company feels the time is right.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

There’s got to be a nugget of truth in here somewhere…

Per BrightWire, a new report out of Asia claims Apple will release both an upgraded “iPhone 5S” as well as a new “iPhone 6″ with a larger 5-inch screen this year.

The report comes out of Chinese mobile phone information site Laoyaoba.com. That source reportedly spotted two new iPhone models at Apple’s suppliers.

The report said that Apple “may” release both models in 2013. The iPhone 5S reportedly has a design similar to the current iPhone 5, while the 5-inch iPhone is said to be lighter and thinner.

As larger iPhones like Samsung’s Galaxy Note series have gained traction in the marketplace, there has been increasing speculation that Apple could go even bigger with a future iPhone model. The company increased the screen size of its flagship handset from 3.5 inches to 4 inches with the launch of the iPhone 5 last September.

Some have speculated that Apple could launch an iPhone with a bigger 5-inch display by keeping the same 640-by-1,136-pixel resolution as the current iPhone 5 screen. Stretching those pixels out to a 5-inch display would give a lower pixel density of 264-per-inch, but it would allow developers to continue to create applications for one screen resolution.

Analysts have also called on Apple to launch a big-screen iPhone, sometimes referred to as an “iPhone Plus.” They believe Apple is “leaving money on the tablet” by not competing with larger devices like the Galaxy Note.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

This could turn into something very, very spiffy.

Per the