04/19/2007, 10:10am, EDT

Thursday, April 19th

Apple patent points to live Leopard desktop

A new patent application filed by Apple suggests that the Cupertino-based company will introduce live desktop graphics in its forthcoming Mac OS X Leopard operating system. The filing, titled "System and method for computing a desktop picture," appears to use the company's Core Image technology to offer choice to users for customizing the desktop, which can change when launching different applications such as iTunes or QuickTime. The patent also describes animations and transitions, allowing users to choose or create a scene that can change colors over time to reflect the current season. Apple offers one example of seamless transition between multiple desktop pictures as changing the color gradation based on the time of day to mimic the changes in the colors of the sky. Apple is expected to unveil new features not yet disclosed at its upcoming World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June.

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dynsight

multiple desktops

04/19, 10:18am, EDT

I would love to see multiple desktops, which is common in KDE and Gnome.

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jamiec

Uh oh...

04/19, 10:23am, EDT

I wonder what effect this patent will have on the "My Dream App" developers, who are currently working on an app that will change the desktop based on outdoor conditions and the time of day.

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glasshalffull

re: multiple desktops

04/19, 10:32am, EDT

That's already been announced and is way cooler than anything I've seen on other platforms. It called "Spaces."

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Rosyna

Uhm, wha..?

04/19, 10:51am, EDT

Doesn't apple already have this?

/System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.framework/Resources/ScreenSaverEngine.app/Contents/MacOS/ScreenSaverEngine -module "RSS Visualizer" -background

Just run that in the Terminal (it's all on one line)

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libraryguy

multiple desktops

04/19, 11:53am, EDT

They are adding this to Leopard. It's called Spaces.

Check it out:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/spaces.html

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VValdo

Huh?

04/19, 3:28pm, EDT

I clearly remember desktop backgrounds that change with the time of day going back to about 1992 in XWindows on SGI Indigos. It had "recipes" (as re-termed in the patent) that changed the background sky color, weather (clouds, etc.) and even the phase of the moon to make it "right" for the time of year. I don't see what's new with this concept. I'm sure w/today's technology you can render it in greater detail w/the GPU and expand on the concept, but it seems like there's lots of prior art here, not to mention this is incredibly obvious.

It would be cool if this all affect other non-background elements (snow piling up on windows, etc.) although I think I've seen this kind of theming elsewhere as well. Didn't Aaron (the OS 9 theming program) do something similar?

W

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resuna

shouldn't be patentable

04/19, 6:09pm, EDT

Running a graphical program (like a screensaver) on the desktop is old technology. I've run an X11 screensaver as my X11 desktop now and then for years - I'm pretty sure before there was such a thing as OS X. For that matter Microsoft's Active Desktop allowed this in 1997. This shouldn't be patentable.

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Darwiniandude

Video background

04/19, 7:19pm, EDT

I've done video backgrounds before, i always have this running on my powerbook. Here is a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiAvPMVmMIQ

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Darwiniandude

OSX Planet

04/19, 7:21pm, EDT

Oh, and this is great too... i live solar system relevant to the time of day you can view from anywhere, on your desktop. http://www.osxplanet.com/

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robban

Snow

04/20, 3:10pm, EDT

No, that was Snow which you still find here: http://dropmix.xs4all.nl/rick/MacSnow/

You'll find the OSX edition too: http://dropmix.xs4all.nl/rick/MacOSXSnow/

I recall you had do shake off the windows when returning from lunch - awsome app!

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