Apple Patents a Vaporizer (cnn.com) 101
Apple's product lineup may extend beyond cars and the connected home. A patent filed last year and published January 26 reveals a concept for a vaporizer. From a report on CNN Money, shared by reader JoshTops: The details are a bit hazy -- that is, Apple's patent only describes "a substance that is to be vaporized or sublimated into a vapor," not what the substance might be. The patent, filed by Apple employee Tetsuya Ishikawa, outlines plans for a temperature-regulated plate inside a chamber that heats up a substance to form a vapor. Many people use vapes to inhale nicotine or marijuana, and they are sometimes used as a replacement for cigarettes. The FDA began regulating vaping last year, and set rules for the manufacturing and distribution of vapes and their components. Vaporizers are also used in industries like healthcare and agriculture, so it's possible Apple is thinking bigger than personal use.
Finally... (Score:5, Funny)
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Remember Smell-U-Smell-Me? Well this is Apple's version, FaceSmell.
Re:Finally... (Score:5, Funny)
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Apple is based out in CA, where pot is legal.
It might just be iHigh.....?
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I dunno....
Apple is based out in CA, where pot is legal.
It might just be iHigh.....?
Dude, forget dabs, you haven't truly had your mind blown until you've vaped silicon!
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Yes, you do. :-)
Re: Finally... (Score:2)
You may not believe, but they also have a patent on a vibrator. Just hope it's not a male one
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The iBong?
Re:Finally... (Score:5, Informative)
iOdor is going to be released.
Afraid not. MacRumors debunked this "news" [macrumors.com] before it was ever posted to Slashdot, but the real news story is likely to be of more interest to long-time Slashdot readers, since it's actually something decently nerdy.
I'll let others with more expertise in the subject go into the details, but the cliff notes version is that Apple is patenting a means for depositing material during the photolithography process used to fabricate computer chips. Not as exciting to the general public as a vaping device, but certainly more worthy of Slashdot's front page.
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Smellovision!
I didn't see a link to a patent, but from the description it could also be for a humidifier, which can also be used to scent a room, or dispense some inhaled medicines. TFA might be making some assumptions as to the scale of the device.
But who knows, Apple might be making bluetooth eCigs next, color-coordinated with Beats headphones.
Patent (Score:2)
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The patent can be found here. [uspto.gov] As some other have mentioned this cold be used for anything such as in manufacturing.
For pretty much anything but an e-cig. It's a container standing right up. Now maybe an e-pipe...
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vaping cash (Score:1)
The hot new trend for today's sedentary billionaires is vaping cash. Why bother with the physical exertion of swimming in your money bin, when you can simply vaporize your money and inhale it instead.
The Final Piece of the Hipster Puzzle (Score:4, Funny)
iVapor.
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Explains some things (Score:4, Funny)
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Apple internally working on a pot project explains ...
I thought it was bizarre that the article went there as the first option. Nicotine and marijuana. Vaping.
And then, almost as an afterthought: also vaporizers and nebulizers are used all over healthcare, beauty, aesthetics, and other industries.
<sarcasm> I agree with the article's view: they're ignoring the lucrative healthcare markets, the rich business markets, and all the scent-related companies that are looking for ways to expand their multi-billion dollar scent lines. Instead Apple is developi
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And immediately after release a .1 version will come to fix critical bugs. Remember how Microsoft used to be criticized for using their users as beta testers? Well Apple is now doing the same
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Every time a company gets a new HQ, they seem to go downhill.
So what about a company that gets two new HQs? http://lmgtfy.com/?q=new+googl... [lmgtfy.com]
Vaporware (Score:2)
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or some sort of 3D printering process upgrade
desktop on-demand custom IC fabrication?
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iWeed? (Score:1)
But how are they going to force you to download it through iTunes?
No. (Score:5, Informative)
Some of these news outlets are just not even trying anymore.
http://www.macrumors.com/2017/... [macrumors.com]
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Exactly. And it's a shame Slashdot went for it, since it would've been a lot more fun to report on the actual technology and the Internet's idiotic reaction, rather than joining in on saying something that was obviously not true.
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Indeed, so much for researching the article your parroting eh?
I agree, the actual technology does sound like something that would be more interesting to discuss (maybe?) then scrounging for something to make fun of Apple for.
Link to the Patent (Score:4, Informative)
Science reporting sucks balls these days - how about a link to the actual patent. [uspto.gov]
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My sincerest apologies for the previous text only link. [uspto.gov]
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An iPot would be fully in character (Score:1)
That is all.
Makes sense (Score:1)
Nothing to see here (Score:4, Informative)
If you look at the patent, it's to deposit a substance to a semiconductor wafer with photolithography for IC fabrication.
http://www.macrumors.com/2017/... [macrumors.com]
Re: Nothing to see here (Score:1)
Dammit, I was thinking it was a death ray or something.
Smell-o-Vision (Score:1)
I'll bet its for smell-o-vision or some such device.
Comment removed (Score:3)
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If it's widely used, why is Apple trying to patent it.
Because it's a new, better way to do it? You know, progress?
Further, Apple isn't a fab.
So? Does that mean they can't (or even aren't allowed to) improve the process their contractors will use to build the devices Apple designed?
iJoint (Score:2)
iPhony (Score:2)
Apple just invented the floating wick candle [google.com.au]
The Patent claim [uspto.gov]:
A chamber body [check]
is to receive therein a substance that is to be vaporized or sublimated into a vapor. [check]
A plate whose bottom face rests on the substance inside the chamber body [check]
is temperature regulated, e.g., using a heater therein, [check]
which releases heat directly above the substance that lies below. [check]
The plate slides downward as the substance is consumed [check]
by vaporization or sublimation. [check]
Other embodiments a
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Apple just invented the floating wick candle [google.com.au]
That's like saying the horseless carriage is a horse carriage. Because there is no fucking wick in that patent.
It's for their Customer Service Department (Score:2)
They are probably planning to vapourize anyone who criticizes their products.
Prior art? (Score:2)
How could this patent hold any value at all?
It's VERY general, there is apparently absolutely nothing unique or innovative about it, and it is so basic that there is already prior art going back centuries. Challenging it would seem trivial.
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Apple Employees get a cash bonus for patenting something. Apple wants 100s of thousands of patents when they negotiate wit other companies for swaps of licensing agreements. In Patent wars quantity matters more than quality
iToke (Score:1)
Wonderful! (Score:3)
Now we'll all be able to smoke whatever it is Tim Cook is smoking.
Employee evaluation (Score:2)
iInhale (Score:1)
No it's not for vaping, it's chip manufacturing (Score:3)
As amusing as it is to contemplate the douchepocalypse an Apple vapor would entail, the patent is clearly for chip manufacturing and the guy who filed it is one of Apple's chip people.
Remember, Apple is very big into custom silicon, and like everything else they want control of every step of it and that includes how the chips are made.
Hardly (Score:2)
"Vaporizers are also used in industries like healthcare and agriculture, so it's possible Apple is thinking bigger than personal use."
Hardly. Selling a vaporizer to 10.000 cash-strapped hospitals vs. selling an iVap to 7,5 billion individuals?
Wonderful (Score:2)
Will there be any drivers or software updates for this or will they just be... ...*shades*... ...vaporware?
Wouldn't it be great... (Score:1)
(And you know about those that I refer to!)
And again the comments prove... (Score:2)