Apple has a new patent application in the European Patent Office that details out a new volume control feature to help prevent hearing loss when listening to an iPod. People that have messed around with the settings on an iPod have likely already noticed that you can already set the maximum volume for your iPod to avoid an inadvertent blasts of sound that could damage your ear. The new feature would be available in iPods and the iPhone and would take into account not only how loud the volume is while your listening, but also how long you’ve been listening to decide when the listener may have had enough.

What do AT&T, Apple, Comcast, Cablevision and eBay all have in common? They are all being sued today by Klausner Technologies over visual voicemail patents the company says it owns and which it feels these well known, other companies have not yet requested a patent license for.

The suits were filed by the company which “was founded by Judah Klausner, the inventor of the PDA and electronic organizer.” Klausner Technologies says Cablevision’s Optimum Voicemail, Comcast’s Digital Voice Voicemail, eBay’s Skype Voicemail and AT&T/Apple’s iPhone Visual Voicemail services all violate patents it holds which allow “users to selectively retrieve and listen to voice messages via message inbox displays.”

Another patent from Apple was recently published through the USPTO showing a type of text-to-voice system entitled “Multimedia data transfer for a personal communication device”.

The patent describes a system for transferring data between mobile, personal communication devices such as phones, walkie talkies or maybe even iPhone nano’s. According to Macnn the system would lend itself nicely to those with visual impairments since it transfers text between devices and the receiving device could then read the text aloud through a speaker.

A notable difference between this system and and traditional texting …

The nosy sleuths (and we like nosy) at Unwired View discovered a very interest patent application filed yesterday by Apple Computer for a “Dynamic lyrics display for portable media devices.” Apple’s filing explains that “The text being displayed is associated with and synchronized to the media content being presented.” Hmm, doesn’t that sound a lot like what a karaoke player does? Essentially Apple is claiming the patent on karaoke functions on a PMP but there is at least one device out there that does exactly that, Asus’ Z801 flip phone.

Even if Apple doesn’t wind …

Otterbox is well-known for making tough and waterproof cases for mobile phones, PDA’s, iPod’s and even cases to keep your cigars safe and dry, so it’s no surprise to see that they have one coming out for the Apple iPhone. But it is a surprise to see that they don’t have one out yet nor do they even have a set date. The company has only said that the case is still months away from being released.

The design shown here looks promising with a cover that gives the iPhone a “semi-rugged” protection and completely …

We had posted a few months ago about what we thought might be an iPhone Nano product from Apple, and here’s another one that could easily fit the name filed at the USPTO.

The patent digram shows a click wheel similar to existing iPods with a touchpad that shows the graphical images of a phone dial-like wheel with numbers and letters. It would make sense that just like the iPod has gotten smaller with time, Apple could cut out a few features and make a smaller, simpler but equally cool mobile phone. …

According to a filing with the USPTO it looks like Apple is looking to extend their touch screen technology beyond the iPhone and use it in a new mouse design.

According to the filing this mouse has a touch sensitive surface that works through a camera inside the mouse viewing an illuminated surface. The changes in illumination due to fingers on the mouse would indicate the “touches”, and pressing harder would signal things like a right or left button press, since this mouse has no buttons.

The touch sensitive mouse would then …

Gadgets that need a somewhat-significantly sized interface for texting messages or dialing phone numbers can only get so small before they will just be too tiny for the average person to use, so what would a designer do when they’ve simply run out of space on the device? By looking at this patent found by Unwired it appears that Apple has an interesting solution.

Instead of trying to cram more buttons into a small area or re-purposing the same area, it appears that they are playing with idea of using both …

A Wii Phone from Nintendo? C’mon; this seems a little far fetched, or is it? Recently we’ve seen the iPhone, rumors of a Zune Phone and now this.

According to T3 there is a distinct possibility that Nintendo may be coming out with some type of phone combined with the console remote. There had been some rumors last year about adding a microphone to the controller, and Nintendo has been taking advantage of internet based services with the Wii console, lately. This combination could possibly lend itself nicely to some type of …

This story could also be titled “Attack of the Clones.” Apple is feverishly trying to fend off imitators and copycat sites that have created user interfaces for other mobile devices that resemble the iPhone’s interface just a little too much. Apple likes attention but not this kind of attention.

One such site, modaco.com, posted a cease and desist email supposedly from Apple’s attorneys. The text of the email says, “It has come to our attention that you have posted a screenshot of Apple’s new iPhone …

Google has announced a new search service to add to its catalog of search products. Google Patent Search will allow you to perform a full text search of 7 million patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Using the advanced search, Google Patent Search will allow you to search by patent number, title, inventor, assignee, current U.S. classification, international classification, issue date, and filing date.

You can actually view images of original patents online including drawings, descriptions, claims and links to the U.S. Patent office filing. Since Google Patent Search …