Apple News
Apple awarded U.S. trademarks for ‘Reality Composer’ and ‘Reality Converter’
A Virginia federal judge has directed the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to grant Apple federal trademarks for its augmented reality software-development tools, “Reality Composer” and “Reality Converter.” On Friday, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that the two names are sufficiently distinctive to qualify for trademark protection, overturning a prior USPTO decision denying the trademarks.
Reuters:
Turkish visual-effects company Zero Density challenged Apple’s applications for federal trademarks covering the two phrases at the USPTO, arguing that they were not entitled to trademark protection because they merely describe the software’s function. Zero Density also said Apple’s trademarks would cause confusion with its own “Reality”-related marks.
A USPTO tribunal agreed with Zero Density in 2023 that Apple’s marks were too descriptive to receive trademark protection. Apple sued last year to overturn the decision, arguing its phrases were unique “made-up terms” that “do not describe the underlying software development tools.”
Brinkema agreed with Apple and overturned the USPTO’s decision on Friday.
“Although the term ‘Reality’ is likely descriptive of augmented reality software to the consumers to whom Apple advertises this product, the term stretches beyond its descriptive meaning when combined with ‘composer’ and ‘converter,'” Brinkema said.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple’s Reality Composer and Reality Composer Pro for Mac, are applications for creating interactive augmented reality (AR) experiences. It allows users to build, test, and simulate AR scenes for iOS and iPadOS apps using a drag-and-drop interface, requiring no prior 3D or coding experience. Features include placing 3D objects in real-world environments, adding animations, physics, and spatial audio, and previewing scenes in real-time. It’s designed for developers, designers, and hobbyists creating AR content for iPhone, iPad, or visionOS apps, and integrates with Xcode for app development.
Reality Converter is a Mac app that converts and customizes 3D models into USDZ format for AR use. Users can drag and drop common 3D file formats (e.g., .obj, .gltf, .usd), customize textures and materials, edit metadata, and preview objects under various lighting conditions. It’s aimed at developers and 3D artists who need to prepare optimized 3D assets for AR apps on Apple platforms.
Both tools target developers, designers, and creators building AR experiences, with Reality Composer focusing on scene creation and Reality Converter on asset preparation, primarily for iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS applications.
More info here.
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Apple is clearly on its way to becoming a major Hollywood player
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
The F1 film starring Brad Pitt is undoubtedly a hit. It was a globally marketable property, generating more than $500 million in theaters worldwide. The movie also helped affirm Apple’s decision to get into the film and TV business.
It’s no secret that Apple TV+ started off slow: The service entered an already-crowded field when it launched in 2019, and then Covid and the writers’ strike hampered production. But Apple is now clearly on its way to becoming a major name in Hollywood entertainment — with the F1 film contributing to that.
In terms of dollars and cents, the film may be less of a breakthrough. It had a massive budget, and the theatrical run of the Warner Bros.-distributed movie won’t likely be a big moneymaker for Apple. The main question will be whether it results in more TV+ subscriptions. If it can do that, it will all be worth it.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple already is a major name in Hollywood entertainment.
Those who can wrap their heads around Apple’s massive cash mountain and the company’s unparalleled ability to generate cash can clearly see who the winner will be. The most talented producers, writers, directors, editors, actors, etc. are attracted to exactly what Apple has and makes in vast abundance: Cash. The king.
Like bears to honey, it’s happening already. — MacDailyNews, January 3, 2018
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Apple reportedly developing a stripped-down ChatGPT rival
Apple has established a new “Answers”team to develop a streamlined competitor to ChatGPT, aimed at providing users with access to general knowledge. Bloomberg News reports that earlier this year, Apple quietly created the “Answers, Knowledge and Information” (AKI) team. According to reporter Mark Gurman, this group is working on various in-house AI services to build a ChatGPT-like search experience.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
Right now, Apple Intelligence doesn’t offer search capabilities. The system focuses on summarizing notifications, rewriting text, generating Genmoji images and cleaning up photos. Soon, it will also be able to translate messages and calls. But it lacks anything resembling the conversational, AI-powered search experiences available from ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini.
Meanwhile, Siri remains frustratingly inconsistent at answering questions. Sure, it can handle some basic queries. But it often has to hand off other request to ChatGPT — and only through a stripped-down interface. Too often, it simply punts users to a generic Google web search, which is even more irksome when you’re using a screen-less device like the HomePod.
Apple’s own head of services, Eddy Cue, even testified in court that AI-based search is the future. He confirmed that Apple is exploring partnerships — including with startup Perplexity — to move toward a more modern search experience.
Despite philosophical reservations among some Apple leaders, the company is clearly heading in that direction. Earlier this year, Apple quietly formed a new team called Answers, Knowledge and Information, or AKI. This group, I’m told, is exploring a number of in-house AI services with the goal of creating a new ChatGPT-like search experience.
MacDailyNews Take: If there’s one thing Apple needs in regard to both generative AI and Siri, it’s “Answers.”
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Apple is ready to open its wallet to catch up in AI – CEO Cook
Apple CEO Tim Cook announced on Thursday that the iPhone maker is prepared to increase spending to compete in artificial intelligence, potentially by constructing additional data centers or acquiring a major AI player, marking a shift from its traditional fiscal frugality.
Apple has struggled to keep pace with rivals such as Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google, both of which have attracted hundreds of millions of users to their AI-powered chatbots and assistants. That growth has come at a steep cost, however, with Google planning to spend $85 billion over the next year and Microsoft on track to spend more than $100 billion, mostly on data centers.
Apple, in contrast, has leaned on outside data center providers to handle some of its cloud computing work, and despite a high-profile partnership with ChatGPT creator OpenAI for certain iPhone features, has tried to grow much of its AI technology in-house, including improvements to its Siri virtual assistant. The results have been rocky, with the company delaying its Siri improvements until next year.
During a conference call after Apple’s fiscal third-quarter results, analysts noted that Apple has historically not done large deals and asked whether it might take a different approach to pursue its AI ambitions.
“We’re very open to M&A that accelerates our roadmap. We are not stuck on a certain size company, although the ones that we have acquired thus far this year are small in nature,” Cook said. “We basically ask ourselves whether a company can help us accelerate a roadmap, and if they do, then we’re interested.”
Apple also said on Thursday it plans to spend more on data centers, an area where it typically spends only a few billion dollars per year… Kevan Parekh, Apple’s chief financial officer, did not give specific spending targets but said outlays would rise. “It’s not going to be exponential growth, but it is going to grow substantially,” Parekh said during the conference call. “A lot of that’s a function of the investments we’re making in AI.”
MacDailyNews Take: None of this should be surprising to regular readers of MacDailyNews as we told you even before WWDC24, that Apple’s initial GenAI moves would be vaporware designed to buy time for “data center buildouts and investments that will be required.”
Apple was caught flat-footed, due to a lack of vision on the part of leadership… So, the only solution is to partner with a [Google, OpenAI, Baidu, etc.] for the real GenAI stuff while pretending (marketing) really hard that some on-device AI Apple has whipped up in a few months is “insanely great Apple innovation” that’s at the heart of Apple’s 2024’s AI announcements when it’s really just an adjunct… Watch Apple make a big show of its on-device AI at WWDC and run many ads touting it from June onwards.
Apple hopes to buy time for the data center buildouts and investments that will be required for them to someday own their own AI technology and not have to license it from the likes of [Google, OpenAI, Baidu, etc.].
This is what happens after a decade plus with a caretaker CEO at the helm after he hits the last page of his iteration playbook, yet attempts to stay in the game for too long. – MacDailyNews, April 1, 2024
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