Apple's next big device may be a pen
A stylus pen? Really, Apple?
(United States Patent and Trademark Office)
Apple has been granted a patent for a "communicating stylus" that would allow users to write on any digital surface. The filing was made public Tuesday. The patent suggests the stylus may use a mobile internet connection to communicate with different devices and may also contain material that would allow users to actually mark up the surface they are writing on.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Stylus pens have actually been around for more than 50 years and were big in the '90s when those clunky personal digital assistants first came on the tech scene. Oddly, it was the touch-screen ability, a la the iPhone, that began to usurp the popularity of stylus-driven devices. And with finger pay-and-sign programs like Square, you have to wonder why we'd backtrack to a pen device anyway.
Of course, Apple wouldn't be the first to use the pen. Samsung smartphones like the Galaxy Note Edge have a stylus.
And, to be fair, this patent only protects the tech company in case it decides to manufacture the pen in the future. It doesn't mean Apple will actually produce it. But, if they do, here's hoping it comes with undisclosed magical powers.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Lauren Hansen produces The Week’s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.
-
Passenger: 'pleasingly off-kilter' ITV crime drama
The Week Recommends There's 'plenty to be feared' in this British murder mystery set in a quiet northern town
By Adrienne Wyper, The Week UK Published
-
Crossword: March 27, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
Sudoku hard: March 27, 2024
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published