Summary: Apple patents and the accompanying fanfare are a source of concern and ridicule

ON NUMEROUS occasions we wrote about patentlyapple.com, which is some sort of a fan site (maybe AstroTurfing) for Apple monopolies. Some of them are used to sue Android. This time the site looks at Apple patents from the past year, noting (cultists alert): "It was another banner year for Apple patents in 2010. The Crazy Ones of Cupertino were shown to be working on an incredible line up of ideas and projects in areas ranging from sports to Near Field Communications to next generation 3D user interfaces and devices and even green technologies. Yet at the end of the day, there were ten patents that rose to the top; Ten patents that the Mac Community clearly chose as their favorites. The Mac Community celebrates Apple's spirit of invention as it empowers and inspires us throughout the year. Will one of your favorites be on this list? Well, let the top-ten countdown for 2010 begin!"

"I *know*! I thought I'd give you a laugh," wrote Groklaw, whose apologetic attitude towards Apple we previously questioned (it has changed a lot since then). "I had no idea there was any tech community anywhere that had a top ten favorite patents list. Patents. That's like a list of your favorite plagues. I'd have to vote for frogs ... in the oven, in your bed, in your clothes. Definitely my favorite plague."

Here is another new patent from Apple:

Apple has received a patent that hints to the intent of providing network computers that will boot through a “net-booted environment.”

The difference between Apple/Microsoft patents and IBM patents is that the former get used against Free software, so we shall keep an eye on these. ⬆