“Apple has patented the concept of the chameleonic computer – a machine whose shell changes colour at the user’s whim,” Tony Smith reports for The Register. “The patent, number 20040156192 was filed in February 2004 and finally granted on 12 August… Might this be a feature of the next generation of iMac? At this stage, it’s too early to say. Having maintained a single colour scheme – white and chrome – for its consumer computers, Apple may now be looking at returning to the iMac’s most successful period, when the machine shipped in a range of bright colours.” Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: There could be many uses for such a technology concept. Some examples might include: your Mac could turn green when you have new email, or blue when your iChat buddies are online, or red when new headlines appear in your RSS reader. Or the Mac’s user accounts could trigger color changes that indicate which user is active.
Related MacDailyNews article:
Apple to release new computers and devices that dynamically change color? – December 28, 2002