Apple Patent Could Bring New Type of File Sharing to iPhone & iPad

So, no implementation, just someone dreaming up something that could be done, maybe, who knows, and patenting it. This is ridiculous. Apple itself has proven that the devil is in the details, that getting the design right is the herd part. If thre's something that needs protection, it should be the myriad of little details involved in making this vague idea workable, not the vague idea.

Can someone please explain this to me – i can fully understand how a technical solution to do this could be patentable – but how can the very interaction design part be patentable?

It seems like this is an "idea patent" rather than an "i invented something and spent a long time developing it and now i need to be able to protect my investment patent".

The Siftables guys demoed a pouring interface for color mixing, among other things: http://www.ted.com/talks/david_merrill_demos_siftables_the_s...

Not sure if that feature made it into the commercially available version, but they definitely still have the proximity features, which are pretty cool: https://www.sifteo.com

This reminds me of some of the stuff shown in the Wii U E3 video. Throwing shurikens and playing golf with the new controller for example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e3qaPg_keg

Not sure I'd want to be editing documents on my iPad on the subway and be inadvertently flicking / pouring my data to my neighbours every time the train hits a bump in the rails...

While it could bring new way of file sharing to iPhone & iPad, it will prevent it on competing devices. That's what patents do.

This just in: Apple protects proprietary IP with a patent and a blog confuses that for a product roadmap.