Thursday Apple Rumors: Apple Is Getting Macs in Motion

Here are your Apple rumors and AAPL news items for Thursday: Macs to Get
Microsoft Kinect-Style Interface? Apple Insider on Thursday reported on a newly
public Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) patent application. The patent in question
describes technology for Apples Mac laptop and desktop computers that will allow
users to control the device without a keyboard or mouse, but instead by waving
their hands in front of the screen. The Three-Dimensional Imaging and Display
System is similar to Microsoft s (NASDAQ: MSFT ) Kinect device. Kinect
available on the Xbox 360 game console and Windows PCs allows users to control
their devices using only broad motions with their hands and arms, as well as
their voice . Apples filing describes technology that would be economical,
small, portable, and versatile, hinting that the motion-control technology would
be included with its successful line of MacBook Air laptops. Google exec
Predicts Google TV Domination in 2012: Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) executive chairman
Eric Schmidt is awfully confident that Google TV the companys Internet TV
platform built into Sony s (NYSE: SNE ) Internet Television HDTVs is going to
be successful next year. According to a Paid Content report (via Apple Insider
), Schmidt spoke at the Le Web conference in France this week and said, By the
summer of 2012, the majority of the televisions you see in stores will have
Google TV embedded in it. Considering Google TV has been a black eye for Google
since it released in October 2010, its hard to imagine Schmidts prediction
coming true. To date, Google TV has only come built in two retail products
Sonys aforementioned televisions and Logitech s (NASDAQ: LOGI ) Revue set-top
boxes. The Revue performed terribly for Logitech, costing the company an alleged
$100 million in profits, leading CEO Geurrino De Luca to say that partnering
with Google for the device was a big mistake. Apple is expected to deliver its
own Internet-connected television by the middle of 2012. If Schmidts prediction
is true, Google TV had better change dramatically between now and then to
compete for consumer attention. iPad 3 Will Be Thicker Than Current Model: For
the obsessive consumer patiently waiting for news about next years iPad model,
Japanese blog Macotakara (via Mac Rumors ) has some new details for you. In
particular is word that the new iPad 3 will have a significantly thicker body
than the iPad 2, though it will have the same 9.7-inch screen. The report
includes an image of what might be a prototype of the new model. As of this
writing, Anthony John Agnello did not hold a position in any of the
aforementioned stocks. Follow him on Twitter at