APPLE Granted a new Patent that places a second screen on IPAD Cover

Despite its name, the iPad Smart Cover is not particularly smart; it folds well and wakes your iPad from sleep, but that's about it. 

Judging by a patent recently granted to the company by the U.S. Patent Office, dug out byPatently Apple, the Smart Cover might become a lot smarter in the future. 

SEE ALSO: Apple filed a patent for a MacBook keyboard without keys

Titled "Cover attachment with flexible display," the patent describes a foldable cover for a tablet device with a "flexible display" built in. 

Apple sees this approach as an alternative to making the actual tablet bigger.

"Increasing the display area could lead to a significant expansion in functionality. Unfortunately (...) device manufacturers generally choose between making the display and therefore the device itself larger, thereby reducing the portability or making the device and display smaller with the result of a less functional device," the patent text explains. 

The advantages of having a second screen are obvious: You could have it display auxiliary info, such as the title of the song or movie currently being played on the tablet, alongside touchscreen controls. It could be used as a full-fledged second display, comparable to that of the main display; alternatively, only a portion of the cover could be a screen, with the rest reserved for solar cells. 

As always, a patent does not necessarily means such a product will see the light of day soon, or ever. 

What's interesting about this patent is that it was originally filed in 2011 (we covered it in August 2012), and though some of the concepts from it actually came to life (the iPad Pro's smart connector is one example), some of them are still quite futuristic. We certainly hope Apple will continue to innovate in the tablet area, despite iPad's steadily dwindling sales. 

360-degree photos are coming to Facebook News Feed

Facebook photos are set to get a lot more immersive.

The social network will soon add support for 360-degree photos to its News Feed, Facebook announced Wednesday. 

The new 360-degree photos will function a lot like Facebook's 360-degree videos. You can change your view of the photo by dragging you finger (or cursor, if you're on a browser) around the screen or holding your phone at a different angle.

The feature will support images shot with 360-degree camera, like Rioch's Theta S, as well panoramic shots captured on smartphones. 

And, like their video counterparts, the 360-degree photos will also be viewable from Samsung's Gear VR headsets. 

Speaking of the Gear VR, Facebook also plans to make some changes to the Oculus mobile app. The app will soon be updated with a new "what's new" section, meant to highlight the latest games and videos. Later, in June, the company plans to revamp the design of Oculus' home screen on Gear VR to make it easier to find recently-downloaded items. 

The Oculus-powered Gear VR has only been out for about six months but Facebook says it has already exceeded many of their initial expectations. Though we don't know how many headsets Samsung has shipped since its launch, Facebook says more than a million people used the Gear VR last month alone. 

Facebook also revealed some new stats around Gear VR content. There are now more than 250 apps for the headset (one of our biggest initial complaints about the Gear was the lack of apps) and 21 games that initially launched on the Gear but are now also available for the Oculus Rift headset.

Of the apps and games currently available, VR video continues to be some of the most popular content, according to Facebook, with 80% of Gear users watching videos.

Youtube wants you to share more videos with new chat feature

YouTube is launching a new messenger service for its platform to boost video sharing even more.

The Google-owned video giant confirmed to Mashable that it is releasing "native sharing" to a small percentage of YouTube users beginning Wednesday.

Using YouTube's mobile app, select users will be able to chat about and share videos in message threads. 

The addition positions YouTube to face off against Snapchat and Facebook, both of which have upped their in-app messaging offerings in the last year.

The first crop of users to check out the new feature can invite their friends to conversations, according to Wired, which first reported about the new service. The conversations will show up in a tab on YouTube's mobile app. 

WhatsApp launches Desktop Application for Windows and Mac Users

The most popular messaging app WhatsApp now has a fully functional desktop app – both for Macas well as Windows platform.

Facebook-owned WhatsApp messaging software has been a mobile-only messaging platform forever, but from Tuesday, the company is offering you its desktop application for both Windows and OS X.

Few months back, WhatsApp launched a Web client that can be run through your browser to use WhatsApp on your desktop, but now users running Windows 8 or Mac OS 10.9 and above can use the new desktop app that mirrors WhatsApp messages from a user's mobile device.

According to the company's blog post, the WhatsApp desktop app is similar to WhatsApp Web with synchronized conversations and messages

Since WhatsApp desktop app is native for both Windows and OS X platform, it can support desktop notifications and keyboard shortcuts.

WhatsApp has been rising at an extraordinary pace recently. The service has over 1 Billion monthly active users.

At the beginning of the year, the company removed its yearly $1 subscription fee. Just last month, the company rolled out end-to-end encryption for all its users' communication by default.

Here's how to Download WhatsApp Desktop Software:

1. Users running Windows 8 (or newer) or OS X 10.9 (or newer) can download WhatsApp desktop app available for direct downloading.
2. Once Downloaded, open the WhatsApp desktop app.
3. Scan the QR code with your mobile phone to Sync your device.

Now enjoy WhatsApping your friends and family straight from your desktop.

Quantum Computers.. Now a Reality - IBM launches Publicly

Quantum computers are expected to take the computing technology to the highest level, but it is an experimental and enormously complex technology that Google and NASA are working on and is just a dream for general users to play with.

Hold on! IBM is trying to make your dream a reality.

BM just made its new quantum computing project online (with tutorials), making it available for free to anyone interested in playing with it.

Quantum Computers — Now A Reality!

The technology company said on Wednesday that it is giving the world access to one of its quantum computing processors, which is yet an experimental technology that has the potential to perform much faster calculations than today's computers.

You can now access IBM's five-qubit quantum computing processor, which is located at its a research center in Yorktown Heights, New York, through the cloud to run experiments and test applications.

All you will need to do is request an invitation from IBM through a web form that will ask for your institution details and your level of computing experience.

Quantum Computers Vs. Regular Computers ?

Quantum computers can theoretically be much faster than traditional computers because they take advantage of quantum mechanics.

While traditional computers use the "bits" to represent information as a 0 or a 1, Quantum computers use quantum bits or "qubits" to represent information as a 0, 1, or both at the same time. This means that 2 qubits could potentially have 4 values at the same time: 00, 01, 10, and 11.

In other words, a quantum computer with just 50 qubits will be much more powerful than any supercomputer available today.

360° Tour of the IBM Research Quantum Lab:

According to IBM, its five-qubit quantum computing processor is just a "small step" towards a useful quantum computer, though the company hopes to build a quantum computer with a medium-size quantum processor of 50-100 qubits within the next 10 years.

With a step ahead in the quantum computing, IBM's qubit processor is the world's first quantum processor accessible to the public, even if through the cloud.

Users who want to access the quantum processor can stay in the comfort of their homes or offices and work with qubits, study tutorials, and run simulations using the cloud and their computers or mobile devices.