The US Patent Office published an Apple patent application for a "Multi-Functional Hand-Held." The iPod of the Future is a touchscreen media player ... and a phone ... and a PDA ... and a video game.

The patent summary:

a multi-functional hand-held device capable of configuring user inputs based on how the device is to be used. Preferable, the multi-functional hand-held device has at most only a few physical buttons, keys, or switches so that its display size can be substantially increased. In other words, by eliminating physical buttons, keys, or switches from a front surface of an electronic device, additional surface area becomes available for a larger display. Ultimately this strategy would allow a substantially full screen display. As used herein, a full screen display is a display that consumes, or at least dominates, a surface (e.g., front surface) of an electronic device.

Sorry, guys. Nothing new here. I was designing variable displays over 10 years ago. This is about as novel as keyboard key that can represent different functions if pressed at the same time or after another key. ...