Apple wants you to be able to skip online advertisements that aren’t of interest to you (which, of course, isn’t the same as being able to skip ads entirely). Interestingly, the patent also mentions television ads, which at least raises the possibility that Apple’s rumored television streaming service could include commercials to keep down costs (though I don’t think that’s likely; no one wants to sit through ads on a service they’re paying for).
According to the patent, servers secure access to the stream of assets, on both an account level and an asset level in accordance with asset metadata registered for the assets during streaming. Of course, this would be great for serving up movies, music and photos to all your Mac OS X and iOS devices.
But Apple could take it further. Imagine a range of “iServe” appliances, all based on the Mac mini form factor, that provide media services throughout your home, that are always on, and worked with Siri, Apple’s voice-activated, personal assistant. The media sever would store all your photos, movies, TV shows, music, and more and make them available to all your Macs, iOS devices, and the Apple TV.
Will Apple release its own NAS device? Perhaps. However, the company has filed for and/or been granted multiple patents over the years that hint at a media server, but such an Apple-branded device has yet to see the light of day.
