Yesterday it was reported (http://macte.ch/5myaC) that Apple plans to purchase Particle, which specializes in Web applications and marketing projects using HTML5 ; now "The Next Web" (http://macte.ch/3hYZb) says the Cupertino company also plans to buy Color Labs, a photo and video-sharing social network.

Color Labs is a start-up based in Palo Alto, California. Its main product is a social application for photos, called Color for Facebook that allows people to take photos in addition to viewing other photos also taken in the vicinity. The application groups photos based on a user's friends so that he or she is more likely to see those that are more relevant. The app also lets you batch-upload photos,

Why would Apple want Color Labs? "We would look to Color’s patents, which may include one for a file format that they were working on to record HD video. Color said that it had six patents pending at the time of its funding, including its 'elastic' social graph and patents related to GPS location and battery saving," says "The Next Web". "iOS developer Daniel Jalkut uncovered several patent applications that Color has filed for in the last couple of months that have names like 'sharing content among a group of devices'and 'user device group formation'."

However, "AllThingsD" (http://macte.ch/rO2nE) says that "what is really happening is that Color’s engineering team -- about 20 people, comprising almost the entire company — is being 'acquired' by Apple at what’s being called a 'nominal' price of something like $2 million to $5 million."