The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) -- which recently denied Apple’s trademark application for the iPad mini because Apple's patent filing merely described the product -- has now withdrawn its objections, notes "MacRumors."

A second objection related to Apple's use of the iPad mini overview page as its specimen proving that the named product was being offered for sale. "The issue has in fact mostly been resolved without Apple having had to address the examiner's objections," notes "MacRumors" (www.macrumors.com). "Presumably responding to the publicity surrounding the initial decision, the USPTO has preemptively withdrawn its two main objections to Apple's objections."

Avid has announced Avid Pro Tools 11, an update of its digital audio workstation for music and audio production. This latest version enables audio professionals to take on the most demanding productions with new, high-powered audio and video engines, 64-bit architecture, expanded metering, and direct HD video workflows, says Chris Gahagan, senior vice president of Products and Services at Avid.

The newly designed architecture turbo-charges production with more plug-in processing, the ability to run more virtual instruments and a host of new features, he adds. Gahagan says that key benefits and features include:

° A new Avid Audio Engine that purportedly delivers multiple times the processing power of Pro Tools 10 on the same hardware configurations;

° 64-bit architecture, which exponentially increases the number of simultaneous virtual instruments and the performance to handle sophisticated sessions;

° Offline bounce, which delivers mixes up to 150 times faster than real time;

° A low-latency input buffer, which ensures ultra-low latency record monitoring without sacrificing plug-in performance;

° Dynamic host processing, which maximizes plug-in count by reallocating processing resources as needed;

° Extended standards support, which features a broad range of built-in metering standards, from peak and average to VU and PPM, to maintain adherence to regional broadcast requirements;

° Gain reduction, which shows gain reduction for all dynamics plug-ins on each channel;

° Built-in Avid Video Engine, which enables audio post professionals to play and edit a wide range of HD video formats including Avid DNxHD, directly in the Pro Tools timeline without transcoding, using the same core engine as in Media Composer;

° Video interface support, which enables monitoring of DNxHD and QuickTime media through Avid Nitris DX, Avid Mojo DX, and other video interfaces.

Pro Tools 11 and Pro Tools HD 11 will be available in the online Avid Store and at Avid resellers worldwide later in the second quarter 2013. For more information, go to http://tinyurl.com/cv7e2nu . Pricing will be as follows:

° Pro Tools 11 software (full version) -- US$699;
° Pro Tools 10 to 11 upgrade -- $299;
° Pro Tools 9 to 11 upgrade -- $399;
° Pro Tools Express to Pro Tools 11 cross grade -- $499;
° Pro Tools HD 10 to 11 upgrade -- $599;
° Pro Tools HD 9 to 11 upgrade -- $999.