SLIDESHOW: Apple's Groundbreaking Patent, Ballmer's Retirement And More From The Fourth Week Of August

has taken an interest in developing a system to control virtual objects. After Apple filed a patent for what

be the company's answer to Kinect (the

-developed

motion-based control system for Xbox), investors began to wonder what Apple might do next. As big as that story was, it did not have the market-moving power that accompanied Steve Ballmer's retirement. He will be leaving Microsoft in 2014. Elsewhere in tech,

announced that PlayStation 4 will be released in North America and Europe this November. Rumors claimed that the console will arrive in Japan and Asia Pacific one month later.

was rumored to be working on a deal to secure the NFL Sunday Ticket, but many analysts argued that it was unlikely to succeed. These were just some of the week's hottest stories in technology. Click through the slideshow to read them and several more from the fourth week of August. Disclosure: