Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Advanced Multitouch: Writing Without a Stylus and More

crees! said:
Heh. Surface has a full-size computer with cameras in it now. It's nothing like this.
Click to expand...


Yah, to my understanding, surface needs t have cameras and sensors, and special lighting conditions etc.

BUT... this is nothing more then just a screen or surface, that can detect multiple touches at the same time.

Then along with that, is just an amazing OS/firmware that apple has written that uses the touches it detects, and well interprets them to do things.
 
I wonder how the tactile feedback for the keyboard would be. I'm a pretty sloppy typer to begin with, so I imagine they have some form of iPhone keyboard tech going on under the hood. But, what, does it click or something everytime a key is registered?

Very exciting. I suspect the next generation notebook will have a wide trackpad, and that Air's trackpad is only the first step. It's not really all that good, after paying with it.

(Wow! Hardly any MBP whining, but not none)

--
edit:
In fact, how will you even know where the keys are? Will a KB pop up where you're typing? that'd be kind of neat. Automatically scaled to your particular typing habits.
 
Unless I can arrange the keys similarly to how they are arranged on my curved, ergonomic keyboard, it'll be useless to me. I hope they put enough corner-pins in there to let me put the keys in just the right spot for my hands. Now THAT would impress me.
 
mainstreetmark said:
I wonder how the tactile feedback for the keyboard would be. I'm a pretty sloppy typer to begin with, so I imagine they have some form of iPhone keyboard tech going on under the hood. But, what, does it click or something everytime a key is registered?

Very exciting. I suspect the next generation notebook will have a wide trackpad, and that Air's trackpad is only the first step. It's not really all that good, after paying with it.

(Wow! Hardly any MBP whining, but not none)
Click to expand...

also im wondering... what about people who dont knwo where all the keys are? What about people that NEEd to look at the keyboard?

I mean most of us computer users are quite good typers, and we never have to look down we just simply know where every key is.... but what about those who cant do that? How will they know how to type on this trackpad?
 
An iPhone-esque MacBook Pro. Pretty Please?????????????????

Why can't we have a MacBook Pro with a multi-touch screen??
Why is no one pulling for this??
An iPhone-esque MacBook Pro.

Reply with your thoughts please.
 
iBunny said:
Looks like a Helm console from the USS Enterprise (Star Trek)

:D
Click to expand...

You know, when they were rumored to be bringing back the Newton, my first thought was that they should just make them like the datapad from Star Trek as well. They use the same interface style, after all.

Tech from Star Trek = Very Good Thing
 
mooncaine said:
Unless I can arrange the keys similarly to how they are arranged on my curved, ergonomic keyboard, it'll be useless to me. I hope they put enough corner-pins in there to let me put the keys in just the right spot for my hands. Now THAT would impress me.
Click to expand...

Can you imagine move "keys" around in a similiar fashion you can move icons around on the iPhone/iPod touch!!? That would be AMAZING.
 
applefan69 said:
I mean most of us computer users are quite good typers, and we never have to look down we just simply know where every key is.... but what about those who cant do that? How will they know how to type on this trackpad?
Click to expand...

I'm assuming (after just looking at the article, not the patent) that the virtual keyboard would appear after putting your hands in the home row (ASDFGHJKL) position (kind of like in the picture).

Also, If this were to be implemented, it probably would be implemented on a full computer, not just a track pad.
 
twoodcc said:
i'm not gonna pay that much. but yeah, put it on a tablet, please
Click to expand...

Oh come on, just look at wacom tables. One of their smallest ones is almost $230 (http://www.wacom.com/intuos/4x6.cfm) thats only 4x6 inches and what this looks like is at least 12x6.

So lets just use the 2.4 Ghz 15 inch as an example (as it'll probably use more processing power). So thats $2500 plus the costs of the extra hardware. Pretty soon you're looking at that $3300 price point.

Otaviano said:
Apple should team up with Adobe and bring a mutli-touch Mac to the market as Adobe releases a compatible version of photoshop.
Click to expand...

Photoshop is already compatible with similar things like the wacom tablets. Tablets are awesome for photoshop and it probably wouldn't be hard at all to translate that potential to this... ...keyboard thing

guzhogi said:
I remember of an article I read about this OLED keyboard where each key has its own monitor and shows program-specific keys. Kinda cool. Also the consoles used on Star Trek. Those are cool. I remember in one episode of Voyager (I think "Year of Hell") where Tuvok becomes blind so he asks the computer to make his console tactile feedback. Pretty cool.
Click to expand...

I think that it'd be really cool to do something more like star trek, almost a cross between that OLED keyboard, this apple keyboard thing, and the iPhone. Also for people who want tactile sensation they could make it vibrate a little bit when you hit the keys, i know one of the LG phones does this with it's touch sensitive buttons.

So kind of make a big iPhone like keyboard, so that buttons can appear or disappear. It also would be cool for gaming because you could completely customize your control scheme rather rather than working around using the keyboard.
 
Damn, that looks promising. The hardware part shouldn't be the problem anymore I guess. Expcept that tactile feedback part... Can't wait for that. The Display Keyboard Mouse Interface is getting boring. :)

Imagine the iMac using this. The computer could be even more "in the display", including the human interface.
 
I think is will be the new multitouch keyboard that will double as a touch device for other programs such as photoshop and music productions.
 
AlphaAnt said:
You know, when they were rumored to be bringing back the Newton, my first thought was that they should just make them like the datapad from Star Trek as well. They use the same interface style, after all.

Tech from Star Trek = Very Good Thing
Click to expand...

Yeah, Star Trek has a lot of cool technologies. Plus, it kind of predicted some technologies:
-original communicator: cell phone
-holodeck: virtual reality

Now all we need are replicators, a real holodeck & transporters.
 
Why does everyone assume any kind of tablet-like device must use tablet-compatible software? I think the thing that would make this really take off is for Apple to produce, say, 10.6 interpret the gestures to be compatible with any application that would normally use ordinary input, just like you don't need special compatible software to use a trackpad instead of an ordinary mouse.

I'm excited.
 
This is cool, but I hope it doesn't have to be in a bendy surface, otherwise my laptop is going to be a funny shape :confused:

Bring me new MBP, my PowerBook is in dire need of replacement!
 
swingerofbirch said:
What does it mean that it gives touch feedback as if really using a keyboard?
Click to expand...

Some people find it difficult to type without the feeling of the buttons actually feeling like they're being pressed like on an ordinary keyboard. I don't really understand why, as I've tried typing on a completely flat desk surface, and it feels fine to me. I'm not sure what's so confusing about it to people. But such a feature that would give the tactile illusion of actually pressing a button would silence some critics of a virtual touch keyboard.
 
Already sounds light years ahead of the touch capabilities that are rumored to be implemented in Windows 7. Just imagine your laptop with no physical keys. Just one large multi-touch flat surface allowing you to do everything. Not to mention the new functionality you would get in a tablet form. I still would prefer a laptop over a tablet but its exciting to think about what could be coming. I still think these features are at least 2 years or more away. Apple has other technologies that they want to market first. But even 2 years would put it out at least a year before Microsoft releases their next OS. I think that Apple will bundle this advanced multi-touch functionality with a totally new OS. I don't see it being in the next OS as development had already been start before the release of Leopard and well before these patents were filed. So maybe another 2 OS's before we get this. Goodbye keyboard and mouse. Hello one nice multi-touch input device.
 
Could go on a tablet, but there is a shape similarity with some of the ergonomic keyboards. It would be possible to use a clear smoth but curved surface using OLED that takes all the keystrokes when typing and accepts gestures at other times depending on what is on the actual monitor. Similar to iPhone displaying buttons or other selectors based on the operation at hand.

I would welcome both, a tablet and a virtual keyboard / multitouch interface to a desktop system (device sits on lap or other convenient location).

Cool, but we may never see it, for now just vaporware.
 
MrT8064 said:
so will we see this on the 2010' iMac?
Click to expand...

If they are going to market this or something similar, it has to comeout before Windows 7 or Apple would look to the masses like is copying M$.

To my knowledge Multi-touch (in a different form) is suppoced to be part of Windows 7. I seem to remember Bill said that.
 
This sounds a bit like the technology from Minority Report (the film) to me.

Let's hope Apple don't start arresting people for stuff they haven't done yet :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back